Business: Petite Rêve Cafe

Location: Ventura

Established: March 2011

What prompted you to open Petite Rêve Cafe?

It all started after the 2010 Women’s Conference in Long Beach. I was one of the speakers for The Style Network. Dress for Success sponsored my event in which I received a makeover and full wardrobe of business and chef-wear clothing. After my story was spotlighted for the conference, and I was interviewed by the media, the phone never stopped ringing. Orders were coming in left and right, and customers wanted to come in to see my chocolates and desserts. But I didn’t have a storefront. I was in a commercial kitchen. Everything I wanted to happen was happening, and it was getting out of control very fast. Then Dress for Success called. They wanted me to represent them by lighting the Christmas windows at the Tory Burch store on Robertson Boulevard. As a treat I made up a huge platter of chocolates and desserts. The press was there, and again, I was bombarded with orders. Except this time I had celebrities placing orders. Right then and there I called my realtor and said, "Find me a place that has a kitchen! I’m in over my head, and I have to hire staff ASAP!”

Two weeks after that phone call, I filed my LLC with the state; got a new DBA; presented my WEV business plan to a bank; received a small business loan; and entered into escrow. On January 14^th of this year escrow closed, and Petite Rêve Cafe was born. My first company, Petite Rêve Chocolates, became a division of Petite Rêve Cafe.

What role did WEV play in opening your business?

WEV was there every step of the way. I didn’t know what a business plan was when I entered the Self-Employment Training (SET) course – let alone all the components that make a plan. By the third week of class I had found a mentor: Zhena Muzyka, creator and owner of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea. Four weeks into the class, I had a business idea and name. Six weeks in I had menus, taste testers and vendors, and eight weeks in, I was renting space in a commercial kitchen. At week ten of the course I joined a women-only social networking group, No More Nylons, after the founder Jodi Womack was a guest speaker in our class. I made other great connections through the class, like my graphic and web designer, Cory Yniguez of Dandyline Designs, who is a fellow WEV graduate.

WEV nominated me for The Women’s Conference. If that gift hadn’t been placed in my hands I never would have had a filming crew follow me around; never would have acquired the celebrity clients I now have; and never would have become a representative for Dress for Success. The interviews I’ve had are because people want to know about my experience as a WEV graduate. Truly, WEV has walked beside me every step of the way and will continue to in the future.

What advice do you offer other women who might want to start their own business?

• Don’t take no for an answer! Prepare yourself. You’re going to hear that word ‘no’ a lot. Keep searching out people who will help you. They’re out there.
• Make sure to do your homework. And I don’t just mean the SET homework, but the real homework. Is your idea original? Does it have legs to stand on? Can you honestly make a living from it?
• Mind mapping is an amazing key to success. I still have the original one I made in SET; now I have one for the Cafe; and I just started a new mind map for future business ideas.
• Don’t forget to say ‘thank you’. This is really where women in business stand out. Zhena still has the thank you note I wrote her after she spoke at our Saturday class in Santa Barbara; Maria Shriver has the thank you note I wrote her after participating in The Women’s Conference; The Style Network’s producers and assistants remember all the thank you packages I sent to them; the list goes on. And those notes get you remembered.
• But the number one piece of advice that I received and keep passing on is this: Keep it sacred. If this idea of yours starts to make its way into a true business, don’t share too much about it too fast. Keep it to yourself until you’re ready for everyone to know about it.