Everyone was welcomed and everyone shared his or her why on why each one of them is here tonight in the Turning Your Hobby Into A Business- Session 1: Product/Service Development and the Production Process, presented by Sophie Werner, Program Manager- LAEDA Business Service Center. Tonight the entrepreneurs and or small business owners will be able to layout a practical road map to get themselves started on his or her journey and strategies they can put in their wallet to help guide him or her through their small business journey.

“We take calculated risks in every area of our life and it is up to us to decide if we want to take that risks or which ones to take,” Sophie Werner disclosed.

The most valuable ingredient an entrepreneur or small business owner needs is time. Time will help to becoming a success in personal and professional areas of life. Working the business-whether early mornings, late nights or weekends or improving skills-attending seminars, trainings and workshops. Other essentials ingredients to pour into that cup of success are the following: family support, having a network of potential clients, assessment, and solution(s). Just like everyone has multiple skills and talents along with many roles to play in life as Sophie described it is vital to add and mix all of the valuable ingredients together to make a successful recipe turn into a successful menu of adventures in the entrepreneurial or small business ownership journey.

Let’s look at the recipe below:

(1) Time -> working the business and improving skills
(2) Family support -> can be a source of low cost of labor to help with production, sales, marketing, and administration of the business
(3) Network of potential clients -> these are the first group of product testers and customers so placing the product or service in their hands will drive interest and direct people to your sales channels
(4) Assessment -> creates a road map for gathering resources that will be needed such as talent, money, support and etc.
(5) Solution -> being able to answer and fill all the gaps of the following question: “What need, gap, or challenge are you filling or solving?

As the discussion went on Sophie asked all the attendees of tonight’s seminar the question mentioned above and everyone had a different answer that is why as this discussion was wrapping up Sophie opened up the floor even more with a crucial question, “What is your niche and how will you handle your production process?”

All businesses are built on a solid foundation of systems such as the following: Sales and marketing, administration systems and finance, and production and product development. Production involves transformation of raw material into desired product or service by adding economic valuable, thus it is important to understand the production process and put all of its pieces together to create and match your puzzle of the recipe of success that you cooked.

“Is there demand for your product? Make sure it stands the test of time, test the market to get feedback because there needs to be a demand for your product for your business to succeed and stay standing,” Sophie Werner illustrates.

Sophie used her coffee mug as an example, “How will this break-even you have to add up all the cost and cover those costs?” Sophie questions, “You can answer these questions by creating that uniqueness that is YOU.”

What is that super important ingredient that we cannot do anything without? Time is. Moreover, time and cost are important each step of the production processes and always add a little time for idol steps you may encounter at each step. Continuing to share different handles on business topics and experiences, stay connected with one another and keep in touch with LAEDA and its resources should be in the palm of your hands or in pockets.

Sophie went over the sneak-peaks for the upcoming classes in this series and opened the floor for more questions as we wrapped up for tonight:

Unit 2- Sale Channels for the Side Hustle Business
Unit 3- Understanding the Power of Marketing
Unit 4- Money, Banking and Credit
Unit 5- Business Administration & Bookkeeping
Unit 6- Final Show & Business Pitch & Presentation of Certificates of Completion

Session 3: Understanding the Power of Marketing, presented by Jamila Powell, Program Manager- LAEDA Women’s Business Center. Tonight the entrepreneurs and or small business owners will be able to identify whom their best customers are and how to reach them so they buy from them instead of their competition and much more.

Jamila Powell opened up the discussion of tonight’s topic by asking the following question:

“Are there any questions you guys need to be answered about marketing? If you know how customers shop, where they shop and where they are looking for things and what they are looking for then you will have a better understanding of what your customer foundation is, “ Jamila Powell added, “Word of mouth- the more people know about you the more you are known in your industry and any other questions I can answer on the front end and some of the questions will most likely be answered during our presentation.”

