H.Y.V.A. and Save Time™

Why You Must Make Tough Business Decisions in Order To Succeed

Owen: Hi. My name is Owen Mcgab Enaohwo. Welcome to hireyourvirtualassistant, where we provide small business owners with exceptional virtual assistants. I also have a blog where we have small business owners come to show to give their insights and expertise on what they are doing. And hopefully, share some new tips and strategies that are used by small business owners that you can take to your business.

Today, I’m going to interview Kris Kaplan from Kris and Co. They provide manufacturers with sales force to help them sell their products to retailers in the North East. I think I have sent out an email trying to find out from four business owners what they are currently do in this economy making their business different and how they stay successful. Kris sent me an email that basically hits the nail on the head.  Those small business owners must make tough business decisions. Basically you need to make tough business decisions to keep you going. I said, “Well, I should get Kris on the interview and interview him so you guys can learn something from him.” I’ll get back to you at the end of the interview and I look forward to talking with you. Enjoy the interview.

Okay, welcome to HireYourVirtualAssistants. Today, I have Kris Kaplan, right?

Kris: Right.

Owen: It is going to be one of the first interviews I have. What I am trying to do is create an atmosphere for small business owners to come to this blog and get to contact with some successful small business owners. Likewise, learn from their experiences, engage them and figure out how can take the information that the guest has and apply to my business.

First of all, Kris, I want you to introduce yourself to the audience. Give them an introduction of yourself and your company.

Kris: Certainly. It is Kris Kaplan, no worries about on pronunciation. I run a company called Kris and Co in the Greater North East. We provide manufactures of gift work products with outsourced sales team covering New York, New Jersey and all 6 New England States.

We represent about 30-40 vendors at any given time. In my 12-14 sales reps call about 3,000 to 4,000 customers over the course of a 12-month period. Anywhere from a Mom & Pop shop to small local chains, to Barnes and Noble, Bed, Baths and Beyond, and anywhere in between.

Owen: Okay. That sounds very impressive. I want to get more insiders to how you got started in business.

Kris: Sure. My family, particularly my mom, owns a retail store in Rochester, New York called Parkly. I spent my entire youth growing up in this store. One thing I noticed is that all these sales reps came into the store spend an hour there or 2 hours there. They got into their car, went off and did something else.

While I like the business of growing up in that retail environment and gift world. I never really wanted to be inside 8-12 hours a day. I always wanted to be outside. It seemed that being a rep would give me the opportunity to do that.

I started at wrapping first. Then I decided I want to run my own company, pick up some of my own vendors and started Kris and Co about 14 years ago out of upstate New York, and eventually moved to New England.

Owen: Wow. What are the things you learned from being a sales rep? How do you engage the clients? I’m assuming that you represent your clients and talking to the customers, right?

Kris: Right.

Owen: How do you incorporate yourself to your client’s business and actually get out there and represent them?

Kris: Right. It is always the $64,000 question, who my client is.  It is the retailer I’m selling the product to or the vendor that whose product I’m selling. There is only one of the two that sends me the check and it’s the vendor.

Owen: Yes.

Kris: Ultimately, they are my client. My main responsibility is to make sure that their products penetrate the market place. We sell directly to retailers. If you have a retail store or a website, an ebay store, a catalogue company. We are the people that provide you with products pre-brand driven. Our customers are the 4,000 retailers spread across the Greater North East.

I get to know them either by existing relationships or by vendors we are currently working with or through driving around Main Street America or knocking on the doors of every Spa, Gift Shop or flower shops, name it where there.

Owen: So, you are doing a lot of networking?

Kris: A little bit. If you are calling one retail store in Main Street America, they probably won’t tell you the other store in town. They want to be the only ones to sell some of your better products.

Networking becomes hard in the general networking terms. We have to work with other sales reps, who sometimes see us as the enemy. But sometimes, they let us know certain things that are going in and around of the retail world.

