New research reveals how women’s business ideas are as strong as men’s but just 1 in 7 innovation funding applications are from women. A £200, 000 funding competition for women with innovative business ideas has seen unprecedented demand. The Women in Innovation Awards is a women-only competition offering investment and mentoring support. The aim is to encourage more women to apply for innovation funding. This will help them get their ideas off the ground. It will also help them develop entrepreneurial and business skills. Why apply to the infocus Women in Innovation award? Innovate UK is running this competition as part of its wider infocus campaign. Innovate UK devised this campaign following an analysis of funding applications it had received. This showed that: there is little difference in the quality of applications submitted by women and men just 1 in 7 applications (14%) for funding were from women Innovate UK analysed 8, 566 funding applications received since 2013. This research reveals that: the health and life sciences sector has a higher level of applications from women (17 -29%) Northern Ireland had the highest proportion (20%) of applications submitted by women the West Midlands had the lowest number (9%) of applications from women infocus ambassadors Some of the most successful female innovators in the UK are backing the infocus campaign. These include: Deputy Team Principal of Williams F1, Clare Williams investment manager Nicola Horlick entrepreneur and investor Sherry Coutu CBE Facebook VP EMEA Nicola Mendelsohn

If you're looking for ideas to start a business, look towards social and other trends for fresh concepts. Many trendy business concepts developed in recent years rely on economic developments, while others capitalize on technological and social changes or environmental concerns. Trendy Business Ideas Green Cleaning: The demand for organic products means any company promising to use them has an upper hand in most markets. Cleaning automobiles, houses, offices and even pets with organic, biodegradable and recyclable materials is a draw to many customers. College Advisor: Many teachers, professional counselors and writers offer their services to overworked parents without time to help with their child's applications or who want extra help ensuring that their child has the best application possible. College advisors help write or edit essays and review applications. Social Media Consultant: Using social media websites is almost essential for any modern business, but establishing and maintaining a company's web presence requires effort and time. Many companies outsource their social media marketing tasks to freelance marketing professionals. Blogging : What started as means of expression has quickly turned into a way of earning an income. Successful bloggers often sell ad space or promote certain companies to their readers. Internet Publishing: Many authors now publish their works online. However, editing, uploading and marketing books require time. Authors avidly seek assistance with these tasks and are willing to pay a small percentage of any sales or a flat fee for the service. Farmer's Market Grocery Delivery: The organic food trend is here to stay, and many times that means families need to seek out farmer's markets for pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. Offering to select and deliver organic produce on a regular schedule is a service many healthy eaters are more than willing to pay for. Kids Spas : Little girls have always wanted to be just like their mommies, especially in taking trips to the spa. Kid-specific spas are popping up around the country. Small chairs, flashy polish and special juice drinks are a big hit for birthday parties or just a fun Friday afternoon with friends. Handmade Cards: The fact that most correspondence these days occurs electronically makes sending a handwritten note more unique. Handmade cards or stationary reflecting the writer's personality or tastes are in high demand. Female Handyman: Stay-at-home moms have finally become fed-up with inviting strange men into their houses to fix a problem. In response, female operated handyman companies are springing up throughout the country. Etsy List Agent: Although Etsy provides creative designers a way to sell their wares online, listing, pricing and packaging those products takes time away from developing new ones. List agents work for designers by photographing the item, writing a description and uploading it on the site. Tutoring: Teachers and experienced tutors offer their services at home for an hourly fee. This allows parents to avoid paying the large fees charged by large tutoring companies and give their children one-on-one attention. Empty Nester Catering: With their children gone off to college and their homes suddenly empty, many adults find themselves less interested in cooking. The result is in-home catering companies and delivery services providing healthy and tasty foods to empty nesters. Personal Concierge: Very few working individuals can get everything they want or need done over the weekend. A personal concierge performs those tasks that an individual can't do by themselves: dry-cleaning pickups, grocery shopping and even letting handyman into a home. Property Manager: Empty homes, rental properties and homes on the market need regular inspections. A property manager helps ensure plumbing and electricity are in good working order. Home Staging: A large portion of houses on the market are vacant. Home stagers place furniture and other items in a home to make it look inviting, thereby increasing the likelihood of it selling faster. Community Personal Trainers: Many individuals want a personal trainer, but can't afford one. A community personal trainer provides 5-10 neighbors with group fitness classes designed to meet everyone's...

