Friday, April 26, 2013
Take-Aways from The Margarita King
We’ve all heard the expression “Big things come in small packages”. For Giovanni – aka The Margarita King – this is exceptionally true. Chapter 22 in Starting From Scratch describes this 4”11 Italian man’s journey from busboy to owner of multiple successful restaurants, and then onto a whole new venture in the margarita bottling business.
Before finishing the first page of his story, a huge key to his success was obvious – the people that knew him loved him. People skills are an asset in any business setting – especially in the restaurant industry – and they took Giovanni to the top in no time!
He also illustrated another key to entrepreneurial success: persistence. Throughout his story, Giovanni faced adversity, but he never let it get in the way of his success; as Moss would say he “underestimated his obstacles”. For example, when he finally got his margarita recipe perfected and bottled, he ordered 1000 cases, despite everyone’s advice to start out with 200. Although he may have gotten in over his head with such a large order, he was relentless – he would not stop selling his margaritas until they were sold! And in doing so, he ended up creating a huge demand for more!!
I guess the biggest take-away from Giovanni’s story is to have confidence in your decisions. It seems like a lot of entrepreneurs have big dreams, but then realize they’re in way over their heads, so they just conk out and shut down! This little man on the other hand, dreams big, but takes the necessary actions to accomplish them no matter what!
As I read Giovanni’s story, I couldn’t help but think back to my interview with Mrs. Peterkin when she explained “we just have ideas and we do them!” What an effortless way to phrase such seemingly important decision-making. This was the same attitude Giovanni had – one day he said, “My margaritas are awesome; I want to start bottling them to sell.” And so it began… This seemed to be the underlying theme with the owners of Cornucopia too – they said, “I want to open a cheese shop” so they did. No doubt they’ve put in a trillion hours of hard work, but in doing so, they have been able to accomplish amazing things in spite of the obstacles.
To me, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about – proving to yourself that you can accomplish something that you genuinely care about. Sure it’s going to take immeasurable amounts of hard work, but if you’re willing to do anything for your dream, nothing will stop you!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Interview #3 - New Venturing Marketing Subject Matter Expert
Ever
since my Intro to Marketing class, I’ve come to view marketing as a deceitful way
of manipulating the public to over-consume and convince people to buy things
that they don’t actually need…so when I was asked to interview someone who
deals with marketing for new ventures, I was less than enthusiastic. After a
bit of research however, I found that there are some super creative marketers
out there who promote businesses that aren’t just “in it for the money”. Fortunately,
I was able find an interviewee who takes a unique approach in promoting
meaningful new ventures that she truly cares about and believes in!
As if
the website
wasn’t enough evidence, a mere glance into Jenny Greer’s office revealed the
artistic unconventionality of SoundMind Creative. I took a seat on a comfy
couch nestled right under a wall decorated with business cards, flyers, CD
cases, you name it – adding the stylish ambiance of vibrant art on the walls.
As it turns out, each of these artful masterpieces was created by Jenny through
Soundmind Creative.
It
didn’t take long for me to realize that Jenny wears many hats; not only did she
start Soundmind Creative, but she serves as a brand consultant, graphic
designer, creative director, and illustrator. Obviously these roles have some overlap,
but at the same time, they allow her to approach her work in very different
ways depending on the project.
“I think
the common thread for us has been a lot of entrepreneurs because either it’s a
new project or a new company,” Jenny explained “My favorite thing to do is work
with new companies.” Although she went to school for graphic design with the
intentions of being a designer, she’d played a lot of music and started a band,
“We started off mostly wanting to serve the music industry, so a lot of my
referrals have come from very creative people. It’s kind of expanded, we also
do stuff for the city, stuff for universities, [etc.]”
So even
though she had planned to pursue graphic design, her interest in music played a
really big role in getting her to where she is now. “I came to Asheville and
there weren’t really any design companies here so I had to start my own,” Jenny
said as she explained to me her move from Atlanta (where she’d worked with a
lot of large brands like Coke, M&M Mars, etc.). “I always made sure I did
what I wanted to do.”
Inspired
by her entrepreneurial words of wisdom, I then recalled my original viewpoint
of marketing and realized that marketing doesn’t necessarily have to be this
unscrupulous, irritating way for companies to manipulate consumers, but that it
can actually be quite honorable, artistic work. This raised my question of how
she was able to promote SoundMind Creative in a way that attracted such a down-to-earth
clientele.
