June 22, 2023 • 36 mins
By coming out of a pandemic and entering into a period of economic downpour, it has been a challenging time for many small businesses. Sometimes you have to adjust your plans during the ever changing economy. Co-founders of INI Sips and married couple, Gulaid and Davina Ismail share how their ideal plans of owning a local coffee shop changed after the spread of COVID-19 in 2020. They discuss how pivoting into e-commerce helped them salvage their business while also learning to grow in ways they never expected.
Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you keep your business thriving:
For more insights on adapting to economic changes, visit:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/running-a-business/what-is-stagflation/
For key takeaways from this week’s episode, visit:
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/running-a-business/mind-the-business-episode-7/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of Intuit, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands
or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or
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the information presented is for general information purposes only into
what QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or
(00:22):
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on them.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey everyone, I'm Austin.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Hankwitz and I'm Jennis Torres.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another episode of Mind the Business Small Business
Success Stories, a podcast by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
In each episode, Jennie and I chat with small business
owners as they share their stories about the ups and
downs of owning a small business. Plus we'll learn from
their experience about how you can help fortify and strengthen
your own business.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
That's exactly right. And today we have two incredibly special guests.
But before we meet them, Austin, I want to know
your thoughts on how your business has adapted to the
unexpected changes in the economy. We're currently still dealing with
high inflation rates in the country, and many businesses are
still recovering from COVID challenges. So how have you been
able to adapt to these changes that the economy has
(01:14):
thrown at you?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So, I think macroeconomic uncertainty impacts every business differently. Right
for those who sell hard goods, inflation and supply chain
are certainly a big deal. For those service based businesses
like myself, tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve is
likely causing some turbulence. Personally, I run a sponsor supported business,
I think advertisers, and when I've realized the macroeconomic conditions
(01:36):
are beginning to tighten up and folks weren't spending ad
dollars like they used to, I was forced to pivot
my business and adapt or realize that it might die.
So in my experience, that meant two things. Specifically, one
was to monetize my audience directly, not just having to
rely on these brand sponsors. And I did this through
a subscription newsletter. But for small business owners listening right now,
that might instead me and meeting customers closer to where
(01:58):
they're spending their money right, so that might be at church,
outside of grocery stores or other central meeting places and gatherings.
Now the second thing here for me was controlling the controllables.
So as a small business owner, you can only control
the controllables, which also means if life throws you a
curve ball, it's up to you to do everything you
can to take control and turn things around. A few
(02:18):
months ago, we had two huge clients cut their monthly
spend with us in a big way and this definitely
impacted our bottom lines in the short term. But back
to that idea of controlling the controllables, I went back
and thought what am I especially good at as an entrepreneur,
and to me, that's marketing. So in response to these cuts,
over the last three weeks, my team and I have
begun ramping up our marketing efforts, which we think will
(02:38):
completely make up for the drop and spend by those
two clients by at the end of the summer. So
it's all about having the self awareness to know what
you're good at as a small business owner and then
doubling down on that during times of uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, for me, I have always been the type of
business owner that's believed in the idea of multiple income streams,
and so I've diversified the way that I earn money
throughout my ten year career now as a content creator.
So instead of just relying on things like sponsored content
or affiliate marketing, I take advantage of all those different
streams of income and have about ten at this point
(03:12):
that I can kind of use as you know, levers,
if you will, that I can turn on and off
just depending on what's going on and also depending on
what kind of energy I have to invest in the business.
At some point, you're going to want to be able
to take a step back, and creating income streams that
aren't relying one hundred percent on your active effort are
something that I really focus on. So looking at opportunities
(03:33):
for passive income streams is a big thing for me.
And also I had to realize that as a business
coach and someone who sells higher ticket offers in times
of inflation, folks are going to have to decide when
and where they can spend money. And so how can I,
as business owner offer them access to my products but
not making them fork out, you know, multiple thousand dollars
(03:54):
at one time. So For me, that's looked like offering
payment plans for my different services and offerings so that
people can invest in my services but can do it
in a way that's more sustainable and allows them to
spread those payments over time.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That makes a lot of sense. And I really want
to unpack what you said there about like managing the
sort of cash flows and understanding these different sort of
income streams. How are you I mean, is there a
dashboard you have? What are you doing to specifically see Okay,
this income stream is going up, this one's coming down.
How do I double down on what's going up and
what's working versus how do I pull back time energy
away from what's not working? Walk me through that process.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, so that's where you need a very robust accounting
system like QuickBooks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, you know, you got.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
To know where this money is coming from, and so
being able to isolate where those different income streams are
coming from and also the cost associated with those income
streams is great because then you know how much is
this costing me to earn? And where are some areas
where I think I'm making money, but it's actually costing
me more than the effort that I'm putting behind it
and so quickbook's ability to have your chart of accounts
and your cost of goods and all that stuff is
(04:56):
really helpful for me to know exactly where I should
be focusing my effort as a business owner and what
income streams make the most sense for me to double
down on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
If you will, that makes a lot of sense. Well,
today on the show, we have two people who absolutely
know what it's like to deal with tough economic changes.
Innisips is your one stop shop for premium organic coffee
and tea. Created by Marine Corps veteran Gulaid is mailing
his wife Divina, Innisips is proud to be amongst the
(05:24):
growing population of community centered, family operated businesses in Connecticut
and North Carolina. Gulaid and Divina started Indisips in the
fall of twenty nineteen after finding themselves wanting to start
a business that involved their love of coffee and tea.
In January of twenty twenty, they opened their first coffee
and tea shop in New Britain, Connecticut, and two months
later the world shut down due to a global pandemic.
(05:46):
They changed Innisips in every possible way and expanded their
organic coffee and loosely ta options to better serve their
customer's requests. Indeesips put the community at their forefront and
has a goal of giving back to community heroes, first responders,
essential health workers, and nonprofits. So far, any SIPs has
already given away over four hundred pounds of coffee and
donates a portion of sales to numerous organizations within the
(06:08):
communities they serve. Ghulaid Divina, thank you so much for
joining us on today's episode.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Thank you, thank you for having us really excited.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So the name ANYSIPS. I love it. It's unique. I
gotta know how did you come up with it? And
does it have any significance?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
When we were trying to find a name, of course
there's a lot of coffee and tea companies out there.
We wanted something that meant something to us. So any
that I and I are the first letters of our
three children's names.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Got it okay? Very cool? Was that a quick realization?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
No, Actually, Gulay came up with it.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
We played around with a few names and we would
just try to figure out how can we incorporate the children.
It just rang and then we went from there with it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So was any SIPs. Y'all's first business venture it was.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Not the one that we've done mostly together, was a
children's clothing company. It was Culturable Babies, and we started
that when the kids were three and about one years old.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
The kids have been the center of a lot of
the ideas we've come up with.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I love the fact that this is a super family
oriented business and that you guys are using real life
inspiration and real life problems to figure out what that
next solution is that you're going to offer as a
business owner. So kudos to you guys for taking inspiration
from real life.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So you start this business and just two months later
the pandemic happens, what's your initial reaction?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Panic? For sure.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We had started the business with the idea of opening
a coffee shop and making it more community centered. We
had two long tables in there so that people could
sit together, talk with each other, communicate. It was bright,
it was small and cozy. Yeah, so everything we thought
we were going to be kind of just changed. Luckily,
(08:07):
we both had the foresight to have three packaged items
of coffee and three packaged items of tea, and we
had a website. We had learned how to do that
from our previous business, But after we dealt with the panic,
we realized, like, we have to do something to kind
of stay relevant and keep going, and luckily internet allows
(08:28):
people to do that. With Gulaid work and at the
VA hospital at the time, we knew that there was
difficulties and stress with the people that were still working.
