Keshia Mills

Run your own race at your own pace. That means don't be looking on Instagram, don't be looking on Facebook, don't be saying, oh, why they're ahead of me, or why I'm not there yet. Run your own race at your own pace. Don't look at what's going on to the left or right, don't look at what's going on with other people. You put your head down, put your hands on what you are doing, and you make it happen for you. No matter how long it takes, keep working on it. It will happen. Sometimes we see so many people in retail stores, they're at Sprouts, they have Whole Foods, they're at all the different places that you can sell, and we wonder how did they get an opportunity to get like that? But they've been in business for years! You're just starting, so you're not going to be where they are, so don't compare yourself. And don't bite off more than you can chew!

I would give them the advice: Take your time. Learn your skills. Make sure you do everything by the book. That means cross every T and dot every I. Make sure you have insurance on your products before you start giving them out, because somebody can get sick and they can sue you before your business ever gets started. We give out samples all the time and not think about what's inside. It might have something in there that they might be allergic to, and they can sue you. So it's very important to do everything by the book. If you need a permit to run your business in your house, do that. If you need a food handler's license, do that. If you need to go through the health department to get a health permit, do that. I find out when people cut corners, it costs them more in the end. People don't realize you cannot put the cart before the horse. It does not work. We are setting up a legacy, we're setting up something that we can pass on, and you cannot do business underhanded. You have to be upright. And you have to do everything just right, so if anything ever were to happen, you know that you have done all that you know to do, and that would come out favorable for you. Never cut corners in life, in business, in your personal life. Always take your time out and vet people before you let them in your house. If you get the wrong person on your team, they can tear your whole business down. So we know that we have to take our time, ask questions, vet people. And know your business. Know your industry. You need to know who your competitors are. You need to know your community, because you need to always impact the community that you're in. Use your church. If I ever want to do anything, I can join with my church and give out my products to the members of my church for Mother's Day, for Easter, for Valentine's Day. I can always partner with my church. That's what it means to get in your community and get active. My church has a health and wellness fair where all the people in the community come out and get free dental, free glasses, free screening for breast cancer and free mammograms, free everything. So you have to get active in your church, and your church needs to be active in the community.

The biggest challenge and opportunity that I have is packaging. It is so hard to find the right manufacturer for packaging, and it's hard to find a co-packer, it's hard to find a manufacturer that can help me make my chocolates. It is really hard to find someone to help me set up my packaging on the back side for the nutritional facts panel. I have to put the GS1 barcode on there, I have to put the ingredients on there, I have to put a picture of the item, and then a little paragraph about the item that's in the packaging. And then I have to put a sell-by date, I have to put a lot number, I have to put a contact, I have to say where it's being distributed. It's so much that goes on the back of a packaging, and there's nobody that I can really call that can show me how to properly set up packaging on the back. The front paneling doesn't really need much, but that back, you have to make sure you have everything on there. I found a class that I would have to take in order for them to teach me, $400, and it's way in Portland, Oregon, and it is called Getting Your Recipe to Market through the SBDC with Oregon City College. I think when we do all the things that we should do, the money will come. I've always known that and I have always experienced that. Whenever you have everything you need for your packaging, the money will come to get it done. But right now, I'm at a standstill because I just don't know how to properly put the back packaging together. It's important, because as soon as something go wrong, they turn that package over right away.