Daytona State Alumni Bring Entrepreneurial Message to Campus

The next generation of entrepreneurs heard first-hand the challenges and opportunities for success from those who have already been down that path at the Daytona State College Alumni Entrepreneurial Success Panel, part of the L. Gale Lemerand Speaker Series.

More than 300 DSC students and students from several local high schools filled a room in the Lemerand Student Center on Daytona State’s main campus, as Emilie Schmitz, director of people operations at GermFree and co-inventor of the CrockPocket slow cooker insert, and Justine Knight, founder and owner of Treats & Sweets Cakery, spoke about their entrepreneurial journeys.

Introducing the program, Daytona State President Tom LoBasso said the aim of the speaker series is “to encourage and inspire students in their careers and to be mindful of the principles of successful entrepreneurship.”

Schmitz said her entrepreneurial experience began with an idea for a new product.

“For us it was specifically nobody knew about this product,” she said. Rather than go directly into retail sales with the CrockPocket, a silicone liner for a slow cooker, Schmitz and her husband took a different approach.

“We went to the micro influencers,” she said. “We targeted micro influencers in the market and one of the influencers took it viral.”

Schmitz said finding a way to get the word out about the product was the challenge and focusing on influencers opened the door to building the business.

For Knight, the road to success was different.

“I don’t have a product, so I had to think about what the need was in the local community,” she said. “There were a lot of cake shops. My strategic advantage was my overhead.”

Knight said by keeping her overhead low, including utilizing a shared space and keeping her day job, she was able to avoid having to take out a business loan. And that gave her the opportunity to find her market.

“I knew I could provide something to the community that was different from the work that was out there,” she said. “I targeted people who were interesting in purchasing cakes they saw on cake shows. I made it well known if you’re looking for something you can’t buy at the local grocery store, we’re the one you’re looking for.”

Knight said when she started the business, she had to be more than just a talented baker.

Reading Michael Gerber’s book “The E Myth,” Knight said she realized running a business was more than being good at something.

“You can’t just be the technician,” she said. “You have to be the manager; you have to be the entrepreneur; you have to be the visionary for the company.”

For Schmitz, the idea of starting a business was not on her radar.

“I didn’t know that I was going to be an inventor,” she said. “I didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur.”

Building on her experience at Daytona State, Schmitz said she learned that in order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to build relationships.

“It’s kind of an unspoken thing in entrepreneurship – you’re really building relationships,” she said. “It’s making those connections with people who know what they’re doing (and) utilizing the resources around you and learning how to become an entrepreneur in the process. You have to know what you don’t know and go after I t.”

As for the inevitable challenges that every entrepreneur will face, Knight said those have to be faced head on.

“It’s not really about avoiding the things that come, it’s about dealing with it, always continuing to press forward,” she said. “It’s about just never giving up. Always believe in yourself and keep going.”