Social Impact Company Provides Community Space in Hartford

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Social Impact Company Provides Community Space in Hartford

March 04 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Initiatives 0 comments Tags: community, Connecticut, CT, Hartford, small business

CO:LAB has reactivated the Hartford Public Library’s former Goodwin Branch into a community space called the Free Center.

Social impact brand development and design firm CO:LAB is committed to supporting the community in Hartford. The company recently moved from its Parkville location to the Hartford Public Library’s Goodwin Branch, which closed in 2018.

CO:LAB operates out of the building and has reactivated it into a community space called the Free Center.

“This space meant something to this community. It meant their ability to actualize their empowerment,” explains CO:LAB Principal Rich Hollant. “This was a place where people became part of the community fiber. And that matters—it matters to people and it matters to the community.”

Plans for the Free Center are based on the community’s needs. To that end, CO:LAB is doing some research with actual community members.

“Folks who participate in neighborhood revitalization programs are those who have the time, wherewithal, a sense of culture around civic engagement, and fewer barriers to participation. That’s not the bulk of the folks who live here,” underscores Rich.

“A minority of the folks who live here have that capacity,” he adds. “We’re really interested in supporting the majority of the folks who live here—those who can’t migrate to another library, because what appears to be a minor inconvenience to some is inhibitive to others.”

CO:LAB EMBRACES SOCIAL IMPACT MISSION

CO:LAB launched 30 years ago as a branding communications company working with Fortune 500 companies including Conagra Foods, Motorola, Travelers, and Hasbro. Over time, the company evolved. As Rich notes, “We are a perpetual startup. Every few years we do something new.”

The company’s biggest shift began about 10 years ago while they were working on a project for the

Human Rights Institute. For Rich, personally, it provided a deeper understanding of the plot of human rights violations over time.

“I recognized that if we don’t address a change in the social fabric, the current condition becomes the new normal,” he says. “As we were doing this work, I gave a lot of consideration to what urgency meant. While we were helping some nonprofits and organizations in some ways, the work we were doing didn’t fall under the auspice of social impact in a manner that addressed the urgency.”

Soon after working with the Human Rights Institute, Rich says he told the team to wrap up the corporate work because they were going to try to figure out how to participate in social impact.

“It took about six months to complete those projects and then we started working on how to put our energy and time into work that’s going to make a difference—doing something that’s actually going to have an impact, not just feel good for us to do,” explains Rich. “How do we get to a place where we’re confident that we’re making a quantifiable difference?”

Since then, CO:LAB has been focused on social impact work. “We largely just say yes to things that look like we could learn about how systems work, or we can use our learning about how systems work to influence change and encourage favorable outcomes through communications,” says Rich.

The company works with many local foundations, nonprofits, cities, and the government. Rich is also Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Hartford, a Billings Forge Community Works board member, an AIGA national board member, and co-chair of Design for Democracy.

“I show up and I advise folks who may be having board challenges or organizational challenges,” he says. “CO:LAB is engaged. We’re in it.”

The company is also committed to giving back—which is how they became involved with the Hartford Public Library.

MAKING COMMUNITY IMPACT

CO:LAB was invited to attend a meeting at the library to discuss the evolution of the space. “We showed up and started sharing some thoughts—not really thinking about us!” admits Rich.

CO:LAB and the Free Center are located in the Hartford Public Library’s Goodwin Branch.

“But the more we looked at how the space operates, what it takes to run this facility, and what the contractual agreement would be, it was a complete switch from where we were in Parkville,” Rich explains. “Though our office was pretty cool there, we were isolated. And impact doesn’t happen in the back row. It happens up front, on the street. That’s the magic of this new space—it’s in the middle of community where the real social work happens.”

He adds, “There was very little additional cost to get going in this environment. The additional cost is going to come in determining how to activate the space in terms of staffing and equipment. We need to figure out what running a community center is really going to take beyond the space.”

While they sort out the programmatic details, CO:LAB initially plans to make the space open with a few computers available, free Wi-Fi, and meeting spaces that can be signed out for use.

PROGRAMMING AND COLLABORATION

In terms of programming, Rich notes, “We’re still sorting that out with our nonprofit partners. The idea is the space is accessible for free as long as the programs happening there are also free. There’s something about that model I like tremendously.”

He continues, “But, then I struggle with the idea of the space being used for a fundraising event or something along those lines. There’s an exchange going on, so it gets a little complicated. That’s where we’re still figuring out the model and how to keep the space functioning equitably.”

CO:LAB also plans to create some of its own community programming and events. And they started a forum with local organizations including COMPASS Youth Collaborative, Hartford Youth Scholars, Billings Forge Community Works, and RE-Center.

“These organizations have human capacity. They have programmatic design capacity. They run their programs well, but access to space can be a challenge,” notes Rich.

“We invited them to sit together to visualize: If space weren’t an issue, what would they run programmatically together as a team? And, as we started to look at what each of these organizations brings to the table, we realized they can actually mesh nicely, and we can create something new together,” he says. “So, we’re working to provoke those types of conversations and encourage a sense of natural collaboration based on how we already know these folks in the community—because these are the people we work with every day.”

Other ideas for the community space include an on-site farmers market, a community garden, a pop-up café, training courses, musical performances, and art exhibitions.

KEEPING THE ARTS IN CONNECTICUT

The real drive is to continue giving back. In addition to opening the Free Center, for the past three years CO:LAB has run Parkville Studios, an artist residency program at their former 1429 Park Street location in Parkville.

“To me that was the real forbearer to this Free Center project,” says Rich.

He explains, “A number of years ago, when I was working on Hartford Fashion Week, I noticed some volunteers were students or recent art school graduates who were planning on leaving the state. They were going to New York, San Francisco, Miami—anywhere but Connecticut. My son was one of them, so I was really curious why!”

Rich continues, “What it came down to is this: While they were at school they were working collaboratively. They had studios together and they were working in large scale. Once they graduated, they were living with roommates and working this way was a challenge and ultimately a limiter. So, they wanted to go somewhere else where ‘accidents’ happened with greater frequency, where they could collide into other people and create opportunities.”

Rich’s solution: What if CO:LAB creates that kind of space?

“We’ve been developing a space where curators, gallery owners, or museum directors could come in and support, provoke, or catalyze artistic exploration and growth. We have five local artists using studio space. And what we’re finding is, three years in, even though they were considering moving elsewhere, they are here. They’ve made investments in the community. They’re selling work. They’re starting ’zines and starting alternative spaces in the Fuller Brush building. They’re deeply engaged in the creative community here,” he says.

“Like the Hartford Public Library opportunity, it all started because of conversations,” Rich points out. “Simply saying: Let’s all talk, figure out what folks need, and find out how we can be helpful.”

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

The new space brings new opportunities to the community—and CO:LAB.

“I think we’ll do better brand communication and strategy work for nonprofits and social enterprises as we run our own,” says Rich. “We’ll have a better understanding of the capacity challenges. We’re able to motivate folks around the distinction between what they are working on and what they are working toward. And we’ve been able to do that with very little experience ourselves living that distinction.”

He adds, “For the most part, we have been advising based on theory, and it’s been helpful to people. We’ve been in the community on boards and as a partner, and we’re working to understand our community dynamics. We bring strategic thinking and the love of research and data and our communications acumen to the programmatic and operations side of the table, which I think is going to make this new endeavor work pretty nicely.”

Learn more about CO:LAB

VISIT: www.colabinc.com
FOLLOW: Facebook |Instagram| Twitter

 

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Creative Startup SquishyBrick Finds Its Home in Hartford, CT

February 22 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Startups 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Harford, small business, startup, woman-owned business

Kyrima Colon and Issac Hopkins are cofounders of SquishyBrick, a Hartford, CT-based creative startup.

Hartford-based brand strategy and design consultancy SquishyBrick was founded by Issac Hopkins, Creative Art Director & CEO and Kyrima Colon, Marketing Director. Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price learned about their experience launching a startup in Hartford and what makes their agency innovative.

NAN PRICE: Why Hartford?

ISSAC HOPKINS: Kyrima and I are both from Hartford. We took off for Washington, D.C. right after high school and we both went to the Art Institute of Washington to study video game art and design.

NAN: Did you intend to come back?

ISSAC: No, that wasn’t our intention at all. We came back following a large video game company, where I had gotten a contract to work. But the entire company disbanded and moved to London. It was a tough process for us—we had uprooted our lives and spent a lot to move back here. The position was still available in London, but we had just moved back to Hartford, and it didn’t make sense to move again.

NAN: It became a “now what?!” situation. Did that evolve into launching the business?

ISSAC: Right. We jumped into regular day jobs and we were freelancing at the same time, establishing ourselves, and building portfolio work. We had some local clients and we wanted to attack where we grew up, essentially. It wasn’t the plan. It wasn’t a negative necessarily, but the original plan was to go to D.C., make a lot of contacts, and try a different life. So, when we moved back to Connecticut the new plan became: Alright, let’s just make it work.

