October 23, 2022
By CanvasRebel
Image Credits
D. Sanae’
We recently connected with Robyn Noble Powell and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Robyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea?
Bee-lieve it or not, God actually gave me the idea for this business! I have always had a passion for helping people, but I never recognized it as a gift or a talent, especially a marketable one! However, as I was talking to God one day, like I normally do, I asked Him what I could do for extra income— what gifts and talents have He given me. Well, He answered as clear as day, “Do what you’ve been doing all along— help people — that’s the gift and talent I gave you.” At that moment, it was as if a fire was lit inside of me! I immediately called one of my friends that I had been previously talking with about trying to find a side-hustle. I told her what God had said and she and I began to think of how I could package and market the help I had been giving to my family, friends, and employers over the years. I also reached out to a couple other of my friends who are business owners to discuss the steps they had taken to start their businesses. One of those friends gave me a checklist of things to do, and I went to work completing those tasks. First, I had to do some research to determine what I wanted the structure of my business to be. I decided that an LLC would be the best fit for me. Next, the fun part, coming up with a name for the business! I knew that I wanted a name that would describe who I was and what I was doing. I wanted it to be simple, cute, and memorable. I began asking God to give me a name that would encompass all those things and I also asked a few close friends and family members for suggestions. I kept hearing the words “Help” and “Helper”, so I knew that one of those words had to be in the name (in some form). I looked up foreign words that meant help or helper, names that meant help or helper, and compiled a list of my findings. During this time, while in prayer about my business, God gave me the colors yellow and black as the business’s color scheme— I love sunflowers, so the yellow and black immediately made me think of them! When I shared the color scheme with my family and friends, several of them said that the colors yellow and black reminded them of a bee. The image of me buzzing around helping people began floating around in my head and eventually made its way to my list of potential names as, The Helper Bee. The family and friends that I had previously asked for name suggestions from became my Name Selection Committee and they voted on the list of names that had been compiled. The Helper Bee won the most votes, so I did a name reservation and formation filing with the State of Mississippi for The Helper Bee, LLC. Once that was complete, I went to the next task on the checklist, which was creating a logo. After exploring several avenues to get my logo created, I ended up reaching out to a company that one of my friends recommended. This company had done the logo for her business, and she was very pleased. I emailed the company and told them that I was starting a new errand running, personal assistant, and concierge business. I told them the name of the business and what I was envisioning for the logo— a clean, simple, not too flashy or busy, professional, bee themed logo with sunflower yellow, black, and white as the colors. I also told them that I wanted people to smile when they saw the logo and I wanted the bee to be flying off, because The Helper Bee would be on the move! A few days later, to my surprise, the company delivered exactly what I was looking for and provided me with several different design proofs, all of which I loved— so back to the Name Selection Committee I went for them to vote. I went with the logo that received the most votes and it was added to the website a friend and I had been working on while the logo was getting created. With the business name, licenses, logo, and website all taking care of, it was time to focus on launching and marketing the business. I set a date for the launch party, May 01, 2021, only three short months after God gave me the business idea, and created flyers, business cards, and business pages on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and Instagram, as marketing tools. Thanks to the support of my family and friends, the launch party was a huge success—people started sharing my Facebook page, flyers, and business cards! I started getting inquiries and bookings, and business has been BUZZ-ing ever since— praise God!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Well, here’s My UN-BEE-LIEVABLE Story:
As a young adult, those close to me always noticed an entrepreneurial spirit in me. However, I did not see it in myself because I never wanted the buck to stop with me and never saw myself as talented, creative, or gifted—what I thought it took to be an entrepreneur. I knew that I admired those qualities in others and wanted to help those people become successful, but that was it.
I started working as an administrative assistant and in the middle of two decades of that work, I decided to make myself more marketable in the workforce by earning a degree in Business Administration. Bolstered by my family, friends, and nagging thoughts that there had to be better approaches to what I was seeing in business, I was determined to grow and excel academically, while continuing to work and run a family. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, but I overcame the challenges and graduated summa cum laude from LeMoyne-Owen College with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree. The strengths and skills I gained from that experience were invaluable.
After graduation I continued in administrative work, trying to apply that expanded knowledge base, but I did not feel settled. In 2017, I began a spiritual journey that led me to know God more intimately. During this journey, God started to reveal to me who He was and who He created me to be. Although God was revealing His plan for my life, I was hesitant to accept His vision. I received numerous prophesies confirming God’s plans for me, several which mentioned me owning my own business but, again, I did not receive what was being said. Instead, I continued to play it safe, stay in my comfort zone, and help others to grow their businesses.
