Thank you Randy Jordan and the rest of the Graham County Land Company team for your hospitality and allowing me to take a few moments out of your busy schedule for conducting this interview!
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SME Interview with Andy Montero-MONTERO’s Restaurant by Michelle Moore ENT601
Montero’s Restaurant, Elizabeth City, NC
Montero’s is a family owned and operated restaurant located in Elizabeth City, NC. I have known the Montero’s since 2002. My first encounter with him was as “the Muffin Man.” He would come to the bank with a basket of fresh-baked goods every two weeks offering not only delicious baked goods but kindness and community. I chose to interview Andy because of my Reflections book assignment, The Four Stages of Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Startups that Win by Steve Blanks. The stages are Customer Discovery, Customer Validation, Customer Creation and Company Building.
Stage 1-Customer Discovery starts with locating customers that buy into your solution for their problem. And I need to say here that sometimes consumers don’t know they have a problem until they are given an answer. It’s time to hit the streets and identify your repeat buyers. That does not just consist of surveying the land to see it there is an interest, but “Instead [being] out in the field listening, discovering how [the] customers worked and what their key problems were.” How often is the product shopped instead of shopping the problem and learning consumer behaviors? (Blank, 2013, pg. 28) Montero’s came to mind. I first remember him as the Muffin Man delivering baked goods to businesses door-to-door. So the story begins…
SME Interview with the owner of Kelly’s Kreations, Kelly White
I had the opportunity to interview Kelly White. The owner of Kelly’s Kreations, a jewelry business based out of Bladenboro, NC. When Kelly is not busy in her jewelry studio, she can be found playing with her 6-year-old son and her cat, Chrissy.
Tell me a little about yourself. Where did you go to school? How did you get the idea for Kelly’s Kreations? What are your responsibilities with Kelly’s Kreations?
SME Interview
I interviewed Catie Kale who is a school counselor by day and after school she owns her own home based business. Catie makes the process of owning a home-based business seem very easy as she is extremely successful. I chose to interview her because I wanted to know what makes her different from every other home based business consultant. What can one attribute to her success? The following is a summary of our interview. The mp3 of the full version is attached.