And, because we had been gone for a few years, we saw that the city was different. There were more companies, co-working spaces were popping up, and young entrepreneurs were everywhere.

KYRIMA COLON: When we came back to Hartford, we were still up in the air. We were getting offers from different states. But we had just gotten here and we were getting situated. I told Issac: We may as well make this a business, create one name everyone knows both of us by, and get our work out there more effectively. We had kept our work separate for years. So, in 2017 we decided to join everything and create a formal company.

NAN: What’s your differentiator?

ISSAC: The business started from our skillset, which is unique. At the time, we were among the first couple hundred people in the country who had a degree in game design.

Most people from the game industry have studied from animation or traditional artwork. With game design, you have to be able to draw, sculpt, paint—and do those things digitally, too. And you’re doing design, animation, rendering, simulations, and lighting in not only 2D but also 3D environments.

NAN: SquishyBrick isn’t a game design company, though. How are you incorporating your skills into the services you offer?

ISSAC: Using a skillset acquired from the game industry, we make visual representations of products. So, we can enable a customer or company to rapidly prototype and customize a product or package design.

Typically, if an entrepreneur has a product to bring to market, they make some rough designs or prototypes of their design, then they need to acquire funding to take it to the next level. They usually need an engineer to build a working 3D model or create details for a manufacturer. That takes a long time and it’s expensive—and it’s a sticking point for a lot of entrepreneurs.

Sometimes all that effort is put in before they’ve even figured out whether the market wants their product. That’s a big problem. Imagine spending all that time, effort, and money to get an engineer to make your product only to find out the market doesn’t want or need it.

SquishyBrick enables people to make a photorealistic, customizable representation of their product they can put out to prospective customers. They can visualize it and do real-time testing to see if there’s a space for their product in the market without having to spend all that extra money and time to manufacture it.

They can also send the same designs we’ve created to manufacturers to find out if the product can be manufactured. From there, they can approach investors and try to get funding for the next step in their initiative. And people typically need investment to get to that next step. But, if they’re bogged down and barely have any money for the initial concept, they can get stuck.

NAN: Aside from startups and entrepreneurs, who is your target clientele?

ISSAC: Companies looking to launch products and develop their brands. One of our target industries is beverage companies. Connecticut has a lot of brewing companies trying to market new beers and they need to differentiate their products from everyone else’s. The best way to do that is by marketing through visual concepts. Another target industry is tech companies that have hard-to-describe products, like a virtual private network.

We can really benefit small- to medium-sized companies that want to grow and move forward but don’t necessarily have the budget to work with a large marketing company. More people need to realize marketing is the key. Especially if your product is already in place. That’s where we can help. We can create visuals that help smaller companies compete with large-scale companies. We’re leveling the playing field for them.

NAN: What’s been the biggest startup challenge?

KYRIMA: Building consistent clientele. And having our clients understand that this may be something they may not know they need. What we can provide is new, it’s great, and it can simplify things. It’s been challenging helping prospective clients see the impact our work can have.

NAN: Have you engaged with local startup resources?

ISSAC: We’ve attended a few Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneur (HYPE) events. We’ve gone to some Upward Hartford events, too. I was working out of their space for a while.

KYRIMA: And then we found Connecticut mentor Eric Knight. He’s been the most helpful across-the-board so far. We’ll have a 30-minute meeting with him and get so much information!

ISSAC: We were pumped because a lot of the things we’ve been to have been good, but there’s not a lot of actionable material you can take away. The events are directionally right, but there aren’t any hard facts we can make use of. So far, working with Eric has given us actionable direction.

NAN: At what point did you realize you needed to work with some startup resources?

ISSAC: We’ve been very cognizant of trying to make as few mistakes as possible. So, we knew we were going to need some sort of mentorship or guidance. And we’ve also been very aware that there’s a lot we don’t know—that’s a big focus for us. We actually keep a list at our studio.

One thing we had on our list was: How to take actionable direction toward specific things. After two meetings with Eric, we crossed off a bunch of things. For example, he thinks we need to have more exposure. And we had that on our list, too. So, we have a whole marketing strategy now for 2019.

NAN: What else do you need most to move your company forward?

ISSAC: We need more clients to help us to get the word out. We need to encourage more people to see the value in better artwork, and then get those people tell other people—create word-of-mouth marketing. We have the getting-the-word-out problem.

That’s where we’re floating right now and we’re moving forward. But our biggest hurdle locally is getting people to take the leap and commit to the value of new artwork and new designs. Moving forward, we’re going to continue to put out the most interesting and captivating artwork we possibly can—because people need it.

Learn more about SquishyBrick

VISIT: www.squishybrick.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Family-Founded Startup Empowers Women to Be Brave

February 07 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Women In Business 0 comments Tags: business owners, entrepreneurship, small business, woman-owned business, women entrepreneurs

Sisters Shawna Kitzman and Ashley Rigby created Jam Program with their mom, Teri Michaud. The startup provides a forum for women to support and exchange ideas with one another.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price connected with Shawna after seeing her pitch her business concept at reSET’s Flight Night in November 2018.

NAN PRICE: How did you come up with the idea for Jam Program?

SHAWNA KITZMAN: My sister Ashley and I had attended a Girl Boss rally in New York City. Afterward, we were riding high on the enthusiasm from the day and thought: We’re just as smart, creative, and driven as everyone else on the panels, why can’t we start some kind of business?

Ashley and I both have full-time jobs and kids and everything else that makes for a busy life. Originally, we thought we’d just create a blog because we both like writing. We’ve always worked really well together and thought it would be fun to write together.

We wanted to bring in our mom and because she’s also very driven and enthusiastic and she’s a good writer―and we thought it would be fun and different to do something multigenerational.

Around that time, Ashley, who lives in Brooklyn, decided to host a networking event for her friends. She’s made friends from her kids’ school community, work, neighbors, and people from her running club. She sent out an email to about 45 ladies that basically said: I can’t believe many of you don’t know each other. You are all so awesome and doing great things and struggling in your unique ways and I just think you should know each other.

Pretty much everyone attended. It was a crazy rate of return. Jam Program kind of sprang from that idea, although it didn’t start as an event-based enterprise.

NAN: How did Jam Program transform into a viable business?

SHAWNA: There was a need for it based on the response from people at that original event. It was as if people didn’t know they needed this. Ashley had created a very ad hoc gathering. She attached large post-it notes to her living room walls with three different headers: What do you need? What do you have to offer? And recommendations. The ladies used Sharpies and started filling stuff in and they just mingled.

After the event, ladies were asking Ashley: Where did you get this idea? Is it a franchise? Is this a concept you’ve adopted?

That’s really where the business came from—and I think just seeing there was such a demand for it. Women responded so positively and wanted to know when the next event would be. We realized: This is a thing and there’s a need for this.

NAN: When did you launch?

SHAWNA: We sent out our first newsletter January 1, 2018. We emailed 1,000 people. Ashley, mom, and I combined our contact lists, which included family, business contacts, and friends.

Jamboree attendees jot down what they can offer others, what they need from others, and recommendations.

From there, I decided I would host a “Jamboree” in West Hartford and test it out here. I hosted the first one last January. It went great and helped us tweak our process a little—and we continue to.

We wanted to make sure the Jamboree events are high-quality experiences for attendees. So, instead of having people throw their jackets and handbags on top of a bed, we’ll get a coat rack, high-quality hangers, and a tray for people to put their purses. We want to convey that we think you’re awesome, you should think you’re awesome, and we want this to be something you’re worthy of experiencing.

NAN: Tell us a little about the evolution.

SHAWNA: We’re not in the business of being socialites. So, we charge an overhead for the food and  drinks, the opportunity to network, and the resources people leave with. Following the event, attendees receive the collected and shared wants/needs/offers and recommendations. We encourage them to make connections from there.

We have since branded the post-it note concept and replaced them with reusable boards on easels. People use them to share what they have to offer, what they need—which can be anything from personal to professional―and anything they don’t know how to classify, as well as recommendations.

The Jamborees aren’t a huge moneymaker—and we know that. We’re testing out the concept as we’re moving into year two. We’re thinking about how we can package and brand the Jamboree experience, because it’s not sustainable for us to host every party.

So, we’re thinking about basically creating a Jam Kit and testing it out in different markets. We’ll take the essential elements necessary for other women to host these in their homes and do some beta tests with friends hosting events in different cities—which could be Chicago, or it could be Farmington, CT.

NAN: Do any of you have any business experience launching startups?

SHAWNA: We’ve never launched a start-up before, but we’re experienced businesswomen. My sister and I both do business development as part of our full-time jobs. She’s in sales and I am in public outreach. I do a lot of communications. I also do a lot of graphic design, branding, and social media. All of that factors in.