What’s in a name? Lots, actually. When it comes to business names, choosing the right name is essential. A good business name sends out positive messages to the public, summarises the key benefits of what you provide and sets you streets ahead of your competitors. The wrong choice of business name can sink you in a nanosecond. It’s important to put aside some thinking time to make the right choices with your business name. Arguably, one of the perils of small business ownership is the fact that there are so many choices. It’s your business, so you can do whatever you like. Including making the wrong decisions. Here are some major catastrophes-waiting-to-happen that are best avoided. ‘Original’ Spelling No one wants their business to look like a cheap personalised number plate. Avoid your individual take on spelling, unless it is very subtle or is deliberately chosen for legal reasons. Best to avoid using numbers for letters and symbols as well. Here are a few stinkers to illustrate the point: Massage 4 U RU Stressed Massage Mas Sirs! Mel’s Mas-aaahh-j Geo-Targeted Names Sometimes geo-targeted names (names with geographical locations in them) can be a winner – especially for appearing on Google in the maps section. They can make it seem like you ARE the business of choice for your area e.g. St Kilda Physiotherapy Centre, South Yarra Counselling Services. But do take care – if you choose your business name to include the suburb you live in just because you are renting a room there with your brother, it could spell disaster when you move. Fancy, clever names No one loves it when you try to be ‘clever’. Not only is it self-indulgent, but it’s downright annoying. Calling your massage business “Chandrakala Eshana” because it sounds exotic, and it’s Sanskrit (and you’re deep and spiritual ‘n all) is not going to do you any favours. Imagine your poor, tired potential client, sitting in traffic, desperately trying to plug your name into Google on her mobile phone. How hard you want to make it? Imagine also how your clients that did find you, go about spreading your name around town…“No, really, call them. They’re called Chan – Kar Darkala. No, Chan, Dracula, Um, No. Ishala Darklana…” Next… Cute names Business doesn’t do ‘cute’. It is really not the place. Avoid cute names or references to some private joke that only you and your boyfriend understand. Now is not the time for any of the following: My Very Own Massage Clinic Becka’s Baby Sarah’s Soft Touch Showtime! Contriving names for first place in directories Yes, we’ve all seen Aardvark Plumbers advertising in the local papers. It’s been done. You can do better than that. Admittedly, having a name that starts at the beginning of the alphabet can have strong benefits when listed in directories. But don’t be silly. Abacus Massage is not a good business name. It’s a foolish mistake. Oh yes, and unlike the old printed Yellow Pages, Google doesn’t rank your website in alphabetical order.

If you’re like most small business owners, you’ve never had to create a business plan before. In fact, you may have never even seen a formal business plan document let alone had to put one together. This is why we gathered this collection of sample plans for you here on Bplans. Our business plans can give you a great sense of what a finished plan looks like, what should be included, and how a plan should be structured - whether you’re building a plan for investment or just to develop a better strategy for your business. But, building your own plan isn’t as simple as just cutting and pasting from someone else’s plan. In fact, if you do that, you will be doing yourself (and your business!) a huge disservice. Here are a few tips to get the most out of our sample business plans and build the plan your business needs to succeed. Find a plan from a similar industry to your business, but don’t worry about finding an exact match. In fact, you won’t find an exact match for your business. That’s because every business is as unique as its owners and managers. Every business has a different location, different team, and different marketing tactics that will work for them. Instead of looking for an exact match, look for a business plan that’s for a business that operates similarly to how your business will work. For example, a business plan for a steak restaurant will actually be useful for someone starting a vegetarian restaurant because the general concepts for planning and starting a restaurant are the same regardless of what type of food you serve. Use the sample plans for inspiration and ideas. Staring at a blank page can be the worst part of writing a business plan. In fact, that’s probably the reason that’s preventing you from getting started right now. Instead, take advantage of our sample plans to avoid writer’s block. Feel free to copy words, phrasing, and the general structure of a plan to start your own. Also, as you read through several plans, you might find ideas for your business that you hadn’t considered. Use our plans for inspiration and ideas, borrow phrasing when it makes sense, and just get going! Write a business plan that’s right for your business. As tempting as it is, don’t just cut and paste from a sample plan. Any banker or investor will be able to tell from miles away that you copied someone else’s plan. Not only will you be less likely to get funding if you copy a business plan, you’ll be greatly reducing your chances of success because you didn’t write a plan that’s right for your specific business, its specific location, target market, and your unique product or service. Thinking through how you are going to launch your business is a critical step in starting a business that you shouldn’t let go. The value of business planning is in the process, not the final document. By