How Lisa built the business of her dreams and recruited 25 new clients in her first year coaching

“You can spend a lot of time spinning your wheels online, trying to get eyeballs on your business. With Nick's help, I got clear on my goals.”

The founder

Lisa Hallee is the founder of Lisa Hallee Coaching. She helps women leaders reconnect with the richness of their lives and ultimately live out their dreams.

The challenge

Lisa wanted to pursue coaching, but building a client roster was daunting

“I wanted my work to reflect my values,” Lisa remembers. “I really wanted to help people in a tangible way.”

But when it was time to build a client roster, she felt daunted. She had years of experience in the nonprofit sector and lots of connections, but few actual clients yet.

“A lot of people knew me, but they didn’t know me as a coach,” says Lisa. “So the question was, ‘how do I present myself to the world in this new way?’”

She started recruiting clients one by one from her contacts. This was a good place to start, but she felt like she needed a compelling website to really grow. But, “technology and me do not get along,” she says, and building a site was more of a challenge than she had anticipated.

“I took this really nice, fancy marketing course on how to market your coaching business, and it was honestly a waste of time and money,” says Lisa.

She likes to do things herself, so “it really took me failing to realize I needed help,” she says.

When she reached out to Nick Rimsa, Founder of Tortoise Labs, she initially just wanted help creating a website that would help her stand out in a crowded market, so she could feel good about her online presence and have an easier time recruiting new clients.

And although Nick did help her create that website she wanted, Lisa learned that what she actually needed went way beyond that …

“I had some very bare bones ideas about what I wanted to do. I sort of said, ‘I'm just going to coach people,’” she remembers. “And then Nick followed up with all the questions I didn’t even know I needed to be asking, like, ‘How are you going to attract clients? What are the problems you're trying to solve? How are you going to solve those problems? What are the tools that you're going to use? What's your market?’”

She knew she had work to do — but with Nick in her corner, her next steps became clear and focused.

“I had some very bare bones ideas about what I wanted to do. I sort of said, ‘I'm just going to coach people.’ And then Nick followed up with all the questions I didn’t even know I needed to be asking, like, ‘How are you going to attract clients? What are the problems you're trying to solve? How are you going to solve those problems? What are the tools that you're going to use? What's your market?’”

The process

Trying to reach the whole world. Focusing on reaching the right people.

Setting clear goals

The first thing Lisa and Nick worked on was setting clear goals. They mapped out how many clients Lisa needed to get her business off the ground. Then, they worked on figuring out who Lisa’s target customer was. Nick helped Lisa shift her focus from trying to work with everybody to focus on working with the people she could best help.

“I realized I don't need to reach the whole universe,” says Lisa. “I just need to reach the people who really want to take advantage of the services that I have to offer.”

Learning more about the target market

Then, Nick gave Lisa a list of questions to ask her current and past clients, so she could learn more about her target market and gather testimonials.

Questions like:

• Would you hire me if you didn’t know me?

• What things would you look for to make a decision about whether to hire me?

By asking the right questions, Lisa was able to understand why people hire her, and how to adjust her messaging to speak directly to those people.

Building an optimized website to build authority 

Next, they built and optimized Lisa’s website so it would speak to her target clients. They also added certifications and testimonials to give Lisa more credibility.

“I’m not good at tooting my own horn,” says Lisa. “It was helpful for me to give testimonials to Nick and let him decide how best to put them on the site.”

Bringing it together with a shiny new system for recruiting clients

Finally, they used the customer research Lisa had done to set up a new recruitment process. Rather than marketing generic coaching services, Lisa launched a small group coaching program for women CEOs: the clients she actually wanted to work with.

“Nick really challenged me to think about how I was going to help my client solve a problem,” said Lisa. “One of the problems I see, particularly among senior leaders and women, is that there aren’t a lot of places where leaders feel safe to express things that challenge them. I wanted to create a safe space where women leaders could talk about vulnerable things with other people who understood it because they'd been through it.”

They also implemented systems to help Lisa figure out which of her marketing efforts were working, and which weren’t.

“Nick taught me to be disciplined about looking at analytics to understand what was working, so I could identify where to invest my time,” says Lisa. “You can spend a lot of time spinning your wheels online, trying to get eyeballs on your business. With Nick's help, I got clear on my goals.”

The results

Going from zero to 25 active clients and generating revenue

Lisa is thrilled with the progress she has made as a business owner. She went from having zero to 25 active clients in one year. Plus, the clients she’s working with now are passionate about her offerings.

“Curating a group has been hugely successful because the people in it are so dedicated to the work,” says Lisa. “They take it very seriously. It is exceeding my expectations.”

Her new business model — teaching a course to a group of her target clients — is also serving her better, because she doesn’t have to search for new clients every few months.

“The course I teach has given me a great way to bring people in and grow them,” says Lisa. “I coach them sometimes before the course and then again after the course. Once they've attained an understanding of my methodology, they're ready to incorporate it into their lives, and the ongoing support is important to them.”

She has other critical pieces of her business set up, too, like her website email list.

“I ended up with a website that I love that works for me,” says Lisa. “I have a blueprint for how I'm going to move forward in terms of communicating with my clients. I've got a good newsletter email list going. I know the pieces are in place.”

