Black Business Spotlight: Fresh Heir Delivery

When opportunity knocks, Fresh Heir delivers

“I’m a hip hop artist, teaching artist, and entrepreneur in the Twin Cities,” said Malik Watkins, who is also known as MaLLy on the local music scene. “In addition to the music business, I also have a commercial and residential newspaper delivery service, Fresh Heir Delivery, LLC,” added Watkin. 

The company, which has been in business since 2018, came about by chance, said Watkins. “I was reading a local newspaper and a friend of mine noticed the paper was looking for someone to drop off copies of the paper. I called the number, got in touch with the woman who inherited the delivery service from a previous owner.” (Full disclosure, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder is one of Fresh Heir’s clients.)

“Initially, it was called Lloyd’s Delivery Service. But once he [the previous owner] passed,” Watkins continued, “his wife transferred the business on to two individuals who ran the business for four or five years.” 

The previous owners were looking to get out of the business and reached out to Watkins. “They were like, ‘We think you’d be a great person to take this thing over. You’re organized, and you’ve got experience in the business world,’” he said.

According to Malik, the decision to buy the company was fairly easy, since it was a low-overhead business that required little investment on his part. “I ended up purchasing the business with another friend who was a partner at the time. The purchase price was really low—like $300 for the van and a few hundred for the contacts and names.”

Nevertheless, the fact that 37-year-old Watkins decided to start a small business is pretty radical. “That’s a big step. It’s a risk. You’re investing your own money, even if it’s $100, or thousands of dollars. You’re still investing, or you’re asking other people to believe in what it is you’re doing. No one’s gonna believe in your dream or your aspirations as much as you will.”

The biggest challenge Fresh Heir faces, said Watkins, is trying to find reliable, honest, hard-working carriers. “If we’ve got pick-ups on Wednesday, trying to get everybody on board and organized is hard. Everybody’s got their lives. 

“Folks may have different situations or challenges that they’re dealing with.” Other challenges for a newspaper delivery service are the weather and getting a route done in a timely fashion.

“There’s turnover. You might get people who will stick around for two months. But then they may just stop showing up or they’ll let you know, ‘Hey, I think I’m moving to California. I don’t think I’ll be delivering anymore.’ There’s always this feeling that I could do better if I just had one more person, or two more people that could show up at least twice a week.”

One of the perks of owning your own business, said Malik, is being able to set your own schedule. 

“There’s a sense of pride that comes with being able to successfully run a small business and being able to hire some people and connect with them. Hiring people and being able to provide some kind of employment, even if it’s not all the money in the world, is rewarding. Even just giving out bonuses—Christmas bonuses—is a big thing.

“I guess you could say I’m giving back, even though I’m paying them and they’re doing a service for me. I think the people that you work with become like family.”

As for the future of Fresh Heir, Malik said, “I initially came into this with the mindset of only wanting to do it for 5-10 years. We’re coming up on year five,” he added. “I think the future is focused on commercial spaces because that tends to be where I think people want to read the newspaper. 

“I also want to connect with publications that are not only diverse but who also treat people well. I like doing business with people who also want to do good business.” 

His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: “I’d say go for it. Go for your dreams. Even if you start small you can grow the business. It doesn’t have to be the biggest thing on the block, but it’s yours. You get a chance to put your tender love and care and parts of your personality into it,” he continued.

“Fear and nervousness around taking that first step is natural. But you never know what you’ll learn, and you’ll learn so much about yourself. You’ll learn what your limits are. You’ll learn what your challenges are. 

“Start with a small plan and see it through. Then go from there.”

For more info about Fresh Heir Delivery, email freshheirdelivery@gmail.com or call 612-669-5520.