creating your own business plan, you are going to have to think about how you are going to build your own business. What marketing tactics are you going to use? What kind of management team do you need to be successful? How is your business going to set itself apart from the competition? The process of writing a business plan guides you through answering these questions so that you end up with a strategy that works for your business. You will also end up with a plan that you can share with business partners, investors, and friends and family. Sharing your vision and your strategy is the best way to get everyone on the same page and pushing forward to build a successful business. Use your plan as a management tool and build a better business. When you’re done with your plan and your business is up and running, your plan shouldn’t just end up in a drawer. That would be a huge waste of all the time and effort you put into your strategy, budgets, and forecast. Instead, using your plan as a tool to grow your business can be one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business. In fact, businesses that use their plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30% faster than those businesses that don’t. To use your business plan to grow 30% faster than the competition, you need to track your actual results - the sales that you get and the expenses that you incur - against the goals that you set out for yourself in your plan. If things aren’t going according to plan, perhaps you need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. If things are going well, your plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan is one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.

The entrepreneurial ability in women in the world has witnessed steady and increasing economic standing in the society. India is recognized as one of the largest demographics in the world with over 360 million in the age group of 15-64. A Recent nearly half of the Indian entrepreneurs are women. Generally, expertise, understanding the domain, risk taking ability and flexibility are the major reasons that drive women to undertake a business venture. An aspiring woman entrepreneur always wants to do something fruitful and positive in the business besides bestowing values to family and social life. Here I put 50 chosen, low-cost business ideas for women entrepreneur. #1. Affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing involves having your won site and sending your traffic to someone else’s site to purchase their products or services. For every sale initiated by a link from your site, you will earn the percentage of sales commission. This is one of the best business ideas for women. Read More… #2. Basket Weaving To start profitable basket-weaving business one requires thoughtful planning and a high level of creative mind having a flair for design. This is one of the highly profitable craft business ideas for women. #3. Beauty Parlor Beauty Parlor business opportunity demands adequate knowledge and skills. This business can be initiated at low scale with moderate capital investment. #4. Blogging In today’s world Blogs are most powerful ways for both individuals and businesses to communicate information distinctively online. It is therefore no surprising that there are On 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. Blogging is one of the best home-based business ideas for women. #5. Book Keeping Every small or big company need business accounting services like bank reconciliation, e-filling, service tax, sales tax, payroll etc. One can start this home-based business by giving this services freelance to the businesses who can’t afford to have a permanent accountant. #6. Boutique Store With the increasing awareness of fashion and trend, the market opportunity of the boutique store has increased rapidly. The boutique store is one of the highly potential clothing business ideas for women. Read More… #7. Candle Making Candle making business can be initiated with a small start budget and home based basis. The popularity and consumer demand for scented and decorative candles creates a tremendous business opportunity for the innovative startup entrepreneurs. #8. Card Making Greeting card making idea is perfect for those who enjoys creativity and want to turn their creative minds into a successful venture. This is one of the most profitable craft business ideas for women entrepreneurs. #9. Clixsense How To Make Money; It is needless to mention that there are a few scopes where a person can make money without any limitation. Through Clixsense, you can make at least 5400/- monthly by spending only 3 hours a day on your PC or Smart Phone. 10. Computer Training Institute Computer training institute is an ideal opportunity for the . Running a computer training institute with some other value addition services can be a profitable and self-rewarding business. #11. Consulting If you are an expert in a specific field and you like to assist others, then consulting business is perfect for you. The consulting business is one the best home-based business ideas for women entrepreneurs and it can be initiated with low cost or no cost. #12. Content Writing An entrepreneur having expertise in internet content writing can initiate this business from home location. The demand is huge and one of the best self-rewarding business ideas for women entrepreneurs. Read More… #13. Copywriting With the booming of the internet industry content marketing becoming the center of it all and the need for copywriting has never been greater. One of the most profitable business ideas for women entrepreneurs. #14. Craft Making – Made of Plaster of Paris Greeting A woman having a hobby of crafts making, creating home decoration items with plaster of Paris