My mom is a hostess extraordinaire. She’s been great with building the experience for people. We’re all good at making people feel welcome and comfortable. I think we’re social by nature and able to inquire authentically about people.

I do think those skills are helpful in building our community and making women feel comfortable and willing to share.

Really, our goal is to help women create diverse networks. The multigenerational aspect is one part of that. And we think it’s somewhat unique because it hasn’t been done a ton. There’s a lot to be said for having all kinds of women in the room. We’re all in different places in our lives. We all bring different strengths and challenges, depending on where we are as mothers or employees or business owners or spouses.

So, I think there’s something to be said for keeping it multigenerational―although that has been a challenge, too, because so much of what my sister and I do is connecting with people digitally. It’s more challenging to connect with my mom’s peers because they’re not online as much. We need to think about how that generation communicates. So, when my mom hosted a Jamboree in her neighborhood, she actually went door to door and put postcards in people’s mailboxes.

NAN: What’s the draw to hosting or participating in the Jam Program? It seems different than traditional networking.

SHAWNA: It is. We feel most traditional networking events are really for women to focus on their professional selves. But women come to their professional lives with so many other assets, challenges, and needs. We want people to bring their whole self to our events and not have to pretend they have their professional self all buttoned up. We want more women to be honest about what they need. One of our goals is inspire other women to do their one thing—whatever that may be.

NAN: Let’s talk about reSET. How did you become involved with Flight Night?

SHAWNA: The work I do for my full-time role in urban planning brought me to reSET. We interviewed reSET’s former Manager Director Ojala Naeem for a project. That was my first interaction with reSET. So, reSET was on my radar and I knew they are a local resource for startups. We get their newsletters and follow them on social media, which is how we found out about Flight Night.

Our motto is: Jam Program helps ladies be brave. And, for us to help other ladies be brave, we have to be brave. I do public speaking for work and I’m comfortable with that. But Flight Night was really hard. I haven’t really pitched to my non-audience before. I practiced a lot, but then you’re up there and you have three minutes and no deck and you’re looking at a sea of mostly strangers.

It was a good experience though. I’m glad I did it. The feedback was supportive. The judges encouraged me to keep going with the business. I think I need to work on my pitch, but that’s okay. You have to do your first pitch some time and then you can perfect it.

From there, I met with Entrepreneur-in-Residence Eric Knight, which was suggested by one of the Flight Night judges. Eric was awesome. My challenge for him was: How do we scale? We can’t just host parties. We know it’s not the right moneymaker. But we identified there is a need for this, especially in suburban communities. We think there are a lot more resources for women in larger cities and we feel like the suburbs often get forgotten―but there is so much potential, drive, and creativity there.

NAN: How did Eric advise you about your challenge?

SHAWNA: He suggested we build an online community, leveraging Facebook for example, to reach a broader geography. And he suggested mapping out the next several years of Jam Program to outline a plan of what we want to achieve.

NAN: What’s next?

SHAWNA: We’re excited to announce we were accepted into the 2019 reSET Impact Accelerator program, which begins in February. We’re looking forward to being part of this startup cohort and the resources we’ll be exposed to. And we’re building and testing our Jam Kits so more women can experience Jamborees!

Collaboration is another future goal. We want to continue to shine a light on female business owners, politicians, and activists. We’re co-hosting our next local Jamboree Moms Demand Action - and Brunch! on Sunday, March 10 with founding leaders of the Hartford Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Another area of Jam Program’s potential growth involves building a curated network of professionals who can help women at different stages of life transitions (professional pivot, retirement, marriage, divorce, children, death of a loved one, moving, etc.). Women find themselves in these “what next?” moments and we'd like to source professionals to help them approach such transitions.

Learn more about Jam Program

VISIT: www.jamprogram.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram

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Hartford Startup Ritual Earth Tea

February 01 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Startups 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Hartford, Parkville, small business, woman-owned business

Ritual Earth Tea Founder Kristy Baker (left) created her “Becoming” tea blend for Hartford Photographer Katrina Russo.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price sipped tea with Ritual Earth Tea Founder Kristy Baker and talked about what drew her to Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood and why she launched her startup.

NAN: You’ve been a creator for many years.

KRISTY: Yes. I spent many years producing different things. I’ve always liked to make a product. When friends told me they would buy some of my jewelry, I created an Etsy page. Soon after, I was beading and metalsmithing and then I got into aromatherapy and I was selling that at local markets. It wasn’t really a business. I wasn’t running it like a business. It was more of a supplemented hobby.

NAN: At what point did it evolve into a business?

KRISTY: I’ve been a hairstylist for more than 10 years. I reached a point where I wanted to do something that fulfilled me a little bit more personally—but I wasn’t sure what it was. I knew I didn’t want to go back to school, I didn’t have the time or resources. But I wanted to do something boldly different.

Every night I would come home from the salon and choose a loose-leaf tea to steep. It had become a ritual. Watching the tea steep, I would try to think about nothing, but it always came back to me thinking: What am I going to do with my life?

And then I read an article about Parkville. I live in Middletown and I hadn’t really heard of Parkville. I’d been to the Arbor Arts Center and a few businesses and events in Parkville, but I didn’t really make the connection it was “Parkville” I just thought of it as Hartford.

The article talked about how new businesses are moving in and changing Parkville, which is really cool. I thought: You know what? I’m going to call some people and try to get a space of my own there.

NAN: How did you go about that process?

KRISTY: Through some connections I’d made at Hartford Denim Company, I got in touch with a landlord who owns a few buildings in Parkville. I told him I wanted space and he mentioned The Dirt Salon. I got in touch with Cynthia Dodd, who was the visionary founder. We met and I saw this space. It was empty, dusty, and dirty—I loved it. And it was in my budget.

When I told Cynthia I wanted this space, she said: That’s great, but what are you going to do with it? I honestly didn’t know. I explained to her that I’m a collage thinker. The way I work, I need to see all the pieces and rearrange them into something. And the first piece I need is the space. Cynthia understood that. So, I took the leap and committed to the space. I had my little home in Parkville, but I still didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with it.

I went home to make some tea and think about it. I knew I could do jewelry or aromatherapy, but I felt the markets were flooded. I was steeping my loose-leaf tea. I looked at the leaves and the list of ingredients and I started thinking I could make this so much better. Then I thought: I’m going to do this! It clicked. So that’s how Ritual Earth Tea was born.

NAN: Once you had your idea, did you formalize a business plan or meet with any startup resources?

KRISTY: I just jumped in. I talked to some people and I did a bunch of research online. I knew the steps I should have taken, but everything was moving so fast because I wanted the space.

I threw together a loose business plan for myself, so I would have something written out. But I didn’t really meet with anybody. The money I used to start the business was from one credit card and all the tips I’d made that season at the salon. That’s how I funded it. Everything has been a learning experience.

NAN: When did you officially open?

KRISTY: I signed the lease in January 2018 and officially opened at the end of April. I spent the time in between preparing the space and figuring out my packaging, which has already evolved.

NAN: How are you marketing?

KRISTY: I’m using a lot of social media and attending local events. I’ve been lucky enough to make connections and place my tea at different locations including Sit and Steep at Tainted every month and VASU Tribe, which are both located in the Arbor Arts Center. My teas area also available at Perkatory Coffee Roasters in Middletown. I’ve gotten a lot of customers from those locations and through word of mouth.

NAN: In what other ways do you collaborate with local businesses?

KRISTY: I met with Hartford Flavor Company Co-Founder Lelaneia Dubay and created a tea blend and aroma mist for their brand using herbs leftover from their infusion process. It’s excellent to work with other local creative souls and utilize ingredients working toward a less wasteful way of business.

I’m also collaborating with local creatives with my Makers+Doers tea collection. Each tea blend is inspired by a local maker or doer. I’ll find a local artist and ask if I can create a signature tea blend based on them. I visit them in their studio and record a live interview. And then we have a party where I launch and sell the tea. That’s been helpful for cross promotion. I’m selling their signature tea, and they can sell it too and keep a portion, which some donate to a charity of their choice. Also, a portion of all proceeds from the Makers+Doers collection goes to the artists.

NAN: What’s your long-term goal for Ritual Earth Tea? Do have plans to have someone distribute your tea and do the packaging or have it sold in stores.

KRISTY: Yes. I want to do more soliciting to make the tea available at other businesses. My goal is to have my tea bottled and sold in stores as a line of iced teas.

NAN: How do you get from here to there?

Connecticut startup Ritual Earth Tea based in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood.

