She Did It Her Way

Latest Episodes:

SDH167: Trusting Your Intuition & Going for It with Sarah Ashley Schiear, Founder of Salt House Mkt Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

How do you plan on submersing your audience with your brand? Is that even on the agenda?

When today's guest, Sarah Schiear, first started the e-commerce site Salt House Market in 2014, all she knew was that she loved throwing dinner parties and wanted to sell custom designed aprons. Now, Salt House Market includes kitchen and home products like fondue sets, cookware, coffee tables, stools, chandeliers, and so much more! Plus it acts as a lifestyle guide featuring cooking recipes like Coconut Eggnog Brulee French Toast and Sarah's morning coffee. Also, she has tips on entertaining with how-to's on throwing, 'The Ultimate Rose Dinner Party' and a 'DIY Soba Noodle Bar' party.

Her newest business venture includes translating her website into a brick-and-mortar store, but she desires to still include the site's interactive and lifestyle elements. Her plan is for her store to be a hybrid of a retail store, concept studio, and event space so it can connect consumers to influencers and brands. She plans to do so with in-house cooking classes, multiple demo sites, events centered around influencers in the home and food realm, and anything else that gives consumers a richer shopping experience and tells the stories behind brands and products.

Sarah's love for the food and entertainment industry began when she graduated college and started cooking for her then boyfriend and hosting dinner parties. Ignited by her innovative recipes, her friends and peers wanted to know how she put them to together and managed these large home events. She soon started a food blog that showcased these recipes and featured how-to videos on YouTube.

What took her to the next level in her food career was when she decided to apply for the ABC show, the Taste. The show was a cooking competition that had cooks across various experience levels proving who could cook the best tasting food. Sarah made it to third place in the finale, and from that experience, she learned how to work in a professional kitchen and where the food industry could take her.

From there, she opened a pop-up restaurant in New York with a fellow contestant that combined fine dining with a relaxed dinner party atmosphere. The restaurant was a success and through a contact of her partner's, she landed a job as a caterer for the Olson twins for various events, amongst other A-list clients.

Relax, and let Sarah tell you all about where she sees Salt House Market going in the future and how it all came to be!

In this episode you will...

Learn how to grow an e-commerce business
Know which area of your market fits you the most and how you could combine some fields with your brand
Figure out how to transition your brand from an e-commerce site to a brick and mortar
Learn to trust your gut and not be influenced by others
Understand how to balance and prioritize your ideas if you are a creative person
Find out how to allocate your energy so you don't wear yourself down

INSIGHTS

"Everybody's got opinions..[but] nobody actually knows anything. This is mostly true if you're doing something that is obviously new and never existed...Yes, these people can give you great advice. Yes, there's many things to learn from their breadth of experience...[but] the fake it 'til you make it is very much a thing." -Sarah Schiear

"If you're a creative or someone who's an idea person...you kind of have to say, these ideas are great and just because I'm not doing this one right now doesn't mean it's never going to happen...stick it in your idea parking lot for another time and just [be] really diligent about that." -Sarah Schiear

"If you happen to be an over achiever...which is great because you love what you do and you're passionate about it so it doesn't feel like work...then it's really easy to try and do too many things at once....you don't realize how much energy goes into all that stuff." -Sarah Schiear

RESOURCES

Sarah Ashley Schiear LinkedIn

Salt House Market Website

Salt House Market Facebook

Salt House Market Instagram

Salt House Market Twitter

The Alchemist by Paul Coalhoe

A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson

SDH166: How to Find Your Brand's Voice and Aesthetic with Tracy Nour, Founder of She Just Knows Jun 19, 2017

Show notes

How do you cultivate a significant following for your social media? Are you spreading yourself too thin across platforms? Is the quality in your posts showing so? Is the message and aesthetic across your account consistent?

Tracy Nour, founder of She Just Knows, takes all of this off of fashion brands and budding entrepreneurs hands with her social media managing business. Her services range across all social media platforms, but her specialty is posting and engaging audiences on Instagram.

