Since our goal is to help women entrepreneurs start, run, and grow successful businesses, we decided to ask past Amber Grant winners for advice they would want to share with you.

Here are some words of wisdom straight from them:

Develop a business plan

“A great product (or service) is only one ingredient in the recipe for a successful business. Take time to develop your business and financial plan prior to launching. You must have a well thought out and scalable business infrastructure to grow. This said, theory never translates exactly to practice. Once you launch, be sure to evaluate your execution and pivot as needed!”

Rebecca Scott, founder, Sustainable Snacks

Don’t get too attached to your ideas

“If I could offer one solid tip to anyone starting or planning to start a business, it would be to always…ALWAYS keep an open mind. You may think this is common sense and obvious, but not everyone actually does it. Sometimes it’s difficult to admit that your idea just isn’t working. I’m not necessarily talking about your main business idea. I’m referring to the everyday smaller ideas and decisions that are more important than you might think. Changes and modifications of your ideas and plans, both big and small, are crucial and necessary when you are building something from the ground. We need to have the ability to recognize the difference between when an idea needs time to simmer, when it needs change or modification and maybe most importantly, when something simply is NOT working. I have learned that sometimes we come up with something that we as individuals think is a million-dollar idea and we get very emotionally attached to that idea and how we think it needs to be executed. Our target customers or clients may not feel the same way. I have seen emotional attachment to specific details be the very thing that causes a good business plan to not work. Always be aware that there are so many ways to accomplish any given thing. Be open to them all. Pay close attention to what works and take notes. Recognize what is not catching on and do more of what is, cutting the waste loose. Be open-minded and flexible. Listen to your customers and your staff if you have one. And if that genius idea that you came up with just isn’t getting off the ground, let it go and replace it with more genius. This is an ongoing process that I utilize every day and its effectiveness has been life-saving.”

Elena Mascherino, founder and chef, Love Again Local

Plan your days

“My best entrepreneurial tip is to create daily agendas for yourself to help manage your workload and also provide that time you need to relax and refuel yourself. Entrepreneurship gets lonely and sometimes it’s difficult to motivate ourselves. I’ve learned that planning a daily schedule gives guidance to my actions during the day and helps motivate me to get work done in manageable parts.”

Tina Degano, founder, Sugarless

Find a mentor

“Building relationships is the cornerstone of success-with yourself personally and with others professionally. I value relationships so much that it’s one of my company’s (Noomi) core values. Interestingly, when I first began my Noomi journey, it was the unplanned mentorship of an executive chef who believed in me, encouraged me, and challenged me, that really supported me through the launch of my product. And I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.

I genuinely believe in the power of mentorships too, so find someone who can really push you in a constructive and inspiring way. Someone who echoes your passion and enthusiasm and motivates you to think differently, to be better, and to dream bigger. Network with others, ask questions, start the conversations, and leave the conversations with even more questions than you started with. Soak up as much industry knowledge as you can, and leverage it to help you understand how to establish your business, set SMART goals and successfully grow.

People are always willing to help you along the way, and in many cases, have been in your shoes at one point; meaning, they want to pay it forward and help if they are able to. So put yourself out there, expand your network every day, and build and nurture every relationship. You’ll be surprised who you meet, who they may know, how they can help you, and what you can achieve together as a result.”

Krystina L. Murawski, owner and founder, Noomi

Network to forge relationships

“My advice for other female business owners is to get involved in a wide variety of community events and seek out networking opportunities. It’s not always about what will get achieved by attending/ joining conferences, or small business organizations (local or national), but often the people that you meet and connections you build can have the greatest impact on your personal and business growth.”

Kristen Moffatt, founder, Wasatch Nectar

Since our goal is to help women entrepreneurs start, run, and grow successful businesses, we decided to ask past Amber Grant winners for advice they would want to share with you.

