Chase Chats: Making your move

Welcome to Chase Chats, a series where we ask business leaders to share insights and inspiration on the biggest challenges they face today. What will you discover here that you can bring to your business?

Success isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s the accumulation of smaller wins along the way. And behind each of those wins is the decision to make a bold move.

In a roundtable discussion, three business owners share how they’ve approached key moments in their journeys and how they chose (or didn’t choose) to make moves that would affect the future of their businesses.

Psyche and Vontoba Terry, co-founders of Urban Hydration

Silvana Rosero, president and CEO of Laguna Media Group

Making a big move

Q: We’re here today to talk about making bold moves for your business. Empowering moves. Scary moves. Urgent moves. Every business owner has a story about it. What’s yours?

• Vontoba: In 2014 Psyche was 32 weeks pregnant with our third child, and we were making sugar scrubs [a skincare exfoliant] with a factory in Dallas. About a month before we were supposed to ship, we discovered that the factory never started the order and actually went out of business.
• Psyche: Vontoba and I had to make the decision to open up our own factory — find the factory, churn goods at that factory, source the ingredients and people and formulas to make it work — in just a month, all while expecting our third child. With family and friends’ support, we managed to fulfill our commitment, reinforcing our belief in resilience and faith. When our daughter was born, we actually named her Faith.
• Silvana: In 2015 my business partner passed away of a sudden heart attack, and I was forced to activate what was supposed to be a two-to-three-year transition plan immediately and steer the ship alone. Although I was faced with skepticism, uncertainty and offers to buy out, I chose to continue. A couple years later, I made a big move to get more training in digital strategy to rebrand the company and expand our services. That was huge — rethinking and showing the people out there that we were not only going to move forward, we were going to make major changes that would add even more value.

Takeaways:

• Stay adaptable and resilient: As an entrepreneur, you should be ready to adapt to unexpected changes and challenges swiftly.
• Level up your skills for the change you want: Seek out training and knowledge to help enact a big change that you envision but need new skills to reach.

What makes a big move work?

Q: A move on its own doesn’t guarantee the outcome. What are the factors that made yours successful?

• Psyche: The major outcome from our decision to start our own factory was that we were able to fulfill our order and avoid losing our only deal. We were one deal at a time then, so we made what we ate: If we didn’t make it, our family wouldn’t eat. That sense of urgency along with our commitment to honoring our business contract with our retail partners were the deciding factors. Especially as a small minority-owned business, I think commitment and keeping true to our word above everything is what created that outcome then. And it’s what has kept us going for eight more years as we’ve expanded from a presence in 3,000 stores to 30,000 stores.
• Silvana: In the marketing industry, we use everything that we know and devote all the resources we have for our clients, but we don’t always devote as much time or energy to ourselves. After I stepped up as president and CEO, I had to make a very conscious decision to treat this project of revamping the business like a client project and to devote the same level of time and resources to it. This methodical approach paid off. And moving forward, we still specifically dedicate resources to us and treat our business as one more of our clients — because it deserves the attention, resources and time.

Takeaways:

• Commit to follow-through and honor your words: Following through with decisions, especially during challenging times, can lead to significant growth and respect from stakeholders.
• Prioritize yourself with care: Treating your internal business projects with the same care you give to your external client projects helps ensure consistency and quality in all your business decisions.

Knowing when not to make a move

Q: Making a leap and taking action at the right moment can make all the difference. But sometimes it’s all about knowing when not to act. Was saying no ever the right decision?

• Silvana: Around four years ago, I was presented with an opportunity to join a digital signage system venture. The project was intriguing and had a lot of potential. I had a one-year mentorship at the time, and I decided to dedicate my mentorship to understanding the ins and outs of the venture, especially from a cybersecurity and procurement perspective. With my research and mentoring sessions, we concluded that the technology requirements for the venture were far more stringent than we realized and required a far bigger investment than we were willing to make. So we pulled back from that project. Ultimately, even though we didn’t take it on, I gained a lot of knowledge and understanding that I can apply to other processes.
• Vontoba: Two particular instances jump out at me. First, around 2015–2016, we were in the fashion industry. We were considering investing heavily in our online lingerie segment after a successful run at Walmart. However, we sat down with our capital providers and investment team and ultimately decided it would be riskier than focusing on our skincare line, Urban Hydration. We were probably right: Since then, the lingerie market has struggled a little. The second instance was when we were considering opening our own warehouse. We hired a consultant, and she sat in our office all day and went through every number. Her analysis showed a very thin margin of error. So we decided against it, and I’m happy we did. Because if we had opened up that warehouse with the business model we had at the time, we wouldn’t be here today.

Takeaways:

• Seek outside perspective: Consulting with mentors, industry experts or hired consultants can give you invaluable insights into whether or not a move is the right decision for your business.
• Make a thorough analysis: Before diving into a new venture or expanding, a comprehensive analysis can help you forecast potential pitfalls or challenges that you hadn’t considered.

This roundtable discussion, brought to you by Chase for Business, is part of our larger Chase Chats series that underscores our commitment to helping entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of starting, managing and growing their businesses.