She said a common mistake that a lot of brands make is having multiple social media platforms, because a lot of brand's are taught that they need to be accessible at every point of contact. By doing so, Tracy said she sees the content depreciating, and useless platforms that don't match a brand's objective and are empty. She said a brand should find a social media platform that reaches their audience quickly, effectively, and in the most visually stimulating way. Right now, she said Instagram is the best way for brand's to share their products and for entrepreneurs to showcase themselves.

Once a brand has landed on their key social media accounts, she said they should do their research on the voice of their target follower and consumer, and replicate that with their posts, aesthetics, and images. After that's been determined, they should choose one person to be in charge of a social media account. This allows a brand to create a consistent voice, because followers can tell differences in writing styles.

Next is developing a cohesive photo style, especially if a brand has chosen Instagram as a platform. She first asks her clients to send her the links to five other brand's social media accounts that they like and carry similar products. She then tries to replicate their photos using a combination of their aesthetics to see what fits her client's brand and if it makes their products look appealing.

When using filters for your photos, she said to avoid using Instagram's filters, andto use an outside program, like VSCO instead. Instagram filters lower the resolution on what could have been a clear photo, and makes photos look cheesy.

Tracy also said to only choose one filter and use it for all of your photos with minor adjustments to brightness and contrast. This allows a brand's photo to not look so edited and create a cohesive account. By practicing this, she said that it creates a signature look and feel as well, and allows followers to know an image belongs to a specific brand without them even seeing the name.

After all these steps have been taken, the most important thing for a brand to do is to keep up with their posting. Tracy said this is key to stimulating engagement and should ideally be done once a day. Brand's should also open their posts up for comments to create interaction amongst followers.

Along with handling other brand's social media accounts, she has developed herself into a fashion influencer with her own social media. Once a month, she posts a trend forecaster featuring her knowledge on the retail fields of home, beauty, and fashion.

Get cozy and listen to more about how Tracy ended up as social media manager, and other tips to cultivating a significant social media following!

In this episode you will...

Learn how to tailor you business venture based off of of the needs of your market
Find out how to stimulate engagement with you social media account
Know how to choose and use filters for your Instagram pictures
Figure out what social media accounts work best for your business and only nourish a few of them
Understand how to create a consistant voice and cohesive aethetic with your social media platforms
Know what organization methods and work tactics suit your business the best
INSIGHTS

"You could have a really good idea but if nobody is doing it or wants it, it doesn't really matter. You have to listen to the feedback that you're getting." - Tracy Nour

"I think that it's important to treat people with respect and to not forget that everybody is still figuring stuff out...most people want to help and I want to help others also." -Tracy Nour

"[Keep] doors open...and be confident in what you do...The more confident you are in talking about what you do, people aren't going to question you." -Tracy Nour

"I think you have to be really postive in your own head and not let yourself get down about mishaps and setbacks that happen in your business." -Tracy Nour

RESOURCES

She Just Knows Website

Tracy Nour LinkedIn

She Just Knows Instagram

She Just Knows Facebook

She Just Knows Pinterest

VSCO

The Universe has your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein

The Game of Life and How to Play it by Florence Scovel Shin

SDH165: How to Stop Getting Ready to Get Ready and Just Start with Shayna Rattler Jun 15, 2017

Show notes

As a growing business, it goes without saying that need funds to do so. But how do you gain sponsors? Better yet, how do gain corporate sponsors? Is your business even attractive to corporate sponsors? What does that entail?

Well Shayna Rattler has the answers to all of those questions with her business, Corporate Attraction, where she coaches businesses on how to land corporate sponsors and teaches business owners how to be productive, effective, and efficient.

When Corporate Attraction started in 2009, her clientele consisted of individual buyers and small businesses. Unfortunately, she found that her services and products weren't in their price range. This caused her business to start sinking and she found herself on the verge of foreclosure on her home and almost having to file bankruptcy.