She responded, “All my business comes from referrals, I don’t know
if I’m just repelling people who are doing bad things. I’m always willing to
bend over backwards for someone I believe in. Like for example there’s a cider
company opening and they’re using all local apples; how cool is that?! That’s
awesome to me. I don’t really care about the money that much; I care about good
honest work”
Woah.
This last part got me – truly words I’d never expected to hear coming from a
marketer’s mouth! This was it; that gentle expose of Jenny’s entrepreneurial spirit: being motivated
by the work that you do because you care about it, not necessarily by the money
you earn doing it. Clearly, Jenny finds passion in helping new ventures succeed
– these are the kinds of people that help create communities (like Asheville)
who embrace and support entrepreneurs!
Interview #2 - New Venture Financing Subject Matter Expert
When I was assigned to interview someone who deals with financing,
I immediately thought: bankers, Wall Street stock brokers, and those intimidating
(frightening) “angels” on Shark Tank.
I never thought dealing with investments was a particularly interesting job,
but my two interviews – one with Carol Peppe Hewitt, founder of Slow Money NC and writer of Financing our Foodshed; the other with Brian
Griffin, Chief Credit Officer at Mountain
Bizworks and former WCU grad – have changed my mind. Rather than dealing
with corporate investments among “The 1%”, these folks believe in investing
money back into the local economy. Both Slow Money and Mountain BizWorks are
very community focused organizations, so they specialize in helping fund small business
ventures. Being able to chat with both of these generous and informative
interviewees has allowed me to compare the different ways in which each
organization accomplishes a similar mission.
Mountain BizWorks is a Community Development Financial Institution
(CDFI) and has a fairly systematic application procedure for its borrowers;
just like other financial institutions that provide loans (i.e. banks, credit
unions, etc.). Although most investments are typically made using money from a
CDFI fund, the Small Business Administration, or the USDA (United States Department
of Agriculture), they have individual investors as well.
Investors in Slow Money on the other hand, make up its only
source of funding for small business investments. So while Mountain BizWorks creates
a “loan pool” of these monies, then makes investments, Slow Money functions
more as a network between entrepreneurs seeking funds and lenders who wish to
put their money back into the community. This prevents Slow Money from having
to assume any liability; rather, they connect potential investors with budding
entrepreneurs and they enter into peer-to-peer agreements under their own
terms.
Such agreements seem to create strong ties within the
community between investors and entrepreneurs in a variety of ways. Slow Money focuses
specifically on investments for local food entrepreneurs. Mrs. Hewitt described
that they do this by “finding interested locavores
and helping them make connections with people in their foodshed” in attempts to
create a more localized and sustainable food system. So not only are investors
helping to promote the success of these entrepreneurs, they are also helping to
bring about a more just and sustainable food system, starting in their own
communities!
Mountain Bizworks works on a slightly different scale. Of
course they support food entrepreneurs – having helped finance almost all of
the restaurants and microbreweries in Asheville – however they make loans for
all types of business (“besides strip clubs and that sort of thing”), lending
mostly to retailers.
So while making a Slow Money investment would perhaps require
more work, it allows the investor to choose the venture in which they’d like to
invest; thus they can see exactly where their money is going. Borrowers and
lenders are screened to ensure their mission matches up with the Slow Money mission;
however initiating contact is left up to the lender. An investment through
Mountain BizWorks is also sure to help local businesses too, however there’s a
team of professionals choosing the borrowers’ with the strongest applications
and most tangible business plans. So someone looking to invest locally may
choose whichever approach they prefer based on how much they value their own judgment.
But let’s look at something they have in common. One major
thing I noticed is that support from the community is absolutely crucial. Both
interviewees mentioned that the businesses that they’ve helped and seen really
thrive are in communities that support local business – in other words, their success
relies largely on how receptive the city/county is to small business. Likewise,
both focus on making loans affordable and cater mostly to middle or moderate
income borrowers.
Learning about these two methods of investing made me
realize not only how much opportunity there is for a budding entrepreneur (like
me!) to seek investments, but also that there are several different ways to go
about doing it. Recognizing the joy that each of these interviewees has found
in seeing communities thrive as a result of their hard work to help small
businesses succeed has given me a new perspective on the idea of investing as a
whole. Though it was once a seemingly complicated and nebulous concept to me, I
now have a much clearer understanding of how borrowing and lending/investing
works and how exciting and empowering it can be – especially when you can see
the money going back into your community!!
