Day 349 – Soooooo close!

Wouldn’t you know that as soon as I get a job things are starting to get some real traction with Eve’s.

In the last 48 hours, our infused vodka recipes have been approved, we have finally gotten a hold of someone who knows what they are talking about at Walmart. We are being presented to Albertsons and Costco, and Whole Foods in California is getting closer! It is like the fuse has been burning forever and it is getting close to the powderkeg!

I’m not sure what happened but it is AWESOME!!!

While these are all very great things, they are still just potential and will take a lot of work to make them happen. This is one of the reasons that it is nice to be partnered up and have other people you can rely on to help get the ball across the finish line.

Thinking ahead we will need to be making some serious Apple Pie if these deals go down! We are already planning on Walmart starting with a 25 case per month order just in the Western Washington market. add in those other accounts and we could be at 150 – 200 cases a month with just one product.

We have two other moonshines we are just about to launch and then the vodkas in the Spring. With a good foothold of an anchor product like our Apple Pie we could be moving close to a 1000 cases a month by this summer!

Its all blue sky right now but, why not? I mean we are in a couple other states and we have a great product. We just have to figure out how to keep up with the demand and the growth and we should be good. We also have to hope that we can get our local distribution under control.

In the mean time we just keep keepin on and trying to move forward. Keep your eyes open for bottling parties because we are going to be needing a lot of help!

 

Day 262 – Power Day!

Power day!

After a quick trip to get spices for our next batch of Apple Pie to fulfill the Walmart order I came home to sit at my desk for several productive and creative hours.

I have a punch-list of things to get done so we can launch the new website.

When I get into those modes time flies by and it was 6 o’clock before I knew it. I am pretty excited about the new website and it is just the beginning of our growth.

Today I worked on Eve’s story and had some grammatical help for the about page. I created some new page banners and tomorrow Jesse will come over to get these things on the site.

I will take some new pictures for the recipe page and get some of the most popular recipes on the site and tie them to Amy’s pinterest page. Later this week I will get some good pictures of Dairyland and get that on the coming soon section of the sight.

Wednesday I will be going to Cashmere to make our next batch and then get back for a meeting to discuss plans for our first event out at Dairyland to take advantage of Small Business Saturday at the end of November.

This is a very exciting time with big things and lots of work to do to make them happen. I feel like the next few months will be bursting with news and great things. Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Stay tuned!

Day 257 – I have a phone again, but something better happened!

Today was a very good day. A fan-firickin-tastic day actually.

Not just because I have an iPhone again and I am part of the matrix again but because of what happened today.

I talked about how great we did last night at the Fall Spirit Trade show and I would like to elaborate. This show had lots of industry people there. A lot of bar and restaurant managers and owners. Some liquor store owners and a couple buyers for big chains. Now these buyers and like targets as you can imagine and it is tough to get their attention in such a venue. I mean there were probably almost 100 vendors there and close to 500 brands represented. We were one of only two local distilleries present and notably the small unknown guys.

Colin, my distiller has recently hired a salesman that has been on the industry since 1993 and recently left Southern Wine and Spirits to go out on his own. He knew everyone there and it was a huge help. About 1 1/2 hours into the event one of the guys he knows brought over the buyer for Walmart in Eastern Washington to taste Eve’s Apple Pie. When he tasted it, he had the same reaction most everybody else does and he had a horrible poker face. He immediately started talking about a couple cases for a display in a big store to see how it would go. Over the course of the next couple hours the buyer brought over two other people to taste it and they all liked it too.

We left last night pretty confident that they would place an order and do some experimenting. Now when dealing with a  large company like Walmart we expect there to be a lot of follow up and lots of red tape. Honestly it is hard to get through it and still keep them excited about the product.

At two o’clock today the impossible happened.

Colin called me to tell me that Walmart placed and order!!!!!! Not only did they make the decision and place an order in 18 short hours, they changed the order. They did not order 3 cases for one store. They ordered 50 cases and a soft order for 25 cases a month after that to resupply!

YES 50 CASES!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are really coming together for us and our product is starting to be recognized. I should also say that there was a national moonshine brand there too and he had been there and had their stuff but he came back to us twice.  This simply does not just happen. never this fast and especially with a company as big as Walmart.

Lots to do in the next couple weeks but we have the money and the capabilities to fulfill this order which is also very nice. It will be busy but we will get them the product and do what we can to help it move.

Stay tuned for a list of stores that it will be in. You can help by helping spreading the word and maybe even buy a bottle too!

Day 256 – Hour 49 – still no phone

I have gone two full days without a phone!

I am hoping that most people that text me have seen a few notices and understand why I am not texting them back.

In any case is has been liberating! Today I spent 11 hours in my car driving to Spokane and back and had ZERO distractions! I am living proof that we can still drive and communicate without Siri!

So yeah, I went to Spokane Washington today. I drove over there for a 3 hour trade show put on by our Distributor and it was totally worth it.

