The YB2C Live! Podcast

Episode Summary:

What does "Workplace Wellness" mean and why is it an important topic? Our guest for Episode #70 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs explains "Workplace Wellness" and how she formed a business consultancy that works with companies to improve the health of their employees.

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About Our Guest:

Vivian Acquah lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and her first career was as a Financial and IT Consultant. But after having her son, gaining a lot of weight, dealing with unhappiness, and missing her grandmother who died of diabetes type 2 in 2009, she found herself looking for a greater purpose for her life. During her quest to change her own feelings, to stop the vicious cycle of diabetes in her family, and to educate about using food as medicine, Vivian realized that she could fulfill her purpose and reach more people at their workplace where they spend a lot of their time.

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Important Points from Our Interview:

Our guest made these important points:

• Healthy eating starts with making healthy food choices
• Getting enough sleep is just as important as eating the right foods
• Through her consulting work, Vivian rebranded herself as the "Workplace Wellness Advocate"

Success Tip from Vivian Acquah:

In the words of Dr. Maya Angelou, "You are a phenomenal woman." Even though I am a 6'1" woman with purple hair, through my company I stopped trying to be invisible and started living my purpose and helping others live their best lives.

Listen, Download, and Please Leave a Review!

Resource Links:

Viva La Vive Company, Vivian Acquah: https://www.linkedin.com/company/viva-la-vive/

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: http://yb2csystem.com

Detroit Ink Publishing: http://detroitinkpublishing

Green Garage Detroit Coworking Community: http://greengaragedetroit.com

Ellen Lyle and Pink Elephant Products and Events L3C want to bring you SAFE and NATURAL products for your home and everyday life!

Welcome to Episode #69 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Located inside the Green Garage in MidTown Detroit (just like us!), Pink Elephant Products and Events L3C is a social enterprise that focuses on making clean products. Clean for you, and the Earth!

Pink Elephant creates personal care products, cleaning products, and cosmetics - all of them are dangerous chemical free and NATURAL products!

They participate in a unique and innovative recycling program with Terracycle and other organizations that recycle difficult to recycle items in order to create their Earth-friendly products and recycle those items that may not normally be easily recycled.

It is Ellen and her organization's mission to help clean the Earth by "turning trash into treasure."

Ellen has a large box in her office so that others that work at the Green Garage can recycle their plastic bags from the grocery store.

Pam and Ellen discuss the horrifying images that can be found in the media that demonstrate the dangers of plastic in the oceans. They also talk about ways to make items that cannot be recycled a little safer when they are thrown away: such as cutting up plastic can rings.

Pink Elephant all started with natural and safe deodorants. Ellen was inspired when cancer hit her family very hard, and decided to try to take a more holistic look at the products she bought, and eventually began producing. Ellen discusses the dangers of non-natural products and ingredients, such as chemicals like aluminum, which can be found in deodorants.

After listening to this podcast, you may be more conscientious about your product intake, and maybe try to be as Earth-friendly as you can, just like Ellen and Pink Elephant!

Connect with Ellen Lyle and Pink Elephant Products on www.pinkelephantproducts.com, LinkedIn, Blog, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Timothy Simpson has been an entrepreneur since he was 8 years old, today he offers youths and adults alike the tools to build their own business and earn their own fortunes!

Welcome to Episode #68 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Timothy talks with us all the way from South Carolina!

Timothy has been a businessman of sorts all his life! At 8 years old, in Oklahoma, he started a community based cleaning company for army families who were constantly moving. At 10 years old, in Germany, he started a babysitting business. At 12 years old, he started a lawn care service. By the age of 13 he'd already started three companies!

Timothy calls himself a "serial entrepreneur."

By the age of 19 until today, he has owned 11 different businesses in 6 different industries. Everything from cleaning, tire and automotive, lawn care services, restaurants, digital marketing, payday loan companies. Today he is a business coach and consultant!

His business moves with him, he works all over the United States and the world. The digital era we live in has helped him bring his business straight to the global market.

He works to teach business tools; such as financial literacy, leadership, and personal development all over the world. Even in Ghana, Africa!

He believes anyone can become an entrepreneur, and stresses the importance of social media for every businessperson.

