Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 007 – Christy Pretzinger, WriterGirl

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One of the best rewards of interviewing women for the Her Million Dollar My$tery podcast is that every single woman and every single business is perfectly unique! This was really evident when talking to Christy Pretzinger, owner of www.WriterGirl.com. When she bought this business from its founder, she actually really only bought the name! But Christy soon became the actual “writer girl” as she landed a huge contract with The Ohio State University and literally created a new category of business writing services by bringing groups of writers to a business writing project.

Christy has rocked the “Million Dollar My$tery” right out of the park with current annual revenues well over $4M, and she cracked the $1M ceiling all the way back in 2009 – without any capital whatsoever! Well, that’s not exactly true – she focused on human capital, and that was the investment she needed. Human capital and top-notch quality, as well as focusing on the soft skills needed to build and maintain client relationships.

Christy attributes her rapid and growing success to several basic concepts:

We are smarter together (great team building, which has assured that no one she has ever hired has actually ever left!!) Don’t compete with your salespeople, play the long game, and follow the Golden Rule. She says getting out of her own way was a game-changer.

You will be super motivated after listening to Christy Pretzinger on Her Million Dollar My$tery Episode #007!

Listen to the podcast here!

 

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 006 – Mavis Linneman-Clark, The Delish Dish, Made by Mavis & Kickstart Kitchen

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Journalist Food Blogger turned Culinary Queen! This queen took her hometown by storm and became the “caterer to the stars” in the Cincinnati/Northern KY region in a fast few years.

In business now 8 years, Mavis Linneman-Clark began with a love of parties – hosting parties and serving creative delicious meals to friends. She continued to work full-time on her blogging and other journalism work while she went to culinary school in Chicago, moved back here, and got her catering business off the ground. She is on track to break the million dollar barrier, and would have hit that mark in 2020 had COVID-19 not jumped in her way.

Even in challenging times, Mavis kept her eye on the prize. It was a CHOICE to scale her business, and was the goal all along. Constant pivoting along the way as the business climate changed or as opportunities presented themselves. Leaning on the advice of good mentors, knowing where your talents are best used…these are some of her many “ingredients” for success.

Join us on Episode #006 of Her Million Dollar Mystery to learn more about the Amazing Ms. Mavis of The Delish Dish, Made by Mavis, & Kickstart Kitchen! Oh, and spoiler alert – her famous woman entrepreneur that she would have dinner with built an empire LONG before social media!

Listen to the podcast here!

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 005 – Heather Doeberling, Boca Loca & Boss ChickNBeer

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Whenever I talk to Heather Doeberling, I feel like I have just stepped into a Disney movie and am chatting with a new woman superhero! Heather has more energy in her little finger than most people possess in their whole body! But besides the energy, what is most striking about Heather is how incredibly generous she is with her time and talents. She has a genuine interest in seeing others succeed and taking care of her employees like family. And it pays off! She has loyal, dedicated employees who feel a sense of ownership at Boca Loca and Boss ChickNBeer – which then translates to very happy customers who are regular, repeat visitors.

What started as great food, out of a passion for creating and sharing culinary creations, became a food truck because that was the smartest, most cost effective channel of distribution. Necessity is the mother of invention, and this single mom had little cash to start with, so a food truck served as the kitchen and the restaurant. An awesome product and a creative method to reach her community to sample her amazingly tasty fresh burritos and bowls was a winning combo as she recouped her investment in the truck in just 3 months!

“I can make anything happen” is a mantra of Heather’s. “If you do it, do it full force.” Those are her sage words of wisdom to others as well as know your runway of cash and don’t let debt get ahead of you.

I can’t wait for you to join me on Episode 005 of Her Million Dollar Mystery – the podcast where we dig into what holds women back from breaking the million or multi-million dollar revenue barrier, and more importantly what propels women forward? Heather Doeberling is definitely on the propel forward path!

Listen to the podcast here!

 

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 004 – Ann Keeling, Cristofoli-Keeling

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“You don’t know everything!” It isn’t every day that someone is brave enough to say that about themselves, but Ann Keeling, Founder/Owner of Cristofoli-Keeling and her new startup Cristofoli – an American-made, European-inspired line of sustainable branded accessories, is confident enough to say it right out loud! “Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.” Great advice for all of us.