So we wanted to find a way that we could
continue business, give back to the community in a different way,
but also grow the business as well, and keep going
in that time of uncertainty.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I think that's the nature of business, right It's just
being able to adapt to anything. And that's really the
theme of today's conversation. So how did you make that
determination of what you needed to do to keep the
business alive? Like, take me behind the scenes of what
you guys were brainstorming.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
First, we had to kind of talk ourselves through the
process of not being too attached to what we thought
we were going to be. I think that's one of
the things that we did right early on. As I said,
the community part of it was just coming into fruition.
We were having our regulars come in and order their
regular drinks and things, so detaching from what we thought
(09:27):
we were going to be and pretty quickly coming up
with what we could be and how that would look.
And then gulaid, maybe you could talk about what you
saw at the hospital that made us want to give
back to the community in a different way.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Like Davina said, the beginning part was panic because we
had invested quite a bit construction in the side of
the building. We've had the table setup, We've had customers
that we were starting to get to know. But at
the Via Hospital when I was working, I was screening
people for the coronavirus. There were just a lot of stress,
a lot of tired individuals, especially the healthcare work because
like the nurses, the nurses and assistants, you know, we
(10:03):
haven't lived through anything like this in our generation. So
just seeing the fair the unknown. It kind of reminded
me of being in a military. When you're going through
a city that you've never been through a combat zone.
You get nervous, but with that nervousness, you tend to
draw closer to those who are left and right of you.
And so I started to see the healthcare workers really
start to rely on each other and things just change.
(10:25):
It was like you know, we got to find a way.
We don't want to feel like we're not doing our
part as far as like coming together. So we figured
what better way to do that than a cup of coffee,
and what better way to do that than to donate.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, it weaves into the story that you mentioned in
the beginning, wanting to foster community, right, and so it's
just finding a different way to create that. So we
know that supply chain issues were and probably still are
to some extent, affecting a lot of business owners. And
I'm curious how your business was affected by the supply
chain and what did you do to keep your product
(11:00):
moving at a time when maybe the access that you
would expect is limited because of what's going on.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I mean, it all ties together really as glid mentions.
We donated, so we did buy two bags of coffee,
we would donate one and that allowed us to grow
online and thanks to social media, now we had people
all over the country and in a few other countries
that were sharing about us and spreading the word, which
(11:29):
was awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
We grew in a way that we wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Have expected or had ever thought about happening so quickly
as far as supply chain. We definitely experienced supply chain
issues and still currently if I'm being honest, as we
started to grow where we started off with three coffees
in three t's, by the end of twenty twenty, we
had about ten different coffee options and then about thirty
(11:57):
or forty different tea options. More recent in the last
couple of years, I think the trickle down effect from
the pandemic has affected a number of companies. Some place
is n't able to get the same ingredients and therefore
we can't make the same teas, so we've had to
adjust what we offer, but we've also had to adjust
(12:17):
our pricing, and on top of that, we've had to
adjust our customers expectations on what we can and can
offer and when things are going to be available. So
that's been an ongoing struggle. Most of the companies we
work with are other small businesses and they're dealing with
the same things. They might not have a bunch of
(12:38):
staff members, so it's not just the supply chain parts
of the business, but COVID has affected people medically and
then just normal family issues that happen.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So we just created a really loyal.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Customer base that have hung on there with us through
the ups and downs.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I love all that perspective to Vienna, and I really
want to double click actually into the e commerce side.
Right when businesses go from just brick and mortar to
now offering e commerce products, there is a massive influx
of demand, and I'm sure the supply chain also gets
kind of reworked a little bit. Can you walk us
through the specific things that you all adjusted or changed
to make sure that this e commerce side of the
(13:18):
business was successful.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
So one of the biggest things that we wanted to
do as we transition to e commerce was keep our
pricing at a fair rate. Our customer base is generally
between the dunkin Donuts customer maybe as Starbucks, where people
are interested in coffee and tea, but they want something
that's just a little bit more of an experience. So
(13:41):
what we've done is we've got high quality products. All
of our ingredients are direct trade and organic where we can,
and we keep the packaging simple, clean so that we
can spend more attention to quality products. And that's also
how during this time when we haven't been able to
(14:02):
get certain things in stock, because we're really focused on
sourcing quality ingredients and keeping true to that mantra for
any SIPs.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Just to add too, Divina does a great job keeping
a communication with the customers. We let them know it,
you know, please continue to work with us as we
go through these growing pains. And I think because you're
continually communicating, because communication is key, that's also what helps
with the brand loyalty and people actually want to continue
to stay with us.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
One thing that we started when we were doing the
online was we wrote handwritten notes on the invoices for people,
and when we had a few customers that was easy
to do, but we decided to continue doing that for
every single customer. By mid June, we should have reached
ten thousand orders on Why, which for us is huge,
(14:51):
and we even get Christmas cars. We get handwritten letters
from customers, which is really great, and we try to
remember things. If we have a conversation with someone online,
then we might write a note about it or send
them an email or something that's really personal to try
to keep connecting with them.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
How were you able to successfully build that sense of
community while everyone was not exactly meeting in person, Especially.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
In twenty twenty, the buy too Donate one really got
people on board. I think that helped people feel connected
because what we would do is we would ask them
for their social media handle, and we showed pictures of
us dropping it at the hospital or the fire station
or the police station, and then we would tag those
(15:37):
individuals online, so we would say this purchase is because
of so and so, and if we didn't have this
social media handle, we would just write the first name
and last initial. That way people could definitely see that
it was real, right.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And then also you we were to ask customers they
put and try to come up with names, fa tease
like little things like that to get the social media
presence and engagement because a lot of people are missing engagement.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, so those are one of the things. And then
working with various nonprofits as well, that's been another way
that we've helped people to feel connected. One of them
is coming up on three years since we've been working
with them, and that's Kids to Heart. What they do
is provide cancer care kits to patients for free. So
(16:22):
if you know someone who has cancer or has just
been diagnosed, you can send them a care kit. And
those care kits have a number of items.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
They have.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Two of our popularities in them. That's been really exciting
for us to be a part of that. And then
another one is Bromley Enterprises and we just collaborated with
them to create an actual coffee it's called the Neighborhood.
It's a Sumatra blend and a portion of sales from
that coffee goes to them. And what they do is
(16:52):
they help small businesses in the community in a various
number of ways, whether it's training, consulting, there's a number
of different things that they do to help other small
businesses in the area as well.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Coming up on Mind the Business Small Business success Stories.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
There's to of the gourgules out there, but the reality
is you're going to be your old bank. How would
that they look?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
We'll be right back after the break. Welcome back to
Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories brought to you
by iHeartRadio and Into It Quick Books. Okay, so we
(17:41):
know that there's a lot of money that goes into
opening a store and when you have to close, there's
potentially a lot of losses. So how are you able
to pivot from a storefront into an e commerce business
with the least amount of cash flow loss?
