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Michael Adams Green Mountain Mustard and Gredio

Michael Adams, Owner
Green Mountain Mustard & Gredio

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What I Learned About My Business in 2014 (and what I’m doing about it)

2014 was CRAZY. Absolutely crazy. Sales more than doubled, my products are sold in almost 200 stores across 17 states, and we exhibited at the largest food buying show in the nation (read about my experience).

I hope your business had the same success.

At the end of the year, I like to reflect on what went right and what went wrong. Was I truly successful? Did I accomplish what I wanted? And how can I change what I’m doing to improve on 2014? It’s an exercise I’m going to do each year moving forward.

Enjoy 🙂

What I learned about my business in 2014:

1. Don’t be afraid to say no

I never wrote about this last year. I turned the opportunity to sell into Kroger down in September. Kroger, you know, the largest chain of grocery stores in the nation? Yeah. Our mustard isn’t on their shelves because I said no. Why? By the time it was said and done, I’d make $80 a pallet. $80. A PALLET. The buyer didn’t understand why I was turning him down, so I laid the numbers out for him. No response.

Don’t be afraid to say no.

Some opportunities don’t work for your business. $80 gross profit isn’t going to pay for the insurance premium increase I would have had to pay to sell into Kroger. It didn’t work so I said no. Plus, I’m not in the mass-grocery-distribution business. I don’t want that.

2. 80 hour work-weeks are not sustainable

I burned out. I’ve never felt so exhausted in my life. 80-100 hours a week doesn’t make ANY sense. If you’re doing it, stop. I’d start work at 5am and go until 10 or 11 at night….every night. Then, I’d get in the car and head to a festival for long hours (more on that in #6). Now, I’ve written a list of everything that needs to get done each week – it’s 2 or 3 big things, along with the necessary tasks. Beyond that, I shut the laptop down and turn my phone off. Buyer’s aren’t working at 7pm. I shouldn’t be either. No one on their death bed has said “Man, I wish I had worked more”. Think about that. Act accordingly.

3. The internet is an amazing beast

In 2014, the internet blew my mind. I mean, it’s already awesome, but in 2014 it was a substantial percentage of our top-line sales. In 2013, online sales were just over $3,400. In 2014, I did over $16,000 in online sales. For my little mustard company, that’s impressive.  Mustard was shipped all over the place. And we had a couple subscription box opportunities, but for the most part, that total was people ordering through my website. Lesson learned? You bet. I’m focusing a lot of my energy on online sales in 2015.

4. Pay for design work

I rebranded my entire product line in February. Since then, I’ve run into about 6 people who like our old branding. My customers love it. My buyer’s love it. And it’s won me a lot of sales sight-unseen. It paid off incredibly well at the Fancy Food Show, too. Now, I’ve learned the power of professional design work. I do a lot of the little projects, but if I’m designing new labels or a trade show display, I’d pay to have it professionally designed (if I have it in the bank, that is!).

5. Distributors are a tough relationship to crack

I’ve written about distributors before. They’re hard to gain momentum with. They rarely return phone calls, and, for the most part, don’t pay attention to us “small guys”.  You get a couple purchase orders a year, and that’s it. Heck, we almost did more online last year than all of our distributors combined. Pretty wild. But, in 2015, I’m hoping to figure out how to work alongside my distributors to double or triple what they’re moving through the warehouse.

6. Fairs & festivals are not a sustainable route to growth

I did 30 festivals and a 25-week farmer’s market last year. If you want to run your body and mind into the ground, pick up that schedule. It killed me. And nearly half the festivals weren’t worth doing again (read: I lost several hundred dollars). While I did get my name out more, I’m doing 8-10 festivals next year – the most profitable. 2 or 3 will be new festivals in areas we haven’t explored. While I enjoyed meeting thousands of people, exploring New England, and stay in Super 8’s (not really), it’s not a sustainable growth path. One bad, rainy year at your best show could derail your numbers for the rest of the year.

7. Scarcity sells incredibly well

In 2014, I launched several seasonal flavors. In fact, too many. We had 3 seasonal mustards from September – December. I ran out of some and others were hard to get rid of. But, saying the flavor was seasonal or “we only have 2 left” at a show, worked wonders to move more product. Next year, I’m coming out with 4 seasonal mustards — 2 from last year and 2 new ones. And they’ll only be available directly from us. This means we can make much small quantities and de-risk the flavor launch a little bit.

