Custom Fortune Cookies – Karen Belasco Staitman Of Good Fortunes

Posted by Sandy Naidu

My guest today is Karen Belasco Staitman, the founder of Good Fortunes. Her company manufactures gourmet fortune cookies with personalised messages – custom fortune cookies. These cookies look absolutely beautiful. No wonder Karen’s cookies have become quite popular both among individuals and corporations.

She also seems to have made quite a name for herself in Hollywood. She has a huge list of celebrity clients. ‘Good Fortunes’ has received huge media coverage. For more information on the gorgeous cookies, visit Good Fortunes. Read and get inspired.

How did you come up with the idea for your business ?

Good Fortunes was born quite by accident. I was a party planner and I had made some gigantic fortune cookies for party invitations.

One day when walking through a department store I saw some decorated apples and thought to myself, what if I dipped these gigantic fortune cookies in chocolates and caramels and decorated them for every occasion and holiday and then place a personalized fortune inside?

I made some for friends and clients as invitations and party gifts and I knew I had a great idea.

But turning an idea into a business – that took work. Soon I had lots of people asking me for cookies with their own personalized messages inside. Word got out and the next thing I knew, a major magazine wrote a piece on us and I was in business.

You now have huge client base. Your business is a huge success now. . All this would have involved a lot of hard work. I don’t imagine things would have been easy in the initial days. Can you tell us a bit about the problems you faced in the beginning and how did you overcome them ?

It took us 12 years to become an overnight success! If I had known now, what I was completely oblivious to then, I would have made a lot of different choices. But as they say, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger! Money is always an issue – account payables, account receivables – be very diligent and learn how accounting really works. Know your cost of goods or services, overhead and how much profit you will really make and how long it will take you to make it. Forecast and plan and have goals.

Employees: I’ve had a wonderful relationship with most of my employees – Professional but caring. They are your second family and often you will spend more time with them than your real families. So pick your employees with the greatest care. I learned the hard way that not every one you hire has the company’s best interests in mind.

Have a business plan & set your goals. If you know how much everything costs w/ labor, and overhead figured into it, then you can know how much you have to sell to be profitable. Revisit the plan often and adjust it. However, far be it for me to follow my own advice, I built this company flying by the seat of my pants. However, a business plan would have kept me on track and made me see my business clearer, faster.

I would have known what was working and what wasn’t working sooner. But a business plan is just that…a plan, and you can’t plan for everything…so sometimes you just have to …..

Go with the flow….things always come up, employee emergencies, deliveries that don’t arrive, customer complaints and a million other things. Take each day as it comes and make each day count!

The customer isn’t always right, but you’ve got to make them happy anyway – if possible. Over the last 13 years of business, most of the customers we’ve encountered are wonderful. 99% of them are fully satisfied and never complain. But in all businesses, sometimes things go wrong – wrong address, misspelled word (personalized fortunes) the cookie isn’t decorated correctly, broken cookies, etc… Some customers have admitted fault while others have blamed us justly or unjustly. Of course, we try to satisfy our customers because referrals and great word of mouth is life blood of any business. However, some customers are just downright nasty and can not be contented. In that case, you have my permission to fire that customer or business.

Ex: I had a wholesaler who gave us orders every month. But nearly every order we made seemed to be wrong or it came in broken. It didn’t take us long to realize that this customer was extremely difficult to satisfy and probably taking advantage of us. After all we make thousands of orders every month for lots of larger retailers who never complain. So… we fired that wholesaler sweetly and told them that we could no longer do business with them. It made our lives easier and it was a decision that was in the best interest of the company.

Company Forms: Have all your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed. If you have employees make sure that you have all the appropriate documents signed and completed. If you offer any benefits, make sure you have all those points laid out as well in a clear concise format. Make sure that your documents are legal and binding and have a lawyer look over all your documents.

EX: Of course I learned the hard way – I had one employee who was helping me with my children during the afternoons. Because she worked for me personally, I never had her sign any documents. Soon after she graduated college, she asked to help in the factory as a Cookie Counselor and PR person.

She was great and learned quickly….maybe too quickly, because she ended up leaving and took everything – databases, procedures, company secrets etc and opened up her own cookie factory right down the street. Legally, I didn’t have a leg to stand on! As I found out, this happens all the time – so make sure you do your due diligence as well.

Did you ever want to give up ?