For 21 years, Ann has been supporting the growth of B2B, B2C and Non-Profits with her high-end marketing strategy business. She now offers very affordable a la carte marketing services to start-ups, who traditionally don’t have the funds for a big expensive marketing company, but are in the stage when investing in branding, market research, and other needs is most critical for the sustainability of the business.

So, what does Ann think holds women back? Lack of confidence, not trusting your own gut, and a lack of focus or a focal point that is hard for others to understand. Great thoughts for other women-owned businesses who want to break through that million dollar ceiling.

Ann is seeing more women acting on their ideas, leaving corporate America to start their own gig. They are rethinking their priorities and taking risks associated with building the life they want to lead.

Join me in listening to Episode #004 and hear more from Ann Cristofoli-Keeling. You will come away feeling brave and inspired. I know I did!

Listen to the podcast here!

 

 

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 003 – Laura Borsky & Francie Ruppert, SaferSit

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What could be better than a partnership between a stay-at-home mom who needs intermittent childcare and an enterprising high school student at an all girls’ high school?

That’s how SaferSit got started! Think “Rover.com” but for little people instead of pets! All background-checked and cleared for sitting. No worries for mom, and safe environments for the sitters.

Laura Borsky was at home with her young children and found it difficult to find safe, reliable childcare since she wasn’t looking to hire a full-time nanny. In comes Francie Ruppert, a high school student with a “Babysitters R Us” business through which she frequently delegated her extra jobs to her friends at school. The idea percolated between these two amazing women to join forces and formalize Francie’s lunch table business into an actual start-up.

Now SaferSit has over 700 high school and college girls who love kids and want to make some extra money in three different regional markets. Laura and Francie know that the secret to success will be the mobile app they are working to build. It will be direct from your phone and customized to the market and needs of the customer and suppliers (sitters!) They know it needs to be fully automated, because with this much business they obviously can’t book all these sitting gigs by hand! The challenge – finding good, affordable tech support to build out the app. Doesn’t seem like that should be a problem, but more and more we are hearing of great technology that never gets off the block because talent is hard to come by. Staying local limits the talent; going national or to the coasts increases cost and risk substantially. The answer? We need more women in tech who want to work in their own markets and can price themselves competitively.

Laura’s dream for SaferSit is to see what life is like with the SaferSit app. She knows what she went through trying to juggle small children and multiple phone calls & texts to find sitters. Full time moms (or dads) need breaks, and when their spouse comes home after a long day of work, watching the kiddos for a couple hours doesn’t always work out so well.

When asked what apps THEY would put on their phones in addition to SaferSit, Francie would have her 3 go tos: GroupMe to stay up with her 700 friends who babysit, The Hopper because she has the travel bug, and the PostIt app – she is obviously an organizer! Laura on the other hand, in a different stage of life, likes Venmo – because that’s how SaferSit gets paid, and Amazon Whole Foods app for the deals and extra 10% off, and her Mind Body app because moms need to practice self care for sure!

I loved talking to these two inspirational ladies who came through Aviatra EXPLORE® just 4 years ago! You will love hearing their stories on Episode #003 of Her Million Dollar My$tery!

Listen to the podcast here!

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 002 – Lisa Woodruff, Organize365.com

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Never a dull moment when hanging out with Lisa Woodruff – founder and CEO of Organize365.com! Thanks for being one of our first Her Million Dollar My$tery Podcast guests, Lisa Woodruff!

So what are Lisa’s secrets to crashing through the million dollar barrier? Focus, pushing past the 5 year mark, and keeping your eye on the prize 10 years out from today. Lisa decided she was going to be THE national expert in “online organizing.” She determined where she wanted the business to be in ten years and drilled into that goal with laser focus! She built a timeline and stuck to it. At times she had to back up to keep going forward. At one point she hired 7 experts to focus on 7 areas of her business and for 7 weeks she honed in on each of those areas of the business and built the structure of the business to match the timeline to reach her 10 year goal. That was the secret sauce to blowing past the revenue barriers.