Timothy talks about his junior academy, where he teaches kids entrepreneurship and helps them launch their own businesses! Some of his students earn some $50 - $300 a week with their own businesses!

Timothy believes that high unemployment = high crime. That means, kids need options and opportunities to be employed and earn money so that they can keep to the right path and avoid a life of possible crime.

Timothy offers youths the options and opportunities to earn their own fortunes!

He advises our audience to "never give up on education!"  Even if it is just self education, it is important to never stop exploring what you are interested in.

Pam and Timothy explore the many layers and forms of learning and education.

Timothy's children's book "No Training Wheels," which he describes as a modern day version of "The Little Engine That Could."

"No Training Wheels" is available on Amazon for FREE with Amazon Unlimited!

Timothy calls himself a "Business Mythbuster," and explains that you do not need to have money to make money. You just need to have ambition.

While many potential entrepreneurs have amazing visions, they may not know how to turn that vision into a reality. Timothy offers multiple plans that can help entrepreneurs set goals for themselves and their businesses. Timothy is there to help you actualize your dreams, and make money on them!

Timothy reminds us: excuses and procrastination are the real dream killers!

Find out more about Timothy Simpson and his many businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities by connecting with him on his website www.timthemotivator.com, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

VISIT www.TomJackobs.com/storybook FOR A FREE OFFER FROM TOM!

Tom Jackobs made the bold decision to go into self-employment during the recession, and it's safe to say that his work paid off! Tom offers us his tips on how to make it BIG while being your own boss.

Welcome to Episode #67 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

While LinkedIn is known as the hub for business relationship building, Pam and Tom met on Facebook! Since nearly everything is online based these days, you never know who you will meet, and what opportunities may come from them!

Tom has been an entrepreneur for 30 years. However, it all started when he was an ambitious sixteen year old with an idea to start a mobile DJ and string quartet business.

After running this business all through his teen and college years, Tom soon found himself wanting a more professional job. He completed a degree in Theater, but eventually found himself working in the oil and gas industry.

But once again, Tom began to feel ambitious, just as he did when he was sixteen. He caught what he calls the "entrepreneurial bug," and decided to go into business for himself once again.

Tom realized that he needed to lose weight after working behind a desk for so long, and started working hard on his diet and exercise to get fit. Through this journey, he found he had a story to tell and started teaching people how to get fit, as a personal trainer

This all started in 2008! Right in the middle of the great recession.

It wasn't long, just six months, until Tom realized running your own business wasn't so easy as it may seem. Looking back, Tom notes that entrepreneurs need to recognize that they can ask for help, that they are not superhumans.

After almost failing in business, Tom invested in a business coach. Together, they came up with a sales process.

Tom realized he needed to sell the result, not the function. Afterall, no one wants to work out, but they do want to look fit! He learned to tell the solution to a problem, which is very important for any business.

Tom is able to apply his Theater degree in sales and for his talks and presentations. It's all about presenting a sales pitch, by telling an elegant story.

Three stories:

1. Founders story
2. Sales stories
3. Objection handling stories

After 9 years, Tom sold his fitness business, which is doing well under new owners.

Tom calls himself the "impact pilot," as he helps businesses develop their stories to develop their business and effectiveness of their business.

Tom has a gift for us and our listeners, which can be found at www.tomjackobs.com/storybook.

 Traveling all around the world, Tom put on small group workshops on how to sell and manage businesses. In this he found great success, both for himself and his clients! 

As of now, Tom's main goal is to help small business owners, and show them that they don't have to struggle. You don't need to make the same mistakes as everyone else!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT TOM'S SPECIAL GIFT TO US AND OUR LISTENERS!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!

Find out more about Tom Jackobs at www.tomjackobs.com.

Email Tom at [email protected].

Call Tom at (713) 244-5351

Connect with Tom on Facebook and YouTube!

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Todd McKay Merchant Services ISO helps his customers manage and understand their credit card processing by providing great customer service and relationships long term.

Welcome to Episode #66 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Todd McKay provides merchant service credit card processing as an Independent Sales Officer (ISO) through his business TM Services Inc. Pam and Todd met at a Detroit Startup Week workshop of Pam's called "It's Never Too Late to Be Great!"

