Jacqui Rosshandler, Eat Whatever

• Tweet

A native of Australia, Jacqui Rosshandler now calls New York City home and is enjoying a new career as CEO and Co-Founder of Jacquean Products. Trained as a lawyer, Jacqui never felt at home in the structured corporate world and took an entrepreneurial leap on New Year’s Day in 2007 when she summoned the courage to give her new business idea a whirl. Nine months later, she had her new product in hand.

Breath Mint Maven

Working as in-house counsel for an event an interior design company, Jacqui found herself longing to be her own boss, to take charge of her own career destiny and start her own company. Her idea was unique, an all-natural breath freshener that would really eliminate your garlic laden lunch breath and not simply mask it temporarily like so many other products on the market.

Jacqui enjoyed a similar breath mint product she found in Australia (and could never find state side) and used that as a point of departure for her new and improved breathalicious concoction. To distinguish herself and her mint, she was on a mission to make her product, fun, cute, and trendy. And so, eatwhatever breath fresheners were born.

Her vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free product is filled with organic oils. Jacqui’s two steps to kissable breath regimen is very simple. First, you swallow a vegan gel cap which freshens your breath from the inside, filled with organic parsley and peppermint oil. Step two – suck on one of the little white mints for a bit of instant freshness. Bring on the garlic, onions, and all your favorite stinky foods since this product really eliminates odors for hours. The spine of her packaged mints reads: Suck and Swallow – a glimpse of the sexy marketing that helped identify her brand.

Learn the Ropes

So how does a first time entrepreneur make her breath-of-fresh-air product a reality? Jacqui started going to trade shows looking for vegan gel caps to fill with her organic essential oils. Learning the ropes was tough since she didn’t have the vocabulary to describe what she wanted and feared that people would find her crazy and inexperienced. She mustered her courage to ask questions and eventually found a company that would do a small run of her recipe so she could test the market and see if her product filled a niche.

Financially it’s been tough. After investing her own money to make this dream a reality, Jacqui is at a point where she is looking for investors to take her business to the next level. But, Jacqui and her husband, Dean Bialek are the quintessential cosmopolitan, intellectual dream team. Both lawyers with a creative and international edge, they share a passion for food, wine, the arts and fashion that serves them well into their new business venture.

Being in Control

While Jacqui admits that she was terrible with numbers, taxes, and financial statements she had to learn enough to be a well informed consumer when she hired an accountant to help with these tasks. “You must be in control with distributors, brokers and the business people who will help you with all aspects of your business so you are not taken advantage of.”

Jacqui also shared that the food industry is still very male driven so as a woman entrepreneur she has to be on her toes to get the attention of her male counterparts and to keep it! Self motivation is also a must for this breath freshener queen. She loves having control over her own schedule but also knows the realities of having to do it all yourself, at least in the early stages of the business. If the mail has to be taken to the post office, Jacqui does it since she is the staff, the CEO and Co-Founder.

Fake it Till You Make It!

Clearly some of the transferable skills from her legal career and performing arts background have helped her run the business, but Jacqui says she learns a lot just by doing. From the law she learned how to read the fine print and knows why it is crucial for her business. She suggests that you do your homework on potential business contacts before you meet them because as an attorney, she knows how expensive litigation is and warns to avoid it at all costs.

As a former performing artist, Jacqui knows the importance of exuding confidence in front of her audience. She says that eloquence and professionalism are essential and her private tip is “Fake it until you make it – they’ll never know!” In the beginning, she devoured a myriad of books and magazines on entrepreneurship and relied on friends in the beverage and packaging industry to learn the ropes from the inside out. Learning the lingo was essential to be recognized and respected by the professionals in the industry with whom she would be working with to market and distribute eatwhatever.

The Value of a Strong Brand

Each day brings valuable lessons and Jacqui says that it is always a learning experience. She now realizes the importance of making her branding message clear, clean, and strong. While she originally loved the idea of the sexy factor with a kissable breath product, she now understands that in certain markets the sex appeal needs to be toned down to a flirt factor. She continues to tinker with packaging and now realizes the importance of investing money in PR during a product’s launch.

At the end of the day eatwhatever is about confidence. Everyone needs fresh breath. Whether we are kissing a loved one or interviewing for a new position, fresh breath empowers you with the confidence to feel good about yourself. Jacqui never leaves home without packs of her amazing product.  A walking and talking billboard for her product, her samples are sure to make a believer out of you.

I can now add my name to her list of positive testimonials. The product is fantastic – it really works and for a breath freshener to empower us with that kind of self confidence is a beautiful thing!

Jacqui’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Really take the time to think through your ideas and plan your strategy.
• Be realistic about how much time (24/7) is takes to launch a new business.
• Avoid negativity and develop a thick skin; everyone has an opinion – sift through those you really want to consider.
• Trust yourself – you are your best asset.
• Great things happen through networking.

Quote: “Failure is not an option!” Jacqui Rosshandler

Resources:

eatwhatever  www.eat-whatever.com

Savor the Success www.savorthesuccess.com

Ladies Who Launch  http://www.ladieswholaunch.com