KRISTY: I’m not entirely sure yet. My plan is to create a well-known name and make enough money. I also need to be able to make each recipe exact and consistent. Because if I use a distributor, I would need to send a recipe to a bottling plant that would make it for me, bottle it, and ship it. It gives them a lot of the control, which is hard for me and also expensive. To get to that point, I need to be 100% confident with my brand and my recipes. I don’t want to say I’m not confident, but I’m wary.

NAN: Have you been able to talk to other local business owners who are doing similar things and get tips or advice? Have you developed any mentor relationships?

KRISTY: I was building a mentorship with Cynthia, and then she passed. I would love to have a main, go-to person as a mentor. But right now, I’m kind of grabbing information from here and there. I’m doing a lot solo but with a lot of input from a lot of different people.

When I first came into the space, I didn’t really know anybody in Hartford—but I knew there were a lot of people here doing cool things. After I got space in this building, I started meeting people and everyone was super helpful. I’ve connected with people from Hands on Hartford, Tainted, VASU, the Arbor Arts Center, IdleWilde Printing Company, and Hog River Brewing Company. And Jeff Devereux from Breakfast Lunch & Dinner, who is amazing with what he puts on with the KNOW Good Market.

I’m kind of riding coattails—and people are letting me. We also tag each other on social media. It’s such a good feeling. People here just want to help each other succeed.

NAN: It’s been a year since you signed your lease. What accomplishments are you most proud of?

KRISTY: I am most proud of my own personal growth. I’ve pushed myself and I’ve been able to do it.

I’m also proud of the fact that people like my product. I know people want to support small businesses. They’ll purchase something, and that makes you feel good as well. But to have someone who truly likes your product, that’s amazing. And I’ve never really felt that way before.

I’ve had repeat customers—people buy a tin of tea and they come back a month later and say: I need more! That’s incredible. And that makes me feel proud.

NAN: What’s next?

KRISTY: This is going to be a winter of learning. I know how to make connections with people and I know how to make a product, but I want to learn more about running a business.

I also want to work on my online business and amp up my visual appeal. I don’t have a ton of online sales. I thought the Internet store would do a lot better than the physical location, which I initially planned as more of a home base for me. But it’s the opposite, which is really interesting.

Right now, I’m having this teetering moment where the business is supporting itself, which is wonderful and I’m grateful. But it’s not really turning a heavy profit. It’s not sustainable enough for full-time. So, I’m working a lot at the salon to supplement. Working on both things doesn’t leave much time in between. I’m trying to find balance.

NAN: Any advice to anyone else starting out?

KRISTY: I definitely went a little backward. I didn’t take a linear path. My advice is to jump right in. It worked for me.

Knowing who I am, if I had sat down and wrote a full business plan and really connected with all the resources out there, I know I would’ve gotten so much anxiety that I probably wouldn’t have done it.

So, know what you need. If you’re the type of person who needs to know what’s going to happen and what path you need to take, then you should utilize every single resource and draw up your business plan. But for me, I know I’d spiral out of control.

It’s like when I used to go cliff jumping. I can’t think about it too much. I close my eyes and jump and hope for the best. That’s how I had to start this business and it’s been working for me.

Learn more about Ritual Earth Tea

VISIT: www.ritualearthtea.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram

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CT Entrepreneur Talks Reinvention and Self Discovery

January 21 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Startups 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small business, woman-owned business

Home to Home Moving Specialists founder Susan Rabinovitch says it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. (Photo courtesy Justin Schwalbendorf)

Connecticut entrepreneur Susan Rabinovitch launched her business SR Consulting and Moving Services LLC (dba Home to Home Moving Specialists) in December 2010. Her life lesson: It’s never too late to reinvent yourself.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price spoke with Susan about launching a new company taking another leap into entrepreneurship later in her career.

NAN PRICE: How did you develop the business concept for Home to Home Moving Specialists?

SUSAN RABINOVITCH: It was by accident. I was actually trying to find a job. My background is in real estate and relocation. In 2010, work in that industry was scarce unless you were in Washington, Chicago, or New York—and I did not want to relocate.

The opportunity to start helping people move came from my mother. A member of her church needed help moving into a retirement community. He was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t figure out what to do. My mother told him: Susan will come take care of it.

I met with him and he hired me to manage every aspect of his move. My background came in very handy in the process.

As I was walking out of his house with the last box, I got a call from someone else who needed help. And it began to mushroom. A marketing person from Duncaster Retirement Community in Bloomfield started referring me to residents who were moving. And, before I knew it, the idea grew into a business. Then I had to form an LLC, take out insurance, open bank accounts and develop a team.

It was almost happenstance. I had been in the real estate and relocation industry for almost 20 years. Starting to reinvent yourself at the age of 60 is not easiest thing to do. I hadn’t given any thought to this type of business until the opportunity came along.

NAN: At what point did you realize you had a viable business?

SUSAN: I wasn’t aware there was such a tremendous need. Most of my business is focused on working with seniors transitioning into retirement communities. There’s a large population starting a new phase in their lives.

The real indicator was one of the communities I worked in wanted to know if my company was insured. I hadn’t done that because, in the beginning, I was just helping people move. It suddenly dawned on me: Okay, if I need to be insured, what else do I need to do for this is be an actual business?

NAN: Tell us a little about that process.

SUSAN: My son-in-law Avi Smith-Rappaport, who owns We Care Computers, recommended an attorney. Avi does a lot of networking. My husband and I owned other businesses, including a delicatessen and bakery we ran for seven years many years ago. But this was the first time I was responsible for the legal aspect of developing a LLC.

I know you can do those things online. That’s not my nature. I like hiring people for their specialty rather. I prefer to spend my own energy doing what I know I do well. So, I met with an attorney who did all the paperwork and filing for the state.

It felt good to make  the business official. Before that, everything was comingled—bank accounts, etc. I also felt much more secure knowing we were insured. At the beginning, we weren’t as involved with physically moving clients’ precious possessions, so I didn’t feel the need to be insured. But, once we started to handle people’s crystal, china, and $20,000 paintings, there was a definite need.

NAN: How are you marketing?

SUSAN: Mostly word-of-mouth and referrals from marketing professionals at many of the major retirement communities in the area. They share my information and process with new resident who are moving. I also get a lot of business through referrals from clients we’ve moved.

Right now, I’m having the first lull I’ve had in the eight years since I started the business. It’s speaking to the fact that I need to broaden my base. So, I started developing lists of different professionals I can work with. I plan on making direct contact with real estate agents—I have a large network based on my background. Geriatric doctors and attorneys working on estates can be another source.

NAN: What other types of challenges have you encountered as a business owner?

SUSAN: Putting systems in place for scheduling was a big challenge for me. When my team grew to five, it was hard to do invoicing and keep up with everyone’s hours. When it was just me, it was okay because I could do a little at a time. As the business was growing, it became obvious that I absolutely had to have systems in place. I was spending too much energy doing things the archaic way and it was taking away from my ability to provide services to more clients and our growing business.

I also needed a system to manage the materials we work with. Managing inventory is critical. Now I have a system to manage materials— and I’m sure I’m losing less money.

NAN: In our follow-up, Avi and I discussed the importance of having systems in place.

SUSAN: It’s huge. But I don’t know that you can really have all systems in place ahead of time. I think you need to be immersed into the business before you can identify your needs. It is a fluid process.

The important thing is to start assessing early on. For me, it was asking myself: Now that I’m up and running and I have the business flowing, what do I need to make it run more efficiently?

It’s helpful to reach out to others to help you with that. I’ve been very fortunate because I have a lot of people in the family who are business experts. But, reaching out to resources and sometimes spending a little money can help you make a lot more money.

NAN: Is that the biggest lesson you’ve learned along your entrepreneurial journey?

SUSAN: That and patience. I can be very strong-willed. I would say it took me a good year to be able to step back and allow my clients to make decisions for themselves about what will and will not work. And if their decision doesn’t work, we just find another solution. So, I’ve learned to listen and follow through on clients’ wishes. It’s changed the way I work with clients—and it’s made them much happier too.

We’ve moved more than 100 people in eight years and, in that time, we’ve only had two clients I didn’t enjoying working with. Otherwise, I enjoy going to work every day. What I get from my clients very often is far more than what I give. My clients are appreciative, engaging, and interesting—but every so often you hit a little challenge.

NAN: Tell us a little about the evolution over the past eight years. How has the business grown?

SUSAN: I started with only me, because there was just enough work for me to manage. We truly do full service: We pack, load, unpack, and set up. It’s taking clients from one home and creating a new home for them. I had to bring people in as the referrals came in and business started to grow.

It’s a family business, so I work with my brother, my daughter, and my husband. In May 2018, we brought in the first employee who’s not a family member. That was another challenge. This business is so hands-on and intimate, I’m reluctant to just hire someone. I only want to work with people I have confidence in, who know will take care of our clients’ needs.

NAN: In what ways does your business help support the local economy?