would be excellent crafts making a business idea for her. Not only can this venture be started and run from a home based location, but this business is also very inexpensive to initiate. #15. Craft Store Setting up a craft store is one of the highly profitable business ideas for women. Sourcing the craft items from craft makers and selling them from your own store is always also a self-rewarding business. #16. Creche The women jobber, working lady and business owner has been increasing rapidly. And this creates an opportunity for convenience service business like a creche. One of the highly profitable business ideas for women entrepreneurs and it can be initiated from home location. #17. Crochet Knitting Crochet knitting opportunity is ideal for passionate crochet knitters who want to turn their hobby into a profitable venture. Also, one can consider starting this business when he or she has any other knitting business already. #18. Customized Glass Etching Glass etching business is an artistic and profit making business idea that can be initiated from home location. An entrepreneur having a creative mind, about glass etching, can start this business with small capital investment. #19. E-book Writing If you enjoy writing and you know the technique of making e-book then E-book writing is one of the best business ideas for women. You can start selling these E-books from your website, blog or from amazon also. #20. Event Planning Corporate hospitality event planning business describes giving service in the process of entertainments in events held by corporate or businesses for their staffs, clients or stakeholders. This business opportunity is comparatively easy to start, profitable and also enjoying one. #21. Fashion Designing Women having knowledge and experience about fashion designing can start this business of her own with moderate capital investment. #22. Fashion Design Institute Fashion design institute business opportunity is perfect for the entrepreneurs who have sufficient knowledge in the subject, artistic mind and adequate experience on the courses. #23. Feature Agency If you have an interest in writing or reading, starting his or her own feature agency business is a good option. To start a feature agency one needs just a computer and a telephone connection. #24. Fitness Center Fitness center business opportunity demands careful planning and research. It is an industry continues to be a lucrative market opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs globally. #25. Image Consulting If you love pulling together the perfect outfit, you may want to consider becoming a fashion or image consultant. While it may not be obvious at first, the reasons that people may need an image consultant are quite varied. #26. Interior Designing Having knowledge and experience in interior designing a woman entrepreneur can initiate this venture from a home location with low capital investment. Read More…

Professional quality product photography is important for ecommerce websites. Since online shoppers can’t see or touch products in person, images play a crucial role in making sales. The problem is that great product images can be expensive or labor intensive to produce, making it difficult for smaller brands to compete with market leaders. Burst is a free stock photography site for entrepreneurs. We created Burst to help small brands stand out by providing instant access to high-quality, royalty-free product photos. All images on Burst are available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Under CC0, you can use and edit the photos however you want—no attribution required. We've already uploaded more than 1, 000 high-resolution images and we're adding hundreds of new photos every week. If you can't find what you're looking for, sign up to receive email updates. How You Can Use Burst Here are some of the great ways you can use Burst to grow your business today. 1. Build Stunning Websites Burst photos were shot with Shopify themes in mind. Upload them directly to your online store and use them for hero images, background images, product pages, and more.

Personal Loan Having your own business is the sure way to financial freedom. When you are your own boss, that’s when you totally enjoy financial independence and be able to do whatever you want without the restriction of an eight-hour job. It only takes creativity to know how to make money. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, gather your courage now and to start your own business. Start with a small business and work hard to grow it. Here are some business ideas that can bring you good profit that requires less than ₱100, 000 for the capital: Business Idea 1: Street Food Business Estimated start-up capital: ₱5, 000 - ₱10, 000 For a very low capital, you can have your own business plan with a street food stall. Street foods are considered as a good source of income because Pinoy sure love street foods. You can go for the usual kikiam, fishball, squid ball, chicken ball, or go for more varieties like barbecue, calamares, and tokneneng. You can earn as much as ₱500 in a day especially if you get a really good place where there are plenty of people. Best locations are around schools or the market. Business Idea 2: Gotohan and Mamihan Estimated start-up capital: ₱5, 000 - ₱15, 000 If you have a talent in cooking and you live in a place where people work early, you can set up a Gotohan and Mamihan and start earning as a business idea. You have to pick up a place though, renovate it to accommodate customers, and think what other products you’re going to offer. You should also decide whether your gotohan will be open 24-7 or for a set time only. You should also consider if you’re going to hire other people or you’re going to make it by yourself.

