We recently connected with Kristina Rosa and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kristina, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Everyone has a different definition of success. For me, being successful is maintaining a healthy balance between having a thriving business and a happy family. I started this business in order to be more available to my family than I had been in my previous job. So product and financial growth are not my core motivators, as they would be with most small businesses. I constantly see opportunities to grow my business and there are many instances where I have to say no – saying no allows me to stay more streamlined and keep my priorities in check.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I am a former educator and although I absolutely loved teaching, I knew there was something out there that was a better fit for me. So when my son was young, I decided to leave the classroom and venture into the unknown. I wanted to use my background in Montessori education and start my own business making nature-based educational sets. From having been in the classroom, I knew what materials teachers needed most and my goal was to make them available to teachers that didn’t have the time or resources to make them themselves. I also know that teachers have limited funds and often use their own money, so making them affordable was extremely important to me. So how was I going to make sure my sets were good quality AND affordable? Not an easy feat, considering I’m not a big corporation. I’m a small, one woman operation with high material costs. One thing I had to realize is that my profit margin wouldn’t be all that great…but this was offset by the fact that I had passion and that high profits were not my end goal.
Wood is a big part of my business, and I learned early on that I could greatly reduce my material costs by using trees that were just going to be otherwise destroyed. So I reached out to nurseries, landscapers, and neighbors to let them know I’d happily take their dead trees off their hands. This has been great, not only for my business, but for the sake of sustainability. Additionally, over the years I have had many pieces of wood I couldn’t use in my sets, they are the “undesirable” pieces – irregular sizes and knotty wood (my personal favorites!). I have recently started using them for artwork which has taken my business on another path. I really enjoy making these and it is wonderful knowing that these wood pieces are given another life.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
An important component to making your business productive is focusing on relationship building – and this is crucial whether you are just starting out or have been doing it for years. Almost every small business has clientele in some form. An unhappy customer can destroy a business, especially a small one. Taking the time to make sure your customer or client is happy can make a world of difference to the success of your business. Don’t try to branch out too much and risk the possibility of spreading yourself too thin. One happy customer is better than 10 unhappy customers. I cannot tell you how many of my competitor’s customers have come to me because they have had an undesirable experience. That is a huge opportunity in my line of work, since a lot of my business is based on word of mouth and referrals.
The two most important strategies for me to keep a satisfied customer base are communication and getting my product out on time. Have I had unhappy customers, absolutely! But I do everything in my power to meet their needs, as unreasonable as they might be! My sets range between $25-$50, and my material costs can be close to half that. I have had many customers complain that my shipping rates are too high. I am simply charging what I am paying, I am not making money on shipping costs. But because big box retailers offer free shipping, that is what buyers are looking for and request from me. I get it, I’m a big fan of Amazon too…but I can’t operate on that level. Once I break down the costs for them and kindly explain that I am offering at the lowest price possible, they have a better understanding and will ultimately chose to continue with their purchase and support my small business. Customers just want to feel heard and get a response to their inquiries, pretty simple if you ask me. It takes very little of my time and I may have just earned a customer for life! I also make sure to get my orders out on time. I make a habit of reading the reviews of my competitors and the #1 reason for negative reviews is that their order was delayed without any notification from the seller. All my sets ship out in 3-5 days, doesn’t matter if it is a small or large order or it’s my slow or busy season. In order to meet that commitment I have to stay on top of my orders, so they don’t pile up and I make sure to keep a standing inventory of the most popular sets.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Starting a business can be daunting. How do you know the money you invest will turn you a profit? There is a lot of risk involved and that can prevent a lot of people from getting started. When I decided to make my dreams a reality, I knew I needed to start slow. When I opened my shop I had 4 types of sets. I had a lot of ideas for other sets but I waited to see how a few would do before I invested more time and money. Luckily these 4 sets got a lot of interest and I slowly built up my inventory – I now have 102 different types of sets.
It may be tempting to go all in and start out your business the way you see it in it’s final phase. But big ideas can often easily take you off course, resulting in a business that is too big to sustain or be more costly than you can afford. Typically in a new business you will have a smaller profit margin in your first couple of years, you might even be losing money depending on your expenses and how long it takes to get your business noticed. So in my case, I knew I needed a workshop to make all my materials come to fruition. I knew that down the line I would need 5-6 large power tools. But I didn’t know how well my business would do, so to get started I used a couple of hand tools and a tiny end table from Ikea as my workbench – it wasn’t ideal but it allowed me to see how my products would do before I invested a larger sum of money. Once I started making money, I slowly started to purchase those tools to make my business more efficient. And now, even though my business is doing well, I still have tons of ideas I’d love to implement to make it better, but I only allow myself one big purchase each year so that I don’t get in over my head.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.etsy.com/shop/arborinspirations