entrepreneurship

Rebbl: A Drink to Fight Human Trafficking

September 14, 2018 By Kat

Something you may have seen at the grocery stores (like Sprouts and Whole Foods) is a brand of drinks called Rebbl.

I first learned about it about 2 years ago, when I first found out that there was human trafficking in the Bay Area. Yes I know, I was naïve because human trafficking (modern day slavery – forced labor, sexual exploitation, etc…) can happen anywhere. Even in the places we think we know so well. Even under our noses.

I started digging into it more and found this group called the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition that educates people and organizations on the issues and ways to fight trafficking in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Somehow after watching some videos on the BAATC website, I stumbled on this below talk by David Batstone. He was a venture capitalist, who discovered that his favorite SF restaurant was the center of a human trafficking ring that brought hundreds of teens from Bangalore into the restaurant for forced labor, and then onto other terrible situations. He started fundraising and started a nonprofit called Not For Sale to initially build a village in Thailand for young kids who had been rescued from trafficking.

He was persistent in deepening his understanding about the cycle of slavery. He kept wanting to go “upstream” to figure out the roots of slavery. He was able to fundraise money to support these children once they were freed from slavery, but he calls it “pulling bodies out of the water” in the sense that it was already after the trauma has happened. He wanted to come up with something more sustainable than a charity where he had to ask people for money over and over. He called it “opening his heart, but shutting off his brain.” He wanted to start using his brain to think about how he could come up with a sustainable business model to fight trafficking.

Hence he gathered a bunch of bright business leaders to come up with a business plan that would empower tribes in the Amazon rainforest. The goal was to create money and jobs for people in these areas, where there were rich natural resources but a lack of economic opportunities.

Rebbl was born. The business creates drinks with ingredients from places like the Amazon rainforest by engaging the local community and supply chain, connecting them to distributors abroad, and finally to the end consumers, including the Bay Area. I’ve tried a couple of their drinks like the Maca Mocha and Chocolate flavors and they’re pretty good!! It’s a great alternative to try at least once instead of a iced coffee drink from Starbucks. 😉

They’re committed to creating a ethical business that has a strong bottom line and a strong positive impact on each person it touches along the product lifecycle. Learn more about Rebbl in the below video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKxbwkghJD4

The Not For Sale organization has gone on to work on projects in other parts of the world to create self-sustaining businesses that empower the survivors of trafficking. It’s a fascinating idea on how we can fight trafficking by creating new economies and jobs for those who need it most.

Here are links to the organizations I mentioned: Rebbl, Not for Sale, BAATC.

Do you know any social impact organizations with for-profit models to sustain themselves?

Grace Over Grind

June 25, 2018 By Kat

Grace Over Grind is a fantastic book for entrepreneurs who are looking for a solution to the unending hustle and grind every day without rest. This is a Christian book, where the author Shae Bynes offers an alternative solution: to work and rest in God’s grace where you can accomplish infinitely more than you ever could on your own strengths and abilities.

WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR

I was looking for resources from Christian business owners because I was wrestling with how can I build a business while also serve God at the same time. They seemed to be two opposites – to optimize for revenue $$ OR to optimize for serving God. And all the resources I had listened to up until now, were for the former option.

HER PODCAST

I stumbled upon her podcast called Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur. I listened to a couple of episodes and loved the stories that were shared. They explain how doing business and serving God can be aligned together. Hence, I was curious to check out her book.

HER BOOK

Grace Over Grind is a quick read, it’s only ~ 150 pages, and I finished it within a couple days. The author emphasizes how important it is to do the exercises in the book, so that’s what took me the longest because I was taking time to reflect and write out my answers. There were questions like what are you grinding away so hard at? If you were to dream with God on your business, what would that look like?

AHA! MOMENTS

I realized that being an entrepreneur isn’t about working until your eyeballs fall out. Too often, we get scared, try to seize control of the situation and try to do it all through our own efforts. We get bogged down in our own frustrations of why things aren’t happening even though we’re putting in all this effort. But things happen on God’s time and if we can trust in that, we can turn over our stresses and worries to him. The author clarifies that resting doesn’t mean sitting on the couch and doing nothing. It means continuing to take action but with guidance from God. It’s about surrendering control, being willing to ask God for help, and going where he leads you because it’s ultimately for your best and for the world’s best.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Too many believers in business idolize hard work. They exalt hard work over the presence of God in business.”

“Some people refuse the favor that God has granted to them because they don’t feel worthy of it. Favor isn’t all about you and has nothing to do with your worthiness; it’s about the assignment God has placed on your life.”

“You will have peace in the midst of seeming chaos, and joy, in the midst of unfamiliar levels of hardship or criticism. […] Live within the grace of one day only. That’s how we experience the sufficiency of God’s grace.”

CONCLUSION

Honestly, I also feel like the book could be applicable to people who are in the workforce, who aren’t necessarily entrepreneurs. Living in Silicon Valley, I can literally feel how stressed out people are about their jobs or where their career is headed. The book talks about working intentionally in partnership with God and taking it one day at a time. It put my heart at ease, and if you read it, I hope it does for you too.

