Taking Your Idea from a Hobby to a Real Business: How One Woman Made the Leap

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So you have a hobby and are trying to make it into a full-time business? Camila Toro shares how she made the transition.

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🌴It's time to learn about Camila Toro.

ONE EXPERIENCE CAN SPARK A BIG IDEA

When Camila Toro was 10 years old, something happened that may seem quite ordinary, but it changed her life.

Her grandfather gave her a pack of smiley-face stickers.

“He said, ‘So you can share happiness with others.’”

Well, Toro took this to heart.

She not only passed out the stickers to her cousins and friends, she has kept on passing out stickers, many years later.

“When people say, ‘Oh, you’re doing that for your business.’ No. No. Believe me. No, I’m doing this all my life. I have my business because of this.”

Camila has had a fascination with smiley-face stickers for a long time (Her 19th bday)

THE TIP JAR (tips provided courtesy of Camila Toro)

STARTING OUT: Toro's advice to those starting out is to just start.

"Sometimes, we take time… to develop something perfect. And it’s not going to be perfect... not in a week, not in a month, not in even a year.”

Toro suggests, if you have an idea, just go ahead and get your website up and running.

“Just do it. In the process, it’s going to change. I don’t know how many times. Millions of times, perhaps. And it’s okay.”

Camila's dad helping out with order fulfillment in the early days

STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career): Toro believes mindset is important at this stage. She thinks people need to believe that they can do it, even if they're older.

“Because, maybe, they see the younger people and they say, ‘Oh, yes. They do it because they are in their 20s. They are in their 30s. Of course, they can do it. They don’t have responsibilities.’ And that’s not the mindset.”

STARTING OVER: “I think it’s important to become involved in the entrepreneurship world.”

“You need to surround yourself with people who are in tune with the same energy or vision that you have…”

She believes it’s important to have this circle of influence in your business and your personal life. Toro says they'll be the fuel to help you reach success - or they'll be the ones who will hold you back.

I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: “Buy inventory like crazy. Of course, I was so excited with the idea.… I was, like, I’m going to order thousands of this. A thousand of that. I didn’t think it through…”

BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE:

Toro says the best advice she got came from her mom when she was around 12 years old.

“I remember I was doing my homework or something for my school. And I was, like, 'I can’t do this! I can’t do that! Oh, I’m so dumb' or something like that…”

Toro says her mom didn’t know anything about mindset or study psychology.

“But she told me in that moment, ‘Camila, whatever you say to yourself, you become. So be careful.’”

Camila and her mom on Camila's 30th birthday

PICKING THE BEST BUSINESS IDEA IS A PROCESS – IT TAKES TIME

The idea to establish Happy Cami as a business came to her when she was in graduate school and had to come up with a business idea for class.

After choosing and discarding many ideas, it hit her.

“Something came up in here (pointing to her heart), like, in my soul, okay? I share happiness. I love happiness. I have this inside me for all my life… I want to share smiles. I want to share happiness [with] the world.”

DO INITIAL RESEARCH ON DOMAIN NAMES

Camila went to Google and checked domain names. To her surprise and delight, Happy Cami was available.

Toro started her business.

Convincing people this was not just a hobby, but something she was taking seriously, was difficult.

Camila with her vision board in2020

TAKING AN “OFFICIAL” BUSINESS ACTION MAY BE JUST THE PUSH YOU NEED

Something she did which made a difference mentally was that she set up the business as an LLC (limited liability corporation).

“When you open your LLC, you’re telling yourself, okay, this is serious… It’s not a hobby anymore.”

Then, there was the biggest factor that separates full-fledged businesses from fun side projects.

FUN IS GREAT, BUT CAN YOU MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR IDEA?

“I realized, if I wanted to have a business, not a hobby, I had to make money.”

So what did she do to make money, change perceptions and even change her own mindset?

YOU NEED A VILLAGE

Toro says the single most important thing she did was to network.

“When you are alone, as an entrepreneur, sometimes, you feel stuck.”