8. Do your research

I was nailed with thousands of dollars in legal fees for 3 months of 2014. Ugh. It was horrible. Next year, I won’t have those one-time expenses, but it made me think about being extra careful naming new flavors and building my legal assets. Lesson learned? Do your research before you design anything.

9. Cashflow, cashflow, cashflow

Several times last year, my company bank account was dangerously low. I’m talking $200 low. Cashflow put a strain on my company. I started ordering 3 pallets of glass, 40,000 labels, and more ingredients to keep up with our demand. Finally, in September, I signed up for a company credit card. I hit the credit limit three months in a row. In 2015, I hope to have a more positive cash flow. Think of everything tangible as cash. All the inventory I carried was cash, tied up in jars, labels, and ingredients. Work to achieve a lean-manufacturing state (where you product to demand) and hunt down your Accounts Receivable like the whole world owes you money. It’s the important to the growth of your business.

10. Build an advisory board of sorts – lean on your team

For me, my parents play an integral role in my company. They’ve seen me at my worst and best — 2014 especially. But, they don’t know too much about how business works. That’s why I learned to find people who do. I work with a small team of advisors I touch base with a couple times of year — just to look at my plans, find the gaps, and challenge my thinking. When you own a solo food business, it can be easy for you to just keep trudging along. But, take time to sit back and see what’s going in your business so you can better work on your business. If you don’t have anyone, get in touch with your local Small Business Development Center or SCORE to get free business advice.

I encourage you to do the same exercise with your business, regardless of size. You may have just gotten started this year, or you could be pulling in $1M in sales.

Do the exercise. It takes 15 minutes.

Many people don’t take the time to reflect on where they are right this moment. I write it all down for my business and my personal goals for the year. I find it helps me think about where to improve in 2015 and how I’m going to do it.

I’d love to hear what you learned — even if it’s one thing. Let me know about your year in the comments below.

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19 Comments on this post

  1. AUTHORAndy

    on January 8, 2015 at 5:22 pm - Reply

    I learned that coming up with the idea is the easy part. This year I’m going to learn what it feels like to launch a company.

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 8, 2015 at 5:47 pm - Reply

      GO ANDY! You rock, man!

  2. AUTHORDawn

    on January 9, 2015 at 1:11 am - Reply

    I learned I need to charge more and to hire a little help when needed!

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 2:13 am - Reply

      Thanks for your comment, Dawn! Yes – charging more. I’m not afraid to raise my prices anymore. It’s the cost of doing business — and hire when you can. It makes such a difference!

  3. AUTHORWendy Osmundson

    on January 9, 2015 at 4:46 am - Reply

    I experienced some of the same things you did regarding food shows killing me and also about cash flow and stores that want 30 day terms. I already paid for all the ingredients and did the work, why can’t they just pay me?
    I learned that my home oven is not cutting it and I will need to look for a commercial kitchen with a real convection oven where I can cook several sheets of granola at a time instead of just two. Feel like I’m not making enough money to move into a commercial kitchen but won’t be able to make more money if I don’t move into a commercial kitchen…catch 22.
    Interesting to hear that your online sales were so successful. I haven’t really explored that because I didn’t think it had enough potential. I haven’t really pushed my website although it did well with holiday sales because I created a gift pack. I have turned down several offers to sell on other online food sites because people will go on those sites and buy several things but only one bag of granola from me and then I am running around mailing one bag of granola, which I don’t have time for.
    You know me, I could go on…always learning!

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 3:24 pm - Reply

      Thanks for your thoughts, Wendy! Yes – it’s daunting to make the switch to a commercial kitchen, but that makes you work so much harder knowing you’ve got product to move! I’d explore other drop-ship sites and do a varieity pack on those sites. That way you shipping 3 or 4 bags (at wholesale pricing) instead of one. Good luck in 2015!

  4. AUTHORJames

    on January 9, 2015 at 5:19 am - Reply

    Hey Michael,

    Been following your blog for awhile. Great stuff. I took a very different route with my company Zest Tea. I focused heavily on online sales to start and only in the last few months started going after retail. Did about $28k of online sales in the first year. Hit me up if you’d like to talk over strategies. There is a lot I could learn from you on the retail end.