And she’s continuing to build toward her revenue goals.

“I've taught this course twice, and I'm going to be going into my third cycle next month,” says Lisa. “I am generating revenue. I'm not where I want to be, but that's okay because I'm a whole lot farther down the road than I was certainly even six months ago. Every month gets better. And that's the trajectory I'm looking to build on.”

And thankfully, she’s not alone in it all. “I have a partner,” she explains. “Nick is like my business partner, and he helps me do things I can't do.”

“Nick helps you crystallize your thought process, define your market, and make your business dreams real.” Lisa’s dream as a Coach is to help her clients live out their biggest dreams. With Nick’s help, she’s achieving that. And she’s just getting started.

“If you know what you want to do, but you're not the most tech savvy person on the planet, Nick is a fantastic bridge to that world. He will tell you what you need to do and what you can just let go of. Nick is like my business partner, and he helps me do things I can't do. Every month gets better. And that's the trajectory I'm looking to build on.”

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How $5K and a little grit led to an MVP that did $150K in transactions in three months

“Nick helped me realize it didn’t need to be perfect. It just needed to be done on some level in order to test. To put a ton of money into a more robust platform early on would have been a waste, because I don't think we would have been building the same product a year from now. Nick pushed for a manual, down and dirty, functional MVP, and that’s what we ended up doing.”

• $150K of transactions in the first three months

• 3,000 people’s basic needs met (4,000 people funded)

• A functional MVP on track to help 10,000 people within one year

The founder

Michael Arriola-Jacobson is the co-founder of Stimulus, a social fundraising platform that connects people in need with people who can help. Stimulus is a platform focused on micro campaigns for needs costing no more than $750 — needs like safe cab rides for elderly Asian Americans; relief for people devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Truckee, California; and support for families who were displaced by severe weather in Texas. Stimulus doesn’t charge a platform fee. They want to make sure the money goes where it’s most needed.

The challenge

How to build an app with $5K, no time, and no team?

Michael wanted to help people meet their basic needs. He set out to create a social fundraising platform focused on micro campaigns: for people who needed no more than $750 to get back up on their feet after a crisis, take care of their families, or get home safe. His platform would collect no fees — he wanted the money to go to the people who needed it. But he knew it would take time, support, and an investment to execute his vision.

“I think ideas can be a dime a dozen,” says Michael. “Executing is where the challenges start to come in.”

He didn’t have $20K to invest, or the expertise to code a web app on his own. He also didn’t have a co-founder to bounce ideas off of, and wasn’t sure how to prioritize his long list of next steps.

“I was questioning the concept, I didn’t have the time, and I didn’t have a team,” Michael remembers. “I was battling with the decision to put other priorities aside to focus 100% on this project.”

He wanted to partner with someone who understood his vision and had the technical knowledge and startup experience to bring it to life. Oh, and he had a max budget of $5K.

“I think a lot of people, including myself, want to just see the shiny product out of the box that you could pay $10K or $20k to get done,” recalls Michael. But his product was still in the concept phase. “To spend all that money to not know if it was going to work would have been very risky.”

“I was questioning the concept, I didn’t have the time, and I didn’t have a team.”

The solution

Creating a manual, down and dirty, functional MVP

Michael connected with Tortoise Labs to get support on his project. Nick Rimsa, Tortoise Labs owner and product designer, quickly became a partner, a mentor, and a sounding board to work through functional challenges, goals, and priorities.

“Getting in touch with Nick allowed me to translate the concept into execution,” says Michael. “I think for me, I need an outside perspective. Everyone can have good ideas but they need to be challenged.”

Michael and Nick had daily meetings to talk about simple, small steps to take next. When Michael brought up the cost of building a web app, Nick pushed back and encouraged Michael to test the platform at a lower investment level first. Nick knew there was a way for Michael to build a test product manually before investing too much. They began a rapid prototyping process, and the product evolved quickly.

“Nick helped me realize it didn’t need to be perfect. It just needed to be done on some level in order to test,” says Michael. “To put a ton of money into a more robust platform early on would have been a waste. Nick pushed for a manual, down and dirty, functional MVP, and that’s what we ended up doing.”

As Nick built a website, Michael contributed website copy. Michael researched payment processing systems, and leaned on Nick’s experience to confidently make a decision. They worked together to align their priorities, complete tasks, and check in on their progress toward building the MVP.

“Anybody will build your product for you,” says Michael. “But Nick is somebody who's going to live your business with you, while giving you true feedback on what's working and what's not — the hard truths. And he does it all at a reasonable cost.”

Once they built the MVP, Michael recruited test users who gave feedback. A week later, they were ready to launch. Having a flexible launch date allowed them to test their product on a shorter timeline, without putting in extra work to design a robust launch plan.

“I wanted to get something done quickly. And something Nick helped me realize was that it didn’t need to be perfect. It just needed to be done on some level in order to test.”

The result

3,000 people’s basic needs met and $150K in transactions in the first three months

Once they launched, Stimulus started driving revenue within two days.

“We did almost $2,000 in transactions in the first month,” says Michael. “We had to close down one of our forms for recipients in the first week, because we were having too many people fill it out.”