He's 14 and speaking across the country with big names like Gary Vaynerchuk and Darren Hardy. Upon some research, I realized Caleb’s dad is a speaker too. Even knowing all of this, I was still hesitant about his ability to add value to the conversation of entrepreneurship. I was wondering what kind of real value this kid could share with me and my podcast, Leaders in the Trenches, whose audience is experienced business owners and leaders who demand insights - not rehashed information. What did this kid know about business and leadership? I watched his videos to see why so many people were sharing them. Caleb is getting millions of views on his videos about business. I was looking for the magic. He had some interesting views on business, so I kept digging. I’ll admit it. I was skeptical. I wondered if this was just a smoke and mirrors thing. I was curious if he was just repeating what he has heard before from his dad or some other video from an influencer. You can tell when someone is trying to intimidate someone else. You can hear it in their word choice and in the tone in which they talk. I was wrong. I was dead wrong. Caleb blew me away in our chat about his view of life and business. His view of the world was drastically different than what I expected. He is not just a motivational speaker. Caleb knows business. Let me be clear about this - Caleb is motivational and inspiring, but there is more depth than just speaking to the way he thinks. Caleb is not about the newest fad or buzz word in business. From my perspective, Caleb was focused on the fundamentals. What I mean by fundamentals is that he knows the basics of hard work and the value of results. The fundamentals are the things that you hear from time to time, but rarely do we see them in action. In fact, most business owners take the fundamentals for granted and just assume they have them covered. Here are two specific areas that I noticed in my interview with Caleb. 1. Confidence Caleb has a level of confidence about himself that most people lack. Don’t get me wrong, lots of people are confident to a point. But Caleb exudes confidence in the way he talks and the way he operates day in and day out.

There are many small money making investment and business opportunities that you can start. Today, many salary earners are looking at becoming their own boss by starting a business enterprise. So what are the best small businesses and investment opportunities with low capital start up and high profit in returns? When it comes to business venturing, the world is full of various fast growing small businesses one can invest on. Look around your vicinity and you will definitely find one or more. The sweetness of these businesses is that they require a little start up capital and easy to manage. Most countries whose economy is not quite vibrant and or witnessing recession (countries like Nigeria, Egypt, Venezuela etc.) can lean on small businesses and move on towards vibrant economy. To individuals as well, it is a means of livelihood without depending on government for social welfare or your family members or friends for financial succor. This article reveals some of vibrant and new profitable small businesses that you can start. It should be noted however, that these businesses attract reasonable profits in terms of gross sales and turnovers. Most Profitable Small Business Ideas and Investment Opportunities 1. Sports Viewing Center Business : Haven’t you discovered that people love watching sports either as an individual or as a group? Haven’t you seen or heard about sports fans who could forego anything to enjoy their favorite game(s)? Think of football alone, you will discover that fans are in thousands are within your area and ready to pay you for showing them their favorite matches. In England, Spain, France, Germany, Nigeria, and many countries across all continents are millions of football lovers! Yes, people love football and with that, you can start showing matches such as EPL, Laliga, Bundesliga, car races, boxing matches, etc. at an affordable rate. That is a small but profitable business, so grab it. This business worths a fortune as phone users around the world are estimated to reach 4.77 billion by 2017 according to www. statistics.com. With that, imagine the number of mobile phones that will require repair daily or weekly. Therefore, with your little capital, and little skill (as phone components are not complicated), you will accrue high profit margin within a short period of time. 3. Art and Craft Business: Art and craft as an umbrella business opportunity has many sub-businesses which one can start. Among the popular hobbies that make money are carving, drawing and painting, bead making among others. Take drawing and painting for example. Art business made Michelangelo di Lodovico Simoni, a 15th and 16th century Italian artist rich and famous around the world till date! Let’s take bead making business again for another instance. It is a business that may not common everywhere but some countries especially in Africa, Asia, Caribbean and South America that recognise and adore it as a part of their outfits could benefit from this. Think of brick beads, saw line beads among others, they can offer you cool money. Yes no doubt, and to start, one or two week training will suffice to acquire the skills needed without tears. Though the business looks unattractive but the fact is that the cost of producing a complete bead necklace could be less than a dollar and sold from five dollars upward. That is a whooping profit right? 