SUSAN: We support local businesses versus big-box corporations. Right now, we work with 15 local individual business owners, including a plumber, a handyman, a carpet/home furnishing supplier, a painter, an electrician, and a moving company. What I love about this business is, it doesn’t just support our core group, it supports a lot of individual businesses in the area. It feels good to support their economic growth.

NAN: Anything advice for others?

SUSAN: Life throws you some challenges—especially at my age. The market I had known for years, where I developed my professional success changed. I had to think of a way to reinvent myself.

I never even thought about being able to reinvent myself at this age. We’ve had several different businesses, but I hadn’t thought about stepping back and thinking about creating something new.

So, if I were to give advice to anyone: If you’re at a crossroads and trying to figure out what to do in the next phase in your life, think outside the box. Get out of your comfort zone. And change your thinking. You may think something is just a one-time opportunity, but you never know. It could blossom into something much bigger.

Learn more about Home to Home Moving Specialists

VISIT: www.hometohomect.com

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Hartford-Based Craftbird Food Truck Shares Startup Experience

January 17 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford CT Lifestyle 0 comments Tags: catering, Connecticut, Craftbird, entrepreneurs, food truck, Greater Hartford, Hartford, small business, startup

Eric Stagl and Mallary Kohlmeyer are co-founders of Hartford-based Craftbird Food Truck. (Photo courtesy Eat in CT

Business partners Mallary Kohlmeyer and Eric Stagl opened Craftbird Food Truck in April 2016. Mallary spoke with Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price about her experience starting a small business in Greater Hartford.

NAN PRICE: Have you always known you wanted you to open your own business?

MALLARY KOHLMEYER: Not at all. Actually, I have my master’s in special education. My dad owns a business, so I grew up respecting the concept of working for yourself.

I’ve learned a lot from him, even though his business is much different than ours. I’ve learned that owning a business requires a certain kind of mindset and it takes discipline to be your own boss. You have to have a certain type of personality. I think I got that from my dad, that interest in wanting to work for yourself.

So, I always was interested in business. But I didn’t know I was going to land in the food business.

NAN: How did you develop the business concept?

MALLARY: Eric has been a good friend for years. He and I were itching for something new. We both wanted the opportunity to grow personally and challenge ourselves without working for other people.

Eric was the executive chef at Barcelona West Hartford and prior to that worked in local restaurants, including Max Restaurant Group. So, he already had the food experience.

The idea came out of a brainstorming conversation. Eric and I thought a food truck would be fun. When we started to get serious, we did market research, which basically meant we got to eat a lot during the weekends! We were traveling to Boston, Philadelphia, and New York to try out other food trucks and learn about the market. And the more trucks we saw, the more excited we got about creating our own concept.

Eric wanted to deliver high-quality food without providing a sit-down experience. And I wanted to provide gluten-free options since I have Celiac disease and other food allergies. From there, we started building the foundation for Craftbird.

NAN: Do you get guidance from other business owners?

MALLARY: In the beginning we didn’t tell anybody we had this idea because we didn’t know what was going to happen. When we started doing research, we told food trucks about our idea when we visited them in other cities, but locally we didn’t tell anybody until we had the plan in motion.

But once we did, the food truck community in this area was super supportive. A lot of people were willing and able to answer our questions. That was great because there’s not a rule book for how to open a food truck here in Connecticut.

NAN: Is the food truck industry competitive? Do you work together?

MALLARY: We do collaborate. Our feeling is: If you’re at the park or at an event and there’s a grilled cheese truck and a barbecue truck, if someone wants grilled cheese, they’re going to go to the grilled cheese food truck. So, it’s not a matter of competition; it’s same as when you choose a restaurant. If you want Italian you’re going to go to an Italian restaurant.

We like being near each other because the more food trucks in an area, the more customers will come. And it’s more fun. We can bounce ideas off each other. You become friends even though you’re competitors. It’s a nice community.

In this field, we’ve met a lot of other people who are opening business. It’s been nice to get help and advice from them, and also be a sounding board for them and bounce ideas off each other. And we’re able to collaborate. So, we might connect with a dessert caterer or a DJ or a photographer and we’re able to offer a “package.”

NAN: What kinds of startup challenges have you experienced?

MALLARY: The hardest thing for us is that there is no blueprint for how to open and run a food truck. So, I understand the business of opening an LLC, filing sales tax, and doing things like that. But I needed to learn about how every town requires different permitting, there’s not a uniform permit across the state.

With some towns, you get a permit with the health department. With some it’s the police department and the health department. Other towns require a permit from the fire department. One town requires permit from your doctor. It’s very difficult to find the information.

Every day there’s something. For the first year-and-a-half we were in business almost every day there was a surprise or something I didn’t know and didn’t plan for—a rule or a regulation, an event we didn’t know about that would’ve been good to be at, or how to fix something that breaks on the truck or change the oil in the generator. And we don’t have the staff a restaurant has to do all those things. Eric and I are doing everything with a handful of employees.

Another challenge is for Eric, who’s a very skilled chef. With a food truck, he has to accommodate for a much smaller kitchen and work in extreme temperatures, whether it’s keeping food fresh on a 100° day or keeping things from freezing on a day with temperatures below 0°. He’s had to get creative. And he’s had to learn how to plan amounts when we have no idea how many customers there will be and we’re working with a limited tuck-sized refrigerator.

NAN: With more than two years of experience can you now plan for some of those challenges?

MALLARY: We’ve kept a lot of data the last couple of years. That’s the special ed teacher in me! I can tell you on October 23, 2017 what the weather was like, what we sold, and if there were other trucks nearby.

The Craftbird Food Truck does caters a private event.

With catering, we have much less waste. Because you know there are going to be 60 people at this party versus when you go to the park and you just don’t know. So, we will sometimes run out of things. That happens. We only have so much room on the truck.

Eric has become very good about planning for those things and anticipating it. And I have a good idea of how many people are going to be at an event, based on the weather and how many other food trucks will be there. We have an unofficial formula in our head of what we think will happen.

I definitely have learned a lot about food, because I’d never worked in a kitchen or in a restaurant before. I’ve learned a lot about prepping food, planning for food, expoing, things like that.

I’ve also ironed out a lot of kinks and streamlined a lot of things now that we’ve become more well-known. I’ve been able to step back from seeking out events and people are coming to us more, which is great. We’ve been doing more catering and private events.

NAN: That leads into my question about marketing. It sounds like things are going well. In the beginning, how did you build a buzz. Or did you just start showing up places?

MALLARY: A combination of both. Luckily, Eric had a pretty solid following as a chef, so people were excited to try his new product and new concept. We did a soft opening among friends and a lot of people in the food industry were there.

And then we use a lot of social media. We do our marketing on social media pretty exclusively. The first year we opened, we went to a lot of festivals and fairs and got our name out there. It has since shifted more toward local staying in Hartford, which is really where we’re enjoying building our business.

We like staying in Hartford. One of the reasons goes back to the issue with permitting. We have to go through permitting and licensing in every town. In Hartford, West Hartford, and Farmington Valley we get year-round license. Otherwise we have to fill out paperwork every time we go to one of those locations.

NAN: What are your future plans? You anticipate opening a Craftbird restaurant?

MALLARY: That’s a really great question. There are a lot of restaurants and a lot of food trucks in Connecticut. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. Right now, we’re just appreciative of people coming out for a chicken sandwich.

Opening a restaurant is very different. There are a lot of expectations. I’m definitely not saying that we aren’t ever going to do it. I’m just saying we’re not discussing it at this time. And I will stay, in addition, we didn’t tell anybody we were opening a food truck until we got it, so....

NAN: So, stay tuned and follow Craftbird Food Truck on social media.

MALLARY: Exactly!

NAN: What have you learned along your entrepreneurial journey? Any advice for others starting out?

MALLARY: Starting out, I was hard on myself any time I made what I perceived as a mistake. And then I learned from talking to others, everyone’s making the same mistakes. Everyone is having the same challenges because running a business is hard. Eventually it all clicks. I feel like this year it’s finally clicking for me.

I’m very proud of how far we’ve come since we started. Eric and I have had tons of growth professionally. We built a business out of nothing, which is very exciting. So, my advice is to be patient with yourself and be proud of what you accomplish.

Learn more about Craftbird Food Truck

VISIT: www.craftbirdfoodtruck.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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CT Entrepreneur Founds Creative Marketing Company

January 09 2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford Women In Business 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Greater Hartford, small business, woman-owned business

 

Connecticut entrepreneur Deirdre Tindall launched her startup Tind-All Creative Marketing in September 2018.

Tind-All Creative Marketing Founder Deirdre Tindall spoke with Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price about her entrepreneurial journey and her experience recently launching her own woman-owned business.

NAN PRICE: Have you always been entrepreneurial?