We have been fortunate being around for 14 years. We have had a number of vendors who have been there longer than us. The customer base was pretty solid in the early stage. We did a lot of trade shows where customers come to us. We have done a lot of cold calling thing, lead follow up, etc. Now we have all the customers we can ever have, we have a pretty solid customer base that grows in a relatively slow pace. There are a certain number of retail stores out there.

Owen: You said something that struck me. You worked with people that might consider you guys as the enemy, or the competition.

Kris: Yes

Owen: How do you get around that? How did you come to the point where you can say, what is in it for you guys and what is in it for us and how we can work together? How do you present that to them?

Kris: Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

Owen: That’s a very good answer.

Kris: I don’t want to burn any bridges. I am 41 years old. I am probably going to do this for a very long time. I would like to reach out to other rep groups and share what some of our best practices are. I would invite anyone to learn anything we do. It is not rocket science. It is not brain surgery. It is real relationship building, sales 101 stuff.

If there are things that we are doing that can helpful to somebody else, we are the first ones to share it. On occasion, we get some good staff to try doing that. Sometimes it is just about building relationships. If there is a store in town that we haven’t build a relationship with but someone else has. We do something for them and they might be inclined to put a good word for us. You know, Kris and Co are actually really good people.

Sometimes, it is the little help we need. 99 percent of the time it is the products that we represent the products drive at the beginning of the relationship. The sales rep then really develops that relationship. We develop that trust with the retailers. So eventually, whatever we are selling, they are going to buy it.

Owen: So, basically the effort you put is based on the product itself.  Basically, the clients already have costumers wanting those products. Have you had an experience wherein you had to market a new product that has not yet been known to the public?

Kris: Yes

Owen: How did you do that?

Kris: We tried to do that, and had to, especially in the early stages. I was 26 years old. I didn’t have sales reps working for me. I didn’t have much in the way of vendors that would let me sell their products. So we had to get innovative.

There was a lot of emerging Bath and Body products in the mid-1990is. We formed a lot of relationship with these start up Bath and Body candle manufacturing companies. The retailers did not know much about Bath and Body products but we carried a lot of it. We made it a specialty and carried it up to this day. Not the big brands but newer, bigger and better versions of those brands.

We are passionate about the products we represent. I never thought I would be happy selling scented candles for a living. I could not believe that we do far more than selling candles. I am a simple kind of guy and like to dumb it down to the lowest common denominator. At the end of the day, you sell candles.

I like to believe that we carry stuff that we would use in our everyday lives and have passion for. When we are able to share that passion with somebody even if they are not involved in that kind of product before, it is contagious, they would want to buy it.

Owen: One of the things that I’m trying to ask every entrepreneur I actually interview is, seeing how the economy has changed what exactly are you doing that is different from what you would do a couple of years back?

Kris: Yes, a number of things changed for us after September 2008. I say September 15, 2008. God turned around the economy off, and made what was already completely irrelevant, totally irrelevant. We had a show room, some 2000 sq. feet that we were spending $60,000 per year for rent plus upkeep, plus staff, plus marketing for that. We got rid of that as quickly as possible.

We realized that it would be cheaper for us to hold the lease and make payments for the rent and abandon the whole facility all together. The upkeep was not even being met by profits generated out of there. So we got out of the lease all together. We made our company into a virtual company.

My sales manager lives in Chicago. My office manager lives in Glaster. I live in Lexington, Massachusetts. My sales reps live all over the North East. We go to Skype to have a meeting and have face-to-face contact when we used to fly or drive to each other.

We have used “oDesk” and other Virtual Assistant programs out there to get the things done for us that we were normally doing in-house and spent pennies to a dollar to get it done.

Owen: That’s good.

Kris: I hope you won’t air that since I just advertised it.

Owen: No, that’s okay. It’s all about you today. I’m not even going into that. One idea about most people find about entrepreneurs is the idea wrapping your mind around, getting out of the way things are usually done. How you have done it. When you found other ways of getting rid of the unnecessary things and basically made your company into a virtual one.

