MEET JODIE & SHARI

For 15 years, Jodie and Shari had worked together in the advertising and graphic design world. But as the first half of their second decade as a team drew to a close, they realized they wanted to stop creating branding materials for other people’s products and advertise a brand of their own instead.

With a passion for sustainability, they dreamed up the idea for Bokashi Ninja, a composting system that allows the user to ferment all food waste down from the comfort of their own kitchen.

But when it came time to turn their dream into a reality, the overwhelming amount of information about launching a business on the Internet stopped them in their tracks. With the wildly conflicting information, who should they trust?

That’s when Shari came across the Start & Scale course, and she knew she had finally found a source she could rely on.

Through the course, they learned the importance of defining their brand, refining their target audience and stepping outside their bubble to do in-depth market research. They also relied on the private Facebook group for feedback and guidance each step of the way.

“Even negative was great to hear for the little things that we could change.”

They said they loved the step-by-step nature of the course which helped them to focus and build their business on a foundation that would last.

“When we got to the end and we were at launch, we knew we had ticked everything off and we were ready to go!”

Jodie and Shari prepared for launch through an email waitlist campaign, and once the website was live, 40% of them bought the product. On the first day alone, they saw over $800 in sales.

“And they were strangers! They weren’t our friends!”

After only about a week in business, the pair say they are encouraged by the results and excited to continue using what they learned through Start & Scale to grow their business.

“Now we’ve got everything in place to just go out and sell our hearts out.”