Stream2Sea of Hardee County
As an avid scuba diver, Autumn Blum, founder and CEO of Stream2Sea, thought something wasn’t right with the current sunblock products being offered to the public when she noticed an oil slick coming off a group of snorkelers in Palau.
“I knew that couldn’t possibly be good for our aquatic environment. I decided to do something about it, and I started Stream2Sea,” Blum said.
As a cosmetic chemist, Blum would use her knowledge and love for nature to design a performance-based sunscreen and body care line for active adventurers. Next, she would need to get the Stream2Sea message out to the public. Making sure her target audience knew that, “if you care about what you put on your body and into the planet, Stream2Sea is for you.”
As an avid scuba diver, Autumn Blum, founder and CEO of Stream2Sea, thought something wasn’t right with the current sunblock products being offered to the public when she noticed an oil slick coming off a group of snorkelers in Palau.
“I knew that couldn’t possibly be good for our aquatic environment. I decided to do something about it, and I started Stream2Sea,” Blum said.
As a cosmetic chemist, Blum would use her knowledge and love for nature to design a performance-based sunscreen and body care line for active adventurers. Next, she would need to get the Stream2Sea message out to the public. Making sure her target audience knew that, “if you care about what you put on your body and into the planet, Stream2Sea is for you.”
Blum decided to reach out to the Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at University of South Florida early on, to get help with a strategic business plan that was needed to secure local economic development grants.
Fast forward seven years later and Stream2Sea is growing at such a rapid rate that Blum finds herself reaching out to the Florida SBDC at USF again. Most recently, she was paired with business consultant, Scott Carpenter, who created an in-depth marketing plan, identifying new opportunities for the business.
“We’re growing; we’re launching on more cruise lines, and I need help on marketing,” Blum said. “We just recently completed a marketing plan with their help to optimize and improve our efforts out there in the world to help communicate our message better.”
Over the years, Blum has received business plan, capital access, disaster loan, marketing, and international trade assistance, as well as DISC assessments, from various consultants at the Florida SBDC at USF.
Since working with the team of consultants, Blum has witnessed growth within her company like never before. “We have achieved rapid growth since working with the SBDC,” she said
“We started from basically nothing. We have doubled in revenue almost every single year in operation. We went from one employee to 17 in various capacities in our facility,” she added.
While business is good, there have been some challenging times along the way, including the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had to reshift our entire business plan,” she said. “We went from manufacturing sunscreen, which is great for outside playing – if you’re staying inside hiding, not so great – to manufacturing hand sanitizer. We were able to pivot from sunscreen to sanitizer to help meet the local needs and to keep all of our employees in jobs.”
As Stream2Sea pivots in hard times and expands in good times, Blum still attributes the business success to the loyal customers who spread the Stream2Sea message. “I would say that our biggest success in the seven years that we’ve been in operation is the amount of consumers and customer base out there that not only appreciates and understands it, but shares it with other people. We don’t have customers out there anymore, we have advocates,” Blum said.
Moving forward, she is leaning on the support provided by the Florida SBDC at USF as business moves on to the next level and she continues growing in her role as an entrepreneur. “Going forward, I’m excited to work with the team at the SBDC to help us improve our operational efficiencies. We’re growing at a rapid rate,” Blum said.
“I’m a great cosmetic chemist. Learning how to be a better entrepreneur and business owner, I know the team’s going to help me with that,” she added.
The cosmetic chemist and business owner is also very proud and excited to continue growing her business in Hardee County as she states, “The Development Group in Hardee County has phenomenal resources to help import small businesses and also help us grow.”
Blum also encourages other small business owners to take advantage of the resources that are available in their community. “I would highly encourage other small business owners to reach out to the team at SBDC. The resources are there to help you and the level of skill and expertise they can bring to the table is unmatched,” she said.