However, Shayna didn't consider quitting her business as an option and instead shifted her customer base. She decided to market towards management and corporations because they had the money to pay her. The only problem was that there was no one to tell her how to take on such a task; but Shayna figured it out on her own through trial and error.

She developed a three step system to attracting corporate sponsors: Position, Package and Pitch.

The first step has to do with determining your company and brand's position in the marketplace. If your presence isn't known, a corporation won't care about your proposal or sales script.

She evaluates your position and determines your company's package through a 360 Degree Activation assessment. This consists of finding all the ways online and offline you're engaging your target market throughout the year, and how you are able to package these platforms for a corporation's access and profitability. If you are able to show corporations how many ways you are able to market their business, and your status in those platforms, you are seen as a more attractive candidate.

If you want to reach out to a corporation, she suggests you find the person in charge of the department that correlates to the direction of your business and reach out to them. In that initial contact, you should let them know you have noticed the audience they've been trying to reach, you have access to that audience and their trust, and you connect with them in unique and successful ways. Then simply suggest that you should "support one another" and leave discussion of a partnership for when it's been decided that this is a fruitful collaboration.

This aspect is extremely powerful because Influencer Marketing has become the best way to advertise and reach consumers in this new generation. If you show that you have access to their target audience and that the audience trusts what you tell them it let's corporations know that consumer is more likely to buy from them based on your recommendation. Also, you can give them direct access and engagement to this audience.

Get comfortable and soak up as much as Shayna Rattler has to say about obtaining corporate dollars in today's episode!

In this episode you will...

Know if changing your target customer will change the success of your business
Learn how to establish yourself in a marketplace to create a notable presence
Figure out how to increase the visibility of your brand in order to appear more attractive to corporate sponsors
Find a price point that reflects your quality of service and demands that your business be taken seriously
Understand how to build a personal relationship with someone in a corporation you'd like to sponsor your business
Know how to make your clients feel special and set your business to a higher standard
INSIGHTS

"I really just became committed to how [I would] teach other small business owners, especially women, [on] how to change the trajectory of their businesses in their lives by going after those big boys who have those big checks." -Shayna Rattler

"You can actually reach out to people that are in your backyard tomorrow...that's still going to be a revenue stream that you didn't have access to and give you the confidence and the past performance to go after the Coca-Colas in six to nine months" -Shayna Rattler

"Don't worry about your proposal and your deck until you know that this is a sound business case to be made...stop proposing products and services and solutions until people tell you what they want and need" -Shayna Rattler

"As women we need to stop telling ourselves that we're too small...that we haven't been in business long enough, we don't have it all figured out. So what, just start. Stop getting ready to get ready and just start." -Shayna Rattler

"The biggest thing I have learned in my eight years is that I have to keep going even when I don't feel like it and even though what I know I've been promised and what I know is possible is not actually evidence that I see right now." -Shayna Rattler

RESOURCES

Corporate Attraction's Website

Corporate Attraction Facebook

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham

SDH164: Launching a Successful Business on $400 with Victoria Fantauzzi Co-Founder of La Bella Figura Jun 12, 2017

Show notes

When you decided to become an entrepreneur, was your market nonexistent? Did you have to educate consumers on your market, then pitch your product? Did it ever occur to you to help other small businesses in your market flourish as well, and grow together?

As the co-founders of La Bella Figura, Victoria Fantauzzi and Karen King, began their natural and organic skin care line, they found that their consumers didn't know that they needed simple and green ingredients in their cosmetics products. In fact, Victoria and Karen didn't know they needed these qualities in their cosmetics either, until Victoria took a trip to Spain.

While there, she was exposed to an enormous amount of organic and handmade cosmetics that reminded her of the products her grandmother's and great-aunt's swore by.