Lisa also always does her homework! She reads and consumes more information that I think is humanly possible and magically retains and applies what she consumes to grow her business and enhance the lives of her clients.

Hang out with Lisa and I on episode 002 of Her Million Dollar My$tery and catch her enthusiasm. I promise it is contagious is a good way!

Listen to the podcast here!

 

READY, SET, GO! – Preparation is the KEY to Re-Opening Your Business

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Governor DeWine is working to set in place guidance to re-set the economy and for Ohioans to return to work. Women business owners must work towards making the necessary adjustments for their transition to be successful.
In my last blog, we discussed preparing to relaunch. If this is your first time engaging, if you have time, I suggest you go back and read the past two weeks blog post as well.

I shared thoughts and suggested actions to assist in necessary plans for a productive shift and pivot process. Pivoting is a movement in which you move in any direction with one foot, while keeping the other foot grounded. You adjust accordingly as needed. So, maybe you discovered you only need to tweak some of how you operated, that’s a 45-degree move. Or to re-open and keep you, your employees, and your customers safe you need to make a huge adjustment to maintain social distancing and implement safety procedures that’s more of a 90-degree move. Or maybe, the pandemic shed quite a bit of light on your business situation and you need a 180-degree rotation.

Whichever the case, you can do this! LET’S GET READY, SET AND GO!

I believe women view their business differently. Oftentimes, they have added variables to consider. One that may be a factor is if you have school aged children or you are caring for elderly loved ones. I suggest just as you adjusted for these special circumstances when the pandemic began, you should set those things in order first. This will free your mind and energy to concentrate on re-opening.

We always start with WHY?
Convey your why to your team before you return.
It’s also a good idea to speak to and update investors or silent partners before you return
Through your actions and energy your team and customer will feel your why.

ACTION:
Before you open call a virtual meeting or face to face if you’re able to and discuss the reopening. Openly discuss any of their concerns and what your plans are to keep them, their loved ones, your customer and the public safe. Show your appreciation to them for their commitment to your company. If you had to reduce pay for any of your team members acknowledge your regret in having to do so and seek to find ways in the future to recover their loss, even if over time or in phases.
Your WHO is waiting?

People are ready to move forward and come see you.
Welcome your customers back.
Inform them of any change in hours of operations.
Inform them of how you plan to keep them safe and the adjustments you have made to do so.
If you offer services, inform them if you’re ready to engage cautiously face to face if they prefer.

ACTION:
Utilize your website, social media, and signage within your space to welcome your customers back. When you see them face to face greet them and ask how they are. Inform of any adjustments you have made to keep them safe and what is expected of them and why.
Market changes?
Hey, you re-opened your doors, so you’re still standing! Awesome!
Your customers will let you know what they want.
Seek out new customers!
Set yourself apart from your competitors by going above and beyond expectations.

ACTION:
Research and understand exactly what measures are necessary to meet the recommendations to re-open. Assure full compliance with the CDC and state recommendations. Don’t just assume others share your same personal views. Adhering to the guidelines is safe. This is just as important as the product or services you offer. Be prepared and know what others in your industry are doing and make efforts to network with supporting and like-minded business owners.

Does your customer know WHERE you are?
Do you look like you’re ready to re-open?
Are you ready to re-open your brick and mortar?
Did you adjust for online purchases? Or offer online services?

ACTION:
Maybe you haven’t been to your location since you closed the doors because of the stay at home order. Get your team together and go down and do some spring cleaning before you reopen. Even if your product or service was primarily provided in person, you must offer something online.
HOW has your business changed? HOW will you have to do business post-COVID -19?
Be flexible in case there are set backs
Your customer and your team will communicate to you through their actions their expectations
Ask your customers for feedback. Hey, how are we doing?
Research, research, research and then implement, implement, implement.
Try new things!
Build a stronger team!

ACTION:
People respond to how you make them feel! Be ready, get set and go! If you prepare when the time comes to re-open, they will notice and respond!

Aviatra is offering free virtual support and one on one mentoring during this time. Contact me, and we can match you and your business with the appropriate mentor support.