She became involved with a networking group her best friend founded, TheLatinaPro®.

“I can say it changed my life as an entrepreneur.”

The members became her friends. They helped her with “opinions, perspectives [and] contacts.”

With some of the ladies from TheLatinaPro®

SEEK ADVICE, CONNECTIONS & HELP WITH SERVICES FROM YOUR NETWORK

Specifically, she met someone who helped her with product design. She explains, “I’m a disaster with design.”

Toro met an accountant through the group.

She also found someone who helped her with branding.

“I am working with a lawyer for my trademark. And she’s part of TheLatinaPro®.”

Those connections also helped Toro find a Mastermind group that meets every Monday night virtually.

GROUP LEARNING EXPERIENCES CAN BE REALLY VALUABLE

Toro saw how the Mastermind group’s members treated their businesses. She paid attention to “the things they were doing. We went to [conferences]. We listened to podcasts together. We watched videos together.”

Toro started to understand more of the financial part.

A PIVOTAL EXPERIENCE CAN TAKE YOUR BUSINESS IN A NEW OR COMPLEMENTARY DIRECTION

She now has expanded Happy Cami’s offerings to include emotional intelligence and positivity products and tools, all in an effort to spread happiness.

But there was a specific event that transformed Toro’s life and business. I’ll share that in the next issue of Generation Si!

Camila with Happy Cami positive affirmation products

INDUSTRY: Educational Supplies & Gifts

STARTED BUSINESS: 2017

LATINO/HISPANIC CONNECTION:

Born in Colombia

Parents were born in Colombia

EDUCATION: EUDE European Business School (Spain)– Master’s degree in Digital Marketing

Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia) - Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Social Communication

DREAM JOB AS A KID: “Journalism – at a TV channel. I was dreaming [of] doing interviews for a TV channel…”

BIGGEST GOAL YET: “I want to have, I will have and I’m going to have all my products in a big [retail] store in the U.S. Yes. For example, in Target.”

“Can you imagine if we walk in Target and we see this Happiness Corner?”

NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE

HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:

BUSINESS CONTRACTS – THE BASICS

There are some basics to business contracts. Do you know what they are? And what is the most critical element that MUST be included in any business contract? To find out this, and much more, about the world of business contracts, attend this FREE online webinar:

SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Broward

“Business Contracts – Must Knows”

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

6:00 p.m. EDT – 7:30 p.m. EDT

Virtual Webinar

FREE

https://broward.score.org/event/business-contracts-must-knows-1

WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because we know our culture has a hard time asking for help:

BOUNCE BACK!

You don’t have to be a small business owner to experience disappointments and setbacks in life. They happen to all of us. Business owners can be especially sensitive to these occurrences. So how do you become more resilient and “brush it off"? In this webinar, which is an oldie, but still very-relevant goodie, Lisa Dinhofer helps us get right back up with strategies for understanding and building resilience.

SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)

“Building Resilience After a Business Setback”

Recorded Webinar

FREE

https://www.score.org/event/building-resilience-after-business-setback

INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:

Sometimes, the line between what’s a hobby and what’s a ”real” business can be blurred. Sometimes, you may not be sure which route you want to take.

It’s like a fork in the road.

There are so many factors that go into it.

That’s why I wanted to profile Camila Toro and share her decision process and actions with you.

What also struck me about Camila is her positivity.

It’s something distinct that I’ve noticed in some Latinos.

My mom has it. One of my cousins has it. One of my friends has it. And Camila definitely has it.

It’s an inner joy that radiates from within. You can’t help but sense that happiness, no matter what’s going on in their lives.

It sure beats being around grumpy people, right?

Taking that joy and turning it into a product and business was a natural extension of Camila.

It goes to show, as much as some of us get bogged down thinking we have to come up with something technologically advanced or complex, sometimes, it’s really something very simple that can be the best way to go. #theskyisNOTthelimit

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Camila surprising a stranger in Boston with a smiley-face sticker (2011)