Melissa Ben-Ishay started scrolling through TikTok two years ago. “It seemed like a virtual scrapbook — you can piece together little clips of what you create,” said Ben-Ishay, 38, the founder, president and CEO of Baked by Melissa.
“I love to cook. I spend all day in my kitchen if I’m not working.”
Ben-Ishay knew she needed to leverage TikTok for her business, but didn’t know how. Then one night, she posted a video of overnight oats that she’d made into cupcakes. That morphed into content of her making salad or savory dishes, and they started going viral. So she began including corresponding recipes on her company’s Web site.
“You learn by doing,” said Ben-Ishay. “Try! Failure on social media is great because failure means that nobody saw it. Win-win, right? So you learned, you failed, nobody saw it and you don’t even have to feel silly about it. Great, do it again.”
Going all in like Ben-Ishay did, and learning by doing, is key.
“You have to jump in, you have to figure it out. There’s such a difference between a place of yes and a place of no,” said Bethenny Frankel, TV star, founder and CEO of global lifestyle brand Skinnygirl, and author of a newly released book, “Business Is Personal: The Truth About What it Takes To Be Successful While Staying True to Yourself” (Hachette Go).
“Who you are outside of business is who you are inside of business,” said Frankel, 51. “It’s a crazy time now — everybody sees and hears everything. Business really is personal, the lines are blurred.”
With more than 620,000 followers, Frankel posts regularly on TikTok, including candid reviews of beauty products. She also hosts the podcast “Just B With Bethenny Frankel,” and puts on a philanthropist hat to head up BStrong, a worldwide disaster-relief initiative that partners with Global Empowerment Mission.
“Most things are more or less challenging than they seem,” Frankel said.
“Years ago, I realized if you have something interesting to say, you can crystallize it and package it into a small parcel and let someone know why you have something interesting that they might not want to miss out on. Or, be so endearing that they want to help you or connect, or be the type of person that follows through, which most people don’t. It’s just important to reconnect and just say what you mean and mean what you say.”
That rings true especially for making things happen and creating your own opportunities, as Frankel explained her book. Although you may think other people aren’t accessible, Frankel said they are actually accessible “if you are a little bit strategic and creative in your way of accessing someone.”
Two years ago, Jane Pennoyer, 29, did just that when she discovered a firm called Finch, a digital sustainability tool.
“The problem was, there was no gig,” said Pennoyer of the startup, which had zero funding. Her mother’s friend knew the CEO and provided her with the e-mail address, so Pennoyer sought an informational conversation. After e-mailing the CEO with the subject line “Connecting,” she landed a call.
Pennoyer offered to work for free, but the CEO started paying her to work 10 hours a week as a freelance consultant. Six weeks later, Pennoyer was hired full-time; one year later, she became chief of staff.
“I knew that if I got my foot in the door, I could make myself valuable enough to stick around,” said Pennoyer.
But bear in mind there are no shortcuts. You need to build a solid foundation with hard work, and making your own opportunities won’t always happen in a New York minute — but that’s OK.
“You can create an impact in New York, but most good things take a while and have to be built upon,” said Frankel. “They have layers. It’s like a house. It feels better when you build something properly with layers and really just do it in a methodical, high-quality manner versus a rush job. It feels better, it’s more trusted. It takes a long time to be successful.”
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