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Definitely was cash flow loss, but Ghulaid had the idea
before we started into SIPs and during the time that
we had Dribble Babies, was to buy real estate. If
you want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
We bought a commercial unit back in twenty sixteen, right
when the market was still kind of going through us
ups and down. So we got it at a great price,
and we realized that we needed to rent from ourselves
instead of going somewhere else. We were getting ready to
rent when we first started an entrepreneur adventure and we
met with the landlord and it was going to be
twelve hundred dollars a month for a year, and then
(18:31):
it would go up consecutively for the first three years.
You're locked in no matter if your business is doing
well or not. And so we realized we was like,
h you know, that doesn't necessarily sound too great when
you're starting out a venture. So luckily we were able
to get up small commercial unit, which we still have today,
and then I was still working my full time job.
I always tell people, you know, it's always good to
start something with passion, but you need capital to keep
(18:54):
it going. We were blessed because d Vena was able
and I don't want to minimize this at all, but
was able to stay home with our three children and
run the business while I worked at the VA hospital
did the nine to five thing. Why she was able
to stay with the children, incorporate them with the business,
making sure they were doing it online schooling, and also
(19:14):
making sure that the business was staying up and running.
So because we were renting out the space from ourselves,
there was no impact financially if we couldn't pay it
because I was still working. So it was kind of
that ecosystem that we kind of figured out that A,
if we have to stop paying rent, it's okay because
we'll figure it out from there. But that's how we
minimize the laws and I continue to work. That was essential.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, those multiple income streams are super important.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, I think that with a lot of small businesses.
Goyd said it right, it's fueled by passion, But the
reality is passion can only put you through for so long.
It's not lost on us that we've been lucky in
some of the decisions we made early on and been
able to continue.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You moving forward, I'd challenge you and say it's not luck,
it's strategy.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It's very strategic. So give yourself the credit that you deserve.
Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Did you see any difference in your overhead and operational
costs with that shift to e commerce versus the physical
in person business.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah, I think it was less about the shift from
in the store to e commerce and more about the
increased product offerings. Twenty twenty, we kind of had the
discussion that this isn't a typical year. It's our first
year in business, full year in business, but there was
a lot of things that happened for us that wouldn't
(20:45):
have normally happened. So we were a bit cautious rolling
with the idea that every year was going to be
as fruitful as twenty twenty was for us.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Specifically.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
We got shared a lot, we got a lot of press,
but we knew that may be twenty one, twenty two
and onwards would be very different, and so trying to
keep up with all the product offerings that we had
became quite challenging, and we're just now this year really
scaling back significantly in terms of what we offer, really
(21:17):
digging down kind of doing what we had to do
in twenty twenty and narrowing down our product offerings in
terms of detaching our emotional connection with some of the
blends that we have and that we love, and maybe
we're really big in the past, but the numbers aren't there.
We're scaling back in terms of making sure that we
(21:37):
can offer what we can offer consistently without having to
do as much up and down that we've had to
do in the last few years.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
And just the chime in too also, So the overhead
changed in a sense when we had customers. The two
months that we had customers, they were sitting in and
they were stayed pretty much all day, so you will
be losing electricity. Internet. Those type of things would change
though after twenty twenty and only twenty one twenty two,
as more people started to create businesses online, you start
to see duplicates of what you were doing online. So
(22:07):
then we had to compete as far as our finances
went up in different ways. How do we shift with
our social media, how do we increase our presence. So
we saw an overhead costs that way, So it just
switched from being a brick and mortar now to being online.
And what we realize is that people have a very
short attention span, right, so you have to continue with
the creativity and even now going into twenty three, now
(22:30):
that the country's open more again and people are feel
the more comfortable, you're seeing more people going back into
the stores than they were in twenty two and twenty one.
So there's always a constant pivot. So to says, how
do you continue to keep your business in people's minds?
And so it's just the cost change to do that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, you know, when you are making that transition from
a storefront to an online business, maybe your goals have
to change, right, So how did you transition those sales
goals and your overall metris of success? Because you can
think about, Okay, if I have a coffee shop, I
want to line out the door. That's how I know
I'm successful. But what does that look like when you're
transitioning to online.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
We went by how many people were getting referred back
to us, So we looked at new customers, we looked
at messages that we were getting on all the data
analytics side, we looked at returning customers because we really
wanted to create a loyal customer base. So we started
focusing a little less on obtaining new customers and focusing
(23:31):
on keeping the customers that we had we have a
pretty high I think it's above seventy percent returning customer rate.
That's one thing that we've tried to maintain. How do
we keep customers coming back? And that's been our focus
as opposed to trying to grow our online social media base.
It's more about how do we cater to those customers
(23:52):
that have come our way and how do we keep
them here.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, I think that's a gem, right, because I think
some people can think that followers equals dollars. But at
the end of the day, you know, those customers that
have already made that investment in you are the ones
that you really should be focusing on because they've already
proven that. You know, you've made that connection and you've
built that trust. Okay, So I would consider y'all to
be experts of the pivot at this point. So tell
us a little bit about how this experience has taught
(24:17):
you to prepare for the nature of business, which is
ever volatile, ever changing. You know, you don't have control
over a lot of things, but how can you prepare
for the volatility that comes with entrepreneurship.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I'm not sure that you can prepare. I think it's
just a mindset that you have to have that things
are going to change. We're currently in a place of
change right now, making some big decisions on the direction
of the business and knowing that you want the business
to be successful should be the premise, but what that
looks like should be continuously flexible, and how you're going
(24:52):
to get this should also be continuously flexible from a
business standpoint. This new technology all the time, different apps
that you can use on your website, there's so much.
I know, the hot topic right now is AI and
how you can help that to leverage your business. So
it's just using the technology that's available out there and
(25:13):
not being tied to any one idea of what your
business looks like, because it's okay if it changes.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Like Devina said too, you have to be mindful not
to fall in love with your the way you think
things will go, because customers ultimately dictate the direction that
things should go. I think we've kind of lived our
lives in a sense of, you know, always be prepared
for the next because you just don't know what's coming.
You don't want to be that company that continue to
go down the same way and thought it would work
and then eventually they end up going out of business,
(25:40):
so you constantly got to In the military, we always
say you have to learn your enemy, right, not necessarily anyway,
you got to learn your competitor and make sure that
you're keeping up and seeing what they're doing that may
be different or finding out new ways. You have to
stay innovative or you will disappear. Like we've seen some
great companies, but I think the key thing is not
to fall in love, which you think might work, because
they you'll end up becoming a dinosaur and everyone else
(26:02):
will move on while you're stuck with all this product.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Don't want to be stuck with a bunch of product.
I will say, though, t Rex is, those are some
pretty cool dinosaurs. I feel like if I could be
any dinosaur, i'd be a t Rex. Hey, so here's
here's something I got for you. You've mentioned supply chain a
few times, but I haven't yet heard the word inflation.
Has inflation impacted your business at all?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Oh? Definitely, Oh god, it definitely has. We're trying to
keep our costs at a place where our customers are
used to but also we can continue the business. It's
a very delicate balance in scale on being able to
pay for the things we need to pay for while
also making money. We're a for profit business, so we
(26:45):
have to have a balance between the two. So that's
one of the things that we've been continuously working on
the biggest place where we see the inflation issues is
just with the vendors that we work with, and they're
increased pricing and making sure that we're covering that and
absorbing that with our margins.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Do you have any maybe words of advice for small
business owners listening right now who might be struggling with
inflation or supply chain challenges.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Small businesses should be looking at what the last few
years has looked like, even if they're in a startup phase.
