Ross Mingarelli, owner of CandleTree, first began making candles after looking for hobbies on Pinterest he could try during winters, the off season for his tree-service business. Fast forward to today, Ross owns a thriving storefront candle shop. His loyal customers refer to him as “the candle man” or “the rogue candle maker”, referring to his unconventional candle making process that results in beautiful, one of a kind, marbled candles. How did Ross turn this hobby in to a legitimate business?

How many times have you seen groups of children walking into school hunched over with the weight of an overly heavy backpack and thought, “that can’t be good for their backs.”? Or maybe you’ve been heading in to work with a bag packed with a laptop and multiple books and found your posture compromised with weight of the items. This creates a real problem, especially for children’s developing bodies, when they are expected to carry around an average of 18.4 pounds of books and homework in the sixth grade according to a New York Times article.

Kerri Hallihan and her Etsy shop khallihanphoto.etsy.com, are known for their superior customer service and a memorable shopping experience. With so much competition out there, the businesses that thrive are those that go above and beyond the expectations of their consumers. Read on to learn how Kerri has managed to connect with her customer base during a pandemic and other tips and tricks she has to share.

I’ve seen firsthand, three different times, how a solid business plan combined with good planning process works like a dashboard to steer and manage a business through an unexpected crisis. I used it to manage the downturn in 2001. And I watched it as it worked for others in 2008, and 2020.