Grace Over Grind:
How Grace Will Take Your Business Where Grinding Can’t

I actually got this book for free by signing up for a free month trial with the Kindle Unlimited plan. It gives access to tons of other Kindle books and audiobooks. Let’s see what else I can get through this month!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. And of course, I would recommend this book regardless.

Why I Hired A Business Coach

June 5, 2018 By Kat

I recently decided to make the big decision to hire a business coach.

I don’t want to disclose my coach’s name yet until I have lengthy experience working with them and can vouch for them. Before I came to this decision though, I had been following this person’s online presence and content for awhile. I discovered them because they were a coach for a successful female entrepreneur I admired. I listened to this coach’s interviews and tried to apply their advice in my daily life. I thought the advice and strategies were quite good. I also had a couple conversations with the coach to decide if working together was a good fit or not.

Hiring a business coach is a sizable financial investment, so my decision was not made lightly. It came down to 3 big reasons:

1. ADMITTING I NEED HELP

This was probably the hardest thing for me to admit. I was hoping to save my money to use towards my living expenses and extend the length of my runway. But at the same time, I had to look at the hard numbers of my business and realize that I was still a long way off from being able to make a sustainable living off it. It feels like I’m working constantly on my business, so working harder or longer hours isn’t really a viable solution. I also had to admit that I lack business experience and am not very good at marketing or sales. 😐

So to summarize, I had to admit that I didn’t know how to make a sustainable business on my own.

2. WANTING A SINGLE GUIDING VOICE

Since I don’t have co-workers, the conversations I have about my business arise when I’m talking to my boyfriend, friends, and family. Sometimes I’ll get an idea from a conversation and all of a sudden, I’ll be all gung-ho and excited about trying that idea out. So my focus suddenly shifts to something that randomly came up in my last conversation. On the flip side, relying on my own inner voice is tricky because the voice of fear inside myself sometimes holds me back from doing things.

What I believe I need is advice from a single person who has successfully built a business and has gone through the growing pains that I have. I need help with setting priorities and goals from the braindump of ideas that I have in my mind.

To summarize, there’s plenty of business advice out there, but I need a single voice telling me what to focus on next. And then my personal relationships can purely be personal time.

3. NEEDING ACCOUNTABILITY

It’s easy to have lots of grand ideas about where I could take my business, but executing them on a disciplined schedule is very hard. I find it challenging to make plans and stick with them. Often, it’s because I get discouraged by the lack of results when I’m part way through, so I scrap the whole idea as not worth doing. Or a better idea comes along that I’d rather try.

When it comes to the things that are hard and outside my comfort zone, I easily procrastinate on them, so the hardest milestones can get pushed back repeatedly because there are no set deadlines.

To summarize, I need accountability on the plans I develop – to make sure I’m pushing myself outside my comfort zone daily and making strategic use of my time.

LAST THOUGHTS

This article was not meant to convince anyone to get a business coach. I’m just sharing my experience. I know that hiring a business coach isn’t right for everyone. It especially depends on what point you are in your life and your business. Last year I wouldn’t have been ready for one.

Also, finding the right coach is a long vetting process that is going to be very different for each person. There’s a lot of business coaches out there on the internet that sell very expensive coaching packages with fancy email funnels and lots of social media advertising. It can be easy to fall prey to them when feeling emotional and frustrated about the state of your business. If you decide to look for one, please be careful and thoroughly vet them!

As always, I hope that sharing my thoughts was helpful to you. I try to be more open and vulnerable about the challenges of entrepreneurship.

I’m also doing this daily in short segments on my podcast.

Thanks for reading!

Favorite Podcast

May 30, 2017 By Kat

Okay, I’ve only ever listened to one podcast, but this is my favorite: NPR’s How I Built This.

First of all, I didn’t know how to play podcasts on my phone or which app to download. (I’m a little behind the times.) Turns out you can play this one for free from the Google Play Music app. Here’s the link.

In this podcast, entrepreneurs talk about how they built their companies and the movements that catapulted them into a well-known brand today. Guy Raz is an excellent host – practically reads my mind and asks nitty gritty questions about how they got from one point to the next.

The founders all started off as “normal” relatable people (sometimes just out of college or dropping out of college). But at some point, they unexpectedly stumbled upon a belief that people should have a certain product or service in their life. None of the founders realized how big their idea would get, which perhaps makes their stories more charming.

IN THE BEGINNING

They saw a small niche in the market and went after it with as much hustle as possible.

Kendra Scott started her jewelry business by taking some wire-wrapping classes at a local bead shop. She used $500 to buy initial supplies and created some jewelry pieces in the spare bedroom of her house. She went store-to-store in Austin trying to sell them, while carrying her son in a baby carrier. Eventually one of the stores agreed to place an order. She wasn’t sure if it was because they felt sorry for her and the baby!

Meanwhile, Alli Webb started DryBar after getting antsy with being a stay-at-home mom for 5 years. She asked the mom community in her neighborhood if anyone wanted a blowout. She would go to their house to do their hair. It was $40 because it was an easy amount – two $20 bills.

Kate Spade wanted to create a line of structured handbags that had clean, simple architectural shapes. In the beginning, she and her husband had a hard time buying materials to make the prototypes because fabric houses only sold in large bulk quantities of 100 yards. Hence, their first bag was made of burlap from a POTATO SACK company!

For her first meeting with a big buyer Neiman Marcus, Sara Blakely flew out to Dallas for a 10 minute meeting. When she realized that the woman was losing interest, she desperately asked, “Will you come with me to the bathroom? I want to show you something.” Sara ended up showing her the outfit without Spanx (shapewear to keep you slim), went into the stall to put Spanx on, and then came out. The buyer was shocked at the difference it made and was sold on the idea, right in the bathroom. I guess a business deal can happen anywhere.

WHAT TO CALL IT?

There are also funny tidbits like how they came up with the names of their companies.

Nolan Bushnell wanted start a family-friendly arcade place called Coyote Pizza. He thought he had bought a coyote costume, but it was actually a rat. (I guess they look somewhat similar?) That was a problem, so he suggested to change the name to Rick Rat’s Pizza. The marketing team thought that was a terrible idea, so they came up with a three-smile name: Chuck E. Cheese’s. 😀

Sara Blakely from Spanx wrote potential names on scrap pieces of paper, even on the back of rental car agreements because she was traveling so much. She wanted a name with a strong “k” sound because she heard from comedian friends that the “k” sound makes people laugh. (Does it?) Eventually, Sara chose the name Spanx because the word is both a little naughty and funny. The name also fits because her product is about making your butt look good. 😉

In Austin, John Mackey and his girlfriend Renee Lawson opened a natural food store called SaferWay (a pun on Safeway), which would go on to become Whole Foods Market.

THE ROLLERCOASTER

From the stories, I realized that running a business never gets easier. Even if the founders achieved a certain level of success (i.e. getting an item into a department store), new challenges kept cropping up.

In the beginning, Sara Blakely literally stood in the Neiman Marcus hosiery section every day to explain how to use Spanx to potential customers. She also gave money to friends of friends (even someone she hadn’t talked to since elementary school) to buy her products in the 7 initial cities where Neiman Marcus sold her product.

Kendra Scott fulfilled her first big order to Harold’s stores ($75k of jewelry) out of her home. It was finished on the dining table and UPS picked it up from her front doorstep.

John Mackey’s first Whole Foods store was doing well, but then the city got hit with the worst flood in 70 years. All the inventory and equipment were damaged. They had to borrow even more money to rebuild the store again.

Every day, they be hustlin’.

LEARNING

All the founders drew on their past experience – whether it was from working in a different business (Kendra Scott once owned a hat store) or at a big company as a little minion (Kate Spade was an accessories editor at Mademoiselle magazine). They were getting an education when they didn’t even know it. Hence, when they started their businesses, they had expertise but also a fresh perspective on the problem they were solving.

Most of them admit that they had no freaking idea what they were doing along the way. (I can relate to that!) They had to ramp up on business skills. Angie Hicks from Angie’s List (which maintains a list of recommended contractors in your neighborhood) even took a hiatus from her company to go back to business school.Others gained work experience from apprenticing under someone they really admired. All of them found someone to join forces with – like a husband, brother, mentor, or even the competitors down the street. And they all learned through sheer trial and error, some nearly going bankrupt in difficult times.

One story I especially liked was about celebrity chef José Andrés, who made the small plate (tapas) dining concept popular in the U.S. This guy had a crazy mentor whose way of teaching him on the fly included throwing a hot pan towards his head. If a hot pan was thrown at me, I would freeze and watch it hit the floor in slow motion. 😮

José found another invaluable mentor in Ferran Adrià who taught him some important life lessons. Those words also stuck with me that I decided to go back and transcribe it for you guys: “Don’t be afraid of trying and don’t take things for granted. You have to experience and discover things on your own. If you follow the teachings before you, you are only following what somebody else has done before you. You need not only to read and learn the theory, you need to discover on your own. That’s the moment of true learning.” SO DEEP!

WRAP UP

All in all, it was fun to hear the stories of the brands that I know and love. Which brands? Well, let’s just say on my 22nd birthday, I went with friends to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. I loved it. Arcade games are the best. My friends were sure to squirt lots of hand sanitizer on their hands upon leaving the place.

Me having a blast

I also got my first Kate Spade bag as a birthday gift two years ago and was thrilled (see below). I have since been hooked, adding wallets and crossbody bags to my collection. Sigh, they’re too cute to resist.

Me being smitten with my bag

I have yet to wear Spanx, but as I look down at my love handles overflowing my jeans, it’s something I’m considering buying. 😉

Alright, so check out the NPR podcast if you’re interested. Enjoy!