EB: Dear Monique:
It’s been over a year since we featured you on WomenandBiz.com. Could you give us an update on your business?
Monique Hayward
Monique: Dessert Noir Café & Bar in Beaverton, Oregon, has now been open for four years as of January 29, 2009. In addition to delivering great desserts, fantastic cocktails, and delectable savory dishes, we focus on supporting the local community and being “the place” in Beaverton for live music, local art, and special events. (And a few celebrity appearances from Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman, a close business advisor and mentor; screenwriter Mike Rich; Columbia Sportswear’s chairman Gert Boyle; and others have helped generate buzz, too.)
Since we last touched base, Dessert Noir Café & Bar has received more local recognition in the media, including a feature as “Restaurant of the Week” on KATU Channel 2’s “AM Northwest” news magazine show and a highlight as a “Hot Spot for Romantics” in the “Destination: Beaverton” special section of The Oregonian. We’ve also made some strides on the national stage with having one of our “liquid dessert” cocktail recipes featured in Mocha, food writer Michael Turback’s 2007 book on chocolate and coffee.
Despite the good news, it’s still tough sailing on the high seas of this economic and financial crisis. Sales were down in both 2007 and 2008 as we felt the effects of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco before it was widely reported and even our most fiscally prudent, financially secure customers suffered job losses and watched the value of their investment portfolios plummet.
EB: How has winning the 2008 Make Mine a Million $ Business Program changed or helped your business?
Monique: Upon winning the 2008 Make Mine a Million $ Business award, I joined a movement of women who are determined to chart their own path as successful entrepreneurs. Particularly as the world faces the challenges and adversity of this current economic downturn, women entrepreneurs have a valuable, critical role to play in the long-term health and vitality of our global economy.
Specifically, the award has helped me with getting more recognition, publicity, and credibility for my business. Also, the program provides opportunities for winners to take advantage of a broad range of services designed to assist them with all aspects of their operations. For example, I worked with an executive coach on the “softer side” of my business to become a better leader. I also consulted with a financial planner to analyze my company’s financial health and build a foundation for growth. Finally, corporate sponsors like American Express, FedEx, and Dell Computer provide merchandise and discounts on their services, all of which I’ve been able to use to support the business.
EB: Congratulations on getting your book “Divas Doing Business: What the Guidebooks Don’t Tell You About Being a Woman Entrepreneur” published! What is the key message that you want to deliver to aspiring women entrepreneurs as they are contemplating going into business for themselves?
Monique: Thank you very much. It’s an amazing achievement, and I’m really happy that it’s finally done and on the market.
The key message for women who are thinking about pursuing their dream of entrepreneurship is this: You need more than conventional wisdom. Women entrepreneurs like you and me need to provide that helping hand to our fellow sisters starting out in business and give them a boost up the entrepreneurial ladder. In my book, I provide how-to advice combined with experience on the ground and in the trenches that can help them avoid the pitfalls, obstacles, and challenges these women surmounted. I get help from nine pioneering women who pass on their hard-won tribal knowledge and share with aspiring entrepreneurs what it takes to start and manage a business and to see it thrive and succeed.
EB: You have assembled an impressive lineup of women entrepreneurs as contributors who are very well known in their respective industries. How did you select your contributors and approach them to participate in this project?
Monique: While the women entrepreneurs profiled in Divas Doing Business are well known in their industries and have received national recognition, they are not household names like Oprah, Suze, Tyra, or Martha. In other words, if someone is immediately recognizable by her first name, I figured her story has already been told enough times. Readers want to hear about other inspirational women who are inventing breakthroughs, beating their competitors, commanding the respect of their peers, sparking cultural trends and social movements, and successfully running their own businesses, thereby rewriting the rules for women in the working world.
Also, I wanted to ensure that readers can relate their own personal experience to what the entrepreneur has done. For example, readers certainly admire how Oprah Winfrey has turned Harpo Productions into a media powerhouse, but she’s out of reach for most women who are thinking of starting a media company. On the other hand, Divas Doing Business contributor Crystal McCrary Anthony, who’s making a name for herself in media and entertainment as an author, TV personality, and movie producer, can provide a more realistic, closer-to-home example of someone who’s getting it done.
I approached Morgan Freeman to write the foreword and all of the women entrepreneurs to participate in this project with one simple request: Can you please help me? I knew a few of them already, like Morgan, Lisa Price, and Jacqueline Rhinehart, advisors and mentors who have worked with me on various projects. For the others, I simply did a lot of background research to find women whose personal experiences and insights would add tangible proof to the concepts set forth in the book. Everyone was gracious and happy to support me.
EB: How can people find out more about your book?
Monique: You can learn more about Divas Doing Business and find links to purchase the book at my web site: http://moniquehayward.com/. The book sells for $19.95 and is available for purchase from Amazon.com as a trade paperback or as a download for the Kindle wireless e-book reader. You can also download it as a PDF ebook from my web site.
As tough economic times make coping with the impact of natural disasters even more painful for my fellow small business owners, I’m donating a portion of the book’s sales proceeds to PLAN!T NOW. This is Morgan Freeman’s charity that provides assistance, research, and educational programs for individuals, businesses, and communities at risk for hurricanes and coastal storms.
EB: What’s next?
Monique: Sell books! 🙂 Seriously, I will continue to actively write and speak on issues affecting women entrepreneurs and small businesses. It’s tough out here when you’re a small business owner who’s getting squeezed on both ends of this crisis — from consumers who aren’t spending and banks who aren’t lending. This is getting to the point of being a vicious cycle that’s helping no one. We need more voices like mine to create awareness of the issues and push our government and business leaders to start focusing more attention on the survival of our small businesses that are responsible for generating wealth in our communities.
With the business itself, given the current situation with the economy, particularly as Oregon is especially hard hit, I have focused on being lean and efficient in order to survive and thrive. I have cut our losses dramatically despite declining revenue and continue to find creative, innovative ways to spread the word about my business. Our loyal customers have been sticking by us as they want to see us succeed because they are happy that Dessert Noir Café & Bar provides them with a local alternative to the corporate chain game. Everyone encourages me to keep going and hang in there, and that makes me hopeful about the future.