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Curly Girlz Candy, Paula Even Trenda
Founded in 2014, Curly Girlz Candy has grown from a “mom & “Pop”糖果店变成了一个完整的生产设施和一个小型零售店. 他们已经从提供含糖糖果过渡到专门提供无糖焦糖, toffees, brittles, 巧克力使用他们自己混合的天然替代甜味剂. 2017年，他们从梅德福的原址搬到了奥瓦通纳市中心. 目前，他们正在努力扩大他们的批发范围. 在几十家专业零售商中都可以找到卷女孩糖果, as well as around 120 Hy-Vee stores.
“我们赢得了几个不同的奖项，这显然很好. We were a two-time, MN Cup semifinalist. 2018年，我们被评为红翼点燃杯冠军，2020年，我被评为SBA年度小企业人物.”
“在Curly Girlz Candy，我们为每个人创造了一种更健康的糖果选择, 特别适合酮类饮食或糖尿病患者的生活方式. We never use maltitol, 所以我们不会引起大多数人从无糖糖果中看到的胃部不适. In addition, 我们没有使用任何人造甜味剂或人造成分，使其具有许多其他无糖糖果所具有的化学味道. It really is a gourmet handcrafted, sugar-free option, utilizing our own blend of plant-based sweeteners. 我最喜欢的一件事是我们可以把它给孩子们，尤其是牛奶巧克力.”
Curly Girlz has a retail store in downtown Owatonna, 在明尼苏达州，他们提供当地特色食品和卷卷女孩无糖糖果. Their products are distributed to wholesalers nationwide, 包括HyVee、专业杂货店和营养商店，以及在线销售.
“我一直很喜欢糖果，也很喜欢和家人一起做饭. When I was pregnant with my now senior in high school, my sister ran across an ad for a certified chocolatier class, which I took. It started as a home-based business, making gifts for friends, and eventually, it snowballed, and we opened a store in 2014.
最初，我们只是普通的，夫妻店糖果店. We brought in all kinds of other people's candies, and nostalgic stuff from around the world, and we made only sugared stuff. 我没有携带无糖食品，只是因为我说过的原因, and I didn't care for how they tasted. 我们和一位主要研究酮类食品的营养学家一起工作, 我们了解了很多不同种类的甜味剂, and what they do to your blood sugar and your gut health. That's how we decided to create a sugar-free line of our own. 一开始我们开发了三种焦糖，现在我们全年有超过12种. 我们为圣诞节增添特色，并提供定制的公司礼品.”
当我们遇到一些主要的成长问题时，一位导师帮助我们解决了牵引力问题. Lack of space, lack of people, 没有足够的时间把所有东西都拿出来——这是个不错的问题, but I was going crazy working so many hours.
“2019年，我们决定过渡到95%的无糖产品. 我们这样做是因为我们觉得这是一个更大的利基市场. There are plenty of awesome, very delicious, and talented artists and chocolate makers in the sugar realm. But there's really nobody in the sugar-free."
“It's okay to make mistakes. I've made tons of mistakes. 我们和几个人搭档，那简直是一场噩梦. 然后摆脱这些并不是一件容易的事，而且还损失了一些钱, but it was still good exposure. I know what not to do next time.
我们面临的大多数挑战要么是现金流，要么是员工——找到足够多的员工，要么是找到合适的员工. 目前我们最大的问题可能是供应链和定价. If we want to continue to do wholesale, 我们必须为批发客户建立适当的利润，但仍然能够从我们销售的每件产品中获利. Our shipping cost is going up, and people don't want to pay for shipping, because they're used to the whole Amazon free shipping, and so it's trying to figure out how to balance all of this.”
“In 2013, 那时我开始认真考虑自己创业，而不是做一份全职工作，做兼职，努力管理家庭生活, I learned that Owatonna has a Business Incubator. 我们在那里见了道格·约翰逊他给了我们很多资料. 他帮我联系了奥瓦通纳的南明尼苏达倡议基金会, 他们让我联系了一些SCORE的志愿者，他们可以帮助指导我们制定商业计划.”
“After we had help with our initial business plan, it was another two years or so, 在我被介绍给几个SCORE导师之前，他们参加了我们的一次同伴小组会议. I was very impressed with the knowledge that they had. 当我们遇到一些主要的成长问题时，一位导师帮助我们解决了牵引力问题. Lack of space, lack of people, 没有足够的时间把所有东西都拿出来——这是个不错的问题, but I was going crazy working so many hours.
“然后我们的第二个得分志愿者拉里·哈伯曼(Larry Haberman)是一个非常擅长数字的人. We had questions about some trademarking, some expansion, and some other things, 在我们的谈话和工作中，除了我自己和我母亲，我还需要一些其他的顾问. We added Larry to our board of advisors, 所以他每季度帮我们一次，我们检查我们所有的财务状况，讨论我们遇到的问题. 虽然他不是食品行业出身，但他是制造业出身. He can help look at the numbers and advise where to grow, where to cut costs, and how to be more efficient, which has been really helpful to us.
“And then we also have Janel Haugarth, 她曾与双子城的SCORE合作，也与MN杯合作. She does have a food background, so we also have her as an advisor to help us on the food, distribution, and marketing side.
我也参加了很多不同的SCORE网络研讨会. 我最近确实看了一本关于买卖企业的书. We’re not buying or selling anytime soon, but it was helpful to hear what somebody would be looking for.”
“做好功课和研究，做好几年都赚不到钱的准备. You must have a good work ethic and enjoy what you're doing.”
“利用大多数SCORE志愿者拥有的知识. 他们在很多我不知道的学科上有更多的知识. Especially if it's something that's not a strong area for you. 这就是为什么他们会帮助你，指引你找到正确的资源，帮助你成长.”
“That it's not easy. You must be willing to take a risk. 如果你不愿意冒险，那么你可能不会得到很多回报. 尽管很多企业家和企业主说我从商是为了更好地平衡工作和生活, and although that's true to an extent, if somebody doesn't show up, guess who's going to work.”
