24-year-old Ian Szalinski, a 2010 graduate of SUNY Geneseo, found great success upon entering the working
world. He has created a new organic Muesli cereal, Muesli Fusion, which is currently being sold in 93
locations throughout 11 states. And, with
his recent collaboration with Wegmans, the only place for Szalinski’s
business to go is up.
Szalinski
was a business major and psychology minor at SUNY Geneseo. He was also founder of Geneseo’s ski and snowboard club, a member of the men’s rugby team and a participant in G.O.L.D.
As Szalinski looks back on his years at
Geneseo, he says that it was an entrepreneurship class he took that made him
believe running his own business was something he’d be interested in doing. Two years later, this belief has come to life.
Muesli Fusion is a whole grain
cereal made with dried fruits, nuts and seeds. It is a healthy product with no
artificial flavors. “I have been eating
Muesli for years,” Szalinski says when explaining how he came up with the idea
for the product, “there aren’t that many products on the market and there is
nothing organic, so I decided to start a new organic product.”
An
innovative way that Szalinski has promoted his product is through the use of
social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as his own blog. It allows him to
communicate with customers and gives them a connection to the brand. “It’s not necessarily driving a specific
number of repeat customers, but it’s a great way to spread news,” he says. “Social media can be an important business
tool if it’s done right, but it isn’t for all businesses,” Szalinski explains,
“It’s largely for consumer businesses. If
you have a product on shelves it can be good because it needs a wide consumer
base.” And Szalinski’s consumer base is absolutely
growing as a result of his product being sold in Wegmans. For the future of Muesli Fusion, Szalinski
hopes to expand the market here on the east coast and then move further west. He is also looking to hire more employees to
help with the increasing demand.
Some advice
Szalinski has for Geneseo students and alumni who want to start their own
business is to do a lot of research before making big investments. He also attributes networking as an important
aspect of his success. “Be prepared to
do a lot of work and adapt when things don’t go the way you want them to,”
Szalinski adds. “People told me it was
going to take twice as long and cost twice as much. For me, it has probably taken four times as
long and cost ten times as much,” Szalinski joked. But, we have to admit it looks like it was
well worth it!