Kris: We’ve never been a fan of the status quo. I think we always tried to march to our own drumbeat in a lot of things we have done. We have trade shows that we are participating in. We hold gift shows, $55,000 to appear in that show with our booth. 2 shows a year – we cut that out from our budget. In proof that we could still be successful without a showroom, show, postcard mailings, and 2 sales meetings a year got cut.

We went completely virtual with our sales meetings. Now, host a 2-day and a 3-day web-based only sales meeting for vendors to get on from the confines of their house. They can do it in their pajamas if they wish. Show those the new products. Put on a pretty smile. Have a good time for an hour. Then, press the little red button up on the top left of your screen and go back to your regularly psychotic life.

Owen: The thing too is that because you already understand that idea by basically cutting down the unnecessary things and going virtual. Some of your clients might not be at that stage.  For a business owner who is trying to convince his clients on this idea of getting things done the whole different way, how do you go about actually getting your clients to understand and actually do a webinar instead?

Kris: First, we had to send in the actual definition of what a webinar is.

Owen: Okay

Kris: We had to help them spell “gotomeeting” and really give them some pointers. Some of them did a great job. A few of them really harness the ability to learn something new. They will not learn how to make a cool PowerPoint presentation with graphics and spinning sound. Unfortunately, if you have a PowerPoint presentation while sharing your computer or “gotomeeting”, all the sound goes away.

Others just rehost their pdf. They would flip through the catalog, go through their products and give very boring presentation. A few people called in and they didn’t have anything to show. The truth is that their live presentations probably weren’t any better the year before than their virtual presentation.

We have taken it a step further. We have those meetings on a more regular basis. Even after the trade show, my vendors really want to share what successful trade shows I have. Sometimes, they travel around the country and we clearly say save the $400 in airfare, $200 in hotel room, $1200 for taking me and my company out to dinner. Put some good incentives on the table for sales representatives to get out there and perform. Let’s do this meeting over the web.

Now, it is becoming a standard though but like a few technological things. Our group has tried to remain at the forefront of technology in our workplace. We are very fragmented industry. There is very little e-Ecommerce taking place. There are not a lot of people on Facebook. Some people don’t even have emails. I have 4,000 customers and I bet I only have 1,200 emails. So it is a small moving ship but the vendors moved a little bit quicker. We are happy about that.

Owen: That’s good. One of Buzzwords in marketing right now for business owners is Social Media Marketing. The only situation is that not that many people is on that stage or maybe don’t see the need for.

How do you find the middle ground to still use the whole idea of Social Media Marketing but find the common ground where people can understand what you are doing and use it?

Kris: We are trying to be a little careful with Social Media. It exists. It’s a work in play. We haven’t totally figured it all out. We are at that daily. I have chosen a different route from many of my competition. There is always reference to other countries. They have their own pages.

There are always vendors that everyone used to be friends with and now, they like them. So when a vendor posts something, all of my friends are already like that vendor. So they see it. So we don’t repost something because we don’t want to twitterfy. I don’t think that the repost is as good as the retwit.

I have given up on twitter and I don’t know how it applies to my world right now. Maybe in another world when I start thinking about training or public speaking and want to monetize myself that way. It could be a little bit more successful for me. Facebook, for me, is good with that.

I have taken an approach on my company page wherein weekly I put something good out there for a retailer or another sales representative to help them build their business. There are various topics, such as how to become more successful or time management or vision planning or strategic planning.  It could be a repost of an article from a magazine. Sometimes it is from my own stuff. But I put it there about only once a week because there is a lot of data. If you are following me, you don’t want to hear me 4 times a day. If you need to hear me 4 times a day, you’re screwed.

I like to believe that I am helping good people to become better, not brand new people trying to figure it out. There are other better people for teaching them the basics than me.

But on my personal, I post everything. I am a tri-athlete. I’m hardcore of doing Iron Man in July. I post all of my training on there.