DEIRDRE TINDALL: I come from a large family of entrepreneurs. My dad was an entrepreneur. There are 12 kids in my family and most of my brothers and sisters own their own companies. I grew up around that kind of spirit and drive. So, I’ve always known I needed to be working for myself and be an entrepreneur.

I think when you’re an entrepreneur and you have that drive, you’re not meant for a corporate environment. It’s just taken me all these years—I’ve always had a dream of doing my own thing but, as a female, sometimes you lack that confidence to go out on your own. I feel I’ve been living the “safe life” for some time as it relates to my professional career.

NAN: You’ve obviously had some built-in mentors. Have you connected to people outside of your family?

DEIRDRE: Yes absolutely! They’ve been my key to success. So many amazing people have invested in me, saw my talents, gave me opportunities, and continue to help me today.

NAN: Is this your first startup?

DEIRDRE: This is my second startup. I started a company a year and a half ago with a business partner. I probably should’ve trusted in myself and my abilities in the very beginning and known not go that route. I think there’s always that fear. Fear prevents you from doing a lot of things.

But I have to say, it wasn’t a negative thing because it gave me so much more confidence in who I am as a person—and I learned a ton. I believe everything happens for a reason, so I looked at it as something I needed to go through to become who I am today.

NAN: When did you branch out on your own?

DEIRDRE: September 2018. I left the other company and I started my own business within about two months. I’m doing the exact same thing I always had a vision for, but this time just by myself and for myself. I alone can control my destiny.

NAN: How did you develop the business concept?

DEIRDRE: It started organically. I was working full-time for other people and people saw value in my skillset and my work ethic. Over the years, through those connections, people started asking me if I could help with their public relations, business development, and marketing. I started consulting on the side from full-time work and found that doing that really inspired me to take this journey. I realized this is what I wanted to do. Fear is a powerful inhibitor. It stops you from doing many things. I was a single mother and felt it was selfish going from a full-time salaried job to starting my own business.

Off line, you and I were talking about how much we love that part of our jobs—making connections and helping others without expecting anything in return. The most powerful and impactful book I’ve ever read was The Go-Giver by Bob Burg. It underscored my philosophy that it’s better to give than receive. And, like you, that’s what fills my cup. I enjoyed working for other people but consulting on the side made me feel alive and filled that part of my life that I needed that at the moment.

A lot of things happened to get to the point where I said: I could die tomorrow. I’m not living my dream. I’m not living the authentic self.

So, I decided to take the jump and start my own company. I have been blessed with authentic relationships that have been developed over the years and it’s those relationships that are helping me be successful in my new endeavor.

NAN: Did you have prior business experience?

DEIRDRE: Yes. I don’t think it was hard to rebrand or relaunch because I’ve been in business for a very long time. I’ve learned to be resilient and get back up no matter what. I started working in my dad’s business at a very young age, which has shaped me. I learn best under fire. I’m not classically trained. Being forced to learn, you figure it out. You just do.

NAN: There’s no alternative.

DEIRDRE: Right. There’s nobody else to save you. So, I’ve basically taken my experiences over the last 16 years learning how to run businesses and working closely with business owners, especially what I learned from launching a startup with a partner, and just put in the same processes and procedures. Because, if your business has efficient processes and procedures in place, you don’t have to worry about all the excess. You can work smarter not harder.

I’m finding that, because of my experience, you put those processes in place and you’re up and running. I’m not going to say it’s easy. It’s not. But I also think as an entrepreneur you work all the time. That’s just the nature. And it’s awesome! Because you wake up and you’re doing what you love. And I’m doing something that fits around my son’s schedule.

NAN: How are you marketing and building your clientele?

DEIRDRE: I don’t ever worry about business. God plays an integral part in my success. In addition, I’ve spent my life and my career building real, lasting relationships. I’m involved in multiple chambers, which I'm a huge advocate of for any business.

Tind-All Creative Marketing Founder Deirdre Tindall (center) at a ribbon cutting for new member of the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce.

I’m mainly involved with the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce in Glastonbury, which has had a huge impact on me personally and professionally. I was lucky that my gift is making connections and connecting the dots.

I also believe that it’s our responsibility to give back in the community and so I am on the board of two non-profits Carry My Brother and The Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, which align with my philanthropic goals. I hope to someday make my company a social enterprise and continue and mentor young women who struggle to get into business.

NAN: Social responsibility is close to your heart.

DEIRDRE Yes. The concept of being a social enterprise is a key part of my philosophy—being able to make profit, but also being able to do good for the community and the environment. And I think it’s really awesome to work with clients that believe in the same philosophy as me. They’re also committed to giving back and volunteering.

NAN: Tell us a little about your experience with through mentorship.

DEIRDRE: I became involved with several different organizations. I worked with the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education through the MetroHartford Alliance. I became involved at some the local schools with their college readiness programs. You not only mentor in the classic sense, but you help with the college application process.

NAN: As a marketing company, what’s your differentiator?

DEIRDRE: A lot of times marketing companies just do marketing. I take a more holistic approach. It does no good to do marketing if your client’s house isn’t in order. I tell my clients: Don’t hire me to do marketing when your business isn’t in order because you won’t get the results you want.

I spend a lot of time at the beginning helping and guiding clients on processes from a strategic level, to put them in position to be successful from a marketing standpoint. I help clients understand who their target customer is—their buyer persona—and help them update their business development and relationships. For most businesses, it’s outdated. How am I going to do email marketing or send a newsletter if your information is outdated?

I refuse to take business for the sake of chasing dollars. I think when you don’t chase dollars and live your passion, the money always flows in the end. I think that’s a huge differentiator.

NAN: Are you a solopreneur or do you have a team?

DEIRDRE: I have two graphic designers and two web development team members. They’re independent contractors at this point although I would love to hire them full-time. That will happen in time.

NAN: How has that been, learning to manage people?

DEIRDRE: I’ve been in management positions in many positions I’ve been in. I always tell my son: Everybody has personality profiles. You can’t manage each person the same way. You have to find methods for dealing with each person individually to maximize their fullest potential, so they’re effective and work smarter. I don’t believe in micromanaging.

NAN: Who is your target clientele?

DEIRDRE: My current clients are small- to medium-sized businesses. A lot of firms won’t work with small businesses, but I love it.

NAN: What’s next?

DEIRDRE: I don’t really worry about it. I try to get the most out of living in the moment. I probably should have a 5- to 10-year vision for the business, but I don’t. I just want to continue doing what I’m doing because I love it. I wake up every day jazzed about what I do.

I want to continue to grow my skillset because you have to learn every day. Technology and marketing are changing, so I have to keep up with the trends. If I continue to do what I’m doing right now, in terms of the amount of revenue and clients coming in, I’ll be happy.

Learn more about Tind-All Creative Marketing

VISIT: tind-allcreativemarketing.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Creative Entrepreneur Opens Seven Ravens Tattoo

December 24 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Startups 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Glastonbury, small business, woman-owned business

Creative entrepreneur Erica Lynn launched Seven Ravens Tattoo in July 2018.

Creative entrepreneur Erica Lynn launched her own company Seven Ravens Tattoo in July 2018. Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price touched base with Erica to find out what it was like to start working for herself and why it’s sometimes beneficial to be a solopreneur. (Hint: It’s an energy thing.)

NAN PRICE: Have you always wanted to own your own business?

ERICA LYNN: It was something I’d thought about. Early in my tattooing career, I had the opportunity to join with someone who asked me to open a shop, but I really didn’t want to at the time. I wanted to focus on the actual craft and get technically sound before I did that.

I was thinking it would be a few more years before I opened my own shop, but it all kind of unfolded. When my fiancé found the property here in Glastonbury, I thought: I’ll just go down this path and see what happens. If it’s meant to be, it will work out. If it’s not, then whatever. And it all just worked out.

NAN: How did you get started? What was that process like for you?

ERICA: I have a degree in business management. I think that helped me understand how to present myself professionally and figure out the paperwork for the business end of things.
Working at other tattoo studios, I had some insight as to how the zoning requirements worked. Every town is different. Tattoo shops are regulated differently on a town-by-town basis

I went to the town of Glastonbury to get approval to be here. I visited the town’s planning and zoning and asked what to do. They didn’t really know what to do with me because they didn’t have any tattoo shops on record.

I had to get all this paperwork together including information about floor plans. Every time I would have made a phone call, I just showed up to the town hall and made sure they saw my face and knew I was serious about my business.

NAN: How long was that process?

Sample of work done by Erica Lynn, Founder of Seven Ravens Tattoo.

ERICA: It went pretty fast. I started in April and I got the approval in June. I was supposed to go in front of the board on June 13 to get the permission granted. I received a call on June 6 telling me I’d done everything the town asked me to do. The town had reviewed and approved it. They told me: You’re all set, go forth and tattoo.

NAN: Was that the most challenging part of being a startup?