First up is our 2019 annual Amber Grant winner, Amy Mitchell of Lisse Shave, who received a $25,000 check from us last month. Here’s her process for launching a product-based startup business:

Launch Strategy

I believe a lot of my success was attributed to building an audience prior to launch and validating my business idea before diving into buying a lot of product when I didn’t know if it would sell.

1. Build a lookalike audience

Even though I didn’t have all the details of my business figured out, I knew I wanted to be in the clean beauty/low-waste niche. So while I was fine-tuning my ideas, I started a “vertical account” on Instagram, blogging about clean beauty and sustainable living. I grew the account to 2k followers in a couple of months, which is pretty modest. However, I was experiencing good engagement, I organically connected with a lot of influencers, and I got to test out what content resonated with my audience.

2. Validate your idea

As simple as it sounds, I compiled various online surveys to gather feedback on my proposed business idea. I also started working with manufacturers to produce a small run of product to test out on friends and family for more in-depth feedback to see what I could improve.

3. Building the hype pre-launch

I knew I wanted to create a buzz on Instagram and leverage UGC (user generated content). I designed custom packaging for just 30 units of product to send out to influencers. Even though it was a crazy expensive price per unit with such low quantities, the branding of the packaging was really important as I wanted that beautiful “unboxing moment” that people would want to share on Instagram. I used a lot of my influencer contacts from my vertical Instagram account to showcase my product to start to build an audience on my brand page, as well as leverage my existing following from my vertical account.

4. Building an email list

I constantly promoted my email sign-ups through both my Instagram accounts. I knew people needed an incentive to give over their details, so I offered 48-hour early access to my website as well as a free gift with purchase for the first 100 customers (scarcity and exclusivity!). Using this tactic as well as executing a viral social media competition, I was able to grow my list to just under 1k subscribers before launch.

5. Launch day

I spent around 5-6 months building my audience using the steps above. It definitely paid off as when launch day finally came, I had around 10% conversion from my email list and just over $5k USD in revenue on Day 1. I think it would have been a completely different story if I had just launched my brand account to a cold audience without doing this prior work.

6. Things I could have done better

Keeping my list warmer! Looking back I could have done a better job at keeping my email list warmer and emailing more regularly on the build-up to launch. But if there’s one thing I’ve definitely learned, it’s that business is a constant evolution and optimization – don’t wait until everything is “perfect” before launching otherwise you’ll never launch!

Early-stage woman-owned businesses looking for educational support should consider applying to be a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow. Applications are due by November 19, 2019.

Up to 50 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows will be selected and asked to commit to participate in a one-year program that includes:

• A $5,000 grant to be invested in their business education.
• A five day visit to the Tory Burch campus in Jersey City, New Jersey, paid for by the Foundation. During the visit, Fellows will participate in experiential learning workshops on entrepreneurship and leadership development led by guest experts.
• Additional educational programs and networking events.
• Ten Fellows will be invited to pitch their businesses to potential investors.

The educational opportunity can be a workshop, conference, class, or other event.

To apply, you must:

• Be a woman business owner and own a majority stake in the for-profit company, which is between one and five years old (considered early stage)
• Be an active owner, meaning involved in the business on a daily basis
• Be over the age of 21
• Be generating at least $75,000 in revenue through the business
• Be proficient in English
• Be a legal resident of the US

As part of the application, be prepared to share your résumé, business plan, personal statement, and know how you want to spend the $5,000 educational grant.

According to the Fellows website, judges “will take into consideration multiple factors including how your business creates positive and lasting impact, what unique factors differentiate your business, what problems you are trying to solve for, how your business reflects your passion, the substance and quality of your business plan, what obstacles you have overcome, and your investment opportunities.”

The 2019 Tory Burch Fellows learned from experts that included authors Seth Godin and Kelly Hoey, Instagram’s Emilie Fife, PureWow’s chief content officer Mary Kate McGrath, and The Muse co-founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew. They visited area companies and tapped into the network and expertise of other Fellows.

To be considered, complete the free application online.

Decisions will be made in April 2020 and Fellows contacted at that time.