Owen: I see you had a blog about that too.

Kris: Yes. I have a blog about that. I am an entrepreneur/ Kris Kaplan. I put that out there one, because I want to chronicle it. Two, because I put one piece out there and somebody said that was really cool. So I started putting more and more pieces out there. I don’t get along people commenting on it, 10 or 20 regularly comment. I have far more people who I would see in person and say that they loved the updates.

So my thought was you probably didn’t really care what I do with my company. But you would be probably more interested in me as a person. As a CEO of a company, you don’t really care necessarily how I formulated my vision, what my strategy is, how I measure my goals, how I execute all that and where we get money from.

Owen: Would you like to share that?

Kris: Share that, but it would not be any different from any business books you can pick up at Barnes and Noble.

Owen: Yes, you are right.

Kris: What I thought would be interesting to some other people was what they were doing in their regular days or lives. I don’t show pictures of what I eat for breakfast.

Owen: You have to put a face behind a business to make your business more approachable. I totally like that.

How can people get hold of you and if they want to get any information from your company, where do they have to go?

Kris: Our website is www.krisandco.com. Everything is spelled out. Kris is with a K.

You can follow me on facebook, Facebook.com/kris.kaplan. I would be more than happy to have more friends.

Owen: Yes. To everybody here, Kris has been so kind to be on the call with me and give you all the information.

If you have any extra questions for him, where do they have to send their questions to?

Kris: They can send it to kris.kaplan@gmail.com.

Owen: Okay. That’s good.

I hope you enjoyed the interview I did with Kris. I want to know what you think.

I want to know your comments and suggestions. Are you having tough decisions in this economy? Are you doing things a little bit differently in this economy so that you can stay successful?

As a matter of fact, you can do that by leaving a comment on my blog. In order for you to get access to more interviews such as this one and get access to my newsletter as well as download my free ebook “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Running a Business in a Cloud”. You can go to my blog and click on the picture of the ebook and it will take you a page where you can enter in your name and email. And instantly download the free book.

Again, I look forward to seeing your comments. Thanks for being on the show. Thank you.

###The End of  Transcript###

Why You Need Passion To Be Successful in Your Business

Owen: Hi. My name is Owen McGab Enaohwo. Welcome to hireyourvirtualassistant.com, where we provide small business owners with exceptional virtual assistants. On our blog we have a show where business owners and experts come on the show and give you guys insights on what they are doing, different ideas and strategies that I hope you can take and learn something from. The reason I’m doing this is because I want you to feel that when you come to my blog, you can learn something new that you can use in your business.

Today, I’m interviewing Vanessa Coppes, owner of ENV, a jewelry line catering to highly fashionable women. She is very interesting in the sense that she started a business at the height of the economy going down in early 2009. With all the craziness going on, you have a small business owner just going ahead with the passion and say, “Okay. Today, I’m going to start my business and move forward.” She has been successful so far. With all that passion that she presents and all that passion that she has, I thought I should interview her just to get some insight. Hopefully, you learn something from the interview. Once the interview is done, I’ll get back to you.

Hi everyone. I want to introduce you to Vanessa Coppes. Am I pronouncing it correctly?

Vanessa: Coppes

Owen: Coppes, right. I brought her to the show because I feel that she has some insights that the audience needs to listen to. She started a business when the economy was going south. She has some useful insights that you will find interesting.

Vanessa, please, I want you to introduce yourself and your company. Just a little note on what you do.

Vanessa: Thank you Owen for giving me the opportunity to be here. Like you said, I am Vanessa Coppes. My business is ENV by Vanessa Coppes. It is a costume handmade jewelry line which I started June 2009.

As you said, despite the economy, the reason I begun this business was not even in composition with what is happening with the economy. It was initially trying to find something productive to do.

Owen: Okay.

Vanessa: Yes. Go ahead.

Owen: Okay. I forgot that I didn’t put on the light. Yes, go ahead.

