- For Starters
- Posts
- Pack up and go
For Starters is the essential weekly briefing for the next generation of small business owners. Inspiration and ideas, every Friday – for free. It’s curated by Danny Giacopelli, formerly of Monocle and Courier magazines.
Hey, starter! Read on for…
Inspiration ➠ Lemons & vinyl
Advice ➠ A hospitality playbook
Ideas ➠ The least stressful city
Resources ➠ In-demand skills
Town Hall ➠ Community shoutouts
👋 For Starters is read by 10,000+ business-builders around the world, from coffee roasters in Melbourne to creative directors in Lisbon. Welcome!
➠ Get inspired
Lemon Appeal | Credit
1. When life gives you lemons… I’ve been following Lemon Appeal for a while and love what they're doing. The business was founded by Canadian-British mother-daughter duo Anik and Sophie, who have a serious obsession with Italian citrus. After Anik’s 30-year corporate career, the two partnered with artisan communities on the Amalfi Coast – ceramicists in Vietri Sul Mare, linen weavers in Abruzzo, etc – and created new products and a lifestyle brand around them. Everything’s made in small workshops and celebrates the legendary Sfusato Amalfitano lemon. 🍋
2. The song remains the same. Meanwhile in California, Sound Spectrum has been selling records in Laguna Beach since 1967 – making it the city’s oldest (and now only) record store. When founder Jimmy Otto passed away in 2023, sibling trio Audrey, James and Sadie Jean Wilcox swept in to purchase it, gave the place a remodel and swung the doors back open. → I’ll bang on about this forever, but being a starter doesn’t mean you have to be the founder. See: ‘The great ownership transfer’ in Ideas section, below… 🎵
3. Tell a yarn. And keep your eye on unspun, which makes the “3D weaving tech” for the clothes industry. The process is apparently like making a textile and a garment at the same time, and different from circular knitting and 3D printing. Ex North Face global brand president Arne Arens just joined as CEO... 🧵
—
➠ Starter wisdom
Move to a sunny country, open a beautiful business, live the good life. It’s the dream of tons of starters out there (me included). But how realistic is it? What are the day-to-day challenges?
Once upon a time, For Starters subscriber Brandy Cerne worked in brand marketing in New York for the likes of Shake Shack and Sofar Sounds. Today, she lives in the beachside Brazilian town of Paraty and runs a small, purpose-led pousada – a sort of B&B or inn – called O Portalzinho, which was recently named one of British Vogue’s “Best Hotels in Brazil”.
→ As Brandy’s pousada celebrates its one-year anniversary, I gave her a ring to find out her modern hospitality playbook, why brand is so important for her, and how a marketer from Ohio ended up being a hotelier in South America…
Brandy at work | All images: Leila Viegas
💬 Hey Brandy, what’s your story?
I’m originally from Ohio. After going to college in the midwest, I moved to New York and spent most of my 20s there. I worked in marketing and did all the guest relations at Shake Shack back in its early days when it was really starting to grow. That was a masterclass in hospitality. I was there through the IPO.
One day I woke up and was like… I’m in my mid-20s, what should I do for the rest of my life? So I quit and traveled around eastern Europe, volunteering in hostels. I absolutely loved this experience and being around people. When I returned to New York, I got a job at Sofar Sounds. I was booking all the shows in New York, something like 100 shows and 300 artists a month.
It’s funny because I never thought that years later I’d be using all these hospitality lessons in a totally different way…
💬 How’d you find yourself in Brazil?
My fiancé, who I met through Sofar, is from Sao Paulo. He had to move back and I was ready for something new, so we both moved to Brazil.
In Sao Paolo I spent years working remotely for clients in the US, but I eventually began to really miss being around people and feeling connected to the local culture. I wanted to feel more purpose and connection in my everyday work.
💬 And that’s where the pousada idea came in?
I always had this distant dream of opening a pousada, which is basically a very Brazilian version of a bed-and-breakfast. We were starting to think about leaving Sao Paulo, so everything just came together. We moved to Paraty two years ago and I opened the pousada a year ago. It’s funny when you look back at how our big ideas become real – it’s just a lot of little steps until everything comes together.
💬 Why Paraty? Paint us a picture of your city!
Paraty is incredible. It’s got a historic old town with beautiful colonial architecture. Lots of amazing beaches. It’s on a bay, so there are islands and boat tours. The rainforest and waterfalls are a 15-minute drive away. There’s a rich culinary history, great seafood, local cachaça. It’s walkable and bikeable, it’s pretty safe, and it’s close to Rio and Sao Paulo.
