香草柠檬水，维·华盛顿
Based in 明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市, Pronounced "Van-Liss Lemonade" - Vanlice柠檬水 was founded in July of 2017 by Vee Washington, 谁开始制作世界上最好的柠檬水! 柠檬水可以在网上订购, and is distributed in nine Hy-Vee stores as well as independent retailers and restaurants.
我想对我来说，成功就是着陆 第一份Hy-Vee合同. 那是我人生的巅峰，现在我们做到了 九个Hy-Vee地点. 我们在几家餐馆、酒类商店和杂货店都有分店. 成功还包括与塔吉特(Target)等商店进行对话. They like the product, and I hope we can take the next steps with big box stores.
我在农贸市场也发现了成功. 当你有回头客时, 他们会告诉你反馈，还会带来朋友, 然后他们回家点餐, 这是通过口口相传实现的业务有机增长. I also like the Farmer's markets as an opportunity to hire college kids and younger adults and teach them entrepreneurship.
Vee crafted the formula for Vanlice柠檬水 after studying how different cultures made real, 纯天然柠檬水. 他看着亚洲人, 印度人, 拉美裔人, 印第安人, 美国人, 西非人和更多的人制作了他们最好的柠檬水. Vanlice柠檬水是一家由移民经营的家族企业. 柠檬水可以在网上订购, and distributed in nine Hy-Vee stores as well as independent retailers and restaurants.
我是第一代移民, 和真正的, the goal was to figure out how to develop the best lemonade possible and get back to real ingredients. There are just so many products out there that are artificial, especially for our kids. I found that a lot of beverages they say are healthy for you taste gross. 你必须同时开发出好吃的东西. 这是重点.
我也开始创建一个我可以和我的家人一起做的生意. My daughter Hazel (age 7) is actively working alongside me and learning how to be an entrepreneur. She has been helping me from day one, from washing lemons to putting things on the shelf. 我在教她什么是首席执行官
看着她成长为迷你CEO很有意思. In fact, Hazel's mini stand at the Farmer's market often does better than mine. I love teaching her that anything's possible as long as you want to do it, 只要你愿意，你就可以.
Vanlice柠檬水 is freshly squeezed lemonade with a hint of vanilla bean inside. We do everything ourselves, including producing our own vanilla bean. 我们也送货上门——老派的"送奶工"式. The whole idea was to bring it back to old-school lemonade and all-natural ingredients.
最爽的肯定是看到我女儿更成熟了 . I love creating with her and then seeing her test it out with friends and classmates and then hearing her feedback from school.
我也喜欢观察我们的顾客. 我会坐下来，看着顾客去拿柠檬水, 打开它, 他们不知道我是创造者. 我有时不告诉别人. 我观察他们脸上的表情. 我的天哪，这是什么? 孩子们拿着它，不想放下. It’s been a whole thing just watching the process and then hearing the feedback from people about how it’s natural and doesn’t give me that “nasty face” or those who say “I’m a diabetic, 这是我唯一能喝的东西.” So, it’s those type of things that have a positive impact on people.
Lows would be not knowing how much it takes to really grow a business especially when you are doing this full-time. It’s the hardest thing trying to budget your time with family and also being able to grow business too. Trying to manage the money aspect of it and also managing how fast we are selling through the product and not being able to have a set of capital to actually replenish. That is the biggest thing is the lack of capital to actually grow the business as far as we want to grow it.
一个人说:“你知道吗? 我爱你的柠檬水. 你需要检查SCORE.我说:“什么是皇冠现金官网??” He explained that SCORE is an organization of people who want to help business owners.
I was initially reluctant, but then we tried it out, and I knew it was different right away. 这是一种不同的氛围. These people know their stuff, and when you get their time, they can help you close some of the gaps.
SCORE是非常有益的. 这是一个不可思议的组织. 每次我见到我的导师, 这是一次令人兴奋的经历，我看到, 这就是我解决问题的方法, 否则他就会联系能帮我的人.
具体来说，他在战略和生产过程方面提供了帮助. We had to get a better schedule set up for the production and also understand what we needed to grow. 我们遇到了一个问题，很快就超出了我们的空间, 所以他为我们制定了一个完整的计划.
He’s in sales, and I’m in sales, so he understood and encouraged me to push beyond my comfort zone. That position forces you to work harder to sell because you need to. 有时很可怕, but we need encouragement from people like that who are very successful in their life and they know what it takes to get to that next level.
我现在的导师是格雷格. 我通常要花很长时间向人们解释我的业务, 但是当我们第一次见面的时候, 我说了该说的话, 他马上就明白了. He immediately drew out this whole board with suggestions for how to fix my issues. 我马上就能看出他和我一样对此充满热情. 他帮了大忙了.
我要给的第一个建议是，不要过早辞掉你的日常工作. I stepped away, and I should have probably waited a little bit longer. You will know when it’s time to leave the job, but it’s nice to have that backup plan.
第二，关注并倾听那些真正做过这件事的人. 每个人都想给你建议. 做这个，你应该做这个，你应该做那个. 我只是听取过的人的建议. I try to study the people I want to be like when it comes to business. 我研究它们是如何运作的, 他们是如何到达那里的, and then I keep trying to follow the steps (or skip some of the steps) they went through.
I think family tries really hard to protect you by telling you things that you shouldn’t do. They mean well, but I don’t think I’d be here if I listened to my family. 我可能早就辞职了.
我会说，跳上SCORE越快越好. 尽可能快地找到一位导师. And then pay attention to these emails that come in with workshops, 因为他们非常有帮助. I did a legal workshop on trademarking, it was crazy how much time and energy I saved.
SCORE closes the gaps of the things you don’t know and helps fill in the gaps you need to.
我喜欢问问题. 我很谦虚，这也是原因之一. So if somebody's willing to show me something, I'm willing to sit there and listen and learn.
My goal for the next three or five years is to be running at least a hundred stores. I’d also like to obtain either a large box store, like Target or Whole Foods. I’d also like to be able to figure out how to take my hands off of the business more as far as the production side of it and just focus on being able to interact with people and sell more accounts and just be able to free my time up a little bit more.
我的爱好是市场营销和广告. 这个市场营销的世界充满了惊人的活力...