Their platform did $150K in transactions in the first three months. More importantly, it funded 3,000 people’s basic needs: cab rides for Asian Americans as hate crimes were on the rise, support for people who were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and relief for families who were displaced by severe storms in Texas.

“I would not have been able to turn this concept into an MVP at any budget above $5K,” says Michael. “Being able to build such an amazing MVP with that amount of money was huge to me.”

Michael’s product is still evolving, but it’s functional, and things are only looking up for Stimulus.

“The MVP allowed us to prove the concept,” says Michael. “And not only that, but to start to have serious conversations on a lot of different levels.”

Since launching, Michael has brought on a co-founder and team members. He is talking to strategic partners, investors, and accelerators. Most importantly, he’s on track to help more people. Stimulus is positioned to fund 10,000 people’s needs by the end of the year.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to help people,” says Michael. “The number one KPI that we're always looking at is how many people we have funded, and I think we're on the track to continue to do that.”

“In the first three months since we launched, we did $150,000 in transactions. At the end of the day, we’ve proved the concept and we’re helping people. The future of Stimulus is wide open.”

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How Faith went from “not a software person” to selling her first enterprise solution at $4K/year in just three months

“I went into these business classes thinking, ‘Well, I'm not a software person. I'm just somebody who works their 40+ hours a week. I'm just going to keep my ideas to myself.’ Now I have a product and potentially, a company, that's going to help me professionally and personally. It's given me such a boost of confidence. This is me dreaming bigger.”

The founder

Faith Douglas is the founder of Assess with Care, a software that allows recruiters from small business and enterprises alike to build custom assessments for job candidates, store assessment results, and ultimately, hire better candidates. She is also a senior recruiter at Included Health.

The Challenge

After 20 years in HR, Faith saw a need for a new software. But she wasn’t a tech developer.

When Faith walked into her first Propeller class with The Coastal Enterprises, Inc (CEI) Women’s Business Center, she didn’t have a business idea. The class was designed to help women entrepreneurs develop their businesses. Faith had been encouraged to sign up for the class by fellow board members at The Third Place, a co-working space for women of color. She and her fellow board members wanted to empower the BIPOC community of Maine to have an entrepreneurial spirit, and Faith was excited to learn and create something new.

Faith’s background was in HR. She’s a senior recruiter at Included Health, a health tech company. When Nick Rimsa, owner and product designer at Tortoise Labs and teacher at the Propeller class Faith was taking, asked Faith what she was really passionate about, she confessed she was interested in the creative side of tech. But she didn’t have a concrete idea yet. She was also afraid to take a risk on a tech product.

“I had always just played it safe,” says Faith. “Being in HR, I tend to be systems-based, so jumping out on my own to become an entrepreneur felt counterintuitive. Also as a single mother, especially with a young child, I was scared. It felt safe working for somebody else.”

After she graduated from Propeller, she ran into a recurring problem at work. She was hiring for telehealth positions, and she needed a tool that would allow her to assess candidates based on their ability to communicate appropriately and empathetically via chat. She couldn’t interview for this skill, and Google Forms wouldn’t cut it as an assessment tool.

“In HR, it’s so important to feel that you can hire the right candidate,” says Faith. “It’s important to understand the skills that are needed for a role, and then be able to design assessments that work for that particular role at that particular company.”

She couldn’t find any software that would allow her and her team to easily build their own assessments for candidates and collect results all in one place. So she asked Nick to help her build it.

“I wasn't just looking for software vendors to partner with,” says Faith. “I needed to build it with somebody who could be patient with me and teach me along the way.”

“I wasn't just looking for software vendors to partner with. I needed to build it with somebody who could be patient with me and teach me along the way.”

The process

Building trust, getting stakeholder buy-in, and thinking like a designer

The first step in Faith’s process was finding out if this whole venture was possible. Faith had 20 years of HR experience, but was new to entrepreneurship and had never built a tech product.

“I had already spent months working with Nick and seeing how he interacts with startups and other people’s entrepreneurial dreams,” says Faith. “Seeing that he thought this was a good idea, when he's very much in the tech startup community, was energizing.”

With her newfound energy, she pitched her vision to target customers and got buy-in.

In her pitch, she talked about:

• The problem she was trying to solve: No existing software would allow teams like hers to build assessments for candidates, store results, and meet security requirements

• The product itself: Assess with Care would have the security features companies like hers needed, be easy to use, and was possible to build with help from expert partners

• Her partnership with Tortoise Labs: Nick had experience bringing software products to life, from planning and prototyping to help with the legalities and financials. He was excited about the product, and he knew the right people and processes to make it happen

Once Faith had buy-in from potential customers, she and Nick blocked out time on their calendars to determine what, exactly, they needed this software to do. As they defined app requirements and designed user flows, Faith learned to think like a designer.

“It was eye-opening for me because I had a hard time thinking like a designer,” remembers Faith. “But Nick developed the product with me. He helped me understand what was and wasn’t possible.”

They needed a product that would allow companies to build out and develop their own assessments, instead of having to find vendors for everything. They also needed it to be secure and simple to use. They wanted their product to serve small companies and enterprise companies alike.

“Everything that we did together was such a learning moment,” says Faith. “We could honestly say to each other, ‘Okay, let's not do that,’ or, ‘Let's do more of this.’ Or, ‘this is why I think this would work.’ There was no ego, and no feelings got hurt. I just felt like there was that trust.”