Upon returning home, she asked Karen, her fellow coworker as a teacher, if she wanted to start a skin care line. With Karen settling on the fact that Victoria was crazy because they knew nothing about the cosmetics industry, Victoria took the opportunity to educate herself on the market.

After doing her research, she was shocked by the long list of horrible ingredients that brands were using in their cosmetics. After sharing her findings with Karen, the two decided to launch their first product with $400 and a single ingredient.

However, they faced a couple of challenges. One being that a lot of women and men didn't see the need for their product at the time so they had to educate consumers about what was in other cosmetic brand's products, and how it affected their skin. Only then could they introduce their product , and explain how they were different, and their product's health benefits. With this process in line, they then needed to figure out how to present this information to their customer clearly and succinctly without overwhelming them.

Their second problem was that their singular ingredient was extremely rare and expensive. With a limited budget, they decided to produce a small amount, and look for an effective platform to get the word about their new product to get their business rolling.

By connecting with a writer for Refinery29 and landing a review in the online women's lifestyle publication , they were able to turn a profit so they could reinvest in their business and expand their product.

As their La Bella Figura took off slowly but surely, Victoria had the idea of collaborating with other green cosmetic brands, so they could help one another promote their market. A lot of brands and retailers were hesitant about promoting their competitors, but Victoria convinced them that it was an opportunity to grow, and help their niche and other consumers live a healthier lives, and strengthen their market and get their foot in the mainstream cosmetic door.

So they organized they started A Night for Green Beauty in New York in August of 2012. With the promotion efforts of their friends, they invited editors from green beauty magazines, like EcoSalon, beauty bloggers, and the public to highlight and showcase brands in the organic beauty industry. The event was a hit and the following year, it was held in LA and was even more successful. The event ran annually for three years and during that time raised over $75,000 in donations for charities and nonprofits.

Tune in to learn more about this wonderful company and their desire to educate!

In this episode you will...

Know how to create an edge for your brand by educating your audience about your market and explaining the benefits and difference of your product
Figure out what business ventures are worth your company time and energy
Find ways to grow your business based off of customer feedback
Learn how to grow with your competitors that have the same values and cross promote each other
Know how to create brand and market awareness for your business and other similar brands
Discover whether connecting with your customer through a PR team or a directly to you is the most effective
INSIGHTS

"There's nothing more powerful than being in the process of knowledge. Just soaking it in and wanting more." - Victoria Fantauzzi

"It's okay that you juggle so many things because you're the mom to your business...you're juggling a whole bunch of things... just breath and figure out today." -Victoria Fantauzzi

"Sometimes I think I can do anything...it's a crazy thought, but the fun part about having that thought is actually trying to do these crazy things." -Victoria Fantauzzi

RESOURCES

La Bella Figura Website

La Bella Figura Facebook

La Bella Figura Instagram

La Bella Figura Twitter

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

SDH163: How to Leave Your Job and Chase Entrepreneurship with Joanna Alberti Jun 08, 2017

Show notes

How do you reflect yourself and your life through a product? Have you thought of doing so through a character? If so, how do you keep it relevant?

Joanna Alberti, founder of philoSophie's Stationary, uses the character Sophie in stationary and gift sets along with positive quotes and sassy sayings based off of the events of her and her friend's lives. With her business being 10 years old and Sophie being a few years older than that, she keeps her character relevant by branding her as an "everyday girl", making her relatable and timeless to all women.

Sophie was hatched when Joanna worked at an advertising agency in the mid 2000's. Wanting to get more into the creative side of the media department, she began making greeting cards for her company's arts and crafts fair, and Sophie was born. People loved the simplistic and cute character, and she decided to make greeting cards as a hobby.

She soon got two other jobs as a birthday party planner and a spa receptionist to nurture her budding business. As a birthday party planner, she was able create a clientele for customizable greeting cards. Working as a receptionist, she distributed her greeting cards at the front desk to get her product out to the public.