Vanessa:  So basically, at that moment, the crisis had just begun. You can hear it in the news. You can read it in the papers. You could see how people began to save here and save there. But in fact, I do believe that depending on your market, targeted clients, on how you sell it. It would depend on how you think the economy was affecting you.

I had just started my business when all of these were going on. You have to understand that my business caters to women, fashionable women. My jewelry is something that all women go crazy over. It’s usually jewelries, handbags clothes, especially if it is at the right price. Which is where, the bottom line for my business was.

I want to make something that was beautiful but is also affordable. I, personally, would not go spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of jewelry. I want to wear something fun, trendy and what is in season or in style but it didn’t make me raid the bank while I shop for.

Owen: I’m sure your business being what it is, you have to be out there listening to your clients. What steps do you take to get feedbacks from your clients and see what you can design in your jewelry?

Vanessa: Basically, I draw a lot of personal inspiration. This is an art form. Jewelry making, just like painting a picture, is an art form. That is why it is different, it comes from something personal. When you find out that your personal taste appeals to other people that is where you are gratified.

You see what you are doing and say I like this and somebody else likes it. I found out that the more and more I wore my jewelry, the more they would stop at the grocery store, gas station, at a shoe store. No matter where I went because my jewelry was very big, very colorful, it is eye-catching. When people ask me, I simply say “I made it myself. Here’s my card.” So orders started rolling in.

I went in and did the next best thing. I got myself a good computer that allowed me, no offense.

Owen: I think you got a better computer too.

Vanessa: That allowed me to one, give or come up with pictures because I needed pictures to promote my business. And basically, that would allow me to create a website which was what I had initially intended on my business because I mainly work from home.

I have a son who is 20 months old. The reason why I started my business at the moment that I did was also because being a stay-at-home mom, I felt I needed to be a little bit more productive for myself. I have been blessed with a husband who supports and provides for my family but also I knew that being at home was not my calling. I had to get up and do something. Initially those were the reasons why I started my business.

Little by little, like I told you on the email I wrote to you, when you feel it within you and you feel what you are doing is right not only for yourself but also for others, slowly but surely good things come to you. That’s basically what happened to me for the last year. Slowly but surely people had bought and come by. People who had bought referred others.

Little by little it becomes a network. Then you find yourself with so many people that you have to start organizing and say “How am I going to be able to cater to all these people.” But you find a way and then you do it.

Owen: You said something I really enjoyed in your email. You said something about believing in your passion and regardless of whatever anybody says, go ahead and do it.

I want you to give some examples on how you got started. And how you drew from the passion for your business and just get things done.

Vanessa: Jewelry making was not the channel that I intended for my life. My first career was design, which was the way I did. Then, I taught for several years. Then, I got married and career was put on hold for a while.

But the artistic expression was always within me. I always wanted to be able to express myself artistically, whether it be in my home. Whether it is styling’s and helping somebody find what to wear, etc, etc. But I also did not want to stray from my priority right now which is my son and my family.

The dream was there, it was beating in my head and heart. I had the idea but I had to find a way to get it out there, which is where social media came in. Networking through all the social networks that are out there is where I was able to reach so many more people that I had expected.

Today, I can tell you that when you feel within you that you are meant for greater things. That what you are doing is right because, once again, you have a voice inside you telling you if the steps you are taking are right. You do have to take risks because with the risks come

Owen: reward

Vanessa: reward. But you have to take risks. You have to sacrifice. My sacrifices have been consistently very late, waking up very early. Possibly ordering out when my husband was expecting a home cooked meal.  But he understood that I have to hand in 25 orders the next day.

It is a matter of finding what works, making it work and scheduling your time. I can tell you this, within the next couple of weeks it is going to be a year for my company was established.

Owen: Congratulations.

Vanessa: Thank you. I have not taken a day off in that year. Hopefully in 2, 3, 4 or 5 years, I will be saying “It has been 5 years… It has been 10 years… but I have not taken a day off.” Because when you believe in something, you have to work at it every second.