Once they had designed the app, they worked with Brendan Barr, software developer, and Tortoise Labs co-founder, to bring it to life. Then, they quality tested it, deployed it for testing with customers, and made improvements based on feedback. Their entire process was heavily guided by customer research. There was so much research that they needed to create a project management board to organize and analyze it all.

They’re still finalizing the product, but their results so far speak for themselves.

“Everything that we did together was such a learning moment. We could honestly say to each other, ‘Okay, let's not do that,’ or, ‘Let's do more of this.’ Or, ‘this is why I think this would work.’ There was no ego, and no feelings got hurt. I just felt like there was that trust.”

The results

Selling an enterprise subscription for $4k/year three months after starting work on the product

Since launching the beta product, Faith has already sold her first enterprise subscription for $4k/year.

“Just a few months ago, we were sitting around in meetings, trying to figure out how we were going to do this,” says Faith. “Seeing the product come to life — that we can use it and touch it and feel it — is everything I was hoping for and more.”

Her customers are just as thrilled by it as she is.

“All the questions that our users are asking, we actually have solutions for,” says Faith. “It’s very intuitive. It's very easy to use. We have users who are saying, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can't wait to tell the health tech community or the HR software community or my friends.”

Their next steps include finishing up the final product design and rolling out the product to more customers.

“I'm more excited now than ever because I see the future of telehealth and telepsychology growing, and everyone needs to find the right talent,” says Faith.

Her biggest takeaway from the process of building (and selling) her first software product? Dream bigger.

“I went into these business classes thinking, ‘Well, I'm not a software person. I'm just somebody who works 40+ hours a week. I'm just going to keep my ideas to myself,’” says Faith. “Now I have a product and potentially a company that's going to help me professionally and personally. It's given me such a boost of confidence. This is me dreaming bigger.”

“Just a few months ago, we were sitting around in meetings, trying to figure out how we were going to do this. Seeing the product come to life — that we can use it and touch it and feel it — is everything I was hoping for and more.”

The Propeller class at the CEI Women’s Business Center came to life because of the efforts of Anna Ackerman and Director Sarah Guerette. If you’re a woman entrepreneur in Maine looking for a supportive learning environment with other women as you grow or start your business, be sure to check out their community and consider signing up for a free workshop. They’re an incredible resource.

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How Dylan used customer research to 6x his revenue and become an entrepreneur in three years

“When you focus on the customer, you make a product for them, not yourself. I learned you need to create a minimum viable product that accomplishes a goal or solves a problem for people in order to sell it.”

The founder

Dylan Veilleux is the founder of Tree Free Fire, where he manufactures and sells all-natural portable campfires: tabletop fires that are quiet, easy to use and made for good times.

The challenge

Dylan built brilliant products, but struggled with next steps

Dylan was an MBA student at Thomas college in Waterville, Maine. He was tired of doing part-time jobs and wanted to pursue entrepreneurship. Creativity was his strength, so he had lots of ideas: biofuel made from hemp, a fire emergency guidance light, and a backpack designed to eliminate the hassle of binders and folders, to name a few. He loved to bring his ideas to life, but he didn’t know what to do when none of his products or business ventures took off.

“I always thought it was my fault when the company wasn't growing fast or making enough money to give me a salary,” says Dylan. “You know, I was caught up on the whole YouTube craze of these people saying, ‘Hey, if you get into this business, you'll be able to do this on your own, making $10,000 a month.’”

Dylan started one business where he resold shoes and clothes. Then, he made an aromatherapy pillow using organic tea. Neither of those projects fueled his passion, so he eventually moved on to other ideas.

“I was the person that tried to perfect, perfect, perfect. And, you know, that just doesn't work,” says Dylan. “I didn't really know how to talk to customers, I didn't know how to find customers, and I didn't know where to find what customers were talking about.”

He was also overwhelmed with little tasks like organization, drafting emails, and making plans.

“I was terrible at planning small steps,” remembers Dylan. “I could do the things that are right in front of me and that's about it. Even if I sat down and tried to think of the right small steps, I would oftentimes pick the wrong thing.”

Dylan knew his ideas were good, and believed in himself enough to come up with idea after amazing idea. He just needed a little help figuring out how to bring a product to market in a way that would catch.

“I would be the person that tried to perfect, perfect, perfect. And, you know, that just doesn't work. I didn't really know how to talk to customers, I didn't know how to find customers, and I didn't know where to find what customers were talking about.”

The process

Make a perfect product. Make a product that works and get feedback.

Dylan was introduced to Nick Rimsa, owner and product designer at Tortoise Labs, through a mutual entrepreneur friend. Dylan pitched Nick a few of his business ideas. He had spent years studying hemp and was particularly passionate about hemp biofuel, so they got to work on building hemp biobricks.

When he couldn’t find a manufacturing partner to scale their hemp biobrick business, he pivoted toward a product that would be easier to manufacture: hemp-fueled fire starters. Nick shifted Dylan’s focus from making something perfect to making something they could test with customers.

[Image suggestion: a hemp-fueled fire starter]

“The goal was to make it work. That’s it,” says Dylan. “And then sell it and get some feedback. In general, think lean.”

