More than half of small businesses Some people are born from finding freedom from the desire. Nina Pinidi’s affairs were born out of necessity.
His comrades needed products that they could not find on the basis or on deployment, but his morale also needed it after serving 17 years.
She became in chief of the master-master with deployments in Japan, Guantánamo Bay, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Chile and Djibouti before falling ill and having to retire medically.
“I was really in a dark period when I was absent because it’s as if all of a sudden you no longer need,” she said. “You don’t have to wear a uniform. No one calls you to get advice. No one needs your mentoring, and it literally stops overnight. »»
Another blow arrived at eight months later when she discovered that she had breast cancer.
“When I saw the social workers of the hospital, I said to myself:” I have to support my needs. I’m no longer in the navy, “she said. “And they said,” Now is not the time to find a job. “”
A relentless brainstorming brought him to the San Diego Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to launch Solime Royal Hair and to the Business School of the University of San Diego to learn to manage it. When she needed a mentor, Diana Barbiani of SBDC delivered.
“I like to say that she is my fairy godmother in the company,” said Pinidi.
The pair relates to each other as immigrants with their parents’ resilient roots.
“Since the age of 12, my mother has opened some fruits or vegetables in our hometown of less than 2,000 people when I grew up, and she made me work,” said Barbiani, from Croatia . “So I learned a lot.”
Babiani helping Pinidi gave him the opportunity to share unexploited subsidies, license and planning resources. Entrepreneurship is more accessible than it seems.
“Often people think:” Oh, I have no money to start a business “”, said Pinidi. “Nor did I have a business to start a business either. Remember, I just found myself medically. I did not have a military pension, just the compensation of the AV. »»
All brands dispersed on Pinidi’s pop-up table at the San Diego naval base are different. She works with nearly 20 brands, and it is because the driving force that feeds small businesses in San Diego is collaboration.
“I find the value of working together, also because in the army, it is the lifestyle,” she said. “We are still working in a group. There is never anything alone.
Pinidi is now in remission of breast cancer and will have its next pop-up on the naval base of San Diego 14-14 to February 16 before moving to Macy’s in Santee on March 8.