ABOUT YOUR BIZ

Small business owners are busier than most people on earth, and that's why Your Biz is here. For seasoned business owners and budding entrepreneurs alike, we'll tackle it all - health care, franchising, taxes, the latest gadgets and even how to balance work and life. Yes, it's possible, even when you're your own boss.

Eve Tahmincioglu

Primary author Eve Tahmincioglu has been covering small business and entrepreneurship for more than a decade. She regularly writes about small business issues for the New York Times and BusinessWeek's SmallBiz magazine. She also writes the Your Career column for MSNBC.com. She is the author of "From the Sandbox to the Corner Office."



A fluke can fuel a big brand

Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:20 AM by Eve Tahmincioglu
Filed Under: , , ,

It’s time to trip over the next big idea.

Get out of the office. Get out of the house. Head out into the world.

That’s how many entrepreneurs found the big brands -- like Burt’s Bees and Clif Bar -- that made them rich.

At least that’s the belief of David Vinjamuri, author of the forthcoming book “Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands”, and president of ThirdWay Brandtrainers, a marketing training company in New York.

Gary Erickson, the owner of Clif Bar went out on what he thought would be a 120-mile bike trip one day that turned into a 170-mile journey, and ended up eating so many Power Bars he finally choked on the last one. “He spit it out because it tasted like glue,” says Vinjamuri who interviewed the entrepreneur for his book.

And, Vinjamuri adds, Roxanne Quimby, founder of Burt’s Bees, was hitchhiking to the post office to check her mail when she got a ride from Burt Shavitz, a guy who Quimby recognized because he sold honey at the side of the road.

Eventually, Roxanne asked Burt if she could help him out over the summer so she could learn how to keep bees, according to his book, and the rest is history. Burt and Roxanne found that they had 3,000 pounds of honey and several hundred pounds of beeswax to sell.

She started out by putting the honey into smaller jars (instead of the one-gallon pickle jars Burt was using), increasing the price and decorating the jars.

Soon the ideas evolved to candles then shoe polish and then lip balm. That exploded into a personal care products bee empire. The company was eventually sold for $175 million.

In the book, Quimby makes some great points about finding a niche:

“You have to be really open-minded about what business you are in. You might not know what business you are in for a while. Your customer will pretty much define that for you if you’re open to their suggestions.”

After doing his research for the book, Vinjamuri has some advise for all the budding entrepreneurs out there: “First of all, be your own customer. Don’t try to solve someone else’s problem. Solve your own,” he explains.

So go out into the world people. You never know who or what you’ll end up tripping over.

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

As owner and distiller of Cirrus Vodka, a small brand premium vodka made from potatoes, I can express a similar experience.

I was sitting in bar with friends drinking martinis one night three years ago when as I scanned the vodka selection behind the bar I had to ask myself, "why are all the vodkas that we like to drink imported?"

After a bit of research, I found that consumers were gravitating toward distilled spirits, especially vodka, as their drink of choice. Yet Americans produced only a handful of premium vodka brands, and even fewer distilled them from potatoes.

To capitalize on growing market of premium vodka drinkers, in 2004 I formed The Parched Group, LLC, owners of Cirrus brand vodka. When asked how I came up with the company name "Parched Group" and brand name "Cirrus Vodka" I have to add, we wanted to have a company name that drew attention but was not offensive or derogatory.

“It made sense, especially if we were going to be a distilled spirits manufacturer. Regarding the product, my brother Ray came up with the name. What we found was that when cirrus clouds are present, good weather almost always follows. Having a name that reflected clarity and distinction was a name that we felt we wanted to have associated with our product”.
 
In August of 2004, I began development of my super-premium triple-distilled Cirrus Vodka in the downtown Richmond, VA commercial district. Fourteen months later Cirrus Vodka had been awarded two silver medals in international competition for the vodka spirit and a bronze for the tastefully designed packaging.
 
Nonetheless, that was not good enough. After some tweaking, I re-entered the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2006. In what was deemed as one of the largest spirits competitions to date in the United States, Cirrus Vodka was awarded the gold medal by some of the most influential spirits industry professionals in the country. That year six out of the seven continents (only Antarctica was missing) were represented, making this a globally influential spirits competition.
 
In response, “I am blessed that we have been able to design a "triple" distillation process that yields a high quality and ultra-smooth vodka. Hence, the best tasters in the world have described Cirrus Vodka as wonderfully full-bodied, slightly sweet, and with a creamy vodka flavor, “highly recommended.”
 
Apparently, the Virginia State Alcoholic Beverage Control felt as though Cirrus Vodka was a quality product they needed to have in their stores. The brand had it all. A multiple award winning product, a premium brand made from potatoes that is competitive internationally and most of all it being a Virginia product.
 
In June (06), Cirrus Vodka rolled into 40 selected Virginia state ABC stores. A year and a half later, Cirrus Vodka is sold in approximately 170 stores statewide as well as over 160 bars restaurants and hotels, some of which are rated the best in the world. In addition, Cirrus has entered into the Washington, DC market and the Tennessee market to date with expansion expected across the entire eastern seaboard by the end of 2008.
 
When asked about the early success of Cirrus Vodka brand, Paul states: “The reason I went into the spirits business was about creative expression, love of the culinary, and "great vodka". I always knew that I wanted to be a manufacturer but never thought it would be distilled spirits. I am just pleased to be able to use my skills and education to do it right here in Virginia”.

Paul McCann, Richmond, VA (Sent Wednesday, January 16, 2008 1:17 PM)



SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.): 

 Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private)