I hope you loved the format last week, where we took a deep dive into the beauty space, because we’ll be following in those footsteps again this week. Strap yourself in, as I take you through the seven biggest learnings our founders have picked up from hustling in the notoriously tricky beverage space, through a pandemic! Let’s get straight into it.

Learning number one is that your product absolutely needs to be great. The beverage space is ultra competitive, ultra crowded, and without an amazing product you simply don’t stand a chance. This is one lesson that will always remain relevant, pandemic or no pandemic, your product just has to be really good.

The second learning from digging through our beverage archive, is that you want to have real intention behind what you’re building. What is your aim, or purpose? Your intention is your story, and that’s what’s individual to you. It’s what makes you unique and sets you apart from the countless other brands.

Lesson number three is all around using your network to your advantage, and not being afraid to ask those oh so important burning questions. Your network loves to help, and that’s something a lot of you need to hear. It’s time to say shush to that little voice of self-doubt that’s telling you not to ask that question, and to stop being afraid to seem uninformed or even dumb. Knowledge is king, and you want to gain as much of it as you can. Go make that phone call. The earlier on in the journey you realize, the more you’ll gain.

Learning number 4 is to properly think about where those initial dollars are coming from. As Melanie, you might opt to look to those closest to you when you’re raising those first dollars for your beverage brand. The key thing to take away here, is that raising no money always trumps raising stupid money. And there is a LOT of stupid investor money floating around this industry.

Learning number 5 is a major one, and one that’s been mentioned time and time again on the show. You should absolutely, without a doubt, create your beverage brand with a DTC model in mind.

Which brings me to learning number 6, one some of us prefer to forget when embarking upon this wild ride. And that’s that failure is inevitably part of journey. Obstacles are just part of this journey, and so are mistakes. The true mark of the entrepreneur is just that grit and perseverance. Daily hustle.

And last, but certainly not least, is the learning that if you feel this burning passion in your belly, there is absolutely no reason not to get started on this immediately. That excuse you were telling yourself not to? Forget it. Those reasons are always going to be there.

LINKS WE MENTION:

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