ERICA: I think it was the most stressful part. Because I was trying to get all the pieces together on a tight deadline.

NAN: What would you say has been the most challenging?

ERICA: My own time management. In my head, I always think I can get a million things done in a day!

NAN: How did you transition from a business management degree into tattooing?

ERICA: I always had an artistic side. I’ve tried every medium—I’ve worked with wood, painting, crafting and music was huge for me for a long time. But the way I grew up, we didn’t have a lot of money and I didn’t think being an artist was a wise financial decision.

I also went to college at night and, at that time, the only thing that offered with business management. It wasn’t really intentional. I was good at it and I made good money, but I didn’t feel authentic.

I was working for a financial publications company in Bloomfield in 2008 when the stock market crashed. The business owner was trying to figure out how to cut costs. I remember basically asking him to lay me off. I knew I wanted to do something else. So he did and I went back to school for art therapy. I was there for a few semesters when I realized what I really wanted to do was tattoo.

NAN: Had you always had that interest?

ERICA: I got my first tattoo when I was 16. So, it wasn’t a new interest. I just never thought I could do it. But I thought: Okay, if the “safe” thing I tried to do going into business isn’t safe because the economy is crashing, why don’t I just do something I enjoy?

Art therapy was a little too intense for me, the professional work is mostly in hospitals or clinics. And I like fine arts! Besides, I was still trying to do the same thing, finding a “safe” profession.

And then, about seven years ago I started my tattoo apprenticeship and I thought there’s no way I can do both. I had to choose. I knew the first time I used a tattoo machine, out of all the mediums I’d used, I wanted more. I didn’t finish the art therapy degree. I just went for it with tattooing. And here we are.

NAN: You obviously had clients before you went out on your own. How have you been marketing and getting your name out?

ERICA: I’ve been very lucky. Tattooing itself is a unique thing. If you see a tattoo you like on someone else, you can ask who did it. So, I’m basically marketing any time I do a visible tattoo on someone. I get so much business from word-of-mouth.

And, because I was already involved in the arts community around here, even when I started my apprenticeship, I couldn’t believe how many people were willing two let me tattoo to them when I was brand new. I really haven’t struggled in that avenue.

I’ve also been using social media to spread the word about my new business.

NAN: Let’s talk future plans. Would you eventually like to have an assistant? Would you bring in a second tattoo artist?

ERICA: It’s just me. There’s one room. And that was intentional. I work well alone. I really like when I’m working with a client and it’s just our energy.

Financially, I know I could make a lot more money if I opened a shop with more artists, but that’s not something I want to do right now.

Another sample of work done by Erica Lynn, Founder of Seven Ravens Tattoo.

NAN: How did you end up in Glastonbury?

ERICA: Glastonbury is the area where my fiancé and I want to settle down. And I want to be accessible to everyone, so Glastonbury is perfect. I had worked in Berlin, Hartford, and Manchester. You accumulate clients after time, and they can still reach me here.

NAN: What have you learned most about going into business for yourself?

ERICA: Well, I was already in business for myself. Tattooing is similar to hairdressing and massage therapies in that you’re usually renting space or paying a percentage of what you earn to a company. The only difference is now I have my own location. I’ve always handled all my clients and did my bookings, etc. so it didn’t seem like this major shift. But I love it. I think more than anything I did it to just have a space where it’s about the energy of just my clients and myself.

Learn more about Seven Ravens Tattoo

VISIT: www.sevenravens.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram

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CT Entrepreneur Founds Social Impact Publishing Company

December 19 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Women In Business 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small business, woman-owned business

Jenn Grace is Founder of Publish Your Purpose Press.

Publish Your Purpose Press Founder Jenn T. Grace knew from a young age she wanted to be a business owner. Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price talked to Jenn about her entrepreneurial experience and how she ultimately found her purpose.

NAN PRICE: You’ve always known you wanted to own your own business. When did that start?

JENN GRACE: I was about 14. I remember telling my dad I needed to own a business. I didn’t come from an overly entrepreneurial family, so I’m not sure where it came from. Also, I knew I wanted to own a print shop. I had no context for why a print shop in particular. I didn’t know anyone who owned one. There was just something about being involved in presses.

NAN: Tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey.

JENN: When I moved to Connecticut 15 years ago, I got a job with insurance company. I stayed for five and a half years, but it wasn’t a great experience on a personal level as an out lesbian at the time. I tried to make a change internally and just couldn’t do it. I didn’t have the right support system.

I ended up quitting my job and going out on my own. I started freelancing as a business consultant, which eventually became full-time. From there on out, I was working for myself.

NAN: At what point did you transition from full-time freelance to a bona fide business?

JENN: With my business consulting—which I still do a bit of today—I had spent 2009 to 2014 building my network around LGBTQ business owners and corporate professionals on a national scale. I’ve worked with Fortune 500 companies and others in the manufacturing, financial services, and insurance industries.

Fast forward to 2015. I was looking at my year-end financials and thought: Why are there some people I really enjoy working with and others not so much?

I was trying to figure out the commonality and realized the people who I loved working with were working on books. I thought: What’s this about?

Then I had an idea. I was working with a business coach at that time. Her advice was: Just sell it and then create it. I couldn’t wrap my head around that whole concept of selling and then creating, because everything else I had created first and then sold—or didn’t sell.

At this time, I had already written three books of my own. I grabbed seven peers who had been talking about wanting to write books. I told them I was creating an author’s program and I needed them to be my guinea pigs. I was completely transparent. I told them I’d return their money if they didn’t get what I was promising—but that I was going to make it up as I went. And I totally did. That was the Author’s Academy, which launched in the beginning of 2016.

So, selling first and then creating completely worked. I thought there is something to be said about that. I love it and I got it down to a science.

NAN: You also connected with business advisors from The Entrepreneur Circle. I have to put a plug in for Co-Founder Mike Keiser, who is a IDH contributing author.

JENN: Through networking I connected with someone who said I should talk to Mike and Maria Keiser at The Entrepreneur Circle. When I first met with Maria, I was 100% skeptical. I thought: I don’t know what this is. I didn’t know what a roundtable or a mastermind group was. Maria and I hit it off almost instantly. It made me realize I couldn’t function in my business without being able to brainstorm with that trusted group of advisors—this was back in 2011. I’ve operated with a peer advisory group since.

NAN: How did the Author’s Academy evolve into you launching a book publishing company?

JENN: As people were going through the Author’s Academy, they would admit they’d just learned how to publish their own books, but they still wanted to pay me to do it for them! And that’s why I ended up starting a publishing company. The need was there.

I knew I couldn’t be the roadblock to someone telling their story—someone with an important message they need to share with the world. I couldn’t just say: No, I don’t do that.

Admittedly, I was reluctant at first. I was thinking: This is not what I signed up for! It took me about two weeks to realize this is what I need to be doing. Once I committed, I knew with every ounce of my being I found my true purpose in life.

NAN: How was the transition from being in the corporate world to owning a business?

JENN: I know it probably sounds cliché, but I feel like I must have owned businesses in another lifetime. I’ve always just had the right mix of skills to run a business.

This is technically my fourth startup. I had a couple others that doesn’t work for a variety of reasons, but portions of those companies are part of what I do today. Sometimes, you just have to know when to shut things down, as painful as it might be to come to that realization.

NAN: How are you finding your clientele? How are you marketing?

JENN: It’s primarily still word-of-mouth and referrals. We’ve worked with 55 authors (not necessarily 55 published authors) in a variety of ways.

Our clientele is about 64% women, about 26% people of color, and about 53% LGBT. For me personally, it’s a very proactive effort to be serving the oftentimes underserved. I feel like the more diverse people we can serve, the more they can impact their local communities in a positive way—and we are part of that ripple effect of social and societal change at a micro level.

It’s kind of like the B Corporation model. I’m actually going through the B Corp certification paperwork now. I’ve been thinking about the longer-term impact my company can make in everything we do.

NAN: Would you define Publish Your Purpose Press as a social impact publishing company?

JENN: Yes. Social impact and social justice. My personal mantra is “Because Change Happens in Business.” This is one of many ways change is accomplished.

NAN: What’s the biggest startup challenge you’ve encountered?

JENN: Cash flow. (Isn’t that every startup’s biggest challenge?!) I know my cash flow cycle to a science at this point. I know it’s three and a half months where my reserves are low, and then I have all the money and then zero money and then all the money, and so on. It’s this jagged, steep up and down. That presents its own challenges, but knowing the cycle keeps me sane.

Also, I think managing people is a pain. Niki Garcia, our Director of Operations, is the one who manages everybody so more often than not it is her pain, not necessarily mine.

NAN: At what point did you know to bring in someone else to do that?