💬 Sign me up. How’d you find your dream property?
Paraty is a small town. Everything is extremely casual and word-of-mouth driven. The online listings aren’t exactly up to date. I’m renting the property because I wasn’t in a position to be able to buy, and everyone here wants to sell. I basically reached out to tons of people with pousadas for sale and asked them if they’d be open to renting. I visited maybe 15 places. Finally, I got in touch with one couple who listed their property for sale years ago, before taking it off the market. They were renovating the place and were okay with renting it. It ended up working out. I loved the property so much. The architecture is unique. I’ve been told it sort of has a Moroccan riad vibe. I instantly had heart eyes when I saw it.
💬 What makes a pousada a pousada?
The closest comparable is a bed-and-breakfast or an inn. When Americans think of a B&B, we picture a stuffy, old-timey place with lots of florals and maybe an older couple running it. A pousada is more casual, usually on the smaller side, between 6 to 20 rooms, somewhat family- or couple-run. The owner is usually on-site. Think of a B&B without the ye olde perception.
💬 You'd never run a biz before. What was the learning curve like?
Lots of people say, ‘Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be an entrepreneur’. But that was never me. I never had an entrepreneurial bone in my body, as a kid or even in my 20s. I always wanted to work for someone else! And so there was a steep learning curve on how to start a business. How do I actually run this thing? And how do I build a business in Brazil in particular? But since I was confident in my concept, brand and hospitality background, I was confident I’d figure it out. I also did some friends and family fundraising, and learning how to do that was really out of my wheelhouse.
The mindset side of things was one of the biggest learning curves. How do you get in the right state of mind for dealing with uncertainty and knowing you’ll always be problem solving? There will always be something new to learn, which is humbling.
💬 Who’s your typical customer?
In the beginning it was a lot of people from Rio and Sao Paulo, because Paraty is basically in-between both cities and very popular as a weekend destination. But since we’ve grown more of an online profile, we’re getting a lot of Europeans and people from the US and Canada.
I created a pousada for people like me – somewhere between 20s and 40s, who maybe enjoyed the social aspect of hostels, but have grown out of it because they wanted something a bit more private and clean. Yet in lots of these nicer places, you don’t talk to anyone! You’re in your own little bubble. And so I wanted to create a really warm place that felt like you were visiting a friend's house, but you have your own private room with all the amenities you need.
💬 What keeps you up at night as a business owner?
Everything. Ever since I started this business, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up at 3am with a cortisol spike. At least if you run a restaurant it closes at a certain time! A pousada is a 24-hour business. You always have guests. We closed for two days during Christmas last year. I’m constantly thinking: is there a way to build in downtime so that I can actually turn off my brain?
💬 How much does your marketing background show up in how you run this place?
I’ll always advocate for the power of brand. I get frustrated when people don't see the value of that. A strong brand is a differentiator so that you don't have to constantly explain who you are. If you don’t have a strong brand you’re mostly competing on price.
There are absolutely lovely pousadas around here, but they’re either simple ones that compete on price or location, or luxury ones which are beautiful but high-end. I wanted O Portalzinho to be somewhere in between. They also tend to be more minimalist, relaxed, and nature-centered. I wanted something more alive and colourful with distinctive architecture.
💬 How does that play out on social?
I decided on adopting a more casual, transparent tone of voice on Instagram. I share a lot of O Portalzinho’s journey – the behind-the-scenes, the why we’re doing things, what I'm thinking – and I use ‘I’ a lot. I even have my name in O Portalzinho’s IG profile, because I wanted more of a personal approach.
Instagram sells a lot, especially in Brazil. But I try to ask myself, “What is the MVP – the minimum viable posting – I need to do to actually get my across?” Am I selling the rooms? Am I hitting my financial goals? If we’re 94% full in January, we could always optimize for more, but sometimes I’ll just say, “Chill out – you don't have to be constantly posting, because it’s working!”
💬 Do you do all the content creation yourself?
I recently hired a video editor to help me with Reels, because I hate editing, it’s so time-consuming, and I’m really bad at it. I was thinking: what can I outsource that wouldn’t be a huge expense but would take a lot off my plate? And it was Reels. I framed it this way: If I pay the editor X per month and it results in one additional room reservation, it already pays for itself. Those decisions become a lot easier to make.
💬 You've got a great newsletter too!
