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Interview with Entrepreness Amy Sandoz of Ready Set Go Kits

October 22, 2010 by Cecilia D. | Comments (0)

Interviewed by Tina Le

After volumteering for the Red Cross for four years, Amy Sandoz, a graduate student at Portland State University realized how difficult it can be to create your very first disaster kit. Amy saw the need to educate people about creating disaster preparation kits and therefore started Ready Set Go Kits.

Read our interview with Amy!

I’ve never created a disaster kit or owned one before. What should a basic survival kit include?
You always want to prepare for a situation of whether you’re going to be forced to evacuate or whether you’re going to need to stay in your home. A basic kit should be able to provide you with supplies to last for at least three days. Make sure you have food, water, sleeping bag or mat, first aid kit, a radio to hear the news around you, light source, medication, clothes, shoes, toiletries, and financial documents.

How would you position preparing for a natural disaster in a way that doesn’t scare people?
Depending on whom you’re talking to, position different levels of disasters. A great example to use here in Portland is the ice storm. When you’re talking to someone about prepping for a disaster, you can say something like, “Remember last year’s ice storm and how we were stuck at home for a week? Let’s prepare a kit so that we don’t have to walk two miles to the grocery store again in the snow.” Once you position a situation that had already occurred, people won’t want to experience being without food, a radio, or any crucial resources needed to make that experience a little easier.

Do you have goals to further develop Ready, Set, Go Kits?
My goal is to get more people to talk about preparing for disasters, and make a plan with their loved ones in case a disaster does occur. Raising awareness about disaster preparation is important to me so that we can avoid rescue situations such as what happened with Hurricane Katrina. If people were more prepared for either evacuating or being trapped within their home for three days, more people would have survived until rescue teams came.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
The most rewarding aspect of my job is the liberating feeling you get when owning your own business. You don’t need to ask permission from anyone, and you’re able to make decisions on your own. I also love creating my own schedule where I can work when I need to, and attend class if I want to. It’s empowering to be able to make those decisions.

What is the most challenging?
The most challenging aspect goes along with my most rewarding aspect – making decisions on your own. Difficult choices do arise regarding my business. When they do arise, I’m the only person that can evidently make that decision and that can be intimidating at times.

What did you learn about yourself as you became a business owner that you didn’t know before?
With my business developing quite quickly, I’ve learned to make decisions faster and become more confident in what I decide to do.

What else would you like our readers to know about you and Ready Set Go Kits?
I won a contest from projectrev.com where they provide expert advice on effective marketing programs that will work for my business. I’m very excited about this project because they will be helping me thrive my business by providing marketing insight, creating a website for Ready Set Go Kits, and so many other tools that can help develop my brand!!

Connect with Ready Set Go Kits!
readysetgokitsdisasterplan.com
readysetgokits.com

Email: info (at) readysetgokits (dot) com

Mail:
Ready Set Go Kits
Muse Creations LLC
6107 SW Murray Blvd. Suite #349
Beaverton, OR 97008

Phone: (503) 217-4073

Twitter: @ReadySetGoKits
Facebook: ReadySetGoKits

Interview with Entrepreness Monika Reed of Favor Jewelry

October 15, 2010 by Cecilia D. | Comments (1)

Interview by Emily Carlyle.

Favor is a jewelry design and production studio founded by Monika Reed as a way to offer delicate, timeless, and sentimental jewelry, inspired by the shapes, stones, and metals found in the natural world.

Lets begin with the basics; tell me about your love for jewelry.
Well, I’ve always been pretty creative and jewelry is just something I’ve always done. I remember making bead bracelets when I was little, so I don’t know where it actually started but I’ve always been interested in it and I worked in bead stores throughout high school and after that I worked with jewelry designers. That’s where I became really interested in the business aspect of it. I had never really thought about going into business for myself before that. I kept thinking that it was something that was really accessible. When I moved to Portland it was originally to go to school and the business was what I did on the side. Over time it grew and I had to make a choice. I chose Favor.

How did you decide to start your own business? Was it something you had always planned or did you have an “aha” moment somewhere along the road?
It was sort of an ‘aha’ moment, not one exact moment but just working with the other designers, seeing what the process was and thinking, “that’s what I want to do”.

Sustainability and ethical business practices are something you are extremely passionate about, how big a part does this play in your business?
Definitely. I was studying cultural anthropology and I was really interested in the actually applied aspect of it, so looking at the big issue and then finding little things you can do to make everything just work better and to make people happier and just more fair towards everybody and everything. When I really started thinking about how it actually was applied to my life, ethical business just seemed really like the next step.

Does your commitment to following these guidelines make your job harder?
Yes. I mean, you do have to think about it a lot more and really analyze all the pieces. Every time I find a new supplier, I need to research them and ask all the necessary questions, so it does get more complicated. But, I can sleep better at night.

What is the hardest thing about owning your own business? What’s the most rewarding?
The hardest thing would be time management. I work at home, so it’s really difficult to separate my time. To have that feeling that you are home and relaxed doesn’t really exist anymore. The best part would be owning the vision. I can really make sure that everything is how I want it to be and well, the buck stops here. So it’s just really fulfilling to see it fall into place the way you want it to.

What’s the biggest mistake that you’ll never make again?
I really don’t think there have been any yet. I have only been full time since April 2010, so I am relatively new. There have been setbacks but I think that I have been able to learn my lesson and just move on. I really try and focus on all the good parts! Optimism has been the cure.

When choosing jewelry for yourself, what do you look for?
I like it wearable and not fussy. It has to be something you can put on and kind of forget about but you know its still going to be there at the end of the day, like it won’t just slip off. I also really like clean and minimalist and I like things to feel good too, even just in your hand. I spent a lot of time just trying to find the right chain to use, I use the same chain in all of my designs and that just took forever. Some would feel too heavy, too light, and too bendable. I really just like the weight in your hand.

Have you ever had ‘designer’s block’? How do you overcome that?
Not yet! I keep a sketchbook going. I don’t design as I go; I come up with a collection and then just edit it down. I will have like a week where I just design and make things. If I have any problems during that time I will just go back through all my sketches and get back on the right track.

Where do you pull inspiration from when you are having that period of design and creativity?
I really like just kind of balanced positive and negative space. So, I am drawn to shadows and handwriting. I read once that when men doodle they make really hard lines and corners, sharp shapes and when women doodle they are more soft and flowy, like spirals and things like that. That’s what I do. I translate those soft, spiral shapes into jewelry.

What is a valuable piece of advice that you were given that you think others should also receive?
To be optimistic! Betsy Cross, from Betsy & Iya told me once to “float on the good stuff, and let the bad stuff disappear”. It has been excellent advice.

What does the future hold for you and Favor?
Well, I want to continue to expand wholesale accounts and I want to be all over North America and maybe even expand to Europe after that. In the short term, I am really looking forward to doing some trade shows and retail shows.

Discount code: Enter ‘CRAVE’ to get 10% off until the end of October at FavorJewelry.com