Speaking to business other small businesses and finding out what
they did, it can kind of give you a pretext
on how to run your business. Pricing needs to be
at a point that it can absorb surprise price hikes.
Have multiple vendors that offer the same thing, so I
(27:38):
think if you can keep an eye on who you're
working with, what their values are, and talking to them
about that. Being transparent with customers is also important if
you are dealing with issues, letting them know, like, look,
we didn't get this in on time. Our apologies. Do
you want a refund or do you want to wait?
Are you willing to wait? A lot of times people
(28:00):
await and it's fine if they ask for a refund.
We don't take it personal and we understand. Sometimes you
want your coffee and you want it now, so we
get that and we totally understand.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
And just to add to that too, always make sure
that you have enough capital. There's always these things where
you can start off with one hundred dollars and five
hundred dollars and that's it. But if it works, kudos steel.
But the reality is you need capital to run a business.
There's different platforms that will allow you to get loans.
Sometimes you won't get them from the banks. But always
have a social income. If you're working. I always say,
(28:32):
do not give up that job just yet. Passion doesn't
feed the capital needed for a business. Do a projection,
See what happens if you have a loan on do
studies find out? Okay, if I want to go into
I don't know, furniture business, find out one are the
times that they're not making money. You have to study
the market because again, capital is one of the huge
issues that could come up with the company, especially a
(28:53):
small business. Lucky for us, we started off small at
the farmer's market. We tested our products. We were all
a small quantity, figure out how we're going to do things,
and then people say, hey, this is great, Okay, how
can we scale from there? There's tons of gurules out there,
But the reality is you're going to be your.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Own bank out of that day.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Look, I'm gonna just be honest with you, especially when
you're starting out small.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I mean we've all watched Shark Tank, right, Mister Wonderful
always says cash gotta get that cash flow exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah, And I'd just like to add gooad. You made
me think about something like, as a small business, it's
really hard to work with some vendors because they might
want a minimum order quantity of I don't know, for
the ginger in your tea, you need to spend one
thousand dollars on just ginger. If you can't afford it,
don't go with that company because then you're stuck with
(29:44):
things that you might not be able to use. Just
go small and work with smaller companies until your capital
is increased and you can maybe expand and get those
larger quantity.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Orders and relationships are everything you have to build not
only relationships with your customers but also with your vendors
because when you build those relationships, you lay out the expectation,
this is what we're able to do. Are you able
to meet that? Because again, it's the business that you're
trying to create. To me, that's everything.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I appreciate all that added color, and you know I
couldn't agree more so.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Tell us what is next for any SIPs.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Well, that's a great question right now. Right now we
are seeing what any SIPs will look like for the
next few years. We're at a pivotal point. We've got
a lot of data to kind of comb through and
figure out what our next move is and how we
can do that sustainably. One of the biggest things that
(30:39):
we're kind of focused on right now is e commerce
will kind of be for our direct consumer customer relationships,
but then working with bigger organizations like the grocery stores
and that kind of a thing is something that we're
definitely looking at. It's worked really well for us so far,
and it's brought customers to our website after they found
(31:00):
us in grocery stores.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
As well. I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I think this last question is kind of like the
equivalent of asking which of your children is your favorite child?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
But I'm gonna risk it.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
What is your favorite flavor that you sell at any SIPs?
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Oh? So for coffee flavored coffee? I love our salted
caramel Coffee's that sounds cool.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Chris right, It's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
It started off as just being offered during the Christmas time,
and then our customers immediately told us that they want
to year around, so we have salted caramel all the time.
That's my favorite coffee, and turmeric ginger is my favorite tea.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
I love the Moto. That's one of those things you
used to say, the Marine Corp and the Moto just
because it has a it's a nice bowl taste, but
it gives you that charge that you need. So you know,
if I'm being given my honey to do list, I'll
drink a cup of Moto first to make sure I
get everything shacked off and as far as the t goes.
Like the Earl gray lavender, which is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I'm definitely a fan of Earl gray lavender. I make
lemonade with it all the time. Oh yeah, so I'm
gonna have to pick up some of that.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, awesome, Oh yeah, I cannot wait to try that
salted caramel.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Thank you all so much for joining us on this
episode of Mind the Business Small Business success Stories. We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Gosh, that was such an awesome conversation with Tavina and
Gulaid Genius. I gotta know what's stuck out from that
conversation to you the most well.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Ghulaid's quote around you're going to be your own bank
was definitely something that I can relate to. I think
I was a little naive in the idea that because
I had great personal credit that it was just going
to automatically translate to my business. And so when I
got rejected from my first business credit card, I was like,
wait a minute, what's going on. I have excellent credit.
Why are they not able to see that? And so
(32:59):
I had to understand that like your business builds its
own credit, and you have to basically prove to the
banks that your business is going to be successful for
the long term before they decide to give you lines
of credit. And so my paycheck was my first angel investor,
if you will, into my business, and I always tell
my own students that that paycheck is going to be
usually where you're going to get your first capital to
(33:20):
invest in your business. So that was definitely number one
for me. And I really love their risk mitigation strategies
where they purchased real estate a commercial property and kind
of use that as sort of a protection, a risk
mitigation process in order to deal with, you know, the
fluctuations that come with the economy. So I really love
to see kind of that. Trying to predict the future.
(33:42):
Obviously we never know what's going to happen, but trying
to put those things in place that can give you
a little bit of that runway that we need as
new business owners. I think it's really important. How about you, Austin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Well, shout out to Gooley for buying real estate in
twenty sixteen. I'm sure that has appreciated a lot, so
that is very cool for him. I think two things
stuck out to me. The first one is when Divina
was talking about how she also had some experience building
websites for her previous venture that her and her husband
had together. She kind of took those experiences and that
skill set and moved it over and leaned into it
(34:12):
when they started doing this e commerce kind of pivot.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So I think just like learning from past experiences and
bringing that skill set into your new venture and adapting
and making sure that you're doing all these cool things
in a new way is just super super important. So
I having that self awareness, I think, is that first step.
And then back to what you were saying before. You know,
passion fuels the small business in the beginning, but capital
is what keeps it going, right, And so in my
(34:35):
personal experience, I was working my nine to five job
out of college while simultaneously building my business on the side. Right,
So some nine to five hours working, I'd have some dinner,
and then from like eight to midnight, that was the
time I'd use to build the business. Right. That was
that passion. But to your point too about that paycheck,
the paycheck is what fueled the business. After the passion
was like, dang, I'm getting real tired working till midnight
every night, right, So I think, you know, this conversation
(34:59):
was absolutely incredible. Well, I learned a lot. The gems
that both Gulaid and Divina shared with us were absolutely incredible,
And I'm really really excited to buy some salted caramel coffee.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Me too, Me too.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, thanks everyone, that's it for today's episode. You can
find me on social media at Austin Hankwitz and you.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Can find me at jochierro dinetto podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
You can follow Into It QuickBooks on all social media
at QuickBooks, and to get the tools you need to start,
run and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Catch the season finale episode of Mind the Business Small
Business success Stories on Thursday, July sixth, where we speak
to Chris Treebis about how he scaled his event venue
and concert booking business in the Greater Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
You won't want to miss that one, so don't forget
to follow, rate, and review this show wherever you listen
to podcasts so you can stay updated on our future episodes, and.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Check out our episode show notes for more information from
this episode about adjusting to an economic shock, and a
huge thank you to our guests Gulaid and Divina. You
can order their premium coffee and tea at any SIPs
dot com. That's I N I S I p s
dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Our executive producer is Molly Soosha, our supervising producer is
Nikia Swinton, and our writer is Tyree Rush.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Our Head of post production is James Foster. And we
will see you next time.