JENN: Niki and I have known each other for a long time and worked together in other settings. When I started this company, I basically told her: I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re coming with me! It organically grew from there. It’s been a tag-teamed effort. Niki has been behind the scenes doing most of the logistics and operations.

NAN: Along the lines of challenges, is there anything you wish you had done differently?

A variety of books published by Publish Your Purpose Press.

JENN: I feel like I pivot all the time because, as a business owner, you have to take chances and try things. You generally have no idea what is and isn’t going to work.

I have a high tolerance for risk, more so than the people around me. So, when I decide to shut something down and do something else instead, I think it can be unsettling to other people. But the beauty of entrepreneurship is that you can make these decisions and pivot when you need to.

NAN: Any major lessons you’ve learned along the way?

JENN: I don’t think there’s one particular thing, because I took a lot of the knowledge from my other businesses and brought it to this one.

It’s funny, my original goal with Publish Your Purpose was to be this giant publishing company—a force to be reckoned with. And then, as I started to grow and built the team, I realized: Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? It’s not for me. There came a point where I wasn’t even working with the authors directly. Instead, I was managing all the people—and that’s not fun for me.

I ended up completely switching our model and now I focus more on being a small, well-curated, and intentional publisher who works with people who are impacting the world. That’s not to say my goal still isn’t $5 million! But it’s not $50 million, which is a very different scaling.

NAN: What’s next for Publish Your Purpose?

JENN: I’m always tweaking and refining our processes after a few years of trial and error.

In 2016, my focus was on running the Author’s Academy and trying to figure out what was happening. That morphed into people asking me to publish their books for them and me wondering: What am I doing?

Then, I spent 2017 trying to do things differently and tweaking and modifying. We went from one starting point to a crazy extreme at the other end of the spectrum. And that wasn’t exactly right either. So now I’m bringing it back in and balancing things out.

From a scalability standpoint, we’re on a really good growth trajectory. I have the right team and I have the right products and services in place. They were always there, they just weren’t in the right configuration.

NAN: Any advice to other entrepreneurs?

JENN: My advice to business owners who are just starting out or those who have been around for a while is to intimately know your numbers—your operating expenses, cost of goods sold, revenue coming in, etc. You cannot make any well-informed decision unless you truly know your numbers. And be real and honest about those numbers—the only person you’re hurting is yourself, if you are honest. It’s not always a pleasant exercise, but it’ll make you a better business owner in the long run.

Learn more about Publish Your Purpose Press

VISIT: publishyourpurposepress.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
WATCH: Thought leaders successfully transition to published authors with Publish Your Purpose Press

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CT-Based Back East Brewing Company Shares Updates

November 30 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford CT Lifestyle 0 comments Tags: Back East Brewing Company, Bloomfield, Connecticut, CT brewery, CT craft beer, entrepreneur, how to start a brewery in CT, small business, startup brewery

Back East Brewing Company Co-Founders Edward Fabrycki, Jr. (left) and Tony Karlowicz (right).

Where Are They Now? Follow Up with Back East Brewing Company Owner Tony Karlowicz

Back East Brewing Company was the first brewery Innovation Destination Hartford interviewed in September 2015. (Read the feature story: Entrepreneur Brewer: Back East Brewing Company.)

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price caught up with Owner Tony Karlowicz to find out what’s been brewing.

NAN PRICE: Give us a little update, what’s new since we last spoke?

TONY KARLOWICZ: Back East is continuing to grow and do well. We started an expansion this year, which will be finished in early January. This will almost triple our capacity.

We’re also rebranding our core beers with new can designs and we’ll be introducing several new beers in 2019. We fluctuate with about 20 in rotation and we haven’t been able to keep up with demand, so the expansion will help.

>>Watch drone footage of Back East’s specialty offering beer, Ice Cream Man IPA being released on St. Patrick’s Day 2018.

Right now, we have 12 tanks and we’re adding eight much larger tanks. Typical startups begin with a handful of tanks. We started with three then expanded to six, eight, 12, and now we’ll have 20.

NAN: Have you experienced any major pivots since we featured your story?

TONY: One major change has been having the taproom. Taprooms have grown explosively. I would be shocked if you told me a new brewery wasn’t relying heavily on their taproom.

When we started, we had taproom for samples and tours. Now most tap rooms function as full bars. That’s being driven by what consumers want. It’s become a culture.

NAN: Back East was early to market with the craft brewery trend. Where do you see it going?

TONY: Right, we were the seventh brewery to launch in Connecticut. I believe there are more than 70 breweries now, with another 30 or so on the drawing board.

The market is obviously is more competitive, but Back East has managed to stay on top. Connecticut Magazine named us Best Brewery in 2017, and we’ve also won “Best Locally Brewed Beer” in the 2018 the CTNOW Best of Hartford Readers’ Poll.

NAN: How do you continue to stay relevant in this type of competitive market?

TONY: It’s challenging because the market is continually changing. It is important for breweries to listen and respond to what their customers want. When we opened, we had one IPA in our lineup. Since then, we’ve released almost 10 different IPAs or double IPAs.

The huge growth in the number of breweries (as well as the maturing of the craft beer industry), has definitely made things exciting!

I try to stay current on the Brewers Association trends and forecasts, which say the brewery failure rates are historically low, but we’ve also never seen this type of growth rate. Some breweries will inevitably close due to competition and market saturation (despite the historically low failure rate).

Back East has been able to stay relevant because we have a skilled team that’s committed to putting out a quality product. Surprisingly, that’s not always the case with all breweries. We try to continually innovate. It’s certainly become harder for established breweries to stay relevant with so many options out there.

The good thing is, with more attention on the industry, craft beer is no longer just for the eccentric beer drinker. It has become mainstream. More high-profile Connecticut breweries, like Two Roads Brewing Co., have helped absolutely the industry.

NAN: You’re seven years post-startup, tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey. What lessons have you learned?

TONY: I wouldn’t call myself an “entrepreneur.” I think of an entrepreneur as starting a business because they see an opportunity to make money. I started Back East because I wanted to be in this industry and create a career doing something I enjoy.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is not being afraid to go with an idea. When we started, I knew there was a good chance of us being successful. The market wasn’t as saturated back then.

NAN: Anything you wish you’d done differently?

TONY: I wish we had started at a bigger size. Growing is difficult, expensive, and takes a lot of work. We started with low budget but, looking back, it would’ve been better to start with a larger system.

One thing we’ve done well is to make sure our production layout is set up so we can continue to add capacity and grow. So, when we’re adding equipment, we’re thinking about what comes next. We purposely chose this building in Bloomfield because there was space to grow. A lot of our equipment is oversized, so each time we expand we’re not replacing everything. A good example is our canning line, which we added during our last expansion.

NAN: From my conversations with other Connecticut breweries, I’ve learned there’s a lot of mentorship and collaboration.

TONY: There is, and it’s nice to help others. We’ve gotten calls from others who are starting out asking general how-to questions about things like tax forms. We also trade ingredients and share ideas with other breweries, including Thomas Hooker Brewery across town in Bloomfield. Some breweries do collaborate for brews. We haven’t yet, but we’ve talked to several other breweries about doing something like that.

NAN: How are you marketing?

TONY: We rely on social media and we have an active, good following. Social media is a good thing for small businesses. The traditional ways of adverting and marketing are expensive and not really necessary for our customers.

Back East Brewing Company's Intergalactic Lupulinary IPA-style beer.

NAN: Are your customers mostly repeat or people who want to try new craft beers?

TONY: We have both—new customers trying our beer for the first time and our loyal following.

NAN: Where do you see the entrepreneurial landscape heading in Connecticut?

TONY: Entrepreneurs are a scrappy bunch. No matter what happens with Connecticut’s economic landscape, which remains to be seen, entrepreneurs are always ready to get out there and shake things up.

I do think it’s a bad time to start a brewery in Connecticut. The market is oversaturated. There are two macro trends: Craft beer growth is slowing and beer consumption in total is declining (losing ground to wine and spirits). Craft beer’s piece of the pie is growing, but the pie is getting smaller.

NAN: How does that affect Back East Brewery?

TONY: We’ve been brewing different styles of beer and working on bringing attention to the industry. I’m on the board of the Connecticut Brewers Guild. Part of our goal is to market Connecticut breweries to help us stay competitive with other out-of-state breweries and help us stay competitive with other beverages (i.e., wine and spirits).

NAN: What’s next for Back East Brewing?

TONY: Our main goal is to grow our distribution. We currently distribute our beer in Connecticut and western Massachusetts. With our expansion, we’re hoping most of our growth will be in Connecticut—we see room for us to grow here.

We’ll probably grow in Massachusetts as well. We don’t have a specific timeline. It depends on how much more we can grow in Connecticut, which should always be the primary focus. It’s our home market, and you always want to be successful in your home market.

Find out more about Back East Brewing

VISIT: www.backeastbrewing.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

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