Entrepreneurs launch creative business during pandemic
By Paul Natinsky
Along with other silver linings during the COVID-19 pandemic such as lower flu rates, more quality time with family and spending less money, new business opportunities emerged as industrious entrepreneurs found themselves with extra time on their hands.
Attorney Awan Kuza found herself working at home with a reduced caseload and started a high-quality play dough business called Love & Dough.
High school counselor Hillary Sesi used the extra time to go pro with her charcuterie board business, Hill’s Boards.
Both businesses feature the sort of visually striking products that made them a natural for promotion on Instagram, where photos and reposts introduce products and direct messages fill the order box.
Kuza spent late summer 2020 perfecting her blend of flour, cream of tartar, salt, oil and water into the perfect consistency for play dough. By October, she was posting her products on Instagram. By December she was taking her first orders—just in time for the holidays.
Sesi, who is not crazy about cheese, began by making boards for her family, including her remote-learning niece and nephew. She continued to work at her counseling job, but found herself with extra time on her hands. With encouragement from her family, Sesi started posting photos of her boards on Instagram and was up and running on June 29, 2020.
Business boomed as she found herself creating sometimes as many as 10-15 boards a week, many for quarantined couples adding a gourmet touch to their date night.
Hill’s Boards has rolled along with the pandemic’s shifting conditions. A return to restaurant dining took a bite out of Sesi’s business when patrons surged back to their favorite restaurants after a long hiatus. But things picked up as people began entertaining in their homes again and needed bigger boards to accommodate party guests.
Sesi’s operation is a delicate balance between her counseling job and her side passion. She has been careful not to overcommit, and has never been late with a board or missed an order. To keep it that way, she limits the volume of work she will take and invested in a scheduling app called Acuity.
She bought the premium version of Acuity because it sends confirmation emails and helps her avoid no shows and late pickups, as almost all orders are pickups. “I don’t like throwing away boards, but there are only so many times my family wants to eat cheese if someone doesn’t pick up their order.”
Sesi has considered starting a website but wants to move slowly as the busy school year approaches.
As volume increased for Kuza at Love & Dough, she decided to open an Etsy online store, where she pays 20 cents per item posted and 20 or 30 cents per transaction, depending upon the price of the product. “I created the shop, but they take care of everything else,” she said. In its first 30 days, the shop has generated more than 30 orders, said Kuza, and she is now considering opening a similar portal on Amazon.
The popularity and ease of operation for social media-based businesses, along with the emergence of easy-to-use and inexpensive e-commerce sites like Etsy and Amazon create great opportunities for those who seek the quality products and personal touch small businesses can provide.
For Sesi, customization makes a big difference. She is able to reach farther for unusual cheeses such as blueberry goat cheese or lavender flavored offerings than her grocery store competitors. The fast turnaround time also means her boards are not stored for a day or two, expanding presentation and design options.
Kuza said Love & Dough play dough contains simple, “clean” ingredients, foregoing the chemicals she said the commercial makers use. She said the product is also softer than store-bought play dough and does not dry out as quickly.
While it’s unclear how much they will scale up their businesses, Kuza and Sesi are expanding their offerings.
Sesi is capitalizing on a growing trend for “grace boards,” more-or-less giant charcuterie boards that cover an entire table. She said the boards are great for events with more than 25 people. The big boards are also more profitable for her than making several smaller arrangements. Grace boards also will allow her more lead time to plan her work around her school counseling job.
Kuza’s play dough products started as kits that contain play dough and themed accessories, such as snowmen or Christmas trees. They began as holiday themed kits, but she is expanding those themes and offering “mini kits.” The larger kits sell for $35 and the minis for $15. She also plans to create some educational kits, featuring letter of the alphabet and other learning themes.
Kuza intends to sell jars of play dough for $3-$5 and is looking into aroma therapy play dough kits for adults.
As new COVID variants continue to stir uncertainty, the creativity and industriousness that have flourished despite pandemic restrictions seem like they are here for the long haul as well, providing beams of light in an often-dark environment.