Torrance Hart left the Air Force to start Teak and Twine, a custom gift box business. She tested the idea while still active duty, then scaled it with help from Boots to Business and the Veterans Business Outreach Center. She stresses nailing operations and product-market fit before growth.
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I'm Torrance Hart, the founder of Teakin Twine. Teak and Twine makes custom gift boxes for weddings, events and corporate gifting. And we also have an online store. I was in the Air Force for four years. Three of those I was a protocol officer, which is sort of like being an event planner for the Air Force. I had a lot of fun doing that job. As I was thinking about transitioning out of the military, I found this niche in the market where more expensive weddings were using wedding welcome gifts to greet their out of town guests for their wedding. And at the time there wasn't a business that was creating these gifts for brides. It was just a do it yourself by either the bride or the wedding planner. And I thought, this is my chance. I started really small with the inventory. At first I experimented putting together different gifts and posting them on social media. And then I just listened to my clients and what they were looking for and they surprised me by actually being really excited about corporate gifts and client gifts. A lot of things that I hadn't thought about when I first started the business and now make up for the majority of our sales. The great part of Boots to Business was that they not only give you the tools to figure out what kind of business you want to start or if you are the kind of person who wants to start a business, but if you're already on your way like I was, they also give you a lot of tools about different ways that you can raise money. And then what I have found to be the most helpful was the outreach and the advice that they provide on a continuing basis after Boots to Business. So I have called the VBOC several times and asked them questions and they have been awesome about talking to me on the phone, even coming to my house, giving me advice once they saw how we put together our gifts, how our production line is organized. So they've really given me great advice every step of the way.
The goal of the Veterans Business Outreach center is to assist that veteran, that active duty military member, military spouse or garden reservist, to have access to capital training through Boots to Business and Boots to Business reboot, assistance with government contracting and business consulting services to help them to be successful, to grow and form a sustainable veteran owned small business.
Starting a business while you're still active duty is very doable and in fact I think it's beneficial. So for the past year I've been running Teak and Twine while full time active duty and going on TDYs and all that. It not only gives you the financial stability while you're making this very big leap, but it allows you to move slowly, slowly test your product with your clients, fine tune what your model is going to look like, and by the time you get out, you really have that confidence that you're moving towards something that's fantastic, that's resonating with your clients and that is going to support you full time. And what I love about starting your own business, especially in E commerce, is that location doesn't matter. You could be based out of any town in the world and still run a great e commerce business. I absolutely love running my own business and it's just been a fantastic transition to move from being active duty to being a full time entrepreneur. But as important as it is to absolutely love what you do and be really proud of the product that you're putting in front of clients, it's even more important to be passionate about the nuts and bolts of running a business. And that is growing a team, doing your accounting, working on marketing, and thinking about what processes you're going to put into place to make your business successful. And those are the nuts and bolts that they emphasize in boots to business and at the vboc. Those are the things that you need to focus on for how you're going to grow, how you're going to scale, and how you're going to market your business.