Most of you put a product out into the world because you know people had a challenge and people needed a solution and LAEDA will help you put together the tools you need to succeed. LAEDA opens doors of opportunity for individuals to necessary resources that the individuals need to start and or continue operating their small business and access capital.

Jamila Powell explained that there is a difference between Marketing Vs. Advertising and that being able to answer the following questions are vital to finding the ideal customer and build that customer foundation when on the search for finding who to market to: Who’s Your Customer? Where Are you going to sell and why? In addition, and knowing the benefits & features of your product/service.

Advertising is communicating to your customers, whereas Marketing is the science of identifying & learning about your customers, where to find them and how they want to be communicated with and Jamila Powell described this as kind of being an umbrella of marketing.

Jamila Powell gave an example of the Super Bowl LII marketing example: it took 5, 000,000 million for 30 seconds watched by 123,000,000 to market to customers. Thus, entrepreneurs and or small business owners should be able to answer the following question: Do you have the budget to reach EVERYONE?

Knowing who YOUR customer is critical for success because they may look you up, but not buy from you and everyone is not an answer. Throughout the night Jamila used the darts game as an illustration: “What usually happens when you hit the bulls-eye when you play darts?” Jamila Powell asked.

The answer is you want to be able to hit the bull’s eye when you are advertising and win. So figuring out who your bulls-eye customer is- who you are selling to is crucial and the following questions will help find your ideal customer on the road to business ownership:

• Who’s Your Customer? What’s Their Profile? Figure out who your bulls-eye customer is (who are you selling to)—think back to the dart game.
• Age Group? Gender? Income? Education? Hobbies? Who are your customers?
• Where are they?
• How many are there?
• What do they buy?
• Why do they buy?
• When do they buy?
• How do they buy?
• Why do they buy from your or someone else?

Also, When we are thinking about the people that are purchasing we are thinking about the Bulls-eye client. What is it about this person who buys from me all the time? Figure this out so you can target to your audience better and attract the type of clients that you want or need to ran your business and keep it running toward success and growth.

Do your homework and learn about whom your customer is-play those detective games where you collect all the clues and find whom you are looking for. Where will you sell your product/service because where you sell must be specific and everywhere is not the answer.

The following questions will help you determine this route and help you find your location when searching:

• A Town or city? A Group of Towns?
• A County? A Region? A State? A Country? Why there?
• Who meets the characteristics or qualities of that bulls-eye customers that you want to attract to your business

Using the Census to find out if there are enough people in the area that you want to target to is helpful so grab your tools to dive in the search further with your magnifying glass to help you grab those clues which leads to your answers.

Jamila Powell walked us through the website that will help us answer all the questions mentioned above and much more: US Census Business Builder type this in the search bar of Google https://www.census.gov/data/data-tools/cbb.html.

Start out with the people that give you the most honest feedback; the one’s who you can put on speakerphone because these people will be your word of mouth,” Jamila Powell suggested.

Getting your product out in the hands of as many people as possible will drive interest and direct people to your sales channels. Do not be a secret in town because you want to be known in your industry. How do you keep yourself from being a secret? That is a significant detective question and to answer it with success you must find the clues to identifying the following answers hidden within this question:

What need, gap or challenge are you filling or solving? Because remember A solution Without a Solution is a Paper Weight!

“Solve a problem for your clients and add value to their world, “Jamila Powell explained, “Sell the benefits of what you have to offer and win those customers that are meant for you and your business and be on your way to a successful journey.”

Put your detective hat on and have that magnifying glass in your hands and never forget the Question- Who is Your Customer?

LAEDA offers seminars and short-term courses in various counties of South Jersey throughout the year. A long-term course is also offered three times per year where entrepreneurs receive 72+ hours of training from industry professionals, business planning, and business counseling. The program is free, but you must qualify.

LAEDA welcomes you to join our community of successful entrepreneurs. Visit our website at www.laeda.com or call (856) 338-1177 to learn more.