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Alexis Glick: ..to earn a profit, we've got some great help for you, Caitlin Friedman and Kimberley Yorio are the authors of the "Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business". They wrote their book after merging their companies and they started into public relations and marketing firm. Good morning to the two of you.
Good morning, Hello
Well, this is first of all what a great read, I love the book.
Thank you.
I need to know from the beginning though. Tell me how did the two of you link up together and decide that you wanna do this and start your own business?
Well, there're a couple of reasons. We wanted to have more control over the money we've made. I mean at this point, if we work harder we know at the end of the day, we actually will see some rewards, you know, to, to, sort of help us grow.
Also we were in our bedrooms for separately doing our own thing, and then we really wanted to be able to grow the business. And we found that merging with someone who had the same enthusiasm, and the same goals, yet different strengths was really great way for us to grow our own business to the next level.
And it amounts, so we wanted that substantiated…Exactly.
And you wanted to find right has the right timing. Kimberley, I have to ask you, I mean, some of these statistics are staggering. I am so excited because this is a woman who came from business I love this. In the past 7 year, ah, 7 years, women-owned businesses have increased at twice the rate of other-owned businesses. Tell us about some of the growth in the business.
Twice the rate, and twice the size, which is really exciting, so it's not just us girls in our bedrooms any more. You know, we're going out there and we are contributing to the economy, we are employing people, we are, not only are you/ growing at twice the size that the Center said that the women, the revenue for woman's business is 35 percent higher than the man's business, so you know, it works, we know what we are doing, you start small , you grow, you, you know, do your homework, baby steps, and pretty soon, you know, you have a really thriving company that you can be really proud of.
Right, yeah
Ok, Caitlin, let's give people some advice here on how they can do it. You go through a series of really important tips, the first of which is to ask the tough questions, start doing your homework.
Right, these are the questions that nobody wants to think about when they are sitting in their cubicles, saying I really want to run a bakery. These are things like: Can I live on a fluctuating income. I mean you might make money the first month, but maybe not the second month, so can you pay your bills, and pay your health insurance, and cover your expenses. Second, is your family onboard? We have families, and you know, we really rely on them, when our schedules change or our stresses change, so we need them to be as enthusiastic for us as we are. So there are 2 really important tips.
Kimberley, also you say what business is right for you. You may love something and be passionate about it, but it may not be the right business for you, why?
I mean because you need expertise, I mean, this isn't a game, this isn't a fun, it's not a hobby, you need to make money, so you need to understand what the economics of that business are. If you want to start, you know, a hobby business. We are gonna hire someone. She's gonna be an intern in fall. She has this massive business on eBay, but she takes it seriously. She treats it like a business, so you have to understand what the finances are, you know on eBay business. How much does it cost to ship the stuff? How do you trade and get paid?
But also…
Answer that do you want to do it every day? I mean, I've answered my passion is baking. I love to own a bakery, I talk about it all the time, I talk about it with Kim all the time. Soren Flowers(估计是未来面包店的名字). We don't even have the name. But do I really wanna spend my day/ making 200 blueberry muffins. I don't think I do, so you need to ask yourself those kind of questions too.
And one of the things I thought was really really perfect is you say assemble a small team, a team of experts, because you think that you may understand all the facets of the business, but you know you don't know how to pay the bills, or do the book-keeping, or the accounting. What is that small business team?
Well, we recommend you get a lawyer onboard to help you with the incorporation, an accountant to help you with the taxes because (That's it!) right, one of the reasons we wrote the book, we made a series of sort of costly mistakes at the beginning that really could've been avoided if we had the help is the right at the start of our business.
What an excellent hypothesis. There is no reason that we should know about the tax law, there is no reason. That's not how we spend our day, so if you spend a little money upfront, it will save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
Another suggestion you have, start writing a business plan. Because when you put it down on paper, all of a sudden the pieces come together, and you figure it out. Is this thing a little bit too much bigger than I anticipated?
Right, right. We have a colleague and friend now who has this great idea and she keeps saying I wanna start this business, great, write it up. And then she gets stuck, so we are trying to encourage her and everyone out there is to make it manageable for yourself. Start with "What are your goals? How much do, how much will it cost if run the business? What is the competition like? Can you really make it?" and so. But we started with this kind of patron where we still are. We operated on a little index card. Ok! So where where we now...(but not that we're recommending)...
To be really, do you think people should sit down and write a plan? But we don't we don't think unless you are going after big money, it needs to be a huge 60-page document. I mean, just sort of the basics where you wanna be in 5 years, what the finances are, and you know, what kind of employees you wanna bring in, is a really good start.
Well, Caitlin and Kimberley, this is, I have to say a great read, I love the last chapter and all the pieces of advice and all those things said, you know, you go in the business world every day you think to yourself, you know, these are the basics, you know, trust your instincts, things like that, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Thank you!
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