Thanks. I love taking the time to reflect and share it as content, because people love to go along on your journey. When I was starting out, I craved these sorts of stories. I had ambitions of posting more often, but you get so caught up in the day-to-day. My challenge is how to balance running the business and having time to do these posts. Maybe that’s also a signal I need to get more help!
💬 So should everyone go open a pousada? (Not in Paraty, of course…)
It’s funny, it’s one of those businesses along with bookstores and cafes where everyone says, “That’s what I want to open when I retire!” And it’s like, noooo – this is not what you want to do when you retire. Not unless you want to never think about making money…
💬 It’s like Eat Pray Love-ing your way into entrepreneurship. That being said, one day I’ll move to the south of France where my wife’s from and open up a photobook store. I know that’s probably… hard.
Yup, haha.
💬 Last one: what’s your advice for starters?
Start with the numbers. Open an Excel doc and start a basic P&L of what a year would look like. You don't need a fancy business plan deck yet. I especially recommend this for anyone like me who’s an ideas person, with a more soft skills background like brand. It took me 3 months to make my sample P&L.
Doing this gives you more confidence in the business and that it will work – or not, which is useful info too! By working on it bit-by-bit over time and discovering answers to boring questions like “How much does laundry cost?”, it also gives you more conviction in yourself. You realize you can figure things out and that you're sufficiently interested enough in the idea to bring it to life.
If you’re not willing to work through the boring details, you’re probably not ready to run the business. The fun stuff’s waiting for you once the numbers work. ☼
—
➠ Good ideas
The great ownership transfer 🧓 → A once-in-a-generation moment of biz ownership transitions is coming: “By 2035, about six million small and medium-size businesses will face ownership transitions as baby boomers retire. More than one million firms are viable candidates for sale, representing up to $5 trillion in enterprise value.”
Eindhoven 💆 → The least stressed city in the world. And the most stressed? Sorry, NYC…
AI;DR 🤖 → “AI, didn’t read” is the new TL;DR: “Next time you come across a clearly AI-generated chunk of text… hit them with an “AI;DR” – it’s a small victory in clawing back our shared humanity.”
Biochar 🪴 → A slow fashion label in New Zealand is turning its old clothes into soil food.
Nestalgic 🤘 → When you design a Y2K bedroom in 2026.
—
➠ Toolbox
🛠️ Resources
What skills will become less and more valuable in the coming decades? Lots of food for thought here.
The first comprehensive report on the state of America’s Black-owned bookstores.
And For Starters friend Dan Frommer is back at it with a new Consumer Trends report – this time it’s all about food and drink.
📚️ Reads
$230 notebooks, digital cameras and tiny dollhouse furniture: How Gen Z’s desire to get offline is a boon for businesses. CNBC
Why This Paris Store Has New Yorkers Lining Up in the Freezing Cold. Highsnob
The Snail and the Shape of a Neighborhood Restaurant. Off Menu
Why Your Favorite Cycling Brand Is Now a Running Brand, Too. Field Mag
🧠 Findings
60,000 litres → The amount of camel milk intrepid Australian camel farmer Paul Martin hopes to export this year. Can the stuff take off as a superfood in the US? 🐫
$5.04 billion → The estimated size of the global crayons market in 2032, up from $3.4 billion in 2023. Crayons is a boom sector. 🖍️
🙃 Fun
In the Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française – i.e. the cutthroat battle for the best baguette in Paris, a competition I aspire to one day judge – there’s a clear winner: immigrants. This year’s 👑 goes to Sri Lankan immigrant Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan of the boulangerie Fournil Didot in the 14th arrondissement, WaPo writes. “The 2023 Grand Prix winner, Tharshan Selvarajah, is also from Sri Lanka, and contestants from Algeria, West Africa and Tunisia have also earned the prestigious award.”
Another immigrant starter/legend in Paris is 73 year-old, Pakistan-born Ali Akbar, the last newspaper hawker in France, who was knighted by Macron last month.
—
➠ Town Hall
For Starters subscriber Juno is co-founder of the fantastically named small-batch dressing brand ‘grette – known for its honey mustard vinaigrette in a squeeze bottle. I spotted on IG this week that they’re launching a new brand called Nnaise.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where she and co-founder Gus are going with this one, but still, I asked Juno to share more… 👀 🎉
“The brand is called Nnaise – we’ll leave the rest to your imagination. The success of ‘grette, and the way it resonated with consumers and independent shops, made us ask: where else is there a gap for something bold, fun and a little bit chic? Turns out, there was an answer. Doing it all again with fresh eyes and our ‘grette experience fresh in our brains has been really exciting – and we can’t wait to finally share it with the world!”
—