Fast forward to 2021…I was having the conversation about side-hustles with my friend, that I mentioned earlier, and she encouraged me to think of something I could do to generate some extra income. I rested on the same thoughts as always—I know a lot about business and have experience running others’ business but I’m not creative and I don’t have a marketable talent or gift. She just laughed and told me to pray about it. Well, that is exactly what I did. I started praying and seeking God for inspiration. God answered my prayers and gave me the idea for my business. From those friendly seeds and divine intervention, a buzzing business bloomed!
Just Bee Helpin’, is a unique errand running, day-of assistance, and concierge service. We understand the hustle and bustle of life and, therefore, have designed our services to free-up our clients’ valuable time so they can focus more on their family, friends, and other personal interests. We cater to busy moms, dads, small-business owners, and corporate executives. Our services are also perfect for senior citizens and homebound individuals who strive to maintain their independence.
We are known for providing professional, convenient, and reliable services to help our clients find work/life balance and meet their personal and business goals. Just Bee Helpin’, services include Pickup and Delivery Services (e.g., groceries, prescriptions, dry cleaning, mail/packages); Courier Services (fast and secure delivery of official documents and sensitive packages); Shopping Services (purchasing, delivering, and making exchanges or returns); Day of Assistance Services (e.g., projects, weddings, and other events); Concierge Services (restaurant recommendations/reservations, travel planning, transportation arrangements, Airbnb Management Assistance, etc.) and Mobile Notary Services (Mississippi only). We buzz about where and when our clients need something, so they don’t have to!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
So, if you remember earlier in the interview when I was sharing the process of Just Bee Helpin’, going from idea to execution, I mentioned how I compiled a list of business names that I came up with and names that family and friends suggested. I told you that I prayed about the name, and I kept hearing the words, “help” and “helper”, so I knew that one of those words had to be in the name (in some form), right? I also told you that as I was praying about the business, God gave me the colors yellow and black as the business’s color scheme and that when I shared this with my friends some of them said the colors made them think of a bee. As I stated before, that started the image of me buzzing around helping people to floating around in my head, which eventually led to the name. The Helper Bee, making the list of suggestion and ultimately winning the naming votes! I reserved that name and began operating my business under that name only to find out a year later that another company had applied to trademark a name almost identical a year before and was granted approval for that trademark a few months after I formed my company with the State of Mississippi. This was a huge blow, as the attorney I had hired to submit a trademark application for The Helper Bee name on my behalf, was now advising me to change my business name! I was devastated and confused— I thought I had misheard God and I didn’t know what to do! This business is my baby, and I don’t know any parent that would find it easy to change their baby’s name after they have been calling them that name for a year! I thought about all of the marketing I had done and money I had spent doing it—domain name, logo, shirts, business cards, flyers, car magnets, social media, and other networking sites! I just couldn’t wrap my head or my heart around it. Through it all, I never stopped trusting God! I just kept reminding myself daily that “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” I could’ve given up on the business/vision God gave me, threw in the towel and gone back to a 9-5, Lord knows those thoughts did enter my mind, but I knew that wasn’t God’s plan for me. I continued praying and seeking Him for wisdom and instructions, and just like before He answered! I woke up one morning with the name, Just Bee Helpin’, in my head, I shared the buzz with the original naming committee, some clients and my attorney (this time), and everyone LOVED it! I started marketing the new name and things have been going BEE-U-TI-FULLY!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Integrity, professionalism, good communication, the ability to connect with others, timeliness in providing services, and a whole lot of passion for what we do are the top factors that have helped us build our reputation within our market. These attributes, along with our dedication and consistency, have been pivotal in building the repeat customer relationships that have contributed to our success in the market as well. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that being helpful, reliable, and personable could turn into a successful business with this much buzz. To God be the glory!
Contact Info:
Website: www.justbeehelpin.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/justbeehelpin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justbeehelpin
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/just-bee-helpin-southaven?utm_source=ishare
Other:
https://g.page/r/CRDTaJ-86Ve8EAE
https://www.bbb.org/us/ms/walls/profile/concierge-service/just-bee-helpin-0543-44178559
https://tiktok.com/@justbeehelpin