photograph by jonathan hankin
Q&A Best of Upsize
WHY SHE TAKES RISKS: I've always
been a renegade. Middle child, I've never followed the rules. I always learned the hard way.
I really like to push the envelope. An example,
we just did a medical mailing, and sent out
this fabulous new product we have, which is
a new brochure about how much sugar is in
your foods. And we thought this would be a
big success. It cost $18,000 and it did not get
one response. We're not finding the right audience for that one. But we never give up and
we will continue. I've hired a research gal at the
University of Minnesota's Carlson School of
Business to pursue that market and see where
people are buying.
customers, from people we meet.
ONE LESSON LEARNED: One thing I
wish 'they' would have told me about being an
WHERE SHE GETS IDEAS: I love to entrepreneur? How much fun it is. I would have
travel, and I always make sure to visit the U.S.
Commercial Service personnel wherever I go.
We really listen to our customers. We do 80 to
100 trade shows every year.
started way earlier. I would have started in my
20s, and started business after business. As it
was I was into security in my younger days, and
didn't get going until after age 35.
NOT ONE FOR RULES: I had my professor from Harvard visit my business, and she
said, where's your governance? You run it like
a family business?.But that's not me, to have
those governance rules in place.
— Melanie Nelson, Learning ZoneXpress, as told to Beth Ewen
ABOUT EXPANDING MARKETS:
Our focus has been 18 and younger, but be-
A CHALLENGING AREA: I just love my cause of our simplicity in our messaging our
business, and I realize that not everybody has
to love the business the way I do. The whole
thing of engagement is always, always a challenge. That's why I have a COO who's a team
builder; this wouldn't have grown without her. I
have 10,000 ideas, and which of those is going
to make money is the question. That's what my
COO will ask me. But the ideas bubble up from
everywhere, from our staff of 15 people, from
36
focus has been WIC, Women, Infants & Children, the government program to assist them.
We would love to move into health care, but we
need research and help to get there. Our materials are too fun for corporate America. We
did come out with an older Americans healthy
plate, and we're going to try to market to those
groups.
upsize online the growth guide 2013
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