Tag: Alcohol

“Not Your Grandfather’s Scotch”: American Woman Starts Global Whisky Brand

What It’s About

When one door closes, this designer heads to the liquor store…

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Here are some great words of wisdom from Carin:

“If you are working your full-time job like I was doing, then write down how much money you think you will need to get going, including your salary. Write that number down. And then triple it. Don’t quit your day job until you have that in savings so that you can really move forward full force with your business when you are ready.”

Fun Fact

SIA means the number 6 in Scottish Gaelic, which just so happens to be both Carin’s favorite number and her birthday. She liked that it’s short and easy to say too because a lot of Scotch names are very intimidating to people.

Notes from Chris

Episode 952

Creative Director and Graphic Designer Carin Luna-Ostaseski was fresh out of a breakup when a friend introduced her to the next love of her life: Scotch Whisky. After years of tossing back uninspiring gin and tonics, it was truly love at first sip.

Carin had previously set aside money for weekly couples counseling, but after that door closed, the money was burning a hole in her pocket. Fortunately, where one door closes, another one opens … and that open door just happened to be a whisky shop conveniently located right next door to her workplace.

Thus began a new kind of therapy session. Every Friday, she’d walk in and buy two or three beautiful, expensive bottles of Scotch. As any therapist would tell you, hobbies are a healthy and productive way to deal with a breakup—and what’s building a collection if not a hobby?

After a while, Carin says she became quite the connoisseur, with 300 glistening bottles of Scotch lining her shelves. There was something exciting about trying out a new bottle—taking the time to note the subtle differences and flavors—and sharing them with others.

But she quickly discovered that her love of good Scotch was not as universal as she thought. To Carin, the superior nature of Scotch whisky was as clear as the golden Scotch in her tumbler, but she found that most people in her age group did not share her opinion. They told her that Scotch was their grandfather’s drink, or that it tasted like gasoline and burnt their nostrils.

Shocked by the reactions of her peers, Carin was determined to bring a love of Scotch to a younger demographic. The question, though, was “How?”

Her work as a Creative Director was incredibly demanding. Also, she already had a side hustle as a freelance graphic designer. Carin’s schedule was almost as airtight as an aging cask! But true love conquers all—even the busiest of work schedules.

After tossing around the idea for a bit, she decided that the best course of action was to host tastings. Her first event drew a pretty great crowd but after being billed as a “Scotch Tasting,” Carin found that it drew people who already liked Scotch, which wasn’t her goal.

She soon discovered that people were ready for a new whisky, one that would completely change the way people think about Scotch. A whisky that is affordable, accessible, and of course, delicious.

And Carin needed something new too. Day after day, she was stuck behind a computer desk making designs so that people could stare at their phones all day. She wanted to be the woman to bring this new whisky to the table—or, you know, the bar.

Just a few months after launching SIA Scotch, Carin left her job to focus on her side hustle full-time. She realized that this new venture wasn’t something that she could do halfway—but she also says that starting it before leaving her job gave her the confidence to move forward.

Today, the SIA Scotch brand continues to grow. After selling a few hundred cases in year one, the brand has grown at least 20-30% each year. In the past twelve months, Carin’s one time hustle has seen a massive jump in growth of over 150%.

Carin is working every day to share her love of scotch and make SIA the world’s favorite Scotch whisky. And to think … it all started from a breakup.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • SIA Scotch: Drink up more about this intoxicating side hustle over on Carin’s website!
  • WordPress: Carin used WordPress to set up her site, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

 

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
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Quote of the Day
"When you work for a company, sometimes you get beaten down and sometimes you think it’s your identity—that this is just what you do. But when you start a side hustle, you do everything. That part is empowering, it shows you that you’re not just what you thought you were."
—Carin Luna-Ostaseski #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Unemployed Polish Guy Launches Apple-Based Vodka Line

What It’s About

A vodka side hustle that really shoots for the stars!

