The owner of the company that revolutionized the natural and curly hair market spoke at the recent Miami Book Fair International. Miko Branch, co-founder and CEO of the hair-care product company Miss Jessie's, served on a panel called “Paths to Success.”

She was joined on the panel by Attorney Lisa Green, and they both shared stories of how they started their business and the steps people can apply to start their own.

“Anytime I have a chance to tell our story on how I started our business is a wonderful opportunity,” said Branch, who named her company after her paternal grandmother, Jessie Mae Pittman.

Miss Jessie’s, founded in 2004, is a line of hair-care products that caters to women with natural and curly hair. The products are sold in stores like Walmart and Target, biting off a slice of the global hair-care market valued at $81 billion in 2015 and set to reach $83 billion in 2016, according to Statista.com.

The “Paths to Success” panel took place during the book fair so naturally Branch pitched her book, “Miss Jessie's: Creating a Successful Business from Scratch, Naturally” April 14.

Green, Branch’s co-panelists, is a lawyer and TV analyst. She was hired by NBC first as a lawyer but became an on air producer that did segments on women in the workplace.

“My role … was to support Miko’s message of live your dream and build your business but I want people to pay attention to law. With legal advice you can build your business bigger, faster and stronger,” said Green.

Green had a book, too: “On Your Case: A Comprehensive, Compassionate (and Only Slightly Bossy) Legal Guide for Every Stage of a Woman's Life,” released on Feb. 17.

The panel went into details of legal items people should be aware of when starting their business. Both authors discussed registering your business as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and getting your ideas trademarked so no one can legally steal them. According to Green, trademarking properties does not completely protect you. You can experience trademark infringement, when a person tries to profit off an idea that has already legally been claimed without proper permission. When trademark infringement cases go to court, the judge looks for chance of confusion in the case.

Branch and Green said how the Internet is a huge tool that provides leverage for aspiring business owners. Green mentioned websites such as floridabar.org, where business owners can find lawyers to assist with business legal issues and SBA.gov, which provides resources for small business owners such as contracts and wills.

Both authors dove into the subject of wills because Branch’s sister Titi, who was a co-founder of Miss Jessie’s, died last year.

“Losing my sister was probably the most painfully thing I have ever experienced,” said Branch. The authors spoke about succession planning. This involves arrangements of who will continue to run the company just in case the successor in the will cannot.

In a Q&A session at the end of the panel, someone asked Branch what would Titi say to entrepreneurs who are starting their own business.

“My sister would say focus on the process and not the money,” said Branch.

Source: 

http://miamitimesonline.com/news/2015/dec/02/miss-jessie-founder-talks-her-business-savvy/