The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are
solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent
those of Intuit, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands
or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or
other professional advice or services. No assurance is given that
the info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, and
the information presented is for general information purposes only into
what QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or
(00:22):
revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying
on them.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey everyone, I'm Austin.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Hankwitz and I'm Jennis Torres.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another episode of Mind the Business Small Business
Success Stories, a podcast by iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
In each episode, Jennie and I chat with small business
owners as they share their stories about the ups and
downs of owning a small business. Plus we'll learn from
their experience about how you can help fortify and strengthen
your own business.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
That's exactly right. And today we have two incredibly special guests.
But before we meet them, Austin, I want to know
your thoughts on how your business has adapted to the
unexpected changes in the economy. We're currently still dealing with
high inflation rates in the country, and many businesses are
still recovering from COVID challenges. So how have you been
able to adapt to these changes that the economy has
(01:14):
thrown at you?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So, I think macroeconomic uncertainty impacts every business differently. Right
for those who sell hard goods, inflation and supply chain
are certainly a big deal. For those service based businesses
like myself, tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve is
likely causing some turbulence. Personally, I run a sponsor supported business,
I think advertisers, and when I've realized the macroeconomic conditions
(01:36):
are beginning to tighten up and folks weren't spending ad
dollars like they used to, I was forced to pivot
my business and adapt or realize that it might die.
So in my experience, that meant two things. Specifically, one
was to monetize my audience directly, not just having to
rely on these brand sponsors. And I did this through
a subscription newsletter. But for small business owners listening right now,
that might instead me and meeting customers closer to where
(01:58):
they're spending their money right, so that might be at church,
outside of grocery stores or other central meeting places and gatherings.
Now the second thing here for me was controlling the controllables.
So as a small business owner, you can only control
the controllables, which also means if life throws you a
curve ball, it's up to you to do everything you
can to take control and turn things around. A few
(02:18):
months ago, we had two huge clients cut their monthly
spend with us in a big way and this definitely
impacted our bottom lines in the short term. But back
to that idea of controlling the controllables, I went back
and thought what am I especially good at as an entrepreneur,
and to me, that's marketing. So in response to these cuts,
over the last three weeks, my team and I have
begun ramping up our marketing efforts, which we think will
(02:38):
completely make up for the drop and spend by those
two clients by at the end of the summer. So
it's all about having the self awareness to know what
you're good at as a small business owner and then
doubling down on that during times of uncertainty.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, for me, I have always been the type of
business owner that's believed in the idea of multiple income streams,
and so I've diversified the way that I earn money
throughout my ten year career now as a content creator.
So instead of just relying on things like sponsored content
or affiliate marketing, I take advantage of all those different
streams of income and have about ten at this point
(03:12):
that I can kind of use as you know, levers,
if you will, that I can turn on and off
just depending on what's going on and also depending on
what kind of energy I have to invest in the business.
At some point, you're going to want to be able
to take a step back, and creating income streams that
aren't relying one hundred percent on your active effort are
something that I really focus on. So looking at opportunities
(03:33):
for passive income streams is a big thing for me.
And also I had to realize that as a business
coach and someone who sells higher ticket offers in times
of inflation, folks are going to have to decide when
and where they can spend money. And so how can I,
as business owner offer them access to my products but
not making them fork out, you know, multiple thousand dollars
(03:54):
at one time. So For me, that's looked like offering
payment plans for my different services and offerings so that
people can invest in my services but can do it
in a way that's more sustainable and allows them to
spread those payments over time.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
That makes a lot of sense. And I really want
to unpack what you said there about like managing the
sort of cash flows and understanding these different sort of
income streams. How are you I mean, is there a
dashboard you have? What are you doing to specifically see Okay,
this income stream is going up, this one's coming down.
How do I double down on what's going up and
what's working versus how do I pull back time energy
away from what's not working? Walk me through that process.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, so that's where you need a very robust accounting
system like QuickBooks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, you know, you got.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
To know where this money is coming from, and so
being able to isolate where those different income streams are
coming from and also the cost associated with those income
streams is great because then you know how much is
this costing me to earn? And where are some areas
where I think I'm making money, but it's actually costing
me more than the effort that I'm putting behind it
and so quickbook's ability to have your chart of accounts
and your cost of goods and all that stuff is
(04:56):
really helpful for me to know exactly where I should
be focusing my effort as a business owner and what
income streams make the most sense for me to double
down on.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
If you will, that makes a lot of sense. Well,
today on the show, we have two people who absolutely
know what it's like to deal with tough economic changes.
Innisips is your one stop shop for premium organic coffee
and tea. Created by Marine Corps veteran Gulaid is mailing
his wife Divina, Innisips is proud to be amongst the
(05:24):
growing population of community centered, family operated businesses in Connecticut
and North Carolina. Gulaid and Divina started Indisips in the
fall of twenty nineteen after finding themselves wanting to start
a business that involved their love of coffee and tea.
In January of twenty twenty, they opened their first coffee
and tea shop in New Britain, Connecticut, and two months
later the world shut down due to a global pandemic.
(05:46):
They changed Innisips in every possible way and expanded their
organic coffee and loosely ta options to better serve their
customer's requests. Indeesips put the community at their forefront and
has a goal of giving back to community heroes, first responders,
essential health workers, and nonprofits. So far, any SIPs has
already given away over four hundred pounds of coffee and
donates a portion of sales to numerous organizations within the
(06:08):
communities they serve. Ghulaid Divina, thank you so much for
joining us on today's episode.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Thank you, thank you for having us really excited.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So the name ANYSIPS. I love it. It's unique. I
gotta know how did you come up with it? And
does it have any significance?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
When we were trying to find a name, of course
there's a lot of coffee and tea companies out there.
We wanted something that meant something to us. So any
that I and I are the first letters of our
three children's names.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Got it okay? Very cool? Was that a quick realization?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
No, Actually, Gulay came up with it.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
We played around with a few names and we would
just try to figure out how can we incorporate the children.
It just rang and then we went from there with it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So was any SIPs. Y'all's first business venture it was.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Not the one that we've done mostly together, was a
children's clothing company. It was Culturable Babies, and we started
that when the kids were three and about one years old.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
The kids have been the center of a lot of
the ideas we've come up with.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I love the fact that this is a super family
oriented business and that you guys are using real life
inspiration and real life problems to figure out what that
next solution is that you're going to offer as a
business owner. So kudos to you guys for taking inspiration
from real life.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So you start this business and just two months later
the pandemic happens, what's your initial reaction?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Panic? For sure.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We had started the business with the idea of opening
a coffee shop and making it more community centered. We
had two long tables in there so that people could
sit together, talk with each other, communicate. It was bright,
it was small and cozy. Yeah, so everything we thought
we were going to be kind of just changed. Luckily,
(08:07):
we both had the foresight to have three packaged items
of coffee and three packaged items of tea, and we
had a website. We had learned how to do that
from our previous business, But after we dealt with the panic,
we realized, like, we have to do something to kind
of stay relevant and keep going, and luckily internet allows
(08:28):
people to do that. With Gulaid work and at the
VA hospital at the time, we knew that there was
difficulties and stress with the people that were still working.