Joanna finally left her advertising job in 2005, and started taking her newfound hobby seriously in 2007. After creating a business plan, doing her market research, and seeing how much it would cost to print her designs, she moved to Rochester, NY to open up a small store front.

With her new space and growing business, she began licensing her artwork onto gift products, and to other greeting card companies like Recycled Paper Greetings, and Pavillion Gift. Those companies put her designs onto 3D ornaments, little trinket boxes, statues, and mugs among knick knacks

Listen in as we learn more about how Joanna has carried Sopjie through the years and has developed a company with a loyal following and at her own pace!

In this episode you will...

Find out how to leave the corporate world and chase your entrepreneurial dreams while still keeping that door open as a back-up plan
Appreciate how far you've come with your business and not get stressed by the day-to-day
Learn how to build your business off of what you have and can produce at the time
Figure out what your strengths are and how to delegate different aspects of your business to others
Know how to stop and analyze opportunities when they are presented to you, instead of jumping at every proposal
Learn how to customize a consumer's experience with your product and brand
INSIGHTS

"I have a core group of women and familiesthat I've worked with over the years that have allowed me to really do what I love and it's growing and it's crazy to say that it's been 10 years in the making. I don't think I'd still be in business if I didn't grow the way that I did." -Joanna Alberti

"I think people see me first as an artist, I think I see myself that way too, but I am a business owner. So I have to be mindful [of] my spending, my growth, and how am I going to evolve." -Joanna Alberti

"If you stay true to what you're set out to do there will always be a core audience of people who will support you because they see the love you've put behind something." -Joanna Alberti

RESOURCES

Essentialism: the Discipline Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

SDH162: Finding What Lights You Up with Arabelle Yee Jun 05, 2017

Show notes

What ignites you? Is it helping others? Is it your kids? Career? Giving guidance? Wine?

Arabelle Yee, a Life Strategist and High Performance Coach, thought her passions lay in the corporate world. However, as she looked around at the excitement and joy of her coworkers at a celebration for their company's newest business venture, she found it hard to match their happiness. After spending 10 years with them, she knew nothing was wrong with the company. It was just the fact that her values were no longer in alignment with them, and she had to find something that "lit her up".

She knew that whatever she decided to do, she had to work with a lot of people and provide support for them. Two years later she opened her practice as a clinical psychotherapist, and helped people with anxiety, depression, and confidence. But she quickly realized that she was taking on their problems as she worked with them, and became drained.

After reevaluating her clientele she wished to have, and the type of life she wanted to live, she decided that she wanted to help people, but not at the expense of her own mental health. She also wanted freedom and flexibility in the work place.

She then moved her business entirely online and wanted to help people change their mindsets. She began coaching people on improving themselves, how to live their life to the fullest, and developing confidence, among other things. With the success of her business change, people also started coming to her for entrepreneurial advice as well.

Through her new clientele, she found that a lot of them shared common problems: they hadn't found their passion, didn't know their true values, and were being controlled by their fears.

First she helped them become aware of a disconnect between their values and their actions and habits by asking three questions: where do you spend your money most? Time? And energy?

Arabelle feels values consist of the things that are the most important in a person's life and change as they get older. She also feels that a lot of people carry "borrowed values" that they adopt from influential people in their lives and society. Her goal with her clients is to demolish the idea that values are stagnant, and find what values are true to them, and are reflected in their actions. Once she's gotten her clients to this space, she begins to help them find their purpose

Come and learn more about how Arabelle helps people be the best versions of themselves and reap the benefits of a positive mindset and life!

In this episode you will...