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 3:26 pm - Reply

      Hey James — thanks, man! Nice job online. I’m hoping to double or triple what we do in 2015. I’d love to swap strategies. Will shoot you a separate email.

  5. AUTHORJodi

    on January 9, 2015 at 8:14 am - Reply

    We, too, went through a major rebranding 1/2 way through the year. Expensive, but completely necessary. (Love your new logo btw!). Biggest lesson learned: Christmas Holiday Season. Online sales were 80% of our sales for December!! Fairs, bazaars, festivals were dismal.
    For 2015 we are working on a shopping cart for our website so customers can buy directly from us (we currently use etsy as our marketplace). Definitely focusing on the online side of things! Also, going to look at what it takes to snag a few corporate client gift accounts.
    Looking forward to future blog posts about online tips!
    Cheers to 2015!
    Jodi

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 3:30 pm - Reply

      So awesome, Jodi! Congrats on a successful holiday season. We had a couple good craft fairs, but online was crazy in Nov/Dec. I’ll be sending out my email marketing strategy in a couple week so hopefully that helps you out. It literally just prints money! Best of luck in the new year!

  6. AUTHORJan

    on January 9, 2015 at 4:29 pm - Reply

    Hi Michael~
    Starting my 5th year and I want to increase my online sales; (do less shows/events because they are exhausting).
    Do you have a segment/conversation on this that can help some of us out?
    As always, love your horror and success stories 😉
    Keep on writing, you are the wind in our sails/sales.
    Jan

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 5:24 pm - Reply

      Yes yes…..Shows are crazy. It’s good exposure it’s a crap shoot if you’ll make money or not. As for online sales, I’m releasing exactly what I’m doing for my email marketing in a couple weeks and working on more of a book about ecommerce for food startups. Stay tuned 🙂

  7. AUTHORcaren

    on January 9, 2015 at 6:00 pm - Reply

    Oh, I learned the hard way that events are not worth it (for the most part). I learned that lesson fast though, and I will also focus on online sales – particularly my own site and amazon.

    thanks for the insights!

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 9, 2015 at 6:51 pm - Reply

      Thanks, Caren — glad you found it helpful! I would imagine events would be hard for a product like yours. Good luck with online sales this year!

  8. AUTHORSandra Nakashima

    on January 10, 2015 at 3:11 pm - Reply

    I just love your post, because it’s nice to know other people facing the same issues. I’m looking forward to 2015, every year is a little different and I’ve been doing this for 15 years. Best wishes for 2015.

  9. AUTHORJanet Malone

    on January 26, 2015 at 11:46 pm - Reply

    Excellent post as usual! My sales for 2014 only increased by about $5,000 but my profits went from $3,500 in 2013 to over $15,000 last year! WooHOO! I did a lot of recipe revising and increased prices after realizing how much money I was NOT making! I’m excited to have purchased a bread slicer, and am looking into new packaging with printed/ designed bags instead of labels. Also changing packaging to be more conducive to ship. Currently I only sell to local health food type stores and my products are delivered and sold frozen. My goal is to have my products ready to ship and my woo-commerce store added to my site by the end of February! Thanks again for all you’re doing Michael!

    • AUTHORmichael

      on January 26, 2015 at 11:49 pm - Reply

      Congrats on an awesome year, Janet! Best of luck in 2015. You’re definitely going to grow!

  10. AUTHORdenise

    on January 28, 2015 at 10:38 pm - Reply

    Just a note to Wendy’s point about online grocery- look at it as one more place for your target to find your product. If you find a good online grocery they will run all kinds of promotions, because they too need to sell. Yes, it will be slow sales in the beginning, but isn’t everything slow when you first start out. My product was feature on a national morning show which I can now leverage on my website and use in sales. Also, when you get repeat customers send an email asking if they would be willing to write a review for your product. Every little bit helps.
    Good luck!!

    • AUTHORmichael

      on February 6, 2015 at 12:11 pm - Reply

      Great points, Denise! We’ve worked with a couple of online re-sellers, some slower than others, but every sale helps! And congrats on the national media hit!

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