Todd started out in finance, at a bank, and slowly made his way up in the industry. Eventually he began working for First Data, but found that he wanted to offer customer service his way.

He became an ISO. ISOs can sell credit card processing independently from First Data. By working as an ISO, he is able to control things like fees for his customers, which can easily make or break relationships in the credit card processing industry.

Todd as been an ISO for 3 years. He has found that he is able to offer the best customer service for his customers, without the pressure to make a sales quota.

Merchant services is the process of helping a business owner accept credit card payments, Todd explains, and there are a few different ways to do this. Todd provides a few examples of how processing can be done. It can be done via Gateway, Face to Face, or a traditional credit card processing device.

Todd partners with other point of sales systems, and links to different companies in order to process emerging service credit card processing.

He works with a wide variety of customers, such as car dealerships, doctors, lawyers, retail stores, grocery stores—any type of business that may accept a credit card.

McKay's services supply a more close and personal relationship that can help his customers understand their sales processes.

Emerging service credit card processing is very competitive, Todd explains, but he has found a special niche in the industry through his close relationship building.

Both Pam and Todd agree that credit card processing should be considered a business expense!

Todd explains all of the fees that go into processing a credit card: interchange fee, merchant service fee, and monthly fee. Todd would rather his customer service be the best that it can be for his customers, and as professional as it can be. He offers no setup fee, and no cancellation fee. He reminds us that his customers manage the relationship, he is there for them!

He is able to help you understand statements and manage your credit card processing. Should there be some kind of issue or dispute with your business and your credit card processing, Todd McKay is there for you!

Todd advises our listeners to have belief in their passions and create quality relationships to really invigorate their businesses.

Todd finishes our interview by providing an algorithm for credit card processing and management success!

Find Todd McKay through his website or by calling him at (248) 480-3545 or email him at [email protected] 

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Professor Samiya Bashir is an artistic entrepreneur, winner of an Oregon Book Award, and a multimedia artist of poetry and spoken word, she is also YB2C Live! host Pamela Hilliard Owens' daughter!

Welcome to Episode #65 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Poet, writer, spoken word artist, and professor of creative writing, and daughter to Pamela Hilliard Owens, Professor Samiya Bashir considers herself a "multimedia" artist. While she started out as a freelance writer, Samiya has worked all around the country and the world at writing workshops, and consulting and communication organizations. She also proudly worked on the Freedom to Marry campaign, which advocates for marriage equality in the United States. In her consulting work, Samiya focused on helping people think big picture about their business, just like what we do at Writing it Right for You and Your Business, Your Brand, Creatively. Like mother, like daughter!

Samiya's most recent body of work called "Field Theories" is a collection of poetry that won an Oregon Book Award. The Oregon Book Awards are presented every year to the best of the best writers in Oregon—a prestigious honor. There's been one black woman to win the oregon book award before in history, and only one black poet.

Samiya works all over the country, and world. She recently worked at a workshop in Ghana that focused on African writers all around the world. Today she focuses mostly on her work as a professor and a writer. Samiya teaches at Reed College, a liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon.

Being a writer isn't about just being a writer, you have to have something to say, advises Samiya. She believes very strongly in writers working together to improve each others work, which is why workshop and consulting work is so important to her.

Samiya offers our listeners a few wise words of advice: She stresses the importance of networking and knowing who needs help, in order to break into freelance work and make a name for yourself. Community building is integral, you need to see what other people are doing with your work to improve your own work.

She also advises to ask yourself "why are you making the artwork?" You definitely don't want to go into poetry writing for the money!

If you're a writer, you need to spend more time reading than you do writing. Be a part of the dialogue and conversation, a part of the world, that you work in.

Finally, Samiya's last words of advice is to remember your tool is language. Like being a runner, if you only run when it's race time, you won't be very good! Don't be afraid of the things you don't understand! Engage!

Engage with Samiya by visiting her website!

Find her on…

Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Soundcloud, and Tumblr!

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Brendan Ross, of Brendan Ross Photography, believes that photography is just writing with life. Through his freelance business he tells a story, not with words, but with photos.

