Nicole Snow is the founder and CEO of Darn Good Yarn, an online ethical yarn and clothing store. After leaving the Air Force, Nicole worked at a paper company before starting her own general import business. Two years later, she wanted to launch a new venture with a focus on social consciousness. Using her passion for arts, textures, colors, and her supply chain management experience from her time in the Air Force, she created Darn Good Yarn. The company started from her bedroom during the last recession in 2008 and finished the fiscal year with $9.1m in revenue last year. Her company is a conduit to create sustainable employment for over 600 Indian and Nepalese artisans and has eight US employees.

Today, Nicole shares her journey into the sustainable business world and the lessons she learned as the business grew. She discusses how she managed her finances early on and how this changed when the company expanded. She expands on her decision to become a social entrepreneur and why any business needs to be careful about growing too quickly. She shares her tips on driving sales to your online business and why everything doesn’t need to be polished to work. She also shares how you can focus online ads to be more effective and how entering business competitions can help entrepreneurs in the business journey.

“You can get into the place of too much growth too fast, and then it depletes everything.” – Nicole Snow

Listen to the podcast below:

This week on SmallBizChat Podcast:

• How Nicole started her business journey
• The secret to success as the business got bigger
• How Nicole managed things early on in the business
• The strategy behind the decision to become a social entrepreneur
• Why you need to be careful about growing too fast
• The best ways to drive sales to an online business
• Why you don’t always have to be too polished
• How to focus your online ads for growing your business
• How entering contests can help your company

Resources Mentioned:

• Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top by Bo Burlingham
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Connect with Nicole Snow:

• Darn Good Yarn
• Darn Good Yarn on LinkedIn
• Darn Good Yarn on Instagram
• Darn Good Yarn on Facebook
• Darn Good Yarn on Twitter
• Nicole Snow on Instagram

Get More!

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