Interview #1 - Entrepreneur
Sallie
Peterkin – co-owner of Cornucopia Restaurant in Cashiers, North Carolina –
welcomed me into her quaint, but empty cheese shop as various construction
projects took place outside on the “porch” and in the kitchen. On the wall in
the Cheese Shop hangs old blackboard on which the history of the building is
displayed. Although the property has been occupied by Cornucopia for the past
35 years, the board explains that the building has been around for much longer
and was once a stop for travelers with thirsty livestock, a post office
(,several other things which I can’t really remember), and – most recently – a
deli called The Purple Onion.
She began
by filling me in on the history of Cornucopia: “My husband [Brian] and his
brother [Scott] started it 35 years ago. He was actually attending WCU at the
time and was probably 19 years old; his brother was about 3 years older.
Basically the owner of The Purple Onion [the deli that used to be there]
decided he didn’t want to lease the building anymore. So he called Brian and
Scott and said, “Why don’t y’all start a restaurant here? So we did.”
Cornucopia started out quite small, only serving lunch– the porch was tiny and
uncovered, (which made rain an absolute disaster since seating was primarily outdoors)
and there was only one waitress. As time went by, they added on to the kitchen,
expanded and added a roof to the porch, and began doing dinners. At this point,
the owners realized that the business wasn’t bringing in quite enough to really
support 2 households, so Mr. Peterkin moved onto another full time job while
Scott ran the restaurant. In 2004, Scott passed away, leaving the business to
Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin’s children – who were not old enough to run the
restaurant themselves. Mr. Peterkin was
still working full time, so Mrs. Peterkin started working full time at the restaurant.
Cornucopia
now includes a wine shop and gourmet cheese shop, and normally seats around 400
people for lunch each day. And in light of new laws which permit the sale of
alcohol by the drink, a bar is being added to their large outdoor dining
area/porch. They are open for approximately 9 months out of the year (since
seating is outdoor) for breakfast/brunch, lunch, and dinner.
I then asked
Mrs. Peterkin if she’d had prior experience in or any intentions to enter the
restaurant industry. “Well, I was a waitress here when I was going to Western.
But I actually was into horses and had a horseback-riding school before Scott
died. “
She
continued explaining that a similar theme of fortuitousness has shown itself in
a variety of ways when I asked about the strategic plan for future growth. “Our
biggest downfall is that we think of things and just do them! We were just
like, ‘let’s open a wine shop’…and then we did it! We have ideas and we just go
for them!” Over the course of our interview, Mrs. Peterkin made it very clear
that they are not just “idea people”, but that they are doers. Rather than daydreaming
about wild things to do with their business,, they put their ideas into action
(what a concept!). Perhaps these aren’t downfalls so much as they are
contributors to Cornucopia’s success.
I found
this kind of entrepreneurial spontaneity quite refreshing! Although my
entrepreneurship training here at Western has put a large emphasis on creating
a highly strategic business plan, the Peterkins serve as an example of a
business that has been extremely successful without the plan. Rather, they
allow their past mistakes to serve as lessons for the future and make it a
point not only to come up with exciting new ideas, but also to actually implement
them (in a tangible way). This isn’t to say that an entrepreneur doesn’t need a
solid, thought-out business plan – in fact, a business plan is essential for
pretty much any business (obviously there are exceptions), but I think the fact that they don’t have one – yet they’re
doing so well – indicates that they’re clearly doing something right!
Not just
something, but many things! One factor that I noticed seems to play a
significant role in their success is the well-established reputation they’ve
maintained within the community. After only chatting briefly with the owners,
it became obvious to me that these are super friendly people, and their warm
mentality radiates throughout their business. Not only do locals love and support
Cornucopia, but the owners are very aware of this fact; they know who their
repeat customers are and how their customers perceive their business. For
example, they have a “legacy menu” which includes items that have been on the
menu since the beginning.
Above
all, this interview reminded me that entrepreneurs inevitably face many
unexpected challenges, and that hard work, open-mindedness, and personality are
the keys to turning obstacles into opportunities and adapting to change.
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