Supporting Women on the Rise,

Pamela Cone

Market Director
Aviatra Accelerators Dayton
937-231-8730
PAMELA@AVIATRA.ORG

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 001 – Eisha Armstrong, Vecteris, Inc.

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After spending time with Eisha Armstrong, cofounder of Vecteris, Inc., I always come away feeling wiser, more motivated, and strangely calm! She has that impact on people.

I am pretty sure she was born this way – exuding leadership, remaining calm, and always successful–but she says, “not necessarily so.” During our podcast, I learned that her highly successful- business, Vecteris, Inc., which had hockey stick revenue growth in its first year, followed what she calls “a complete and utter disaster” of another business. So in other words, she cut her founder teeth on a business that just didn’t work, and took what she learned and applied it to Vecteris.

For Eisha, it all comes back to her personal “why.” Mindset is the most critical component of her success. Fearlessness is a corporate value at Vecteris, and putting the customer first and understanding their goals is paramount. When asked why women-owned businesses might struggle to break through the revenue barriers, Eisha sights mindset and not asking for help as two factors that can hold us back. She is also wise about the importance of doing your homework. Spend time and money early on consumer research, validating ideas, and having those tough, in-depth customer conversations.

Even though this isn’t Eisha’s first rodeo, and she did draw on her extensive corporate background and connections, Vecteris’ trajectory is super impressive and a company to keep an eye on in the coming year.

Oh, and by the way, she practices what she preaches and gives back 5% of net profits in dollars or time to organizations that empower women. Aviatra Accelerators has definitely benefitted from that mindset and generosity as Vecteris has created and developed our Aviatra365® online digital curriculum offering!

So, Eisha, while you seem calm, cool, and collected, you have an inner drive that is infectious! Thanks for sharing with me on Her Million Dollar My$tery Podcast!

Listen to the podcast here!

Questions to Ask to Prepare to Re-launch

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In my last blog, I assigned some homework. For those who are just tuning in and for others who need a re-cap, I recommended you find clarity to sustain during this unprecedented time. The assignment was to ask yourself some probing questions–starting with WHY? 

Part two of the exercise was to find space to journal or whiteboard to list some ideas, reach out and find a mentor (Aviatra is offering free mentorship during this time), and to connect with your team members. Giving yourself permission to scream and cry was optional, but therapeutic, nonetheless. Most importantly, you were to make up your mind that you were going to do your part to prepare to move forward no matter what! 

Now, time to learn how to SHIFT and PIVOT and be ready to RE-LAUNCH!

We started with WHY?

  • Your why should be strong! In fact, stronger than when you first began.
  • While working to maintain your business, you should have discovered a newfound resilience.
  • The reasons you want to continue in business should mirror why you started.

You cannot forget about the WHO?

I believe you learned somethings about your customer that you did not know. 

  • Things like your customer’s resilience, their loyalty, and that you missed them.
  • You found a new desire to value them and learn how to better meet their needs.
  • You had to shift how you engaged and supplied your product or service. 

ACTION:

Plan ways to appreciate your customers for your re-launch. Offer discounts and sales, bundle packages, and/or appreciation events to re-engage with them. If you have not already found a way to create an online presence and purchase options. 

WHAT did you learn about the current market?

If you were able to expand, kudos to you! If not, you were able to sustain, kudos to you too!

· Did you find that your business still met the need in the market space?

· Now seek out ways to expand your catalog. If not, now is the time!

· Understand what is needed in these current times.

ACTION:

Research the market and find products and services that are in demand now and are relevant both to the current market and your customers. Reintroduce yourself in the market by planning to attend trade and networking events. 

WHERE? Did your customers have access to you?

Is your company now positioned on the market in all places? 

  • If you were solely brick and mortar. It’s no longer either-or, it’s both and.
  • Continue to offer purchase opportunities for your customer in both places

ACTION:

Even if your product or service was primarily provided in person, you must offer something online. For example, a small restaurant, establish a To-Go menu and continue to offer it. Another example is a hairstylist or barber, offer recommended grooming products online.

HOW? Did you discover that how you were doing business was problematic? 

