Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Emmy Rener, founder of Sophisticated Spreads, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Sophisticated Spreads is an LA-based cheese and charcuterie board company that features a taste of California Culture with locally sourced ingredients and an eye for a boho-inspired grazing table experience! Our demographic is individuals within the LA and OC region and is also heavily tilted towards women who are ages 25-34.

Tell us about yourself

My name is Emmy Rener, and I am a 20-year-old SoCal girl and college student whose love of cheeseboards started at family holiday parties and inspired the business idea behind Sophisticated Spreads. I started the company after graduating high school at the age of 18. I took a gap year to invest in the company's potential truly. Having worked at a flower shop throughout high school, my flair for design showers through all my presentations and my love of food saturates each board with flavors of emulsion!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Since launching the company, I have transitioned to being a full-time college student while running the company. I am attending USC Marshall School of Business. Because of my business, I have had the chance to speak at a few different graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurial classes at USC. Being able to share my story with actual entrepreneurial students was an incredible opportunity and benchmark for me as a business owner because it reminded me of how far I've come since the company's humble origins.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Being your own boss creates its own challenges for a variety of reasons. Working for yourself truly means that all responsibility falls on your shoulders. The highs of the business and the lows of the company are celebrated and experienced solo. As an extremely extroverted person, I felt lonely in the infancy stages of my business as I "went to work" for hours a day every day by myself. Now on the other side, I have been able to hire employees and outsource freelancers to help me, so I can appreciate the beauty of riding the waves solo, but I think that the hardest part of being a small business owner is the feeling of being in it alone.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. It's easier to start a business today than it is tomorrow. Remember, you can always push the launch date of your business back, but you will never feel 100% ready to launch. Things are going to go wrong, so it's important to launch quickly and adapt later.
  2. In a world of oversaturated markets, find something that differentiates your business, whether sourcing the most high-quality products, using reusable or renewable processes for your business or committing to something unique like fast delivery.
  3. Be patient with the process. It's easy to be frustrated when the orders are slow. Instead, take time to focus on your social pages or challenge yourself to create a better website. Starting a business is for problem solvers and people who reinvent the wheel so remember to take a step back and look at things differently instead of becoming frustrated.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://sophisticatedspreads.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophisticatedspreads/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmy-rener-3924751a1/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.