You are your best salesperson. I do not leave my house without a piece of my jewelry on. Because you’ll never know who you’ll meet, what you’re going to see out there, who’s going to stop you or not, who’s going to catch an eye.

I told my husband jokingly the other day that I would put a bumper sticker on my car to keep promoting my business because you’ll never know. You have to be ready. You have to be prepared because you’ll never know when you’re going to meet the person who is going to open the next door for you. That is basically what happened.

Going back to your question, again, if you believe in it, you also have to stay focused. You have to be prepared because there might be that one day when you’re out there at a grocery store and you meet one person, but you if don’t have your business card with you, that person will forget you.

Owen: Always have your game face. Always be prepared.

Vanessa: Always.

Owen: You said something earlier that interests me is that you started to use social media to market your business. Because the old ways to do your business is doing direct messaging and tell them, okay, this is what I do, this is what I provide, buy my service. It doesn’t work that way anymore. Now, it is social media marketing, wherein you create content around your product. How exactly do you use social media to get the word out there?

Vanessa: When I first started my business, I started using my personal FaceBook page as my platform. I had not really launched a professional website until actually after a couple of months ago when it is actually taking the shape that I wanted. I didn’t have a website for within 2 months from starting my business. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but I still had because when I gave a person my details, you can look me up and they have something to see. They can refer to something. It is never like, I saw a person wearing a beautiful piece of jewelry but I don’t know where she is.  You guys can add me in Facebook. You can just look me up Vanessa Coppes. Immediately I was getting requests from people.

Initially in Facebook, I was very selective. I was very reserved. I don’t want my information out there. But once you’re in a business, forget about it; throw it all out in the window. What you don’t want people to know, don’t publish it.

I started my group. I recently started my page as well because they now started with the business pages. I have joined every social media out there, Twitter, Digg, you name it, and I’m there. Through some person, when one friend likes you, the other friends will see that. They will think, why does this person like person? Let me go find out. My personal profile picture immediately became my logo. Any comment I make in somebody else’s photo, what they see is not my face but my brand. That is what I want them to see.

It’s free. It’s free publicity, marketing and it allows you to put yourself out there as much as possible. Even while you’re sleeping, your logo, brand is out there and working for you. Someone once told me that all of these social media outlets are like your own little personal sales reps.  If you develop them, it’s a lot of work, it’s ongoing, and it’s every day.  Sometimes I have my computer glued to my hand because I start getting messages as soon as I wake up at 5am in the morning. I hear the *ding* messages, emails. But that’s what I’ve created…

Owen: It’s the passion that keeps you going.

Vanessa: My husband said what I created was a monster. I’m sorry…

Owen: That is the passion that keeps you going all that far. If you don’t love what you are doing, how are you going to be able to do all that? You have to be passionate.

Vanessa: Exactly. It is so gratifying when you see comments. I’ve had customers who tag me in pictures where they are wearing the earrings or a necklace and say “Vanessa, look how I great I look”. It just brings a smile to my face knowing.

At the same time, they are promoting you. It comes with the territory. You have to grab it by the horns and make it work for you.

Owen: You said you gave products for free. Explain that. Let me see and understand what you meant by that.

Vanessa: Basically, I told you, a month ago, I launched my website, my professional-looking website. One method that I have used to track customers on my website is for example is providing them with a $50 gift certificate.

What has that $50 gift certificate benefit me?  It attracts more people to my products regardless of the fact whether they like it or not. My name is there. They can see it and it attracts people to the products. It gets known. I have done a couple of benefits where people had asked me to donate either a product or a gift certificate.

Everybody says it is different. So I say gift certificates product percentages. For me, personally, when I get a discount, I appreciate it and like it better if it’s free. I’m serious. If I am getting to know a product, why are you giving me a discount, I don’t even know who you are. If I get it for free, I am going to appreciate it more. I’m going to try it. Then next time when I go to shop, I got this one for free, I’m going to buy it, which is what happened.