So we wanted to find a way that we could
continue business, give back to the community in a different way,
but also grow the business as well, and keep going
in that time of uncertainty.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I think that's the nature of business, right It's just
being able to adapt to anything. And that's really the
theme of today's conversation. So how did you make that
determination of what you needed to do to keep the
business alive? Like, take me behind the scenes of what
you guys were brainstorming.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
First, we had to kind of talk ourselves through the
process of not being too attached to what we thought
we were going to be. I think that's one of
the things that we did right early on. As I said,
the community part of it was just coming into fruition.
We were having our regulars come in and order their
regular drinks and things, so detaching from what we thought
(09:27):
we were going to be and pretty quickly coming up
with what we could be and how that would look.
And then gulaid, maybe you could talk about what you
saw at the hospital that made us want to give
back to the community in a different way.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Like Davina said, the beginning part was panic because we
had invested quite a bit construction in the side of
the building. We've had the table setup, We've had customers
that we were starting to get to know. But at
the Via Hospital when I was working, I was screening
people for the coronavirus. There were just a lot of stress,
a lot of tired individuals, especially the healthcare work because
like the nurses, the nurses and assistants, you know, we
(10:03):
haven't lived through anything like this in our generation. So
just seeing the fair the unknown. It kind of reminded
me of being in a military. When you're going through
a city that you've never been through a combat zone.
You get nervous, but with that nervousness, you tend to
draw closer to those who are left and right of you.
And so I started to see the healthcare workers really
start to rely on each other and things just change.
(10:25):
It was like you know, we got to find a way.
We don't want to feel like we're not doing our
part as far as like coming together. So we figured
what better way to do that than a cup of coffee,
and what better way to do that than to donate.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, it weaves into the story that you mentioned in
the beginning, wanting to foster community, right, and so it's
just finding a different way to create that. So we
know that supply chain issues were and probably still are
to some extent, affecting a lot of business owners. And
I'm curious how your business was affected by the supply
chain and what did you do to keep your product
(11:00):
moving at a time when maybe the access that you
would expect is limited because of what's going on.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I mean, it all ties together really as glid mentions.
We donated, so we did buy two bags of coffee,
we would donate one and that allowed us to grow
online and thanks to social media, now we had people
all over the country and in a few other countries
that were sharing about us and spreading the word, which
(11:29):
was awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
We grew in a way that we wouldn't.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Have expected or had ever thought about happening so quickly
as far as supply chain. We definitely experienced supply chain
issues and still currently if I'm being honest, as we
started to grow where we started off with three coffees
in three t's, by the end of twenty twenty, we
had about ten different coffee options and then about thirty
(11:57):
or forty different tea options. More recent in the last
couple of years, I think the trickle down effect from
the pandemic has affected a number of companies. Some place
is n't able to get the same ingredients and therefore
we can't make the same teas, so we've had to
adjust what we offer, but we've also had to adjust
(12:17):
our pricing, and on top of that, we've had to
adjust our customers expectations on what we can and can
offer and when things are going to be available. So
that's been an ongoing struggle. Most of the companies we
work with are other small businesses and they're dealing with
the same things. They might not have a bunch of
(12:38):
staff members, so it's not just the supply chain parts
of the business, but COVID has affected people medically and
then just normal family issues that happen.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So we just created a really loyal.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Customer base that have hung on there with us through
the ups and downs.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I love all that perspective to Vienna, and I really
want to double click actually into the e commerce side.
Right when businesses go from just brick and mortar to
now offering e commerce products, there is a massive influx
of demand, and I'm sure the supply chain also gets
kind of reworked a little bit. Can you walk us
through the specific things that you all adjusted or changed
to make sure that this e commerce side of the
(13:18):
business was successful.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
So one of the biggest things that we wanted to
do as we transition to e commerce was keep our
pricing at a fair rate. Our customer base is generally
between the dunkin Donuts customer maybe as Starbucks, where people
are interested in coffee and tea, but they want something
that's just a little bit more of an experience. So
(13:41):
what we've done is we've got high quality products. All
of our ingredients are direct trade and organic where we can,
and we keep the packaging simple, clean so that we
can spend more attention to quality products. And that's also
how during this time when we haven't been able to
(14:02):
get certain things in stock, because we're really focused on
sourcing quality ingredients and keeping true to that mantra for
any SIPs.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Just to add too, Divina does a great job keeping
a communication with the customers. We let them know it,
you know, please continue to work with us as we
go through these growing pains. And I think because you're
continually communicating, because communication is key, that's also what helps
with the brand loyalty and people actually want to continue
to stay with us.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
One thing that we started when we were doing the
online was we wrote handwritten notes on the invoices for people,
and when we had a few customers that was easy
to do, but we decided to continue doing that for
every single customer. By mid June, we should have reached
ten thousand orders on Why, which for us is huge,
(14:51):
and we even get Christmas cars. We get handwritten letters
from customers, which is really great, and we try to
remember things. If we have a conversation with someone online,
then we might write a note about it or send
them an email or something that's really personal to try
to keep connecting with them.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
How were you able to successfully build that sense of
community while everyone was not exactly meeting in person, Especially.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
In twenty twenty, the buy too Donate one really got
people on board. I think that helped people feel connected
because what we would do is we would ask them
for their social media handle, and we showed pictures of
us dropping it at the hospital or the fire station
or the police station, and then we would tag those
(15:37):
individuals online, so we would say this purchase is because
of so and so, and if we didn't have this
social media handle, we would just write the first name
and last initial. That way people could definitely see that
it was real, right.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And then also you we were to ask customers they
put and try to come up with names, fa tease
like little things like that to get the social media
presence and engagement because a lot of people are missing engagement.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, so those are one of the things. And then
working with various nonprofits as well, that's been another way
that we've helped people to feel connected. One of them
is coming up on three years since we've been working
with them, and that's Kids to Heart. What they do
is provide cancer care kits to patients for free. So
(16:22):
if you know someone who has cancer or has just
been diagnosed, you can send them a care kit. And
those care kits have a number of items.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
They have.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Two of our popularities in them. That's been really exciting
for us to be a part of that. And then
another one is Bromley Enterprises and we just collaborated with
them to create an actual coffee it's called the Neighborhood.
It's a Sumatra blend and a portion of sales from
that coffee goes to them. And what they do is
(16:52):
they help small businesses in the community in a various
number of ways, whether it's training, consulting, there's a number
of different things that they do to help other small
businesses in the area as well.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Coming up on Mind the Business Small Business success Stories.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
There's to of the gourgules out there, but the reality
is you're going to be your old bank. How would
that they look?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
We'll be right back after the break. Welcome back to
Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories brought to you
by iHeartRadio and Into It Quick Books. Okay, so we
(17:41):
know that there's a lot of money that goes into
opening a store and when you have to close, there's
potentially a lot of losses. So how are you able
to pivot from a storefront into an e commerce business
with the least amount of cash flow loss?
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Definitely was cash flow loss, but Ghulaid had the idea
before we started into SIPs and during the time that
we had Dribble Babies, was to buy real estate. If
you want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
We bought a commercial unit back in twenty sixteen, right
when the market was still kind of going through us
ups and down. So we got it at a great price,
and we realized that we needed to rent from ourselves
instead of going somewhere else. We were getting ready to
rent when we first started an entrepreneur adventure and we
met with the landlord and it was going to be
twelve hundred dollars a month for a year, and then
(18:31):
it would go up consecutively for the first three years.
