Her journey is now a movie. Kara Kurcz, director of Big TIME will debut her documentary at the Naperville Film Festival this weekend. She joins us to talk about the movie and shares her tips on how to survive in small business.
Seven years ago, director Kara Kurcz started rolling the cameras as she and her husband Brian emptied their bank accounts and launched a company out of their two-bedroom apartment called Solas Fashion.
The idea behind Solas was simple. It was based on a simple necessity every woman needed…a light in her handbag. However, the execution of starting a company, filing a patent, manufacturing a product, and making sure the line was successful was not as simple.
With tenacity and hard work, they quickly proved naysayers wrong. By the second year of business, Kara's lighted handbag line was debuting on the red carpet. By their third year in business, Solas made the pages of over 30 news publications, and Kara and her bags were featured on shows such as Extra, E! News, and The Today Show. In the fourth year, they had over a million dollars in sales and the line was sold in 250 boutiques worldwide. Kara and Brian's future looked bright.
Kara kept the cameras rolling, but had no idea what was looming around the corner. Some of the worst economic times in America's history lay waiting for Solas in its fifth year in business.
What happened next was a domino effect; retail sales literally plummeted overnight, and boutique owners were forced to close their doors one after another. Kara was left asking herself if it was time to throw the towel in. And even worse, "Does the Dream even exist?"
She knew she didn't have all the answers. Before deciding to give up completely, Kara through caution to the wind and started cold calling business owners she admired. bigTIME parallel's Kara's and Brian's story, with America's most creative and successful inventors and entrepreneurs who openly share with her their experiences and advice on what it takes to "make it" the big TIME
If you want to make it in the big TIME there are two things you need to know. "There is no such thing as an overnight success and everyone has a story.
Small Business stats:
There are 25,800,000 small businesses in the U.S. ... Only 1/3 will survive the first 6 years of business.
46% of small businesses are funded by personal credit cards.
1 out of 5,000 inventions have had successful product launches.
Source: US News and World Report
Successful Small Business tips:
-Follow through
-BRAND BIG but spend small
-Always be aware of Perception vs Reality
-Innovate
-Never give up
