When starting a business, one of your first steps should be to look for a problem that you can provide a unique solution for. What pain points do people have that you are uniquely qualified to help with? That is exactly what Katelyn and her mom did when they created Elwynn and Cass.
Elwynn and Cass is a beauty concierge business that helps connect you with the perfect beauty professionals for any event for a birthday party to a wedding. From their own experience hiring beauty professionals, they noticed a gap in the industry when it came to really matching the right professionals with the right clients. That’s where they stepped in and created a service that makes the process of hiring someone smooth, stress-free and personalized.
In this episode, Katlyn and I talk about what it’s like working with family, how she has grown her business through networking events and how you can use your followers for market research.
If you’re struggling with what kind of business you want to have, look at what’s missing in your own experiences:
Katelyn and her mom got the idea for their business because they noticed that there was something missing in their own experience with hiring hair and makeup artists. They thought to themselves, “why hasn’t someone else doe this yet?”. If you find yourself saying, “This experience would be easier if…” or ” This could be made so much better by…” Pay attention to that! Those are gaps in the industry that you could fill.
It may seem simple, but if you have ideas on how to make something easier for someone else or make an experience more enjoyable, that’s the seedling of a business idea. Start brainstorming what those pain points might be and how you can offer solutions that no one else is offering.
Networking events might feel dated but they still have their merits:
When you think about networking events, you might think of a drab hotel ballroom with bad refreshments and people blankly handing out business cards. True, there are plenty of those events out there but there are also events that are fun, interactive and even glamorous sometimes. People seem to be getting tired of the same old networking event and they have gotten a lot more creative with them in the past few years.
Katelyn knew that she business thrived on relationships and trust so going out there and actually meeting people in person was a big part of growing her business. If you’ve never gone to a networking event, then you should absolutely try it! Grab a friend and bite the bullet even if you feel awkward or out of place. It might not be for you, but then again, you might be pleasantly surprised!
Resource List:
Outliers: The Story of Success: Malcolm Gladwell
Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
