Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Barbara Hollock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Barbara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.
Our Pillars include being responsible to the earth, the future and doing our part when and where we can. With that in mind as we look for merchants to represent on our platform. This summer after the fires in Maui we have a merchant from Hawaii and we used proceeds from those sales to donate to Maui Strong. Currently we are also using a merchant from New York that is donating to the JDF so we are also donating a portion of our proceeds with them.
Barbara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
After failing at retirement a few times Barbara joined a chocolate company bringing fun and education to the home party business. Who doesn’t like chocolate and there was so much to learn, sample and share. However the pandemic hit hard to this industry and closed down. Here we were with thousands of customers and no products to sell. .Not wanting to retire or have someone else dictate the future some of those from that chocolate company came together and created LifiBifi. It stands for Little Fish – Big Fish. We help small businesses get seen on a national platform and grow their audience
One of Barbara’s driving passions is nurturing small businesses to grow and thrive. Her experience and expertise in operations and strategy have translated into a mission to help small businesses reach their full potential. By offering guidance, insight, and support, Barbara is contributing to the success of local economies and fostering the dreams of aspiring entrepreneurs.
Retirement may not be on Barbara’s horizon, as she continues to live life to the fullest, embracing every opportunity for adventure and growth. Her journey is a testament to the power of determination, resilience, and a genuine love for all that life has to offer.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
After the pandemic closed down our chocolate business, we began searching for something to fulfill ourselves. In February 2021 we came up with the idea of LifiBifi. From concept to launch was 6 weeks. Creating a website, finding merchants (or fish as we like to call them) Getting the incorporation, contracts, products, photographs, marketing campaigns, email campaigns, logo, assigning roles. It was intense. Did I mention we were all in different states across the US? Here we are 2 1/2 years later – From a start of 4 companies to over 30 merchants have grown their reach to across the country. 2 have returned to our platform. What makes LifiBifi so different than other platforms is we vet each company, we taste each product (tough job with the chocolate) inspect the items look into each company to ensure they have our values. That being said we proudly say we offer the best in each category.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
The story of LifiBifi is a pivot from the pandemic. The original members were all from a direct to consumer business in the chocolate field. We wanted to direct our destiny this time while helping other small businesses. Remember LifiBifi is a small business growing while helping other small businesses get recognized. While being part of another company your brand, your website, your social media, your pricing was already created. We started with an idea and within 6 weeks we were launching our first merchants. LifiBifi looked for companies that had great back stories because those followed along our pillars. Early this year we realized our model could use some adjustments. We were never an e-commerce platform before March 2023. That made it cumbersome for our customers to shop and purchase. Now you can confidently shop at multiple companies with a single check out. Our reviews from those who have been with us since the beginning have been very positive.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LifiBifi.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/lifibifiinc
- Facebook: facebook.com/lifibifiinc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-mcnulty-hollock-4647894/
- Youtube: @lifibifiinc
- Other: tiktok. small business treasures facebook.com/groups/lifibifiInsider
Image Credits
These images were all taken by my cell phone camera. I could not switch the view. If you need them all to be landscape let me know I will look for others