Startup Savvy

Small businesses are the most reliable talking point on almost every political candidate’s campaign trail for a reason. It could be a popular trend playing off that famed rugged individualism found in U.S. history, or maybe people are just weary of answering to a supervisor every day. Regardless of the reason, people like island resident and entrepreneur Alesya Opelt want to be their own boss. “My grandfather had this great job at Ford and that was the gold star in my family,” said Opelt. “You work for a big company? You’re going to get a car, you’re going to get vacation, and my grandfather worked in Europe for a while, and that’s what you need to do. But then I realized you really want to call your own shots. You have to have your own business.” Opelt is the creator of laptop bag manufacturer Alesya Bags. She is one of many entrepreneurs on the island and in the Charleston area. THE RIGHT STUFF Before any individual can start a business, a comprehensive knowledge of a field is required. Daniel Island Dinners founder Todd Ladd accidently spent his entire career preparing himself to run a small business in the food and beverage industry. “I was always in food,” he said. “I went to a vocational program in high school in culinary arts, and have always been involved with food.” Ladd made a snap transition from a culinary consultant at Cisco to the sales industry during the Great Recession. “In ’08 when it got real bad, and nobody was sitting in seats, we decided to make a move,” he commented. “I liked the sales process when I was in sales. I made a complete jump from the kitchen to the operating room and worked for Stryker Medical.” Having the combined knowledge of sales and the food industry has helped him manage his catering business and mobile kitchen very effectively since starting in 2016. Daniel Island resident Susan Starkman, of 2 Chicks with Gifts, said that her business was made possible thanks to the complementary skills she shares with co-founder Clarice Cawood. “My day job is a web developer and my partner has been in sales for 20 years, so we kind of have a very mutually beneficial skill set,” said Starkman. “I like to develop and create things, she likes to go out and sell stuff.” 2 Chicks with Gifts creates and sells jewelry, personalized tumblers, customized candles, and pillows. In addition to Cawood’s two decades of sales experience, Starkman is a “serial entrepreneur,” as she puts it. “I started creating websites in 1998,” she said. “I kept doing that, and I always had a side gig, whether it was personalized stationary or creating handbags.” The co-owner is also the creator of Code Surfers, a program that educates kids on the basics of coding. Alesya Opelt had two wells of background knowledge to help her find her path. Her experiences at Silicon Valley search engine AltaVista primed her to follow markets right out of college. “One day you’re flying high and everybody’s got stock options,” she said. “You’re excited and you’re hiring, and the next moment the market falls out, your stock options are worth zero and they’re laying people off.” Opelt found a mentor in famed entrepreneur Josh Linkner when she worked with him at ePrize. She said she watched Linkner start several businesses while she was the vice president of marketing at the largest promotion agency in the world at the time. FINDING A NICHE For many entrepreneurs, working for themselves was the primary incentive to owning a small business. But, in a stroke of capitalistic logic, every island entrepreneur interviewed for this article said that they saw a need in the market, so they tried to fill it. Opelt noticed that there was an opportunity to correct a problem that she always had over her various professions. “I worked in Silicon Valley when I started my career,” she said. “I’ve always had to carry a laptop for every job, and the darn laptop bag always ruins the look, especially for women. I really wanted a laptop bag that was as nice as a great handbag.” She states that her target demographic is “the smart girl.” Daniel Island Dinners is a mobile kitchen that provides full meals for folks that order them online. “I saw a need for Daniel Island families to not have to worry about dinner,” said Ladd. “They see the menu and we send out a text message to our people that sign up for our text club. They place their order like they’re on Amazon and they walk up to the truck, give us their last name, if we don’t already know who they are because we have a lot of regulars.” According to Starkman, 2 Chicks with Gifts is aiming for the mom on the go. “We do have some lovely gift stores around here,” she added. “I just feel like there’s a niche.” Starkman and Cawood’s business is a mobile and online gift shop. It’s a quick way to get presents when there’s not much time, added Starkman. “People just call up or text me and tell me what they want. A lot of times it’s last minute stuff,” she said. PASSION PROJECT Having the tools for the job is valuable from the start, but all the business acumen in the world can’t sustain something without ardor. “Do what you love,” said Starkman. “Do what you’re passionate about and the money will follow.” Starkman put her care for helping women succeed into 2 Chicks with Gifts. “I would love to see this grow, not only on Daniel Island, but also the greater Charleston area,” she stated. “And I would love to have enough product, or access to enough product or create enough product, so that it won’t only be just me creating this, but have other women have the opportunity to learn what I know.” Opelt shared a similar sentiment with the creation of her fashionable laptop bags. “I see this bag as sort of a symbol of the working woman,” she said. “And I see that, now as a mom, the working mom could be a lot of things. It could be the PTA president, it could be a woman working on a political campaign, it could be a woman who is raising research money for curing cancer.” To Opelt, the bag represents the modern woman. “It’s not the stereotypical business woman who goes in and sits down at a desk at work, but it’s a woman who is working on what she feels her life work is,” she added. And for Ladd, Daniel Island Dinners is a chance to give families a moment of unity through communication. “Having a general conversation with your children and not worrying about if the water’s going to boil over or if the chicken’s going to be burnt—that is a very precious time to spend with your family,” he mentioned. “If Daniel Island Dinners can provide a very simple way to grab a dinner and not have to worry about any of that, that’s what it’s all about.” In the middle of every entrepreneur’s ideas, at the intersection of ambition and tireless work, is their business. Some are small. Some are growing. But, at the grassroots level, before a corporate hierarchy is formally established and money becomes a primary focus, there’s a desire to provide an altruistic service to the community.