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

The reason for Dariusz’s scrappy mentality is that he had $10,000 he was willing to “lose” on this side hustle. This was his limit he was allowed to reach before he assessed how the business was performing. If he hit this limit and was seeing growth, he’d continue, and if not he’d call it a day. So he was trying to eek every last bit out of this budget.

Fun Fact

When hosting an event in Truckee, California, Dariusz was able to share some of his vodka with cycling fan-favorite Peter Sagan. Peter’s father was there and, through some Slavic language connections of Czech and Polish, Dariusz was able to communicate with him.

Notes from Chris

Episode 529

For Dariusz Paczuski, it was an “involuntary sabbatical” that prompted him to start his side hustle. After four and a half years as the head of marketing for a California startup, Dariusz found himself leaving work due to a restructure in the company. This was the first time he’d been without a job for many years, and he had a lot of time on his hands.

At first, he took advantage of that time to enjoy himself and work on projects that had fallen by the wayside due to his job. He spent time with his family, he went on skiing trips, and he even trained for a half Ironman! But as he began to reach the end of his to-do list, Dariusz had to answer an important question, “What am I going to do next?”

Although he was actively searching for jobs, he faced an indefinite amount of time without work and wanted to make the most of it. This was when he decided to act upon a dream he’d been sitting on for many years. The dream was to start his own vodka business.

Dariusz had long fantasized about finding an old-school vodka maker in a rural town of his native Poland, bringing that vodka to the masses as a premium drink.

So Dariusz began what he called his “Polish Vodka Quest” to see if he could find that person. He took a trip to Warsaw, where his mother still lives, and the two explored the vodkas of the region on tastings and tours. They tried lots of different vodkas from many distilleries and talked with many crusty old makers. But the more he vodka he drank, the soberer he became about the problems with his business idea. The logistics of creating, distributing and selling the vodka this far from home would be tough—especially once he found full-time employment again.

He came back to California from Poland and put the vodka dream on hold, especially once he did find a job in a new marketing position for Yahoo. His side hustle would have to be workable on evenings and weekends, so if was ever going to happen, he’d need to find a way to make production more local. So, he began exploring options closer to home in northern California.

Once he found a distillery in California to make his version of apple vodka, Rocket Vodka really took off, and it was time to focus on marketing and sales.

And these sales ended up coming from the Rocket Vodka crew, who are independent salespeople Dariusz has hired, who bring the product to restaurant and bar owners and convince them to place the product on their shelves. It took Dariusz and the crew members 21 months to get the product on the shelves of 80 different establishments, but this momentum carried forward, and it only took them four months to add the next 80.

Thanks to this method, Rocket Vodka can now be found on the shelves of 170 different locations, which they call “launch pads,” and has seen sales of over 10,000 bottles. He didn’t have to give away the initial inventory to his 1,200 closest friends after all!

Dariusz has also drawn on his experience in marketing to help grow an impressive online presence for the product, with a following of over 42,000 fans.

He’s grown this presence by looking for the specific moments in his customer’s day he can look to own. Dariusz knows people aren’t thinking about vodka 24 hours a day, and instead wants to capitalize on the moments in their life the product could be associated with. He calls these moments, “peak moments,” and they usually come during or after a major event in that person’s day. It could be after a hard day on the slopes and hitting the apres ski, or it could be after closing a major deal in the office. Whatever it is, Dariusz looks to create social media updates that bring those moments closer to his vodka.

What’s next? He’s following the motto, “If we keep growing, we’ll keep going!” This means as long as he sees continued growth in the business, he’ll keep running it. He has no plans to leave his day job and actually sees running Rocket Vodka as an opportunity to improve in his day-to-day work life. And, of course, when he wants to celebrate after-hours, his favorite drink is always close at hand.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Rocket Vodka: Fuel your next adrenaline-packed adventure with Rocket Vodka—snag a bottle of your own over on Dariusz’s website!
  • 99designs: The platform that Dariusz used to design his logo for Rocket Vodka

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time. Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Look for friction in the way people do things, and try to remove it. Wherever there is friction and inefficiency, there’s an opportunity to create a product or service."
—Dariusz Paczuski #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Craft Beer Fan Becomes Digital Bouncer

What It’s About

A resourceful Starbucks employee picks up a new skill and breaks into the alcohol industry.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Gregg has generally brought in business through word of mouth, customer referrals and prime search engine results. He says he has strived to go out of his way to provide each client with an exceptional customer service experience—which often results in clients sticking with him for the long term.

