We were lucky to catch up with Alvin Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alvin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I love it when people ask this question because I think it is rare for founders (like myself) to have first-hand experience with the problem(s) they’re working to solve.

Jiffy’s roots were planted in the winter of 2020 when I found myself in the situation that inspired this company. During the 2020 holiday season, I purchased a gift on eBay when I noticed that my item’s seller was located relatively close by. For context, I am located 45 minutes to an hour outside of Philadelphia, PA, and the seller was in Conshohocken, PA, a smaller city located only minutes outside of Philly.

At this very moment, I remember asking myself something to the effect of, “Why should I have to wait days to get something from a place that’s close when someone could get it and I’d have it in a matter of hours?”.

*Enter my imagination*

My idea was simply this: what if I built a company that specialized in the same-day, expedited local delivery of household goods? After all, I made a purchase that would be considered a household good, all while the seller was located nearby and close enough to warrant same-day delivery.

At this point, I think I’ve found this brilliant idea with the potential for immense upside, so I do what any thinking person would do… I tried to figure out why my new idea would not work. Fortunately, my attempt at disproving this idea was short-lived because I could not convincingly figure out why it would fail. The next thing I did was take some time to sit on the idea, to see if this was a project that I truly wanted to pursue. I was passionate about this problem and even though I had a higher chance of failing than succeeding, I would only allow the market to determine if I had an idea worth building and no one else.

From then on, I spent the latter half of my junior year at Seton Hall University and the summer before my senior year researching the logistics industry and formulating my business plan. I determined that with the proven success and future growth potential of the gig Industry, I would position my start-up as both a gig firm and a logistics provider. I would also guarantee same-day (max 4-hour) delivery and heavily prioritize ease of procurement and top-notch customer service.

One of the last, most important factors that I considered was whether anybody else was working toward the same goal in the same way. I concluded that All competition is good and my idea (although conceived organically) likely was not new or groundbreaking, but the long-term vision I had for the company was my unique competitive advantage and one that would continue to outline the main purpose of the start-up to this day.

After proving this was a worthwhile endeavor, I got to work and never looked back. The Winter of 2020 to May of 2022 (when I graduated from SHU) was the time I took to plan and develop the start-up before officially launching. This included steps like incorporation, satisfying any mandatory regulatory compliances, and even building my MVP (minimum viable product), which is now Jiffy’s official website.

I was in college during this time, so I was able to utilize the available resources I had at my disposal. This included consulting with processors, a few of whom happened to specialize (to some degree) in logistics and other supply chain-related fields. I also participated in my university’s annual start-up competition and summer accelerator, which gave me experience with talking to actual investors, pitching, and start-up development. Looking back, the exposure was critical and I am grateful for the time my professors put into my development.

I soft-launched in May 2022 for about two months before pulling back and addressing some weaknesses and areas of needed improvement. I relaunched during that upcoming winter and have been open for business since then, with a handful of satisfied customers in that time frame.

Alvin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Alvin Jerome Mitchell Jr. and I am from Philadelphia, PA. I graduated from Seton Hall University, where I majored in Economics, and have since been working full-time in my start-up and as an analyst at a major financial services firm. I prefer to be called “AJ” and some of my hobbies outside of my career-oriented activities include gaming, avid reading, strength training, and watching sports (mainly basketball and football).

Entrepreneurship appeals to me for various reasons, with the first being that the talent and skills I possess (I believe) are well-suited for those who strive to be successful in business. I consider myself to be an individualist, independent thinker, and decision-maker, all of which are luxuries afforded to those who choose to lead themselves. I’m also attracted to the freedom and flexibility associated with not having to answer to those whose goals may not align with mine.

Business works well for me, seeing as I find myself utterly hampered by boredom when I don’t have tasks or ideas to be preoccupied with. Building companies, which is perhaps the closest thing I have to a passion, has given me an outlet to overcome boredom while utilizing all of my strengths and improving my weaknesses.

The last reason for my pursuit of success as an entrepreneur is that my biggest fear is being average and leading an overwhelmingly uneventful and mundane life. As the old saying goes, “Fortune favors the bold”, and I’ve always seen myself as a maverick. I understand that I may never reach the success that I envision for my life, but I will be secure in knowing that I went for everything I wanted, something most people aren’t capable of.

