"As an entrepreneur, you can't get comfortable." - Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas joined us at CHI Nucor to discuss her experiences in sales and marketing as an entrepreneur. We considered Thomas part-speaker, part-mentor, since she gave us specific advice for our individual businesses. And we didn't just get Thomas! Leslie Karcher joined in, not as a representative of CHI Nucor, but as a Limelife consultant, who works alongside Thomas.

Thomas talked to us about direct sales models, drop shipping, social media marketing and personal development.

"It's important to look at what's working and what's not working," she stressed. Look at what other people are doing, and be honest. Are they doing it better? How? "Always learning, always growing," is our goal, Thomas says.

As for social media, "Don't be afraid to post about you," Thomas advised. Let our customers and followers get to know us and not just our products or services. Getting people to connect with us will help us in the long run.

Karcher agrees. "People buy from people," Karcher says. "It's all about relationships."

And these mentors had great advice for our individual businesses, too.

"Truly, there is a huge hole in the [clothing] industry on the men's side," Thomas told CEO entrepreneur Gavin Helmuth, whose business, Kickstart Apparel, will attempt to fill part of that hole in our area.

They also encouraged us to get out from behind the table at trade shows and vendor fairs. Talk to people. "Making people feel good, making people feel confident" is one of the best ways to connect with people, Thomas says. Later, those people may become paying customers. And, "Word of mouth is you best marketing tool."

"People like to smell and touch the products," Thomas advised Zoe Conlin, who will sell homemade sugar scrubs, and Abigail Miller, selling car air fresheners.

But, that's not all there is to being successful, Thomas and Karcher advise. "Keep growing as a person," Thomas stressed. "You have to build that confidence. Don't ever think you can't make it into something amazing."

Thank you, Sarah Thomas and Leslie Karcher, for spending the morning helping us build our businesses, and our confidence.