Women Entrepreneurs Grow Thriving Businesses

Let’s Play Music

There has never been a better time to be your own boss. Small businesses are the backbone of Pennsylvania, accounting for 99.6 percent of all businesses in the state. Of those, 39.8 percent are owned by women. These trailblazers reshape industries and drive economic growth.

Building a business is hard. Growing and sustaining it is even more difficult. Yet, some locally women-owned businesses are thriving in competitive markets thanks to innovative ideas about how to market their brands and serve their communities.

Photo by Somewhere Other Than Here

Rhonda Collins

Rhonda Collins started a Cruise Planners® franchise that she calls Somewhere Other Than Here. “I’ve always loved helping people go on their dream vacations. I thought it was important to use my love of travel and my skills to help plan amazing trips.” She anticipated that travel would explode following the COVID-19 pandemic, making the move a smart one. Her gamble paid off.

To grow at the rate she preferred, Collins relied on word-of-mouth recommendations and good old-fashioned networking strategies. In the last two years, she has experienced double-digit growth without ever spending a dime on paid advertising. “I’ve done it all through conversations and recommendations. There’s a trust factor involved. People know I’m good at what I do, and they seek me out.”

Collins was smart about her business investment. She used savings to buy it outright, avoiding the hassle of obtaining financing. She doesn’t have a storefront; she works out of her home, keeping expenses minimal to balance reinvesting in her business while remaining profitable.

One of the challenges she has faced in starting and growing her business is the misconception that because she works from home, she is always available. “Working from home affords some freedom, yes,” she said. “But you’re not going to make money if you’re out there every day having lunch with people, unless it’s a business luncheon.”

Collins’ goals for the future are ambitious. She sees nothing but bright days ahead and is working to repeat the double-digit growth she experienced during her first two years.

Tracie Bradshaw started Let’s Play Music a decade ago. Her business combines music and movement for children from newborns to age 4, along with a group piano and music theory class for children ages 4 to 8. She originally taught the classes at her home. As her business grew, she relocated to a space at PYCO School of Music and hired two employees to teach classes with her.

She started with a vision to provide quality music education to children. What makes her classes different in the field of music education—and has contributed to her growth over the years—is their play-based group approach.

While she has experienced modest growth over the years, one of Bradshaw’s biggest challenges remains attracting new students. “It’s always hard to find the students, to advertise in the right areas and in the right ways to reach your demographic.” Like Collins, most of Bradshaw’s new business comes through word-of-mouth recommendations from current families pleased with the program.

Setting clear boundaries also helps her maintain her focus and achieve her growth goals. “It’s difficult sometimes,” Bradshaw said. “I want to help my families and give them the schedules they want, but I have to keep my boundaries and remember that my family comes first. That’s where it’s been nice hiring employees to help out and teach those classes when I can’t.”

Stefanie Hohl

Stefanie Hohl was preparing to teach her youngest child to read when she discovered that traditional methods weren’t a good fit for all children. With her master’s degree in education from Penn State University, she began developing her own method that used movement to teach reading. She wrote a book in 2018 incorporating her ideas. It was so popular that she decided to expand the collection. “Now, we have seven books in the series, coloring books, writing books, flashcards, and curriculum books so you can teach the method to your children.”

Her biggest market is homeschoolers, followed by moms who just want to teach their kids how to read using nontraditional methods. “I also have preschools, speech and language pathologists, and some others who use the program with their students and clients.”

Hohl has used several growth strategies, including maintaining a strong presence on Instagram. She also appears on podcasts and presents at conferences. She’s presenting at the World Literacy Summit in Oxford, England, in April.

Moving forward, Hohl said she is focused on breaking into the micro-school market. These schools—a mix of homeschool and private school—may benefit from her curriculum. Right now, her biggest challenge is the lack of funding to expand as quickly as she’d like. “Books for kids do not bring in a lot of money. That’s always my challenge.”

Bev Ritz

Bev Ritz was bored in retirement and thought getting her real estate license would be fun. And it was—for a while. But it was also stressful and not as steady as she had hoped, so she pivoted to open BRC Signing Notary, a mobile notary service. March marked one year for her new business, and Ritz said it has been more profitable than she’d ever dreamed.

She initially invested just $1,200 into the new business to obtain the licensing and equipment she needed to get started. She has turned that minimal investment into a six-figure business.

The biggest challenge for her was taking the first step. “I had my license and my training certificate and courses. But the hardest part was taking that first step,” she said. “I was scared to death. I’ve been in corporate leadership, and I was a nervous wreck until I got that first one in.”

Things are going so well for her that she plans to grow the business with her daughter and son-in-law. Her advice to other women is that the time is now to challenge themselves. “Life is short. And eight hours spent somewhere you don’t like being is a long day,” she said. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just get out there and try something.”