Find a career path that you truly love
Know how to find your own values and not adopt someone else's
Understand how to go about changing the course of your life once you find your values
Be aware of your thought process and how it is affecting your mood and mindset
Figure out what your mindset is in accordance to money and where it came from, and if they are aligned with your values
Learn how to speak and think things into existence
INSIGHTS

"Become aware of your money stories. What thoughts are you thinking about money and what energetic instructions are you giving out to the world. How are you blocking money? Just become aware of the things you are receiving already." - Arabelle Yee

"We can sit down and complain about our situation. Or we can look at our situation and really understand where we are, because that situation is really inviting us to shift our thoughts and change our behaviors if we want different results in our lives." -Arabelle Yee

"You have to meet life halfway...the other half where life comes in...we don't have control over it, but it will respond to where we are. We still need to set goals. If you don't set goals you're just going to go with the winds...so set budgets...it's about being smart...and knowing my numbers...knowing exactly what I'm doing with my money...but at the same time feel like a millionaire." -Arabelle Yee

RESOURCES

Arabelle Yee's Website

Arabelle Yee LinkedIn

Arabelle Yee Facebook

Arabelle Yee Instagram

Arabelle Yee Twitter

Dr. John Martini's Website

Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard

SDH161: Is the Universe Testing You + Rewire Your Thoughts to Achieve What You Want with Host, Amanda Boleyn Jun 01, 2017

Show notes

The universe will test you anytime you're attempting to ascend to a high level of consciousness. Experiences I'm sharing how the universe has tested me over the years:

May 2011 - tempting me with a $1,000 gift card if I would had stayed with Target for another month vs leaving when I did
March 2012 - injured my knee in indoor soccer and need to replace a $1,000 shifter in my Jeep Liberty all within a week and 3 weeks before leaving for Europe for the first time ever
April 2012 - Being offered a full-time position with Wells Fargo as a recruiter and passing on the opportunity without knowing what was going to pan out with my relationship with Chad Carden at the time
May 2017 (heyyyy that's like now!) - Opting out of a consulting project that would have been a solid, steady gig for the next 6-8 months, lucrative income but would have pulled me away from She Did It Her Way and not aligned with what lights me up along with my true purpose.

Faith is believing in the unseen and willing to act upon the unseen.

The second part is talking about having the right attitude, understanding your thoughts and how to rewire them to serve you.

With the right attitude we can accomplish anything we want in life. ANYTHING.

Possessing the right attitude requires 4 phases.

#1 - We have to see the NEED for ourselves. After every need, ask yourself, "Why?"
*Knowing our WHY behind what we do will drive us to succeed and give purpose to what we do.

For example:
"I need to sleep more." Why? Because it will lower my stress, make me more alert, give me energy.

#2 - We have to WANT to do something.
"I WANT to sleep more."

#3 - We CAN do something.
*We thoroughly believe we can accomplish whatever it is that we want.
"I CAN sleep more."

#4 - I WILL do something.
*The will is our commitment to ourself.
"I WILL sleep more."

If we can confidently say to ourselves, "I NEED to, I WANT to, I CAN and I WILL," we will have successfully created the right attitude to move forward and turn our goals into reality.

Think of 1 thing that you've been wanting to accomplish yet can't figure out why you haven't been able to do so.

Walk yourself through the 4 Phases of Attitude, identify where the breakdown is happening.

Remember, "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." - Zig Ziglar

SDH160: Building a Business That Fulfills You with Tonya Dalton, founder of inkWELL Press May 29, 2017

Show notes

What are the things in life that give you fulfillment? Passion? Could you meld this in to a business or a product? Where do you begin to connect these dots?

For Tonya Dalton, she found that her passions in life were teaching, organizing, and empowering business owners and other women. And so, she created inkWELL Press, a company centered around productivity, and designed to help and educate women prioritize, and set up an organizational flow and system that works the best for their lives. inkWELL Press does so with products such as weekly planners, meal planners, organizational notepads, and other items. They even have videos on how to streamline customer's organizational process on their website.

Tonya found that the majority of the time, the most organized people aren't actually productive, and use organization as a procrastination technique. With inkWELL Press, she hoped women and female business owners could reach productivity first, and have organization follow naturally.