The first step to building a minimum viable product was research. Dylan familiarized himself with the hemp industry and competitors.

He learned from Nick that he needed to know five things:

1. The problem he was solving

2. Who would purchase the product

3. Why a customer would purchase his product over existing products

4. How he was going to make it

5. How much it was going to cost

Then, Nick and Dylan started a checklist of things Dylan needed to do to bring his product to life. He sourced hemp stalks by working on a hemp farm and built a prototype. The next step would be testing the product.

Dylan had a small budget, so he didn’t have time or funding for numerous in-depth customer investigations. Instead, Nick encouraged Dylan to read reviews of profitable competitor products. They used their takeaways from those reviews to guide development for their own products. One of these products was the hemp-fueled tabletop fire pit that became Tree Free Fire.

“We learned to experiment and prototype products that can make lots of money, and we did it with oftentimes less than $100,” says Dylan. “That was a really big deal because we created a cycle of revenue. Nick had the tools to make the scaling process not so scary and a lot more calculated.”

As they built products, Dylan also learned to talk to customers about features, so he could improve his products based on their feedback instead of starting from scratch.

“When you focus on the customer, you make a product for them, not yourself,” says Dylan. “I learned you need to create a minimum viable product that accomplishes a goal or solves a problem for people in order to sell it.”

The small, portable fires that Dylan created sold. After he completed his first successful selling season, they agreed it was time to start aggressively scaling up their operation. When Henry Gilbert, a fellow entrepreneur with expertise in mass market outdoor branding and large wholesale account management, reached out, they knew it made sense to bring him on as a partner. Together, they worked toward adding new products to their store, putting together a long term branding strategy, getting PR, and scaling.

“When you focus on the customer, you make a product for them, not yourself. I learned you need to create a minimum viable product that accomplishes a goal or solves a problem for people in order to sell it.”

The results

“Our revenue is far, far beyond what we ever did before. Things have literally never been better.”

Since adding Henry to the team, Tree Free Fire is doing better than ever.

“It's good to find people that can help you work through the things that you're very unfamiliar with,” says Dylan. “Working in a group, especially with older people, is a massive change. You learn so much about yourself and how to work with others. Having those soft skills in your arsenal completely changes your confidence.”

Dylan still loves brainstorming ideas for new products. Only now, he’s confident about the entire product development process, including customer research.

“I can do the small steps on my own,” he says. “I'm a lot more customer focused and problem focused. I understand that I can work with customers to learn to improve my products. When I test a product, I can recognize patterns and see the next stage.”

Dylan’s putting all that customer research to good use. Tree Free Fire is rapidly growing, they have a loyal customer base, and they’ve nearly boosted their revenue by 6 times in the past year. They aim to boost their revenue 10 times by April of 2022.

“Our revenue is far, far beyond what we ever did before,” says Dylan. “Last year, we did about $20,000 in revenue. And it took us only about nine weeks to get to that same number this year. Things have literally never been better.”

Going forward, they plan to continue taking opportunities that arise within their niche, grow their team even more, and eventually acquire a space.

“By listening to customer feedback, we developed into a sustainable, outdoor patio entertainment company,” says Dylan. "Since we have gained expertise and customer insight throughout our product development system, we now have the ability to grow within the patio, fire, and hemp industry."

Dylan achieved his goal of becoming an entrepreneur, and it’s only the start.

"The skills I have developed through working with my team and Tortoise Labs have shaped my entrepreneurial capabilities. Even though I have grown tremendously, I am still trying to develop my skill sets wherever I am weak." says Dylan. “Just like product development, my personal learning and growth will continuously progress."

“Our revenue is far, far beyond what we ever did before. Last year, we did about $20,000 in revenue. And it took us only about nine weeks to get to that same number this year. We’ve gotten so much press. Things have literally never been better.”

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Heather built a pizza dough business from scratch. Now, she’s doing $16k months and still scaling.

“In the sales discovery process, I learned who my primary customer is, and then it became much easier to seal a deal. We are on track to achieve gross sales of $250,000 in year one, and we aim to double that in year two.

The founder

Heather Kerner is the founder of The Good Crust, where she manufactures a frozen pizza dough made with 100% Maine grains.

The challenge

Heather saw a need, but she didn’t know how to start and scale a business

Heather was living a farm-to-table lifestyle, raising her family’s poultry, growing vegetables, and using pizza as a way to showcase the season's freshest ingredients at home. She noticed that despite having a grist mill nearby, no one in her community was producing a pizza dough with solely local grains. She saw a need in the Maine farm-to-table community for a regional pizza dough. But she went to school for health and human services, so she didn’t know very much about how to start and scale a profitable, sustainable business. She also wanted to create meaningful manual work opportunities for people with unique needs, such as different cognitive and physical abilities.

“I went to school for health and human services,” Heather remembers. “Defining business concepts like, ‘what’s the problem to be solved?’ and, ‘what are the solutions?’ was all new terminology for me.”

She knew there was more to building and scaling a business than coming up with a brilliant idea. The creative part of entrepreneurship came naturally to her, but the food manufacturing, facilities planning, and business analytics for cash flow projections were all new.