As discussed earlier, I founded my start-up to solve a problem I discovered for myself and others. My start-up, Jiffy Technologies LLC, or “JIFFY”, provides same-day, expedited shipping for household goods to distances of up to 200 miles. I believe the service itself is unique in the sense that established, more reputable logistics providers do not prioritize the need I am trying to address. My goal is not necessarily to overtake firms like UPS or FedEx but to operate as a disruptor within the broader logistics industry.

I take pride in knowing that I established this company in my community. which enables me to serve people and businesses who are close to me. I operate using myself and two other drivers (independent contractors). We provide personalized and expedited service that is available virtually 24/7.

Aside from any experience I have with the problems that my start-up exists to solve or how driven I may be as an individual, the most important advantage that my service has over any multibillion-dollar corporation with a similar goal is Jiffy’s unwavering commitment to customer service. When businesses like Jiffy put their customers’ utility first, good things will only come as a result.

I am most proud of the fact that I have done an admirable job at not only remaining consistent and steadfast in my goal of building Jiffy into a logistics powerhouse, but also my ability to improve in personal areas where I was once weak. If I continue to require excellence from myself, progress is inevitable.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A weakness of mine is/was my inability to connect with people and my hesitation to work on improving my soft skills. The biggest lesson I have had to unlearn as a founder (so far) is that to maximize my chances for success, I must be committed to the discomfort associated with growth and inevitable unknowns.

When I first started marketing my services, I thought that I could rely on a sort of “indirect marketing” strategy, an approach that would allow me to engage with potential customers at greater distances with little direct contact. My initial methods included digital marketing, direct-mail marketing, social media marketing, and others. I realized that not only was this approach not generating the results that I hoped for, but more importantly, I was denying myself an opportunity to grow. Ultimately, It became clear that I needed to pivot and redirect my approach to emphasize a more personalized form of marketing.

As time passed, I learned that I was using my introversion as an excuse to remain stagnant. I kept telling myself that improving upon weaknesses was something that I was above, almost as if others had to improve on theirs except for me. Life has a way of forcing us to learn specific lessons because once I accepted that I was no exception to the rule, I began to advance past the plateau that I found myself in.

I am proud to say that I rose to the challenge of confronting this weakness and for some time now, I have made it a consistent routine to go directly to businesses to sell my services and forge new relationships with the very customers I serve. I learned that operating outside of my comfort zone (while uncomfortable at first) is best and that getting better will always be more satisfying than whatever false sense of relief I may feel when avoiding necessary challenges.

Since embracing this challenge, I have met great business owners who are also great people and as soon as I went toward the discomfort, I gained a better understanding of my customers and their needs. I also saw an uptick in hopefuls, which are potential customers that I may do business with in the future. So far, this has been my most effective strategy for acquiring customers and one I should have implemented from the start.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Anyone in business can tell you that business ownership is a copycat line of work. When cultivating a respectable social media presence, my advice to any aspiring entrepreneur would be to model your social media business profiles after established business accounts that have proven their ability to maintain an active presence. I would also recommend modeling said content after pages that closely relate to one’s field.

As an avid social media user, I already had a proficient understanding of how social media worked with respect to multiform content, account visibility, and even how social media could be leveraged for customer acquisition.

Instagram is the focal point of my overall social media presence because when compared to other platforms, Instagram provides the highest potential for visibility, given its emphasis on images. Instagram, in my opinion, is the most user-friendly as well as the platform that I have the most overall experience with. On Jiffy’s Instagram page, I emphasize color, diversified content, and a high to moderate posting frequency ranging from 1-2 times a week at minimum.

I also use Facebook for added visibility and the potential for even more customer acquisition. A secret weapon for any small-scale business is Facebook Groups. It is free and exposes your business to thousands of potential customers who may be suited for your products or services. Founders should join local groups at first and in my experience, Facebook Group(s) can also account for a solid amount of the visibility that you would hope to generate through digital marketing.

The last thing that I would advise young entrepreneurs to do is to refrain from using Google Adsense and other digital marketing programs. Adsense can be good, but it depends on numerous variables like marketing style, seasonality, location, and budget. For founders who have smaller budgets, Adsense can be a money guzzler and likely will not generate the leads one would expect, given the financial investment required.

In closing, the best way to market your business’s products or services is to simply get out and talk to people. This means networking and approaching customers directly, whether it be people or other businesses. The best approach you can take if nothing else is to present yourself honestly. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur with a vision, a quality idea, persistence, and a determination to succeed, progress will eventually be made at some point.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jiffytechllc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jiffytechllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081974012498&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvin-mitchell-a33165180/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alvinmitchell5827