However, finding her passions didn't come easily. It took hours of Brain Dump and Mind Mapping exercises to narrow down the things that fulfilled her. She found that her greatest fulfillments came from her time as a former teacher and investment banker, and through her organizational exercises, she figured out how to link them to create a business and product, and create a mission statement for her brand.

Once she was able to develop an overall message and direction for her brand, she created an entire roadmap of how she was going to get her business off the ground. She set up her business development plan in mini milestones, with each end goal representing hurdles that she would have to overcome, and detailed how she would solve them, with a timeline for when they needed to be accomplished.

One of her biggest milestones was how to budget her family's finances, and survive six months without an income as her and her husband shut down their jewelry business, and developed inkWELL Press. But because they knew that they were chasing her big dream and ultimate purpose, they found saying no to the little splurges in life were challenging, but easy when they took in the big picture.

After whittling down her milestones, they developed a marketing and advertising strategy on Facebook and with lead magnets to find their target consumer and generate excitement around their brand. By giving out free downloads of the it productivity and organizational videos and programs in exchange for emails, as well as teasers on the product, they launched with 500 orders!

Pop a squat and learn more about what made Tonya want to be an entrepreneur and her and her husband's journey in going into business for themselves!

In this episode you will...

Know how starting a business can help you gain control of your life and priorities
Find out when and how to walk away from a business endeavor that you are no longer passionate about
Figure out your action plan in getting your business off the ground
Learn how to find your business's mission statement
Understand how to budget your income while starting your business
Begin to prioritize your hurdles and solve them one at a time
INSIGHTS

"When you're figuring out your end, that's where you start...because when I decided what my personal mission statement was, I built on that to create the mission behind Inkwell Press...I already knew it needed to be tied to something that made me feel fulfilled and that I would be passionate about" -Tonya Dalton

"Every time you say 'yes' you're saying 'no' to something else...My 'yes' was starting this business, so my no's were so much were so much easier." -Tonya Dalton

"It's not about being organized, it's about having a productive life. Productivity, to me, is not about doing more things faster, it's about having a life that you love and really focusing in on your priorities and getting those things done." -Tonya Dalton

"Failing is the best way to learn...When everything is sunshine and lollipops you're not really growing... It's those things that were really kind of painful...but looking back at have made the biggest difference." -Tonya Dalton

SDH159: How to Disrupt a Market with a Clear Purpose with Katerina Schneider, Founder of Ritual May 25, 2017

Show notes

How do you spice up a monotonous market with your product? How do you gain the resources for these innovations?

Today's guest, Katerina Schneider, wanted to bring a new spin to the vitamin industry by providing transparency about ingredients in her women's vitamin line, Ritual. When she was pregnant with her daughter, Katerina's conscious about what she put in and on her body was even more heightened. Already health-conscious, she began to take a deeper look into the ingredients in her family's foods , body products, and cleaning supplies. She found they were filled with poor quality ingredients, and a lot of those ingredients were in her prenatal vitamins, such as: blue coloring, titanium dioxide, carrageenan and other questionable products tested on rodents and humans.

She started to ask her friends and peers about the vitamins they took and if they knew better quality brands. She discovered most people did not pay attention to the ingredients and never really saw a difference in brands. She even noticed how hard it was to find all the ingredients in vitamins and where they came from.
She decided should start her own vitamin line. And she wanted her product to be based an evidence based company that was rooted in science. She hired Dr. Luke Bucci, head of research for the Airborne vitamin, to be a part of her team.

They spent a year looking at studies on vitamins on the market and narrowed their nutrients to nine ingredients.

Some of those ingredients include: a fourth generation folate from Italy that women can process and utilize, vitamin D3 from lichen instead of sheep's wool or Omega 3 from algae instead of fish oil. Ritual's vitamins also have a vegan capsule that is made of non-GMO corn protein instead of TALE shellac protein and PDP!