“Everyone has a creative idea, but not everyone materializes that creative idea.”

“To be an entrepreneur is a creative process,” says Heather. “We’re using that creative, generative part of our brain to come up with an idea. But it's a totally different part of your brain to put a structure to it and be accountable to a timeline. Everyone has a creative idea, but not everyone materializes that creative idea.”

Heather needed help with the tangible aspects of her business. Things like:

• Breaking down ways to share her product with people

• Learning how to get feedback

• Putting a structure around her business. Hello, Trello and sales processes.

“There was so much to learn,” Heather remembers. “All the bookkeeping, how to articulate my message clearly, and the mechanical parts of starting a dough company.”

Heather wanted to learn in a collaborative environment.

“I really valued peer collaboration,” Heather remembers. “I am someone who desires feedback. I didn’t want to feel like I was starting my business in an echo chamber.”

“There was so much to learn. All the bookkeeping, how to articulate my message clearly, and the mechanical parts of starting a dough company. I didn’t want to feel like I was starting my business in an echo chamber.”

The process

Learning about the primary customer and building systems-based solutions

Heather signed up for a class with The Coastal Enterprises, Inc (CEI) Women’s Business Center, which focused on helping women entrepreneurs develop their businesses. The class was taught by Nick Rimsa, owner and product designer at Tortoise Labs, and Anna Ackerman, Program Developer at the CEI Women’s Business Center.

In the class, she got to:

• Make some guesses about her potential customers and who she wanted to serve

• Prepare for and start customer conversations

• Learn what customers were willing to pay for

• Work with customers to make her first product prototype

“In the sales discovery process, I learned who my primary customer is, and then it became much easier to seal a deal,” says Heather. “At this phase of startup, there are so many different things to attend to as a founder. I can't really afford a whole day of potential customer reach outs that aren't going to materialize. I need to focus my efforts on the ones that may respond.”

Heather built a low-tech sales funnel process to reach her target customers: restaurants making pizza in wood-fired pizza ovens. By the end of the class, Heather was selling her dough in one or two stores, but she and Nick could see there was growth potential. They wanted to continue working together, so they spent the next three months building a go-to-market strategy. With Nick’s ongoing support, Heather:

• Built out basic systems for email marketing, social media, and content creation

• Focused on talking to her primary customer

• Formed and utilized startup-level PR connections

“It was helpful to me to understand what would be a reasonable timeframe for follow-up after an initial customer contact,” says Heather “We talked about how many reach outs are reasonable in a single day. And if I were to hire something out, what's a reasonable productivity expectation? That was all new information to me.”

She and Nick continued to meet every Tuesday to build on the foundation she had learned in his class at CEI. Over the course of nine months, they worked together to refine her branding and packaging, find financing sources like grants, improve the manufacturing process, and create systems-based solutions for things like attracting new customers, working toward distribution, and continuously improving the quality of her dough based on customer feedback.

“Nick helped me build systems like a website that alerts me to people who subscribe,” says Heather. “That’s incredibly important because I don't have the bandwidth right now to monitor who subscribes. That would totally be falling by the wayside without an automated system.”

As Heather grew her business, Nick continued to provide accountability and support.

“I felt like it kept me on a forward-moving timeline,” says Heather. “It's been very helpful for me to be able to have someone who will give honest feedback.”

“In the sales discovery process, I learned who my primary customer is, and then it became much easier to seal a deal. At this phase of startup, there are so many different things to attend to as a founder. I can't really afford a whole day of potential customer reach outs that aren't going to materialize. I need to focus my efforts on the ones that may respond.”

The results

A $250k sales target in The Good Crust’s first year of business

Now, it’s easy for Heather to talk about her business with potential customers or anyone else who’s curious.

“I have a script in my mind that I share when I meet people about what I'm doing and why,” says Heather. “I have a quick version and a longer version. And that is really critical because I use it every day.”

She also has greater ease with her sales process.

“It gives me peace of mind to know that I'm not going to lose a detail,” says Heather. “I know that I have a sales funnel spreadsheet, which allows me to park an idea. If I want to follow up with a restaurant, but I don't have time right now, I know when I'll get back to it.”

Oh, and she’s on track to achieve $250k of gross sales in her first year of business, with even bigger plans for the future.

“We're not even a year old,” says Heather. “We are on track to achieve gross sales of $250,000 in year one, and we aim to double that in year two. We are currently soliciting our second distributor and our first institution. And we are in need of a distribution van soon. We just purchased a dough production facility with a loan of $345,000, which we got with help from CEI.”

Heather has a goal in the next year to pay her Lead Dough Manager for 30 hours a week. She currently employs eight part time staff, two of which have been hired through vocational rehab programs. And she has over 40 wholesale customers. The best part? This is only the beginning.

“We're not even a year old. We are on track to achieve gross sales of $250,000 in year one, and we aim to double that in year two. We are currently soliciting our second distributor, and our first institution. And we are in need of a distribution van soon. We just purchased a dough production facility with a loan of $345,000.”

The Propeller class at The CEI Women’s Business Institute came to life because of the efforts of Program Developer Anna Ackerman and Director Sarah Guerette. If you’re a woman entrepreneur in Maine looking for a supportive learning environment with other women as you grow or start your business, be sure to check out their community and consider signing up for a free workshop. They’re an incredible resource, and they’ve been incredible partners to both The Good Crust and Tortoise Labs.