You're locked in no matter if your business is doing
well or not. And so we realized we was like,
h you know, that doesn't necessarily sound too great when
you're starting out a venture. So luckily we were able
to get up small commercial unit, which we still have today,
and then I was still working my full time job.
I always tell people, you know, it's always good to
start something with passion, but you need capital to keep
(18:54):
it going. We were blessed because d Vena was able
and I don't want to minimize this at all, but
was able to stay home with our three children and
run the business while I worked at the VA hospital
did the nine to five thing. Why she was able
to stay with the children, incorporate them with the business,
making sure they were doing it online schooling, and also
(19:14):
making sure that the business was staying up and running.
So because we were renting out the space from ourselves,
there was no impact financially if we couldn't pay it
because I was still working. So it was kind of
that ecosystem that we kind of figured out that A,
if we have to stop paying rent, it's okay because
we'll figure it out from there. But that's how we
minimize the laws and I continue to work. That was essential.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, those multiple income streams are super important.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, I think that with a lot of small businesses.
Goyd said it right, it's fueled by passion, But the
reality is passion can only put you through for so long.
It's not lost on us that we've been lucky in
some of the decisions we made early on and been
able to continue.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You moving forward, I'd challenge you and say it's not luck,
it's strategy.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It's very strategic. So give yourself the credit that you deserve.
Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Did you see any difference in your overhead and operational
costs with that shift to e commerce versus the physical
in person business.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Yeah, I think it was less about the shift from
in the store to e commerce and more about the
increased product offerings. Twenty twenty, we kind of had the
discussion that this isn't a typical year. It's our first
year in business, full year in business, but there was
a lot of things that happened for us that wouldn't
(20:45):
have normally happened. So we were a bit cautious rolling
with the idea that every year was going to be
as fruitful as twenty twenty was for us.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Specifically.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
We got shared a lot, we got a lot of press,
but we knew that may be twenty one, twenty two
and onwards would be very different, and so trying to
keep up with all the product offerings that we had
became quite challenging, and we're just now this year really
scaling back significantly in terms of what we offer, really
(21:17):
digging down kind of doing what we had to do
in twenty twenty and narrowing down our product offerings in
terms of detaching our emotional connection with some of the
blends that we have and that we love, and maybe
we're really big in the past, but the numbers aren't there.
We're scaling back in terms of making sure that we
(21:37):
can offer what we can offer consistently without having to
do as much up and down that we've had to
do in the last few years.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
And just the chime in too also, So the overhead
changed in a sense when we had customers. The two
months that we had customers, they were sitting in and
they were stayed pretty much all day, so you will
be losing electricity. Internet. Those type of things would change
though after twenty twenty and only twenty one twenty two,
as more people started to create businesses online, you start
to see duplicates of what you were doing online. So
(22:07):
then we had to compete as far as our finances
went up in different ways. How do we shift with
our social media, how do we increase our presence. So
we saw an overhead costs that way, So it just
switched from being a brick and mortar now to being online.
And what we realize is that people have a very
short attention span, right, so you have to continue with
the creativity and even now going into twenty three, now
(22:30):
that the country's open more again and people are feel
the more comfortable, you're seeing more people going back into
the stores than they were in twenty two and twenty one.
So there's always a constant pivot. So to says, how
do you continue to keep your business in people's minds?
And so it's just the cost change to do that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, you know, when you are making that transition from
a storefront to an online business, maybe your goals have
to change, right, So how did you transition those sales
goals and your overall metris of success? Because you can
think about, Okay, if I have a coffee shop, I
want to line out the door. That's how I know
I'm successful. But what does that look like when you're
transitioning to online.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
We went by how many people were getting referred back
to us, So we looked at new customers, we looked
at messages that we were getting on all the data
analytics side, we looked at returning customers because we really
wanted to create a loyal customer base. So we started
focusing a little less on obtaining new customers and focusing
(23:31):
on keeping the customers that we had we have a
pretty high I think it's above seventy percent returning customer rate.
That's one thing that we've tried to maintain. How do
we keep customers coming back? And that's been our focus
as opposed to trying to grow our online social media base.
It's more about how do we cater to those customers
(23:52):
that have come our way and how do we keep
them here.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, I think that's a gem, right, because I think
some people can think that followers equals dollars. But at
the end of the day, you know, those customers that
have already made that investment in you are the ones
that you really should be focusing on because they've already
proven that. You know, you've made that connection and you've
built that trust. Okay, So I would consider y'all to
be experts of the pivot at this point. So tell
us a little bit about how this experience has taught
(24:17):
you to prepare for the nature of business, which is
ever volatile, ever changing. You know, you don't have control
over a lot of things, but how can you prepare
for the volatility that comes with entrepreneurship.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I'm not sure that you can prepare. I think it's
just a mindset that you have to have that things
are going to change. We're currently in a place of
change right now, making some big decisions on the direction
of the business and knowing that you want the business
to be successful should be the premise, but what that
looks like should be continuously flexible, and how you're going
(24:52):
to get this should also be continuously flexible from a
business standpoint. This new technology all the time, different apps
that you can use on your website, there's so much.
I know, the hot topic right now is AI and
how you can help that to leverage your business. So
it's just using the technology that's available out there and
(25:13):
not being tied to any one idea of what your
business looks like, because it's okay if it changes.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Like Devina said too, you have to be mindful not
to fall in love with your the way you think
things will go, because customers ultimately dictate the direction that
things should go. I think we've kind of lived our
lives in a sense of, you know, always be prepared
for the next because you just don't know what's coming.
You don't want to be that company that continue to
go down the same way and thought it would work
and then eventually they end up going out of business,
(25:40):
so you constantly got to In the military, we always
say you have to learn your enemy, right, not necessarily anyway,
you got to learn your competitor and make sure that
you're keeping up and seeing what they're doing that may
be different or finding out new ways. You have to
stay innovative or you will disappear. Like we've seen some
great companies, but I think the key thing is not
to fall in love, which you think might work, because
they you'll end up becoming a dinosaur and everyone else
(26:02):
will move on while you're stuck with all this product.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Don't want to be stuck with a bunch of product.
I will say, though, t Rex is, those are some
pretty cool dinosaurs. I feel like if I could be
any dinosaur, i'd be a t Rex. Hey, so here's
here's something I got for you. You've mentioned supply chain a
few times, but I haven't yet heard the word inflation.
Has inflation impacted your business at all?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Oh? Definitely, Oh god, it definitely has. We're trying to
keep our costs at a place where our customers are
used to but also we can continue the business. It's
a very delicate balance in scale on being able to
pay for the things we need to pay for while
also making money. We're a for profit business, so we
(26:45):
have to have a balance between the two. So that's
one of the things that we've been continuously working on
the biggest place where we see the inflation issues is
just with the vendors that we work with, and they're
increased pricing and making sure that we're covering that and
absorbing that with our margins.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Do you have any maybe words of advice for small
business owners listening right now who might be struggling with
inflation or supply chain challenges.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Small businesses should be looking at what the last few
years has looked like, even if they're in a startup phase.
Speaking to business other small businesses and finding out what
they did, it can kind of give you a pretext
on how to run your business. Pricing needs to be
at a point that it can absorb surprise price hikes.
