Entrepreneur Anne Onyeneho turned a cookbook into a meal-prepping business and soon a restaurant. Step into the world of PlantBaed.

• Anne Onyeneho, founder of meal prepping company PlantBaed, is set to net six figures this year.
• To Insider, Onyeneho talks her career beginnings and business ambitions.
• This is part of Insider's entrepreneur series Star, Rising which highlights early entrepreneurs.

Name: Anne Onyeneho

Age: 34

Location: Alpharetta, Georgia

Business: The popularity of healthy meal prepping isn't slowing down anytime soon - just ask Anne Onyeneho.

Last November, she authored a cookbook full of plant-based recipes called PlantBaed to help people prepare their own healthy dishes at home. Then, in March, she launched a meal prepping service, named after the cookbook, so customers could buy healthy dishes directly from her. Next year, Onyeneho is opening her first restaurant, putting her meal prepping skills to the extreme test.

"People are more conscious of how they eat," Onyeneho told Insider. "It's interesting how many people hit me up about food, on how to prepare things and what they need to do. You would think I was a doctor."

Growth: Onyeneho is projected to net over six figures by November, per documents seen by Insider. Her company has spread mostly word of mouth, seeing a 400% increase in sales for meal preps since June and a 200% increase in cookbook sales month-over-month since last November.

Her service counts Rai Vereen, head custom designer at Tyler Perry Studios, as a fan, and the PlantBaed Instagram account has over 45,000 followers. There's also a YouTube cooking show she's set to co-host with actress Crystal Haylsett, whose Instagram has over 230,000 followers.

When Onyenheo opened presales for her book last year, it sold $10,000 worth of copies in three days. PlantBaed also hosted virtual dinner parties seeing over 500 people in attendance. Onyeneho now plans to turn her meal service into a restaurant, set to open late next year in Alpharetta.

Before PlantBaed: Onyeneho worked at Piedmont Healthcare as an executive associate. She studied Health Care Management at Howard University, before obtaining a graduate certificate in ​​Health Informatics at George Washington University.

Challenges: Self-publishing a cookbook has been hard, she said. Onyeneho had to study copyright and trademark laws, learn how to put together a manuscript and find the right editors to help her. "I had to use my personal money and my savings and bet on myself," she said. "I could write a book on how to write a cookbook."

Business advice: "All entrepreneurs should first research and understand their targeted customer needs before executing any business idea," she said.

Business mentor: Onyeneho credits AJ Nolson, founder of Bizology Academy and Bizology Ventures, for teaching her how to manage her business. He tells her "never hire for where you are, hire for where you're going," she said.

Onyeneho also counts her father, who runs an insurance business, as a mentor. He stressed the importance of making sure she had all her business credentials, such as a federal tax ID and a business bank account, before launching her company.

Is now the best time to start a business? "Absolutely," she said. "There is always a need, especially in the health space … you just have to figure out what problems you want to solve, and then that's going to be your business."

Hiring in today's labor shortage: Onyeneho's team consists of four people and she plans, for now, to keep the business in the family to help build generational wealth. "Eventually I'm going to need to grow," she continued. "But sticking with the family is the best way to avoid a labor shortage."

Managing burnout: She spreads tasks throughout her team so pressure never falls solely on one person. "I can't do everything by myself," she said. "I take help wherever I see I can get it."