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How Kia up-leveled her skills at 23 years old and went from studying UX to leading UX research at Omaha Steaks

“Working with a small company with just an idea, you realize how essential It is to be successful that you have your users involved in all parts of the conversation. Everything should start and end with a customer in mind.”

The challenge

UX interested Kia, but she had no formal experience or portfolio

Kia was an Interactive Digital Media student at Northwest Missouri State University who wanted to become a user experience (UX) designer. She was eager to apply her studies, but she didn’t know exactly how to get started. All she knew was that UX involved focusing on what the user had to say about a product, and that piqued her interest.

“I always knew I was going to do something strategic that involved working with other people,” Kia recalls. “When I discovered UX, I knew immediately that that's what I wanted to do. I was going to be passionate about that work.”

Like any beginner with self-awareness, she also knew how little she knew. And she was hungry to learn more.

“I had never been part of a product life cycle,” remembers Kia. “How does an idea go from just a couple of people in a room to something that thousands of users are using every day? I had no clue how that happened.”

Kia wanted experience, a portfolio, and to learn everything she could about UX. She wanted to practice solving the kinds of problems UX designers solved, and more importantly, she wanted to know if she would enjoy (and succeed at) UX design. She needed an established mentor who could give her opportunities to level up her skills and connect her to other industry leaders.

“UX is a very new industry. There’s not a lot of formal education on it,” says Kia. “I knew that I needed to gain experience and work with people who actually do this for a living to get an understanding of what this role even looks like.”

“How does an idea go from just a couple people in a room to something that thousands of users are using every day? I had no clue how that happened.”

The process

Building confidence, finding passion, and learning as much as possible

Kia reached out to her college advisor to share her newfound interest in UX design, and her advisor put her in touch with Nick Rimsa, Tortoise Labs owner and product designer. Kia was direct with Nick about wanting to learn how to build and test products. After a few assignments, Nick saw that she had raw talent and was eager to learn. They started working together to rapidly develop Kia’s skills and build a portfolio.

“I felt like Nick and the Tortoise Labs team believed in me, so I believed in myself. And that confidence just changed everything for me,” says Kia.

Over the course of three months as part of the team, Kia worked through every step of the product life cycle, from defining a hypothesis, listing customer requirements, and creating visual design mockups, to interviewing users and making improvements. She learned everything she could about how to take a product from an idea to a sustainable, profitable reality.

“One of the biggest takeaways that I got from that experience was that everything should start and end with a customer in mind. You want to try to eliminate design waste,” says Kia. “You talk to users, discover problems, learn what their needs are, and establish what they want. By understanding what the true problem is, you can start being innovative about the solution.”

Step by step, Kia built up her UX design expertise. She realized her passion for user experience research, and jumped in to sharpen her research skills at every opportunity.

“I wore a lot of hats at Tortoise Labs. It was excellent, because I wasn't exactly sure where I was going to fit in the UX world,” says Kia. “Once I started realizing that I’m passionate about research, I was able to hone that skill. I learned a lot about the customer interview process. Those opportunities ultimately got me to where I am today.”

After spending a few months at Tortoise Labs, Kia returned to school to finish up her degree. With her new expertise, the world of UX and customer research was hers for the taking.

“I wore a lot of hats at Tortoise Labs. Once I started realizing that I’m passionate about research, I was able to hone that skill and I learned a lot about the customer interview process. Those opportunities ultimately got me to where I am today.”

The results

Kia went from studying UX design to leading it, all within one year

Kia graduated with an offer to join the UX team at Omaha Steaks. Within a year, she was leading UX research.

“It doesn't have to take 10 or 15 years for you to get where you want to be,” says Kia.

As a lead UX researcher, Kia is the liaison between her creative team and IT. She designs enhancements for the Omaha Steaks website, app, and future projects. Most importantly, she puts prototypes in front of users, and takes their feedback to heart.

“It's easy to get tunnel vision,” says Kia. “You're designing what you think is right. Something I learned from Tortoise Labs is that it's essential to collaborate, especially for UX. Collaborating on a smaller scale with Tortoise Labs made it easier for me to do in my current role.”

Kia is not only excelling in her current role — she’s thrilled by it. She loves making the user experience better.

“It's very exciting when I'm moderating a study and I start hearing users say the exact same thing in the same part of the test about the same problem,” says Kia. “It’s like the aha moment that we could improve their experience. We could add a brand new feature that they would love, and it would change the way they use the product. To me, that's just such a rush, and I love it.”

Kia’s advice to students who are in her old shoes? Keep learning.

“Never be afraid to ask questions, even when you get into that professional setting and it's really scary,” says Kia. “Always ask because smart people ask questions.”

Kia plans to continue learning, asking questions, and being guided by her customers’ experiences as she designs innovative products that overcome problems for her users.

“Everything should start and end with a customer in mind. You want to try to eliminate design waste. You talk to users, discover problems, learn what their needs are, and establish what they want. By understanding what the true problem is, you can start being innovative about the solution.”

Learn more about our UX process

Start a conversation with Tortoise Labs about how to take a product from an idea to a sustainable, profitable solution.

