FEAR is what prompted Katrina Banche to start Sweet Hey, a company that delivers modern day candy grams. Ever since she was a little girl, she has dreamed of starting a business. She has had SO many ideas up until now, but was always fearful that her ideas weren’t perfect or good enough. (Note from me to everyone: YOU are good enough. You are ENOUGH. Settle this in your heart now, and the next time the “enough” questions come up, just remember you already dealt with it and keep hustling!) Finally, she decided to stop over-analyzing and just WENT FOR IT.
Until now, she has worked her way up in the Financial Services industry in a number of roles that involve analyzing data and number crunching. While she is good at working with big data, Banche strongly desired to do something meaningful that brings people happiness… to make a difference in our world that is filled with so much negativity.
Even though Banche is crazy excited about being recently engaged, something inside her told her that NOW is her time to take a chance. If she doesn’t do it now, before they enter “the kids stage” of their life, she might not have the time later on, she reasoned. While fear is an ugly, crippling, dream-snatching beast… sometimes it can work in our favor.
Banche was fearful that she would regret not taking a chance because she was afraid of failure. She was fearful that later on, she would see her idea on Shark Tank with someone ELSE pitching a similar business to Sweet Hey. FEAR pushed her to take action.
Katrina says, “Sweet Hey is something that brightens people’s day… think: the modern day candy gram. Picture this: One day, you check your mail and you find not only bills and junk, but a bright, cheery Sweet Hey bubble mailer. Inside the package, you find a nice greeting with a personalized message and your favorite candy. That $6 shipped Sweet Hey from your sister completely made your day. At a price that doesn’t break the bank, Sweet Hey is able to make a difference in so many peoples’ lives.”
Sweet Hey makes buying a greeting card sweet and simple. No stepping foot outside the house, no trips to the post office, and best of all, who doesn’t like getting a sweet treat in the mail? Sweet Hey does all of the leg work, saving their customers their precious time and money.
Katrina has learned you can’t find opportunities for success if you aren’t looking for them. Simply telling friends and family about an awesome product and service is not enough. As a startup, you have to constantly be looking for opportunities to get your product in front of your target market. For Sweet Hey’s Grand Opening, she wrote a press release. She sent that press release out to all of the local media email addresses that she could find. She went in thinking worse case scenario, she spent 30 minutes writing a press release, best case scenario, it gets published somewhere.
Banche is a TRUE woman who wows. A hustler. A dreamer AND a doer. Bold. Love it.
The results were better than ANY of the scenarios she ran through her head. A Social Media Manager for the Plain Dealer reached out to her not even 10 minutes later. Their conversation resulted in her receiving $7000 worth of free advertising with Cleveland’s newspaper and social media websites! In exchange, they are running a “12 Days of Sweet Hey” giveaway, in which one of their loyal readers will receive a voucher to be redeemed for 12 Sweet Heys. WOW!!!
She says, “You’ll never know what could have been if you don’t go for it. You can’t just sit back and watch the sales slowly roll in. You have to constantly be searching for opportunities and partnerships that will help grow your brand awareness.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