  • Meet your customers where they are. 
  • Use multiple ways to communicate billboards, snail mail, by phone, email, text, digitally– online and on social media, with various platforms. 
  • How your customer responds indicate how they prefer to be reached. 
  • Ask your customer for feedback. 
  • Reassess how you did business. This can be both technical and personal. 
  • Examine your core values
  • Determine if your current 
  • Is your team intact? If so, show them your appreciation. If not, win them back!
  • Ask your team for feedback.

ACTION: 

Invest in good public relations or marketing personnel or a contractor to promote how you have sustained and about your plans moving forward. This should include free and bought press, traditional and digital marketing strategies, and social media. 

Again, Aviatra is offering free virtual support and one on one mentoring during this time. Contact me, and we can match you and your business with the appropriate mentor support.

Supporting Women on the Rise,

Pamela Cone

Market Director

Aviatra Accelerators Dayton

937-231-8730

PAMELA@AVIATRA.ORG

Questions to Ask In Order to Succeed During These Challenging Times

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To say that this global pandemic has thrown us off our game is a gross understatement. Nevertheless, here we are all rocked; some of us to our core! Where do we begin and how do we shift?  How do we employ our best critical thinking and problem-solving skills and apply them to this unique, hopefully once in a lifetime experience? One of the positive aspects of our current situation is that we’re having a collective experience and are all experiencing some level of collective vulnerability.  How we all look on the other side of this is determined by how we collectively and individually respond based on our personal vulnerabilities. Yes, this is both global and personal. This is the same when it comes to business, especially women owned small businesses.

Once we have taken care of health concerns, our family responsibilities, organized our homes and established new schedules to adjust to this new normal, we have to reset our minds to think about our business, our other family members our team and customers, clients, and business partners. How do we do this? How do we shift in mid-stream, in the middle of executing our 2020 visions and strategies, and starting and growing our businesses?

During this time, we need clarity in order to make informed, strategic decisions. And all changes start with you! I have completed several degree programs, worked in various roles and planned for just about everything you can imagine. I never start any venture without going through the following exercise.

Over the next few articles, I will share simple communication, marketing, and business development advice to help you evaluate, assess, shift, and pivot. I will give examples of how business owners can sustain and be prepared to re-launch successfully having met these challenges head on.

To effectively move forward in these steps, I do suggest taking some time to sit quietly, talk out loud, brainstorm ideas in a journal or on a  white board, speak to friends, reach out to mentors and valued team members, inquire and research what like-minded companies are doing, meditate, pray, scream, and shed a few tears. But determine that you’re going to do your part to prepare to move forward no matter what.

WHY?

“People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” — Simon Sinek

This is an excellent place to start! Yes, I’m suggesting start at the beginning.

Questions:

  • Why do you do what you do?
  • Why is it important to you?
  • Why did you decide to start your own business?
  • Why do you think you were successful?
  • Why do you want to continue in business?

WHO?

You need to always understand your customer and keep up with how they behave in the market.

Questions:

  • Who is your customer?
  • Who do you serve?
  • Does your who still need you?
  • Does your customer feel valued?
  • Who is a part of your team?
  • Do they feel valued?

WHAT?

Know your product! Know its relevancy to the market!

Questions:

  • What do you have to offer?
  • Is it still relevant? Needed?
  • Can you expand what you offer?
  • What need do you meet in the market space?

WHERE?

Position your company to be seen in the market on all levels!

Questions:

  • Was the interaction Face to Face/Brick and Mortar?
  • Was it Online?
  • Was it Both?
  • If not, could it be both?
  • Have you extended it online?

HOW?

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Questions:

  • How do you engage with your customer?
  • Is it effective?
  • How does your customer respond to you?
  • Could you extend the outreach and engagement?
  • How do you manage my business?
  • Is it effective?
  • How do you engage with your team?
  • Is it effective?
  • How does your team respond to you?

In the meantime, do your homework! Take time to reach out to your team. Gather them on a conference call, ZOOM or GoToMeeting, for an honest conversation. Reach out for support. We are offering free virtual support and one on one mentoring during this time. Contact me and we can match you and your business with the appropriate mentor support.

Supporting Women on the Rise,

Pamela Cone

Market Director

Aviatra Accelerators Dayton

937-231-8730

PAMELA@AVIATRA.ORG