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Crafting Your Way from Maker to Business Magnate with Jaime Schmidt of Schmidt's Naturals

Founder of Schmidt

September 17, 2021

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Highlights

  • How a hobby Jaime started in her kitchen became a personal care company
  • The steps Jaime took after realizing the business opportunity in her home-made personal care products
  • Why Jaime is a proponent of bootstrapping and not bringing in capital if it’s not needed
  • The challenges of bootstrapping and how Jaime made her first hire
  • Jaime’s product development process and how she sourced suppliers for her ingredients
  • Building loyalty and connection and why it’s important to be upfront with customers
  • How Schmidt’s Naturals got into large retailers like Target and Walmart
  • The value of working with a broker and how Jaime found the first production space for her company
  • Why paying employees is one of the trickiest parts of running a bootstrap business
  • The reason Jaime didn’t outsource manufacturing at first and how she grew her company without an official business plan
  • Giving up control and other things Jaime had to learn as she moved to Unilever
  • Putting diversity at the forefront of funding companies
  • Jaime’s mentorship role in Going Public and how long it took her to write Supermaker
  • What Jaime wishes she knew when she first started her business
  • Why entrepreneurs shouldn’t get hung up on credentials, and other tips on pitching to investors

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