Welcome to Episode #64 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Brendan Ross is a fellow business in residence located at the Green Garage in Midtown Detroit, just like us here at YB2C!

His interest in taking photos started out when he joined photo club in high school. In college, Brendan took pictures for the college newspaper and yearbook, and eventually became editor and chief for the yearbook.

While he studied writing and english, and later worked in advertising, he soon found himself taking pictures for the advertising company that he worked for. Soon enough he realized that photography was what he needed to do!

Brendan has been in the photography business for 47 years.

While he works almost exclusively with clients based in Detroit, he photographs a very broad range of things. From open heart surgery to underwater life, Brendan Ross photographs it all.

As a self-employed entrepreneur, Brendan knows that there is never a guarantee that he will be successful, no matter how beautiful or well-crafted his work is. Though, he admits, he has done well for himself and his family.

Brendan offers our listeners 5 tips for success in photography:

1. Shoot a bunch of really good photos, and call it your portfolio.
2. Get your work into a good form as a website
3. Talk to the people that you'd like to be your market, keep in touch with them through a blog or by (heaven forbid!) phone.
4. Enhance your portfolio.
5. Just keep going!

One thing you should NOT do, Brendan says is that you should never work for a**holes because, he promises, it isn't worth it!

Learn more about Brendan Ross and his photography:

Visit his website!

Check him out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

 Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Web Page: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Michelle May is a musician-extraordinaire and 2018 Kresge Artist Fellow that took a leap of faith to found a group of women to perform "world jazz" music.

Welcome to Episode #63 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Michelle May has always had a deep passion for music, and very clearly has a talent for it as well. She has mostly focused on classical, gospel, and jazz music, but is interested in learning new and exciting things in music every day.

While she had, and still has, deep respect for all of the big names in music that she has worked with, she'd always wanted to start her own group. Soon enough Michelle May founded Musique Noire—meaning black music in French—which is an instrumental group of black women musicians!

Though she is a licensed professional counselor, she wants to assure all of her audience that this is not her "real job," and being a musician is absolutely not just a "hobby."

She has performed with big names such as Stevie Wonder!

Michelle May advises us that we should not wait until we're "good enough." We should just get out there and do what we want to do and what we are inspired to do!

She also advises that we should know our craft and do quality networking. No matter how much of an introvert you are, networking is so important! This is something Your Business, Your Brand, Creatively has always stressed. It is also important to have a good reputation. As well as to support fellow musicians, says Michelle, just as you should support your fellow business people in general in all types of business!

Michelle notes how important it is to never stop learning and to be sure to look into new ideas and concepts in your industry through all platforms: read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, etc.

Michelle May is one of the 2018 Kresge Artist Fellows! The Kresge Foundation is a Detroit based foundation that is interested in arts and cultures with a specific Detroit focus.

Michelle May and Musique Noire hope to expand their sound and their audience reach in the future and continue to grow as artists.

Listen to hear the amazing resources and support that The Kresge Foundation has given to Michelle May!

Michelle is the music director for a music series in both Pam and Michelle's neighborhood! There is a concert for each season, the Summer concert is coming up soon!

Find out more about Michelle May and Musique Noire:

www.michellemay.net

www.musiquenoire.com

Follow and "Like" Michelle May and Musique Noire on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Visit www.historicbostonedison.org for information on the music concert series that Michelle puts on!  

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Webpage: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community.

Bako Rambini, a lecturer at a top fashion school in Paris, helps fashion designers and start-ups develop their brands and market their fashion businesses to empower their fashion brands impact!

Welcome to Episode #64 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Bako lectures in two classes for fourth and fifth year students in Paris, helping students from all around the world develop their fashion brands.

She helps her clients combine their art with their business. In order to help them in "building a bridge" between the two logics: business and art.

Bako comes from a financial background, and interacted with designers who asked her to help them develop their business plans. Bako launched her brand Fashion Cross Functional because she needed a way to combine the fashion and the numbers, building her metaphorical bridge.

Fashion can be a very unstable business, thus making it very hard for start-ups to get funding for their work. Bako found that she was able to identify the problems that the designers needed to face in order to get the funds for their projects because of her financial background.

