Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in marketing but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Georgiana Dearing, Founder of Virginia Foodie, located in Winchester, VA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I’m the owner of Good Food Marketing with the Virginia Foodie. I provide marketing strategy, coaching, and training for good food brands.
Tell us about yourself
I believe successful good food brands are vital to improving the health and wellness of our communities and our planet. That’s why I coach and train purpose-driven brands to develop marketing strategies that are targeted, manageable, and repeatable.
I’ve been helping packaged food brands get off the shelf and into shopping carts since 1998. For several of those years, I was a consultant to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, helping business owners prepare to pitch their products for export. In that role, I saw many small food brands with the same needs as my large corporate clients. In 2015, I launched the consumer community VA Foodie as a way to connect small Virginia brands to a larger audience. It was extremely popular and sowed the seeds for my current consulting business. I’ve taken all the tools, tips, and tactics that large brands employ and packaged them into manageable tools and training for emerging food brands.
There are so many directions a brand can take with its marketing it can be overwhelming. My Marketing Made Easy group is designed to calm the chaos with an organized approach that breaks your marketing activities into an easy monthly checklist to follow. In 2023, I launched online training at good-food-marketing.com, with courses that brand managers can use to take their marketing tactics deeper, helping them maximize the return on their investment of both time and money.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
In all my work, I find the greatest satisfaction from seeing solutions that come out of collaboration. I love working with other creatives, and I love being able to help my clients reach greater heights by collaborating with them. I’ve always enjoyed great partnerships, but I find the immediate impact I can have with a small business is extremely rewarding.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
It’s hard to see the big picture when day-to-day operations demand so much attention. Even though I regularly advise clients about best marketing practices, I have my own peer group to keep me on track. Trying to do it all alone is very hard.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Spend time and energy to define your end goal clearly. Get granular about your expectations, including your ideal salary and what you need to sell to cover expenses and pay yourself.
- Set boundaries around your time and commit to doing certain tasks (like marketing!) on a regular schedule. So often, I see small companies spend all day working IN the business instead of ON their business. And please, guard your time off!
- Remember to network! So much of business is still about who you know and referrals. A professional profile and connecting on LinkedIn really help.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://thevirginiafoodie.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevirginiafoodie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevirginiafoodie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeoDearing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gdearing/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.