The average age of a first-time entrepreneur is a little under 40. It’s a time when most people have started a career in a specific field, gained expertise and insight, identified a need, and seized the opportunity inherent in meeting that need.
There are exceptions to every rule, however, and the New Orleans area is home to a significant number of younger entrepreneurs. But while getting a head start is a good idea in most circumstances, younger people starting businesses face some unique challenges — and are setting some interesting trends in solving those challenges.
“One of the biggest challenges as a young entrepreneur is not having established a network to help guide you — not having the infrastructure around to teach you how to handle the business side of things,” said Patrick Hernandez, co-founder at age 26 of Roulaison Distilling Company, makers of Roulaison Run, a certified Louisiana product that has been rated as one of the best craft rums in the nation.
Hernandez took an entrepreneurial approach to addressing this problem by helping to launch the Louisiana Distillers Guild, which has since provided him with the opportunity to learn from colleagues in the business. He also cited the strong startup support system in New Orleans, as well as professional organizations that business owners can join, as key network-building opportunities.
“My approach is to join all the groups, like the Chamber and the Young Leadership Council,” concurred Samantha Bongiovanni, who started Pixie Dust Biodegradable Glitter at age 27, “and go to all the business events. I’ve made so many connections at those events.”
Yet Bongiovanni pointed out another hurdle that comes with not having access to a larger network: maintaining her business-to-business relationships.
“I deal a lot with the challenge of changing contacts at my clients,” she reported. “At this stage, it’s really a person-to-person relationship.”
Without that broader contact base, Bongiovanni finds that she has to establish her credibility as a business owner each time there is turnover with her contacts — not to mention having, once again, to educate the new person about why biodegradable glitter is preferable to the traditional microplastic variety.
Since she is selling a new product — biodegradable glitteris made primarily from eucalyptus leaves and has only existed since 2019 — marketing for her is as much education as anything else, and that has modified her approach to sales. Bongiovanni has found that stores that carry environmentally friendly products in general are more receptive than mainstream costume and Mardi Gras stores, so these types of outlets have become a key marketing target. She also puts as much emphasis on providing glitter at social events as selling to stores.
This flexibility is a hallmark of younger entrepreneurs, according to Allison Hotard, executive director of the Young Leadership Council (YLC).
“They have to be so multifaceted,” she observed. “They have to have a social media presence. They have to run their businesses. They have to sell their products. And the cost of everything is so high that they can’t really afford to hire someone to do any of this.”
Indeed, having a smaller financial resource base is a challenge common to many young entrepreneurs; Hotard noted that many individuals run their businesses from their homes, and/or take advantage of co-working spaces in order to keep costs down.
Hernandez pointed out another way that many of his peers deal with the various challenges they face.
“Young entrepreneurs are really embracing that they don’t have to do things the way the people who came before them did,” he said. “We’re not just taking things at face value.”
As an example, he cited marketing.
“We’re not trying to present a perfect image,” he said. “We’re showing a little more of what’s going on behind the scenes. We make a consistent product, but we have really embraced the craft approach, so there will be nuances.”
Bongiovanni, whose product line also includes sustainable Mardi Gras throws, pointed out one other trend that helps sustain her generation of business owners.
“Young entrepreneurs have each other as a support system,” she said, “and we do business with each other.”
Keith Twitchell spent 16 years running his own business before becoming president of the Committee for a Better New Orleans. He has observed, supported and participated in entrepreneurial ventures at the street, neighborhood, nonprofit, micro- and macro-business levels.
