“The SBDC gave me the help I needed to get started with licensing, tax overview, local resources, and further education to fit my goals. It’s been a crazy year, and I couldn’t have figured all this out on my own."
Life is too short to skip dessert, eat the darn cookie
Background
Kali Martinez, owner of Wicked Little Treats LLC, specializes in hand-crafted desserts made with non-perishable ingredients. This woman entrepreneur is a military spouse who enjoys baking. She was looking to share her love for sweet treats and earn some money while raising two young special needs children.
Challenges and Opportunities
Like most new business owners, Kali had many questions regarding how to successfully launch her business. She was seeking information concerning licensing, permits, legal business structures, liability insurance, and how to price her desserts. In addition, she wanted to obtain marketing ideas and suggestions for finding locations within Yuma County to sell her delicious treats.
SBDC Support
The resilient mother of two, came to SBDC to obtain information on a variety of topics, such as but not limited to, the importance of the business name, business email, licensing in Yuma, business planning and financial projections, marketing, and liability insurance. The SBDC Advisors guided her to the official websites where she could research the different types of legal entities with the Internal Revenue Service and provided the steps to be licensed and registered in Arizona, therefore launching Wicked Little Treats LLC as a legal business entity selling scrumptious treats in the Yuma community.
Results and Future Plans
Wicked Little Treats is currently selling products at several events with the community and farmers' markets. Not only does Kali sell products but loves networking and is always willing to share her knowledge and lessons learned with other entrepreneurs. Kali’s current goal is to be able to sell at the Yuma County Fair. She envisions having a booth dedicated to small businesses where she and other entrepreneurs can share to sell their goods.