4. Photography Business: Photography is another small business one can ventured in. And as the age of analog cameras fades out, digital cameras have made the business so easier and attractive. With a little start up capital of one hundred dollars you can obtain a functional digital camera that can produce between 15000 and 25000 shots in its life span. Various social events are out there. You can also snap for special purposes like adventure and tourism then sell it to the mass media or museum. Create sensational pictures by adding editing touches, and after printing in a studio or from a personal printer, one can get 75% profit. Isn’t that cool cash for you? It is and you can launch into that business or create a photography blog to confirm the above facts: All over the world, fast foods have become part of people’s feedings including the vegetarians. As a result of their busy schedules and or a need to change or balance diet, men and women including the younger ones often turn to snacks, plantain chips, fruit juices, ice cream, yogurts, mince pie, fish roll, egg salad, egg cream among others: Do you think those fast foods are not in demands? Definitely they are in high demand, and you can make a fortune by producing and selling them. What is important here is to examine the type of fast food that people crave for in a locality you wanted to situate your business: 6. The Farming Business: “Why do you make this among your list of most profitable small agriculture business to start?” some may ask. Relax! Farming has sizes, target, prospect and huge profit. Yes, you can engage in a small scale farming and still earn good money. So don’t be skeptical or stir up any disgust against this profitable business. Think of poultry, piggery, fruits, vegetables, food crops and cash crops production, fish farming, snail culture, horticulture, rearing of grasscutter and other animals. You will observe that millions of people apart from those in war-torn areas around the world need more food on daily basis. You will also discover that you have many farming businesses you can practise on a single hectare/ acre of land. While some farming business can start yielding within a month, some take three to six months. Whatever you opt for, it will physically transformed to a lot of profit you can earn. With millions of parents or guidance around the world who crave for their children’s academic excellence, tutoring has turned a money spinning business. Look around you, parents and children are there to talk to about this. This business could be approached by organising a formal tutoring class or by visiting the homes of those that are in need of such services. Just be good in delivery of some key subjects and then fix reasonable charges per week or month. Interestingly, you can be partly doing this business while you run another. Then, think about it and earn huge profit. How many car owners do you think love or have time to wash their cars as and when due? Only a few do the washing. And with that, car wash business no doubt is profitable and it brings it on daily basis and you too can venture into it. You can go for a mobile car washing type where you move to respective car parks or houses of car owners with all politeness and marketing strategies and thereby rake in daily money. Another means to get this business done is by situating this business at strategic locations in towns and cities especially close to main roads. That is very essential for the smooth running and high profit margin purposes.

Photograph by Leigh Reighton/Corbis Question: What steps should I take before applying for a loan to open a small business? I’d like to maximize my chances of getting a good response. Answer: Getting a small business bank loan is never easy, and it’s been especially difficult since the financial crash of 2008 and the lingering credit crunch. Even though small business lending is rebounding somewhat, it is still virtually impossible to get a loan to open a new business. That’s because lenders want to see a financial track record for your business that demonstrates your ability to repay the money they’re lending you. Without that kind of history, the lender has no way to know if your venture will be successful enough to make good on your obligation. Banks are lenders, not investors, and they’re not interested in knowingly making equity investments in businesses, as an industry representative told me in 2011. So what are your options? Most entrepreneurs start their businesses with savings; they put startup costs on credit cards; or they get loans from friends and family. There are also more creative ways to raise startup capital, such as babysitting or renting out a room in your apartment. The void in bank lending has spurred the growth of alternative lending, which can be costly but gets money to entrepreneurs quickly and without a lot of hassle. Another new option is crowdfunding through websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Some niche alternatives that have sprung up are less well-known. For instance, culinary businesses can apply to the Whole Foods Local Producer loan program, which the company says has lent $10 million to businesses making local food products since its inception in 2007. Interest rates range from 5 percent to 9 percent, and it helps if your company is already a Whole Foods supplier, though it’s not mandatory.