Good customer service is especially important when you’re building a brand and/or breaking into a new industry like Gregg. Happy customers are more likely to bring you in additional business and help you make useful connections, so don’t be afraid to go that extra step!

Fun Fact

Did you know that people were drinking beer 5,000 years ago? For those (Sumerians) lucky enough to live in Mesopotamia in 10,000 BCE (it’s located around where Iraq is today), there was beer to drink! None of the beer included hops, which means it probably didn’t taste that good, but according to LiveScience.com, people had their pick of eight different barley-based beers, and eight wheat-based. (1)

Notes from Chris

Episode 226

Gregg Richter was working for Starbucks as an IT specialist at their Seattle headquarters, where he had been employed for almost a decade. Though he loved the company, he had grown bored of his position and department. His daily routine consisted half of attending meetings and half of responding to issues that arose. He was able to spend very little time thinking about product enhancements, and he began to crave something different.

Around the same time, Gregg was also making a hobby out of finding new breweries and distilleries in the area, as craft beers and whiskeys were a booming business in the Pacific Northwest.

Since his two great interests were craft beer and web development, he mentioned them both when advertising his services through his personal portfolio website. Unexpectedly, this led to his big break.

He realized that despite the rise of do-it-yourself websites such as Squarespace, there were technical areas that were beyond the reach of the average DIY-er, especially in businesses like alcohol distribution that have unique challenges and legal requirements. He officially established his side hustle—called Imbibe Digital, LLC—to build websites and web service applications.

Gregg’s business did so well that he was able to leave his job in 2015 to focus exclusively on Imbibe. In 2016, he cracked six figures. This year, he’s on track to make $120,000 to $130,000.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Imbibe Digital, LLC: Learn more about Gregg’s digital bouncing service on his website!
  • Elysian Brewing: The local and fast-growing brewery that was looking for a freelance developer to help with their website and gave Gregg his big break
  • Guinness & Bacardi: Two additional household brands that utilize Gregg’s age verifying service
  • WordPress: Gregg says he used WordPress to create his website because it allowed him full control of every pixel on the screen and also made it easy to find assistance since WordPress is completely open source. And here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes!
  • LocalSip: The second SAAS-based product that Gregg created that allows breweries and wineries to easily create, edit and display their tap or wine lists online

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Look for a problem to solve, or find something that someone else is doing, and find a way to improve on it. Does their product lack good design; do they have bad user onboarding; are they missing a key feature? Find something and then consistently iterate on the product."
—Gregg Richter #SideHustleSchool

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It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


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There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Polish Bartender Makes Money While Drinking Beer

What It’s About

A man in London goes from being a bar dishwasher to running his own bartending equipment reselling side hustle.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

He did set up that website, BarCounterLondon.com, and on its About page it displays a clear mission: To provide bartenders, cocktail lovers and enthusiasts with affordable bar tools and other supplies.

The promise is: “You save money by skipping the middle man when you shop with us since we work directly with suppliers and manufacturers. We even make some of the stuff like wooden muddlers ourselves.”

Create a clear mission statement so that your potential customers know exactly where you stand and what you have to offer them!

Fun Fact

Paul got his start in a busy London airport, and he went from being a glass washer one day to being a store-man the next. After he got his foot in the door and became a bartender, he started to travel and explore the world. During his journeys, he managed to work in dozens of bars in various cities on multiple continents—London, Budapest, Krakow, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore to name a few.