All of Ritual's ingredients and nutrients are listed on their website and informs consumer's of their origins and features interviews with the company's suppliers. What sets Ritual apart even more is their in-house team of scientists that are available to answer questions from consumers about their vitamins, and nutrition in general through their social media platforms.

Join us with a healthy boost of entrepreneurship and learn more about Ritual!

In this episode you will...

Know how to set your product or business apart from others in your market
Figure out how to find quality ingredients for your product
Learn how to set a price point and a selling strategy
Discover how to create a customer service and marketing strategy that appeals to your target audience
Understand how to develop a strong pitch for investors
Learn to create innovation from the "noes"
INSIGHTS

"Going through childbirth makes you a stronger founder [and] leader; you feel like you can take on anything and there's more purpose behind what you do." -Katerina Schneider

"As a founder you have to be a really good storyteller. It's what inspires investors..hiring a team, and gets you through the hard times. Having a story that tells your vision really well is really important." - Katerina Schneider

"We're not just a vitamin company. We're really going to transform women's lives and make them feel their best every single day." -Katerina Schneider

"All the 'noes' that we got forced us to create something radically different. One of our values at the company is 'we like noes.' It means it's never been done before." -Katerina Schneider

"You have to start a company when you think you'll be excited about your idea 10-20 years from now. You start a company for the long haul.There's a lot of highs [and] lows, but unless you're so passionate about what you're constructing, it's not worth it. It's that passion that drives you every single day.If you don't have that long term conviction and interest, I don't think it's worth starting a company." -Katerina Schneider

RESOURCES

Ritual Website

Ritual Facebook

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Ritual Twitter

Katerina Schneider LinkedIn

Katerina Schneider Twitter

The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

SDH158: Risking It All & Going For It with Co-founders Claudia Wagner & Diana Gaertner of UBooker May 22, 2017

Show notes

What is stopping you from going after your business idea? Is it the people around you? Lack of knowledge? Or your own fear?

The co-founders of UBooker, Claudia Wagner and Diana Gaertner, mulled over the idea of streamlining the model booking process for 7-8 years. Being models themselves, they had even been conducting unofficial market research over the span of their careers, which was about 20 years. They found that a lot of models were frustrated with the tedious process of booking jobs, as well as clients with finding models for their project.

After seeing that the modeling industry wasn't going to adapt the process to the fast-paced, technological times, Diana and Claudia made the decision to finally go for it. With the help of their two other co-founders, Andrea Losso and Nicola Scagnolari, they took their idea and translated it to a well-thought out business plan, and created a website.

With UBooker launching Februrary of 2017, Claudia and Diana were able to take a process that typically lasted a couple days and shorten it to around 10 minutes.

Check out how UBooker achieved this great task, and how they maneuver the hectic, but exciting life as lady bosses!

In this episode you will...

Know how to streamline a tedious process with your business
Learn to create a well-balanced leadership team with contrasting personalities
Understand how to work with a team that is located around the world
Gain the courage to go after your business idea
Figure out how to attract audiences across different demographics
Begin to encourage others who want to start their own business and not put them down

INSIGHTS

"To think about all the possibilities that could come up for the booking process...what could the client want, what could the model want, and how can we make things even better and more comfortable...more efficient...it was very complex, but also very exciting. It's a great thing for me to learn, it's wonderful." -Diana Gaertner

"The first hurdle a lot of people have when [you] start a business is to gather the courage to do it; because we had this idea to do something for seven-eight years [and] we started to say there's something to be done here." -Claudia Wagner

"There is a fear there. There is a fear of change...I believed so strongly that this [could] be done successfully...every time I hear this can't be done it [gives] me the motivation to work even harder." -Claudia Wagner

"I still can't always see the dimension of our project, it's growing literally every day. It's getting more an more complex...but deep inside I knew this was going to be a project that was going to work and I believed in it 100% and it is working...no one needs to tell us anymore that it's not going to work because it actually is." -Diana Gaertner

RESOURCES

Toolsberry

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

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