How Tortoise Labs helped Elaine go from full-time employee to full-time founder in two months

“Nick breaks down all of the pieces of starting and going full time into sizable, manageable chunks. Everything felt doable.”

• Elaine found customers, clarified her offerings, and set fair prices

• Within two weeks, Elaine had nearly booked out her schedule

• After two months, Elaine keeps hitting and exceeding revenue goals

The founder

Elaine is a PR and grant writing consultant, and the founder of Pen Name. She helps startups and small businesses in Maine get the earned media attention that will allow them to grow.

The dream

Her dream was calling, but Elaine wasn’t in a position to take a risk.

Elaine wanted to say yes to her dream of freelance PR and grant writing but wasn’t in a position to take the risk of leaving a stable, full-time job. She knew she had strong writing and research skills, but didn’t think supporting herself and her family with her own business was a real possibility. When Tortoise Labs referred Elaine her first client, she started a business part-time, unsure if it would be sustainable.

“You think of a startup and you think of a bachelor who's living with four roommates, doesn't have any responsibilities, and definitely doesn't have kids,” Elaine says. “You never really think of the entrepreneur in their 30s and 40s.”

Elaine was passionate about helping businesses grow their sales and exposure through earned media, and was getting good results for her clients, who wanted long-term relationships. Elaine could see a path toward making her monthly revenue goal. But as a new parent with a mortgage and a full-time job, she wasn’t in a position to take chances.

“Doing PR full-time was just such a far-off dream,” Elaine recalls. “I'm a very cautious person. And I'm not in a position to take a lot of risks.”

As clients kept coming, Elaine realized she needed to get serious about the possibility that she could pursue consulting full-time, and that she would have to dive in fully or give it up if she wanted any sense of work-life balance. But she was already busy, and it wasn't easy to formulate the next steps all by herself.

She remembers thinking, “Okay, Elaine, you're either going to grow this business to your monthly revenue goal where you can completely leave your other job, or you just need to scrap it because it's taking up too much time and your weekends are gone.”

She needed to know that stepping into her new role as a founder wasn’t a gamble, and she needed support in carving out the next steps.

“Doing PR full-time was just such a far off dream,” Elaine recalls. “I'm a very cautious person. And I'm not in a position to take a lot of risks.”

The process

Finding customers, defining offerings, and increasing startup income

When Nick Rimsa, owner and product designer at Tortoise Labs, checked in and offered to help Elaine transform her business into something sustainable, she was ready to jump in. Elaine’s business had started with clients coming to her, and she knew that wasn’t a reliable, consistent way to find customers moving forward.

Nick helped Elaine start the process of finding clients by exploring questions like:

• Who is your customer?

• What do they want to accomplish?

• What is your monthly revenue goal?

• How many clients can you support right now?

“What I needed was not necessarily support with how to do my job, but how to work on my business,” says Elaine. “Nick showed me that it might not be as risky as I thought it would be.”

Together, Elaine and Nick clarified the type of customer Elaine was looking for, where she could find that customer, and how to talk to that type of customer. Nick offered personalized strategies, clear steps, referrals, and even pep talks as Elaine put in consistent effort to take on new clients and reassess her goals.

“Nick is a lot more than support, or an advisor at the 1,000-foot level. He’s very invested in making sure that I succeed, more so than someone just saying, ‘Oh, I hope you do well, here are some resources.’”

Nick and Elaine worked together to outline how many clients Elaine would need to replace the income from her full-time job — and how to find those clients. They also defined a new pricing structure that reflected the value Elaine brought to her clients. When Elaine hit her monetary goal two months in a row, she felt ready to go full-time.

She wouldn’t have been able to drop everything she was doing to support herself and her family — she had needed to work toward her goal in small, consistent steps.

“Nick breaks down all of the pieces of going full time into sizable, manageable chunks. Everything felt doable. It just reduced a lot of panic.”

The results

“I keep hitting and exceeding revenue goals”

After getting clear on who her customers were, how to reach leads, and how to structure her offerings in a way that brought in consistent income, Elaine felt confident in her decision to take her business full-time. She also quickly saw results.

Her schedule was nearly booked out within two weeks. “I keep hitting and exceeding revenue goals,” she says.

Elaine was already delivering quality work to her clients. Now, she feels confident speaking to her strengths — and she prices her work accordingly.

“I’m really focused and I know exactly what differentiates myself and my business. And that’s great because right now, I don’t have a lot of time,” says Elaine.

Elaine knows she can use Tortoise Labs as a resource if she ever needs support, referrals, or assistance with any transitions in her business. In the meantime, she plans to continue perfecting her systems to maximize the amount of quality time she can dedicate to each client. She also plans to carve out space every month for clients working in the startup space.

“It's exciting, it's edgy, it's like you're always learning,” says Elaine. “I love learning about the next startup, the next thing that is happening, and having them come to me.”

Elaine proved to herself that it was possible for a new parent with a mortgage and a full-time job to become a full-time founder of their dream business — and she’s proud she did.

“I'm so surprised at where I am with just a couple of weeks under my belt full time in my business. I would not have necessarily thought I could use my skills to be my own boss, my own founder and CEO. I'm proud that I took a chance on me.”

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