Bako authored her book "The Fashion Business Plan" in order to assist fashion designers in launching their business plans.

From Germany to the United States to Madagascar, Bako travels all around the world, as well as working online, in order to interact with her clients worldwide!

Bako reminds us "invest in yourself!" and to "always stay true to your brand DNA!"

Find Bako's book on Amazon!

Find Bako on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Visit Fashion Cross Functional.

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Webpage: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community

Annie Holden is an Australian anthropologist and entrepreneur who wants to bring other travel enthusiasts a products made especially for travel, convenience, and safety.

Welcome to Episode #61 of the YB2C Live! Podcast for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners. Every week we discuss the entrepreneurial journey, including interviews with business owners of all sizes from Detroit and all over the world who share their stories to give you inspiration, motivation, and tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success for your business.

Annie Holden, anthropologist and entrepreneur, is no stranger to travel and the inconveniences that one may face when they are on any expedition.

She recalls always being told that her bra was the best place to keep her money and other important small items, because she will never lose them there. This sparked Annie's idea to develop a bra especially for travel. Appropriately, this product would be named the Travel Bra.

Annie spent six months working with a lingerie designer in order to develop the bra, and quickly patented her design—ultimately winning a design award for it!

While today the Travel Bra has made a bit of a name for itself, Annie has faced a lot of marketing ups and downs. At times Annie found herself to be too ambitious, and expecting too much from her product and sales, without really realizing how much work needed to be put into it. Soon, Annie was able to discover the importance of marketing and search engine optimization, which really helped her product in the long run.

In order to fund her product, Annie utilized a few different platforms. Among classic social media, like Instagram and Facebook, Annie also found herself a contestant on the show Shark Tank. However, sadly, Annie never even got featured on the show! She was left on the cutting room floor.

Kickstarter, a website used by many entrepreneurs to fund their products, is absolutely worth it, according to Annie. Annie shares her advice on how to make Kickstarter work for you, which she has learned through trial and error.

After finding that her product was not selling as well as she wished it would, Annie went in for a total redesign of her product. Soon, she reimagined her product, hoping that a simpler design would sell better and be more cost effective. Sadly, the Travel Bra just wasn't selling!

She knew there was a need in the market for her product, so she slowly developed a customer base and was able to utilize these connections with her loyal customers to improve sales. Through loyal customers, as well as advocates such as travel bloggers, Annie is able to spread the word about the Travel Bra. Annie put her product on Amazon, and found this to be a great way to really get her product out there. Today, Annie sells around 50,000 Travel Bras a year!

Annie has worked to expand her product line, knowing each customer would probably only buy one travel bra, because there isn't much of a need for multiple, once you have the one.

Today, Annie is developing a moisturizer made especially for when you're flying—as Annie is no stranger to how dry a long flight can become, and how damaging it can be to the skin. Through a new brand called Love Everything Travel, Annie has begun developing the In Flight Magic Moisturizer, which is set to release soon! 

Through the advice of mentors, Annie has been able to learn what is and is not important when marketing your products and breaking into the entrepreneurial world. We always say that having mentors and being a mentor is so important!  

In addition to her product lines, Annie also develops a podcast, newsletter, and blog about women and travel entrepreneurs.

Annie has lost a lot in her journey in developing the Travel Bra, but she has discovered ways to supply her very unique and necessary product to other travel enthusiasts.

Annie's best advice for entrepreneurs is: if you don't enjoy it, don't do it.

Find out more about Annie Holden and her travel products by visiting The Travel Bra, Love Everything Travel, and by listening to her podcast and reading her blog!

Please download and listen to this informative and educational episode, and subscribe to the YB2C Live Podcast on iTunes and "Like" the YB2C Live! page on Facebook!

Your Business Your Brand Creatively: branding, marketing, copywriting, communications, and productivity solutions for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and creative and solo freelancers.

Detroit Ink Publishing: manuscript preparation, eBook and print book publishing, and author marketing services for nonfiction, fiction, and business books.

The YB2C Live! Podcast Webpage: review the Show Notes of all of our episodes here.

Find out more information about the Green Garage Detroit Co-Working Community