Over the last several years I have done many trade shows. To be honest most of them have a very low return on investment and I have become pretty picky about events that we participate in. ( OMG! I just took off my shoes for the first time since 7 am! WOW! ) Sorry for the interruption but, I had to share! Where was I? Oh yeah ROI. Now I look for events that have a real impact on our business. First of all I like events that allow us to sell our product on site. This is an immediate return and always covers that cost of the even if any. Most of these events are fund raisers for some kind of non-profit and we sharethe profits so the organization and us both win. The only other events I like are invitation industry events like the one we were at tonight.

Tonight was a show put on by our distributor. Southern Wine & Spirits of Washington. We had let several prospective clients on the East side of the state know were were going to be there and we knew that a few big buyers would be there also.

Part of the night was a bit disappointing because there were several Southern reps that literally had no idea that they even represented Eve’s Moonshine. That was okay because. as soon as they tried it they got very enthused. So much so that several reps brought clients over to try it including the Walmart buyer! The Walmart buyer then brought over another rep to show him and they talked about a test 3 case order to see how it would do!

I don’t know if you caught that but, I said WALMART! Kind of a big deal. The other big highlight of the night was we may have gotten a representative contact to get into Idaho. That is a state we have been working on for a while but, has been a bit difficult.

Of course we had the usual reaction of oooohs and aaaaahs as people tried it for the first time and I think Southern will already have to be placing their 3rd order with us just to cover the interest we got at the show.

So I spent 14 hours plus about $100 in expenses to get over there and gained Walmart, several on and off premise locations plus a potential representative into Idaho. ROI = a big hell yeah!

Day 78 – Hey Starbucks, your a corporate bully!

So the main focus of this blog is my journey during this year as I push through and try to earn my first million dollars. The million dollars is just a goal as one needs to have a target if he want to hit it. It is a blog about my struggles and triumphs along the way. Some days are good and some are bad. I have been very honest about the fact that this blog is actually an accountability tool for me. It forced me to think every day about what I have done or left undone. Even more so I have to write that down in a very public format.

From time to time I may stray off subject a bit, as I am about to do tonight. Rest easy that it is still business and applicable to the larger picture. The life of a small business owner.

If I was going to open up a local grocery store I would no doubt be looking for the items that would draw customers to my store over the ones they are going to now. I mean lets face it everyone is getting along fine right now without my store. People make decisions on things like value, service, quality and convenience. They are willing to pay a bit more for some of these things but, hey a can of tuna and a bottle of mustard is the same where ever you go but the price may be different for a smaller grocer. His overhead is higher and he cannot buy in large quantities, so his price is most likely higher. The other passion that people have right now is small and local. It makes everyone feel good when they know their dollars are going right back into the local economy.

All that being said, if I had a great small local grocer that I wanted to open up and I chose my location next to a Walmart, everyone would think I was nuts. There is no way that I could compete on a day to day basis. Yes I would have people that would come for the good quality stuff but for the most part when they need a bag of dog food and some shampoo the big corporate store is going to win.

On the same account if I had a great shop and  Walmart decided to open up right next door on the adjoining property that would cause some outrage. We see it all over the country where a big national store will come in and within months the surrounding local places are closing or at least having a very hard time to keep the doors open. In most instances its just in the same small city not RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Most would consider this to be a corporate bullying move. A blatant attempt to steal business from a smaller local business knowing the effect it will have on that small business.

Yes there is room for competition and quality SHOULD win out over roll back pricing but over and over we see that it doesn’t. As much as we want to support the small guy when given a choice we go where the best value is. It may not be Walmart but it may be Albertsons. We have to be financially responsible with our own finances and the emotional benefit we get from supporting local just doesn’t work in our checkbooks.

We have a local espresso stand that got its start right here in my town. Its first location was a parking in front of an auto parts store. Recently Walgreens bought the property and the owner of the espresso stand had to move. He bought the property next door and moved his business. He did not just move the 25 year old building over to the new location, he built a brand new beautiful building on the location. He also remodeled the existing building on the property and leased it out to a subway franchise and a small tobacco and smoke shop. He did such an amazing job on the property he was recognized by the City Council and received an award for his beautification efforts in the old downtown corridor.

In the front of the new Walgreens that is being constructed where the auto parts store used to be, another structure is being built. I found out today that it will be a Starbucks Drive Thru location. This is literally 75 feet from this local Marysville espresso stand that has been here for over 25 years. RIGHT NEXT DOOR! They are so close that there may be traffic issues between the two stands.

I have said for a long time that Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee. They offer an okay consistent product at an inflated price. They are so big that they have actually changed the meaning of traditional espresso drinks. Go to an authentic Bistro and order a caramel macchiato and you will see what I mean. They are a large corporate entity that has deliberately set out to bully this small business and trying to take money out of his pocket. Even though they are a Washington company they are not what I would consider buying local or small. They are a publicly traded company that answers to stockholders.

The thing that stinks is that the City Council had to know 6 months ago when they gave this man an award for his buildings and recognized him as someone who contributes in the community. They had to know that Starbucks was building right next to him, permits and planning knew a long time ago. Shame on them and shame on Starbucks for such a poor decision.

I will not be buying another Starbucks cup of coffee . . . ever!