Yes!!! Of course!! I don’t know any entrepreneur who hasn’t wanted to give up – if even for a brief moment. Sometimes it’s all too overwhelming and taxing on all aspects of your life. Your children need you, your husband needs you, your customers need you and you feel like you’re being pulled in a million different directions. But it’s your perseverance and determination and looking for the answers and the solutions to the problems you face that make you an entrepreneur and lead to a more fulfilling life for you and everyone around you.

What is the most effective Marketing/PR you have ever done for your business?

The most effective marketing/PR for my business was having the good fortune of being featured on the Food Network twice! These segments were and continue to be a tremendous boost to our business. PR is the key to getting Good Fortunes out in front of potential customers. We’ve been very lucky over the years and 100’s of magazines have picked up our story or products over the years.One method that I’ve found that worked is to contact the writers in the publications that fit your demographics. Buy the magazine and peruse the stories. Find the writers and call them.

When you talk to them, you will likely have less than 30 seconds to make your pitch and get them interested. Have your spiel down pat. Also, have a press release ready about your products with pictures and send samples when requested. Your product is your best sales tool!After years of word of mouth marketing, just recently we began to place ads in popular magazines. Of course editorial is more cost effective, but we do place strategic ads several times a year. We actually tried commercials in our demographics (Food Network etc…), but they didn’t do as well as we had hoped.

A lot of work will be involved in delivering every product. I mean it’s a very hands-on business not something where you can create a product once and then sell the same forever. How do you cope with this workload? How does this workload give you time to work ‘on’ the business?

The work load never gives you time to work on the business. As your business grows the demand on your time grows as well. But to stay ahead of the competition or to keep your current customers happy, you have to find the time to create new products. If that means that I get up at 4 am and have a couple of hours everyday before I have to get the kids ready for school, and before I go into the office – then that’s what I do.

Time is a very precious commodity and I wish there was more of it, but the reality is that you do with your day as much as you can and still honor your commitments and still make time to spend with your family & friends. But being an entrepreneur is knowing the price of success and what you need to do to achieve it! It’s not easy and it is a full time commitment, but it can be extremely rewarding.

What is your number one stress relief tactic ?

I just recently I took up singing. I’ve always had severe stage fright when it came to singing or acting. Of course that doesn’t bode well when my secret ambition is to be on a Broadway stage.

I was/am always so scared to get up on stage and belt one out – which doesn’t make any sense if you knew me. I’m very gregarious and outgoing. No problem to get in front of television cameras with an audience of a couple million people when talking about my business, but to sing and act in front of a couple of hundred people, I’m a basket case!Well, I’m happy to report that I just completed my first singing recital – I was the only adult by 25 years!

As they were announcing my name, my mind went blank, I couldn’t remember any words and of course I was trembling all over from sheer terror. However, I made it through and everyone said I was great! (Family) However, I don’t remember a single minute of it! But I did it! I sing every week for a half hour with my singing coach and practice in my car – to and from work.I also write – mostly musicals and am almost finished with one now!

What is the most enjoyable part of your day ?

The most enjoyable part of my day is knowing that I’m going home to spend time with my family. I love the time we spend together. My kids have grown up so fast…I didn’t know or realize how fast time flies. They’re 11, 9 & 7! Yesterday they were just babies!!! Oy Vey!!!!

Finally, your five keys to success ?

Be Passionate about what you do , dream big and enjoy! Educate yourself and ask advice from those who are may be more knowledgeable than you.
Weigh your priorities & create your own balance. There comes a time when those extra hours won’t make a difference in the scheme of things, family comes first!
Have a plan and specific goals. Know your financial situation inside and out. Costs of goods or services, operating costs, profits etc… Revisit the plan often.
Build your brand and market yourself & your company. Aim to be #1 in your market.
Treat others as you would want to be treated. It’s a golden rule and a good one at that! From the UPS delivery driver to garbage collection man to the CEO of the company you want to sell to – treat everyone with the same respect and courtesy that you would expect anywhere on any given day.
EX: A funny story, I’ve had the same package delivery driver for years, I know all about his family etc. One day when we had one of our 1 minute conversations he mentioned quite by accident that his dad was president of a multi billion dollar company that I was trying to get an appointment with for years. He had never mentioned that before. I asked him a few weeks later if he could schedule arrange for me to meet this man, his dad and he did! But if I had never established a friendly relationship with my driver over the years, then I would have never have happened on this opportunity.
Spell Check & know your product or service!!!! People form their opinions of you and your product instantaneously.

Sites Of Interest
http://www.goodfortunes.com

To read more stories about women in the gifts industry click Gifts Business.

Visit Karen’s website to get more information about her custom fortune cookies.

This interview was published on 2nd October 2007