You don't need to work at a nonprofit in order to make a living helping others. Entrepreneurs can pursue countless business opportunities in fitness, health food, health coaching, self-improvement, social networking and other areas to make an impact in people's lives. Here are seven ways to get started in building a brand that helps others, based on insights from business owners who know.
1. Identify a need.
Pediatric dentist Jenny Citineni, D.D.S, was working in a children's dental clinic and saw that her patients struggled to avoid sweet snacks, and were getting cavities as a result. In dental school, she'd learned about sugar-free options to recommend, but had never tried them herself. She and her husband, Tom Thekkekandam, decided to sample a few and found they were often sticky and had an unpleasant aftertaste. “If I'm eating something to satisfy my sweet tooth I want something yummy," says Citineni. This was in 2011, and the two observed that other sugar-free categories, such as beverages and gum, had a large market. They saw the potential in making a tasty sugar-free candy, and set out to create what would become Tom & Jenny's two years later. The business is based in Durham, North Carolina.
2. Test, test and retest your product or service.
Citineni made the first few batches, experimenting with different sweeteners. Ultimately, she decided on xylitol. “We know that it doesn't cause cavities, it actually helps," she says. “We knew a lot about it from dental publications." Thekkekandam, who was on sabbatical as a consultant, soon took over the quest to make a delicious, sugar-free caramel. Over a two-year period he remembers making about 200 batches of caramels in their tiny Manhattan kitchen. In the early days, they would ask neighbors, friends and family to share their opinions. In time, he started holding focus groups and doing blind-taste test comparisons to traditional caramels, and found that people really enjoyed the sugar-free one, even more than the ones with sugar.
3. Consider collaborating with an expert.
The couple knew they were on to something, but wanted validation from an expert. Thekkekandam sought out a chef— Chef Michael Laiskonis, a James Beard Award winner and former head pastry chef at Le Bernardin in New York—to share his opinion. Over the next three months, Laiskonis helped tweak the recipe and also create a chocolate version. "Collaborating with Chef Laiskonis was a dream come true. He took our level of knowledge about confectionery and the taste profile of our caramels to a much higher level than we originally thought we could attain with the fascinating combination of artistry and rigorous scientific method that he brings to all of his cooking," says Thekkekandam.
4. See how the market responds and grow accordingly.
In December of 2013, Tom & Jenny's participated in a winter market, and the caramels sold out. Then, they began selling them via a major e-commerce site and, even with no advertising, the candies sold well and received positive reviews. Thekkekandam began talking with manufacturers and found one willing to do small-scale production.
Do as much research as possible around who your business is going to reach. [...] That'll help you decide what kind of capital you need to help build your business.
—Olivia June, founder, Hey! Vina
Today, the caramels, which come in five flavors, are in more than 100 stores. The classic caramel has managed to rise in the ranks to be named the No. 1 seller in the “caramel candy" category on that major e-commerce site, and appeared on a television shopping network a number of times. Along the way, Thekkekandam has never stopped experimenting, whether that means devising a new label, tweaking a recipe, marketing to new segments (the caramels have become popular with people on gluten-free and carbohydrate-restricting diets) or taking steps to manage growth. “It's been a constant discovery process. And we're still in that process today, which is pretty exciting. It makes it nerve wracking at times, and quite an adventure."
5. Define your market and figure out financing.
Olivia June is working to combat loneliness through her free Hey! Vina app, which aims to help women create new friendships with other women in a manner that's similar to dating apps, but strictly platonic. The inspiration for Hey! Vina, which is based in San Francisco, dates back to 2009, when June moved to the Bay Area and didn't know anyone. She signed up for some online dating sites to meet men, and, in the process, started looking at the profiles of other women and wished many of them were her friends. She talked to friends and strangers about her concept for a women-centric friend-making app, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Since launching in 2016, Hey! Vina has signed on more than 1 million members in 158 countries, and she's raised $2.25 million in venture capital. She advises entrepreneurs to consider their audience and then decide how they want to fund their business. Those who expect to grow quickly may be best served by investors, while a smaller market may be better served by self-funding or pursuing small-business loans. “Do as much research as possible around who your business is going to reach," says June, who is the company's founder and CEO. “That'll help you decide what kind of capital you need to help build your business."
6. Start marketing early.
Long before the app was developed, June created a landing page for Hey! Vina where people could enter their email address and receive updates. “It just had two-sentence description of what I was building and a snapshot of what I thought it could possibly look like," she says. She shared it with friends and family and different groups on social media and asked everyone to share the link with people whom they thought might be interested. “Eleven months from when I put up the landing page to when I announced the product, I had a waiting list of 7,000 people who were already interested in what I as building," she says.
7. Time it right.
It took about six years for Hey! Vina to go from concept to launch. June was just 23 when she came up with the idea, and she didn't yet have the experience to make it a reality. To get that experience, she landed jobs at different startups and learned all that she could about running a business. “You need to be able to do marketing, you need to be able to write really well, you need to be able to design, you need to be able to manage people. And if you haven't developed those skillsets, you're going to have to hire other people," she says. June adds that the launch date can also make a big difference for a business. She says she was lucky to launch her site in January, at a time where when people are thinking about resolutions to meet other people. She said 100,000 people joined the platform the first week. “In January, we're all really thinking about our health, so if you are building a health and wellness business set yourself up to launch in January if you can," she says.
There's an old adage that says before helping others, you must make sure you're taking care of yourself. June points out that many entrepreneurs, like herself, have to learn that lesson the hard way (she remembers getting sick at critical times and feeling paralyzed by anxiety). Her solution: creating a time budget and allocating certain percentages of her week to work, friends, family and personal health; and prioritizing meditating, healthy eating, socializing and exercising. She encourages other entrepreneurs to set boundaries and take care of themselves, in order to help others. "Make sure you are able to show up to work on building your business as the best version of yourself," says June.
Photo: Getty Images