Product-Based Business Advice Baltimore MD

When Beth Schoenfeldt created Ladies Who Launch, providing resources and networking for women to get into business, projects and friendships, she had limited startup funds and didn’t want to pile up debt.

So Schoenfeldt decided to offer a service rather than a product to avoid hefty upfront costs for manufacturing, inventory and product development. With a service-based business, “You can just hang up your shingle,” says the New-York-based entrepreneur.

Services have the added value of one-on-one attention, says Adam Adelman, co-founder of a product-based company called Juno Baby, and “it’s very difficult to personalize a product.”

But with a service, you’re limited by how much you can do yourself. A concert pianist can play only one piano at a time; a classical CD recording of that pianist can be played simultaneously hundreds of times around the world.

Get the point? A creative entrepreneur doesn’t have to choose between service or product. To use your talents to maximize the bottom line, try both.

Walk the Line

After their daughter was born, Adelman and his wife – celebrated composer Belinda Takahashi – created their namesake business, Juno Baby. Wanting to give little Juno an appreciation for music, they had their light bulb moment: If they, as new parents, were interested in sowing musical seeds early, other parents likely felt the same way.

Takahashi can compose only so many original scores.

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