Archive for Business::Entrepreneurs – Page 9

Eric Bandholz founder of Beardbrand

Eric Bandholz worked as a financial advisor in Washington state, but the company Eric worked for had a “no facial hair” policy that he was not a fan of, so he left the company to start a beard grooming company. He attended a Startup Weekend event where he met Lindsey Reinders and Jeremy McGee, who would go on to help Eric form the company Beardbrand. Beardbrand sells a variety of beard care products including beard oil and mustache wax. Initially the three of them started with $8,000 and they had to reinvest any profits they earned back into the company for their first 10 months. Beardbrand launched its online store and put a lot of resources towards marketing on online platforms which helped the company to grow. Particularly important is the companies YouTube channel which has over 1,000,000 subscribers and has been essential in helping the company to grow. Eric appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank and although he did not receive any investment money the publicity gained from appearing on the show helped to raise awareness about Beardbrand and increase sales.

 

Seeing that Eric left the safety of his job to pursue something that he’s passionate about is very encouraging. I think Eric is a great example of an entrepreneur taking something that they love and making it into a business.

A Glimpse of Brian Montgomery, Canadian Food Entrepreneur

How can people think entrepreneurially about something as basic as oats?

Brian Montgomery provides an engaging case study. A former investor, Montgomery wanted to develop a business where a simple product like oats and oatmeal can be turned into a new and truly creative lifestyle food. Oat Couture, his business from Ottawa Canada, provides millennials (as well as the local community) with a new and improved way of breakfast oatmeal. His message to his millennial target audience for Oat Couture is, “We want everyone to feel like they are coming home.” His message beautifully conveys his spirit of hospitality.

Not only does his cafe have a sit-down area, but he also offers online order and delivery options for young professionals who may be too busy to sit and eat. His kitchen accommodates many allergens and dietary needs; the meal presentation is also aesthetically pleasing. For example, he offers savory, sweet, and ultra-health conscious oatmeal bowls as well as seasonally flavored varieties. Currently, his fall specialty is pumpkin, which he makes distinctive with adding house-made caramel shortbread.

Clearly, Montgomery has a vision for his café; but his novel idea of making oatmeal fashionable is not his only innovation. He has pioneered the multi-purposing of café space. At night, one of his locations within sixty minutes is reconfigured as the Montgomery Scotch Lounge, a nod to his Scots pioneer heritage. This whole other business builds on the same theme of Scottish agricultural heritage but reaches another consumer market that may not be preoccupied with health, but instead prizes upmarket whiskey brands.

Brian Montgomery is an extraordinary entrepreneur, who can read his market and find innovating ways to use space and classic ingredients.

Please take a look at Montgomery’s entrepreneurial websites for his businesses:

https://oatcouturecafe.com/

http://montgomeryscotchlounge.com/

The brains behind Clicks Talent

Abraham Lieberman a veteran for the Israeli military used his time when not in service to start working on his dreams. He took advantage of the rising need for social media consultants amongst US companies and used that to start up his business, Clicks Talent. He saw the pain of many influencers that they might not have even realized or noticed. These influencers weren’t using their full talent in the ability to push and promote social media apps. While he was originally from Israel he knew that there was an open market in the US and took a break from his college education to pursue this opportunity. Abraham was very quick to see that new apps needed big name influencers and creators to promote their apps. He continues to diversify his company and pivot as new apps come out reaching those apps with different influencers that related to those apps. Abraham has really taken advantage of the rise in short-form videos such as Tik Tok and other apps that are now adding these videos into their portfolio. He has now expanded his company into a global powerhouse now reaching a variety of countries and apps within those countries. He believes that diversifying oneself in cultures allows them to grow and thrive in the current marketplace. A key aspect that I took from this article is Abraham’s emphasis of collaborating with people that have more experience than you and will be able to open your mind to different ideas. Personally, Abraham inspires me to think outside the normal box of products or services and to look for areas in the marketplace that no one has thought of or looked for. I think that using social media in the current time period is something that I took from this. I believe that social media will continue to open more and more areas of opportunity in the marketplace of the future.

 

Read more here.

Jacob Landis-Eigsti- Jacob LE Video Production

Jacob Landis-Eigsti is the founder of Jacob LE Video Production which helps companies gain new marketing and video production clients. He has run his own business for 10 years now and is very successful. Jacob says he started this business because he saw many businesses struggling to tell their story and connect with others online. He wanted to use his marketing and video production skills to help other businesses.

Jacob’s business is very innovative because he uses the internet to communicate with people on how to grow their business through video. I found it unique that his goal is to teach people how to market their businesses better, instead of only trying to make his business the best. He is very selfless in this sense.

Jacob says he starts off each day by making a to-do list with three things he wants to get accomplished for the day. He also turns his phone off for 90-minute blocks in order to get tasks done without getting distracted. Techniques like these demonstrate a focused business person. He also said a success strategy of his is to always follow up with a client or business partner you’ve been talking to. This allows for closure or further conversation with peers.

Facebook, Instagram, and online video advertising are some of the things Jacob focuses on helping people with in his business. We are becoming more and more dependent on social media every day, so I think it was very innovative of Jacob to incorporate this into his business. If people are unsure how to market themselves online, it could be the downfall to their business. Jacob LE Video Production is an easy solution to help small/medium businesses with these advertising techniques.

Being a marketing major, Jacob Landis-Eigsti specifically inspires me to grow in my marketing knowledge so that I can eventually help people in the way that he does. In an interview with Carlyn Runnels he states, “Also, learn business skills first as an entrepreneur. It’s important to be good at your craft, but business skills and sales skills are incredibly important.” This inspires me to learn the basic business skills first, because this will set the foundation for being able to help people with all kinds of businesses, like Jacob does.

Below is a series of blog posts Jacob has posted on a site called Medium in order to assist with marketing, social media and video strategies.

Jacob Landis-Eigsti – Medium

 

Sources:

Jacob Landis-Eigsti (ideamensch.com)

Jacob Landis-Eigsti – Medium