Popped

Speaking of Popcorn

Posted on November 01, 2012 by Gwen Rosenberg

 Talking is something I enjoy- me talking, other people talking, talking about talking and especially talking about my popcorn business, Popped! I’m not exactly sure what comes first in small business, passion for an idea, or a great, almost unstoppable, desire to talk about it.  Needless to say that when Matt Trayers, the president of the Kent State University Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization, asked me to talk at their meeting last Monday I was more than happy to oblige. Kent has a great business school and the classes there already cover demand side management and positive accounting theory, so I knew I shouldn't bother to reintroduce the same material. (Just humor that last statement.) What these future entrepreneurs really wanted to hear about was the nuts and bolts of starting a small business. Advanced business theories and speakers currently operating huge, successful businesses are interesting, but they don’t answer the question of how you actually take an idea and turn it into something. I can relate to the feeling of looking at a really great business from the outside and just being completely bewildered. From my experience, I had just two solid pieces of advice that I wanted to offer students in the CEO club who may have been feeling the same way. The first was to write. Write ideas, letters, notes, blog posts, sketches, business plans, journals, doodles, anything you like, just write about it. The second was to talk. Talk a lot. Talking to people generates excitement for the ideas your trying to pin down and it gives you the lift to keep exploring.  A single conversation can set off a lightbulb that turns a good idea into a great idea. Talking to lots of people gives you a lots of fresh perspectives and information that you would otherwise never have been able to access. No one starting a business has to reinvent the wheel. There are lots of successful people who are more than happy to talk and share the information needed to get an idea going. Call them up. There isn’t a textbook in the world that can cover all the ways to start a small business, but a whole lot of chatter can get you a pretty good overview. At the CEO club meeting, I talked about my background and what I was doing right now for the shop, and I told them where I wanted to be in the future. I shared a few ongoing concerns about equipment, packaging, and budgeting. By being completely candid about my concerns, blunders and expenses, we were able to have a really interesting discussion. Hopefully, I provided some answers about starting a small business in Kent. For my effort, I received a ton of really interesting opinions and solutions. Not all the opinions were keepers, but it was great to hear from a room full of people I hoped would become customers. The meeting sort of turned into an impromptu focus group on prices, products, and late night hours. According to these students, it turns out that Thursday and Saturday are the nights to be open for the late night crowd downtown. (It’s good to know that the next generation of entrepreneurs like to party.) Closing early on Friday is good news for me too, because it frees up my Friday nights to do important things like check out DJ Danny Basic at 157 Lounge, or visit the new bar set up at 101 Bottles. (24 tapped craft beers!) I did put some of their ideas to use by changing my packaging plan in response some specific feedback. There was a small, but vocal contingent that wanted bigger bags for the sea salt kettle popcorn, preferably at 3 A.M. from the walk up window. The bags are bigger, but I’m still working out the details on that 3 A.M. time slot. I wanted to know if they would pay extra for a Kent State licensed popcorn tin. No, unless of course, they could pay with Flash cards funded by the parental financial division. Good to know, especially once the Kent State Hotel is open for visiting parents and alum. I had a great time yammering away last Monday night, and I already have another speaking engagement lined up. Only this one is with some heavy hitters who don’t pull any punches when it comes to snacktime- the third graders at Holden Elementary School.

Andre Thornton and I Have Nothing in Common

Posted on December 02, 2011 by Gwen Rosenberg

Here’s the first business lesson I ever learned: Andre Thonrton and I have nothing in common.

Seems pretty obvious since I’m not a legendary Indians baseball player, but it was a realization I made while attending Kent State University’s Fifth Annual Entrepreneurship Extravaganza last fall. Thornton was the keynote speaker and I thought that it might be a great way for me to learn about starting a business. Maybe he would discuss the merits of an LLC versus a C Corporation, I thought. Maybe he would shed some light on securing a trade mark or tax ID number.

This is how he got started in business. First, he’s Andre Thornton, and everyone wants to be his business partner. Secondly, he’s got cash, way more cash than I have. Thirdly, bankers love meeting legendary celebrity baseball players and loaning them even more cash.

Thornton became an entrepreneur after he bought, like eight Applebees. He was encouraging, but he was seriously out of my league. Admittedly, I was disappointed that Andre hadn’t dispensed with a tidy plan for small business success. Then after lunch, I almost bailed entirely when Kent State grossly underestimated how many cookies would-be entrepreneurs could eat, and I didn’t get even one. I stuck it out and met some interesting people in the same boat as me. Like me, they had ideas but weren’t exactly sure what to do next. One had plans for a coffee shop, another worked for a non-profit, and another had four different business cards with four different titles. None of them had any obvious plan for starting a business, but there we were sharing a table listening to Andre’s remarkable successes.

After lunch, I found the opportunity to discuss my plans for Popped! with Andre. He encouraged me to scale-up to a popcorn manufacturing operation equipped with the global logistics to support large scale distribution. Oh, boy.

The entire day was filled with speakers with as many different paths to success. The second speaker of the day advocated the necessity of collaborative partnerships and exploring venture capital opportunities. The next speaker swore off partners of any kind, and recommended only borrowing from family. Still another speaker favored scaling up from a tiny kitchen in my garage and never borrowing anything from anyone, ever.

The advantage of so many differing opinions was that it really drove home the ultimate lesson in small business — eat dessert first. Also, you have to do what’s right for you. Once you decide to embark on starting a business you must be prepared to make your own decisions based on your circumstances, and more than likely, no one will agree with you.

Over the next few weeks all my decisions will be tested as I get set to open Popped! in Acorn Alley II. Some are probably going to end up on the disabled list and others, with any luck, will succeed. From my feeble attempt at writing a business plan to my eventual launch of a global positioning satellite to track popcorn shipments overseas — I’ll share it with you here.

Posted in Craft Soda, Gourmet, Kent, Kent Ohio, Ohio, Popcorn, Soda