Have multiple vendors that offer the same thing, so I
(27:38):
think if you can keep an eye on who you're
working with, what their values are, and talking to them
about that. Being transparent with customers is also important if
you are dealing with issues, letting them know, like, look,
we didn't get this in on time. Our apologies. Do
you want a refund or do you want to wait?
Are you willing to wait? A lot of times people
(28:00):
await and it's fine if they ask for a refund.
We don't take it personal and we understand. Sometimes you
want your coffee and you want it now, so we
get that and we totally understand.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
And just to add to that too, always make sure
that you have enough capital. There's always these things where
you can start off with one hundred dollars and five
hundred dollars and that's it. But if it works, kudos steel.
But the reality is you need capital to run a business.
There's different platforms that will allow you to get loans.
Sometimes you won't get them from the banks. But always
have a social income. If you're working. I always say,
(28:32):
do not give up that job just yet. Passion doesn't
feed the capital needed for a business. Do a projection,
See what happens if you have a loan on do
studies find out? Okay, if I want to go into
I don't know, furniture business, find out one are the
times that they're not making money. You have to study
the market because again, capital is one of the huge
issues that could come up with the company, especially a
(28:53):
small business. Lucky for us, we started off small at
the farmer's market. We tested our products. We were all
a small quantity, figure out how we're going to do things,
and then people say, hey, this is great, Okay, how
can we scale from there? There's tons of gurules out there,
But the reality is you're going to be your.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Own bank out of that day.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Look, I'm gonna just be honest with you, especially when
you're starting out small.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I mean we've all watched Shark Tank, right, Mister Wonderful
always says cash gotta get that cash flow exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah, And I'd just like to add gooad. You made
me think about something like, as a small business, it's
really hard to work with some vendors because they might
want a minimum order quantity of I don't know, for
the ginger in your tea, you need to spend one
thousand dollars on just ginger. If you can't afford it,
don't go with that company because then you're stuck with
(29:44):
things that you might not be able to use. Just
go small and work with smaller companies until your capital
is increased and you can maybe expand and get those
larger quantity.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Orders and relationships are everything you have to build not
only relationships with your customers but also with your vendors
because when you build those relationships, you lay out the expectation,
this is what we're able to do. Are you able
to meet that? Because again, it's the business that you're
trying to create. To me, that's everything.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I appreciate all that added color, and you know I
couldn't agree more so.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Tell us what is next for any SIPs.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Well, that's a great question right now. Right now we
are seeing what any SIPs will look like for the
next few years. We're at a pivotal point. We've got
a lot of data to kind of comb through and
figure out what our next move is and how we
can do that sustainably. One of the biggest things that
(30:39):
we're kind of focused on right now is e commerce
will kind of be for our direct consumer customer relationships,
but then working with bigger organizations like the grocery stores
and that kind of a thing is something that we're
definitely looking at. It's worked really well for us so far,
and it's brought customers to our website after they found
(31:00):
us in grocery stores.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
As well. I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I think this last question is kind of like the
equivalent of asking which of your children is your favorite child?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
But I'm gonna risk it.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
What is your favorite flavor that you sell at any SIPs?
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Oh? So for coffee flavored coffee? I love our salted
caramel Coffee's that sounds cool.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Chris right, It's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
It started off as just being offered during the Christmas time,
and then our customers immediately told us that they want
to year around, so we have salted caramel all the time.
That's my favorite coffee, and turmeric ginger is my favorite tea.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
I love the Moto. That's one of those things you
used to say, the Marine Corp and the Moto just
because it has a it's a nice bowl taste, but
it gives you that charge that you need. So you know,
if I'm being given my honey to do list, I'll
drink a cup of Moto first to make sure I
get everything shacked off and as far as the t goes.
Like the Earl gray lavender, which is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I'm definitely a fan of Earl gray lavender. I make
lemonade with it all the time. Oh yeah, so I'm
gonna have to pick up some of that.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, awesome, Oh yeah, I cannot wait to try that
salted caramel.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Thank you all so much for joining us on this
episode of Mind the Business Small Business success Stories. We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Gosh, that was such an awesome conversation with Tavina and
Gulaid Genius. I gotta know what's stuck out from that
conversation to you the most well.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Ghulaid's quote around you're going to be your own bank
was definitely something that I can relate to. I think
I was a little naive in the idea that because
I had great personal credit that it was just going
to automatically translate to my business. And so when I
got rejected from my first business credit card, I was like,
wait a minute, what's going on. I have excellent credit.
Why are they not able to see that? And so
(32:59):
I had to understand that like your business builds its
own credit, and you have to basically prove to the
banks that your business is going to be successful for
the long term before they decide to give you lines
of credit. And so my paycheck was my first angel investor,
if you will, into my business, and I always tell
my own students that that paycheck is going to be
usually where you're going to get your first capital to
(33:20):
invest in your business. So that was definitely number one
for me. And I really love their risk mitigation strategies
where they purchased real estate a commercial property and kind
of use that as sort of a protection, a risk
mitigation process in order to deal with, you know, the
fluctuations that come with the economy. So I really love
to see kind of that. Trying to predict the future.
(33:42):
Obviously we never know what's going to happen, but trying
to put those things in place that can give you
a little bit of that runway that we need as
new business owners. I think it's really important. How about you, Austin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Well, shout out to Gooley for buying real estate in
twenty sixteen. I'm sure that has appreciated a lot, so
that is very cool for him. I think two things
stuck out to me. The first one is when Divina
was talking about how she also had some experience building
websites for her previous venture that her and her husband
had together. She kind of took those experiences and that
skill set and moved it over and leaned into it
(34:12):
when they started doing this e commerce kind of pivot.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So I think just like learning from past experiences and
bringing that skill set into your new venture and adapting
and making sure that you're doing all these cool things
in a new way is just super super important. So
I having that self awareness, I think, is that first step.
And then back to what you were saying before. You know,
passion fuels the small business in the beginning, but capital
is what keeps it going, right, And so in my
(34:35):
personal experience, I was working my nine to five job
out of college while simultaneously building my business on the side. Right,
So some nine to five hours working, I'd have some dinner,
and then from like eight to midnight, that was the
time I'd use to build the business. Right. That was
that passion. But to your point too about that paycheck,
the paycheck is what fueled the business. After the passion
was like, dang, I'm getting real tired working till midnight
every night, right, So I think, you know, this conversation
(34:59):
was absolutely incredible. Well, I learned a lot. The gems
that both Gulaid and Divina shared with us were absolutely incredible,
And I'm really really excited to buy some salted caramel coffee.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Me too, Me too.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Well, thanks everyone, that's it for today's episode. You can
find me on social media at Austin Hankwitz and you.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Can find me at jochierro dinetto podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
You can follow Into It QuickBooks on all social media
at QuickBooks, and to get the tools you need to start,
run and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Catch the season finale episode of Mind the Business Small
Business success Stories on Thursday, July sixth, where we speak
to Chris Treebis about how he scaled his event venue
and concert booking business in the Greater Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
You won't want to miss that one, so don't forget
to follow, rate, and review this show wherever you listen
to podcasts so you can stay updated on our future episodes, and.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Check out our episode show notes for more information from
this episode about adjusting to an economic shock, and a
huge thank you to our guests Gulaid and Divina. You
can order their premium coffee and tea at any SIPs
dot com. That's I N I S I p s
dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Our executive producer is Molly Soosha, our supervising producer is
Nikia Swinton, and our writer is Tyree Rush.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Our Head of post production is James Foster. And we
will see you next time.
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