My father always used to tell me there are no free lunches. Therefore, when you’re trying to get someone to work for you, you have to give something in return. For some people, giving away your product may seem like a loss. But in the end, you’re establishing a relationship that you want for a lifetime, the rest of your company life.

Remember, that person who is going to give referrals about you or your products to their circle. Their circle is 2 to 300 people. That 2 to 300 people are the people you can attract to their business. You have to try to make that work. Try to be democratic about it, To me giving discounts, gift certificates, free necklace, earrings. I also do jewelry parties which is also part of my business.  For the hostess, they love it because a lot of people tend to do parties where the hostess has to pay. Why do I have to pay when I am giving a party for you?  What are you giving me in return? Automatic, I give them choices. I tell them it’s 15%, you can use it towards your purchases or you can have it in cash. I give them the option. You’re empowering people to work for you basically.

Owen: You also said something about your product having Dominican flavor into it. Please explain it.

Vanessa: Well, I am Dominican. Growing up in the Caribbean Islands with limitations when you went around getting yourself ready for a party, there wasn’t much money to go around. Therefore, you have to work with what you have.

I remember going to my closet, taking out a dress I had worn to a previous party and said, “Well, I can’t wear this because I have worn this before.” So what I have to do is tie a ribbon here, get a different belt, just making it different and making it works for me. That is what necessity brings out creativity to the table as well. It makes you be creative.

Therefore, purchasing gold, diamonds, and pearls is not the trend for people in the Caribbean Island. Pearls, fresh water pearls, which are more expensive, leather, shells, are more suitable for us. Now the trend is the big, bold type of jewelry where immediately I was able to grab the trend. And say, “Well, you know, this is what we wear. Mix it with the current trends of fashion and be able to provide something different. Something unique to a person out there who is looking for a different, unique piece of jewelry.

Owen: Wow, I like the fact that your history plays a part into your product. That is good.

Vanessa: definitely. I am very patriotic. I’m living here in the US now. I am married to an American man. The US had definitely given me the opportunity to establish my dreams but I bring that with me, it’s in my culture, blood. It is undeniable.

It is something I want to characterize my jewelry with. You can even see the colors on my logo, website, it’s very colorful because I’m Caribbean. That’s what I’m used to and that’s what I love. That’s what I bring to the table, color and brightness and happiness, basically.

Owen: That’s good. What’s the future for you guys because I see you going places.

Vanessa: Hopefully that’s it. Going further than where we are at right now. It seems remarkable now when you look back and never recall you never had a day off in a year. You’re exhausted, you’re tired.

Just like today, I received an order through Facebook actually for hair accessories that I had to do by tomorrow.

You simply stop, give thanks to God that I’m still doing business.  Basically, overreach the world, that’s what we want.

Owen: I really like your story. How can people get hold of you? Your website, your FaceBook?

Vanessa: My FaceBook page is ENV by Vanessa Coppes. My website is www.envjewelry.com. You can twitter me envcoppes. Just look me up by my company name and you will find me.

Owen:  So thank you very much for the interview and I hope that the audience sends you emails, direct questions. If they want to contact you directly, what would that be?

Vanesa: It would be vcoppes@env.com.

Owen: Okay, thank you very much for the interview.

Vanessa: You’re very welcome Owen, thank you.

Owen: And there you have it. We have finished the interview. I hope you enjoyed the interview with Vanessa Coppes. If you have any comments, suggestions or anything about the interview, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

And also, I also created an ebook entitled, “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Running a Business in a Cloud”. If you want to get access to that as well as my newsletter, go ahead and leave your name and email address in the signup form below.

I look forward to providing you additional content like this. The whole idea around this is that this is a business community catering to small business owners. I want small business owners like you to come to this blog and always find that content you are looking for.

This is the beginning and I hope to continue doing this in the future. Bye.

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