He has also achieved quite a bit over the course of his bartending career, but he says his biggest achievement to date was winning the Best Mixologist (are we still using this word?) of Malaysia Award in 2010.

Notes from Chris

Episode 209

Have you ever said to yourself, “There has to be a better way?” This observation has led to many side hustles. If there’s something you’re looking for and you can’t find it, you’re probably not the only one. If you’re frustrated by something, other people probably are too.

Paul Babiak was one of those bartending professionals who truly enjoy mixing up a nice drink.

These days he mostly does event bartending, meaning that he doesn’t have a home bar but rather travels around to various corporate parties, receptions, and weddings. He recently had the chance to open a bar in London’s O2 Arena for Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airlines.

The supplier they were working with was out of stock of one-third of the items needed. Their catalog and website had no photos, only SKUs—so he had to make his best guess without actually seeing anything. In one case, he needed 4 of an item, but it was only sold in packs of 12. He described it as a nightmare. “There has to be a better way,” he thought.

He decided to take things into his own hands and open his own barware shop. He was new to the UK, had no contacts, hadn’t made a website—but he was resourceful and figured all those things out.

Bar Counter London is now up and running, serving customers throughout the UK. He’s also been experimenting with setting up shop at London’s famous Camden market.

Paul is still bartending but enjoys the passive income that comes from the website. In fact, the best part of the experience is checking his phone while out drinking beer with friends just to see that he made a day’s wages. He’d love for this to become a full-time focus at some point, and he feels he’s on the right track.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

Quote of the Day
"If you want to start your own garden what do you put there first? Your foot. In other words… do the work!"
—Paul Babiak #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

“Airbnb for Beer”: Digital Nomad Brews Up Frosty Profits

What It’s About

A side hustle that helps event planners customize beer for their events.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Let’s talk about supply and demand! You’re probably familiar with the basic concept: when more of something exists or is easier to obtain, the price tends to be lower. Similarly, when demand is high and there’s a shortage of something, especially something of limited quantity, the price is higher.

A lot of industries run into supply issues, and this issue relates very much to today’s story. The beer industry has a supply issue, meaning that sometimes breweries have excess capacity, so Neil’s side hustle found a way to solve this problem. Is there an industry that you could help with a supply problem?

Fun Fact

A hotel client Neil just started working with in NYC doesn’t care so much about packaging, but what they do care about is creating unique beers that they can serve at the hotel bar on draft. For that client, they’re working with an extremely small brewery near Albany called Davidson Brothers which has a system that allows them to produce 12 keg batches. They work with the client and brewery to come up with beer styles that could work for their clientele, and the brewery will then produce and deliver the kegs directly to the hotel.

Notes from Chris

Episode 159

For the past 9 months, Neil Soni has been building a side hustle called Unlimited Brewing Company, which helps anyone create their own custom craft beer. He does this without opening his own brewery, which might be fun but would definitely be expensive. Instead, Neil uses an Airbnb-style approach where he works with existing breweries and uses their idle equipment.

This flexible manufacturing method allows him to offer small-batch, custom beers to customers for an affordable price.

It all started from a blog.

Neil was passionate about beer and had a blog called Brewmaster’s Reserve, where he interviewed brewery founders.

During the course of these interviews, he kept hearing the same complaints coming up, namely that 1) there was excess brewing capacity available, and 2) that demand was hard to predict (thanks to the three-tier system). Neil had worked in marketplaces for most of his career, so he started to connect the dots and saw that there has to be a better way to leverage the excess production capacity.

Neil sees Unlimited Brewery Company as a true middleman in the highly-regulated beer industry. He takes each client’s request and manually matches it up with his brewing network’s capabilities. If they don’t have a brewery in the network that can get the job done, he’ll reach out to other brewers. Long term, he’s hoping this can be more automated, but doing it manually right now has been beneficial in terms of learning more about the industry and pain points.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Private label is a bit more complicated in beer than other industries because every label needs to be registered w/the federal government. So the conference beer gets registered with the government and we help manage all of that."
—Neil Soni #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau