Small Biz Success Story – Grass Roots Flooring, an Online Business

My goal in interviewing small business owners is to provide my listeners with ideas and possibilities for owning and operating their own business. Jen Ortega of Grass Roots Flooring did not disappoint! She provided prospective small business owners with some great ideas for starting up and marketing an online business. During the interview, she explained why she and her partner chose an online retail business.

Here were some of their reasons:

·         They wanted to be able to drop ship their products so they wouldn’t have to bother with packaging and mailing a product

·         Low start-up costs

·         Low overhead

·         The ability to provide quality at affordable prices

·         Less stress

I would add that another benefit to having your own online store is that people can buy your products at any time of the day so you’re not bound by time constraints in selling your products.

She also related how they decided on the product they chose to sell (hint: it had to do with their love of watching HGTV!) and the essential steps they needed to take in order to become educated in selling their product. I think one of the best points that Jen made was that you don’t have to know everything about your business in order to start up your business – the knowledge will come as you move forward.

This point struck a chord with me as I see so many of people who never reach out and grab a hold of their dreams because they get stuck in analysis paralysis!

Jen and her partner are a shining example of believing in yourself and just going for your dreams – that begins with having the confidence that you will meet every challenge as it arises (she related some of these challenges in the interview as well).

After all, isn’t that what a life worth living is all about anyway?

It’s the ability to meet every challenge that comes your way with the confidence that you can handle it!

What would you do to make your dream a reality?

On May 3^rd I had the pleasure of interviewing Leah Wietholter who has a successful forensic accounting business. She has been in business for a little more than a year and already has had to hire people to help her handle all of the work that she has; a problem every small business owner would love to have.

When she decided to make the commitment to start her company she had 2 major challenges to contend with. She had to:

1)     Support herself while she ramped up her business, and

2)     Find customers as soon as possible

She immediately started contacting lawyers in her district to ask to meet with them to find out more about their practices with the intention of explaining how she could service them. Her strategy paid off as she received a major contract from one of her first meetings with a local attorney.

The most amazing aspect of her story was the sacrifices she consciously made in order to get her business up and running. To begin with, she made up her mind to live simply to keep her expenses down. In order to support herself while working to grow and develop her new business, she worked at odd part time jobs to raise enough money to live.  For example, she worked for a furniture refinishing company and made take home dinners for her friends – talk about resourceful!

Her sacrifice and hard work certainly paid off.

During the interview, Leah shared the great marketing ideas she implemented for getting her business started and her unique method for approaching prospective clients.

You can find out what they were by playing back my interview with Leah by going to: www.blogtalkradio.com/yourcareermakeover