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Christina: [00:00:00] Mara, welcome. I wanna ask the big question. What was one of the hardest things about creating this?
Mara: There are so many hard things. But, producing a product that comes from, a another country, there are a lot of logistics and things involved in that and creating and crafting the product you wanna start with.
It's a huge learning curve. That's what startup life is like, especially when you have a product based business that you have to learn everything from, like how to produce it, to how to get it here, to freight, to, shipping, everything, marketing. The good news is kinda everything.
It's out there at your disposal and you can research anything and learn. It's highly regulated in industry. I would do a disservice to any other entrepreneur who wants to enter into this to make it sound like there's like one hard thing.
Christina: it's funny because, I mainly am in the service industry. A lot of people don't know. I actually created a product back in the day. My daughter was a premature baby. She was born at 30 weeks and people thought she looked like a doll, which she did, and everybody would wanna touch her.
And so somebody had given me this little plaque thing that says, Hey, don't touch. I said, well I can take this concept and [00:01:00] take it to the next level and make it better. And I made it a little toy. I had to get a certification. I had to make it safe for babies.
I created this huge product. I had to find places in China to create it. All these things, yes, I learned all that, but I missed the first step of actually having a market to sell it to. So I built it all. I had 3000 of them. I thought it would be super easy to sell it.
And I sold like maybe a hundred.
Mara: That's so funny.
I have preemie twins. So what I did, I just put a big sign up right when you walk at my house. It's like wash your hands.
Christina: Yes,
Mara: go on. Put on a mask. Don't go near.
Christina: Don't touch them. Don't touch.
Mara: Because
Christina: she
Mara: was born
Christina: in August and we were just rolling into the winter months
Mara: and mine were October.
Mm-hmm.
Christina: Yep. And so that was scary. And then it just makes me think about like the tequila. Like I'm looking at your beautiful bottles, and it's like,
Mara: thank you.
Christina: Picking the bottles. People don't understand. We have a product, they're
Mara: custom. Okay. '
Christina: cause I was gonna say
Mara: like that was a whole nother
Christina: Yeah, because it's, when you look at a product like that, and this could be any product, but just think of tequila or just liquor in general.
You don't wanna copy someone else's bottle because this is visual. So if you're going to a store and you're gonna pick something, you [00:02:00] want your people to quickly identify your product without thinking about it. And these bottles are gorgeous. Tell us about that.
Mara: Thank you. Yes. That was a labor of love as well.
Again, a great learning experience. I had this fabulous idea. I want this tall, sleek bottle. I wanted it to be slender in the middle, so it's easy to hold and pour. I felt like the big bottles are hard to manipulate, especially for a, woman's hands. I wanted to have gradient paint so you could see it clear in the middle.
They're painted. Not realizing how hard it is to do a custom mold, to have a paint gradient and then clear in the middle without over spray. Okay. I wanted the logo's, metallic, so everything about it actually, it's really complicated to get it right.
I had this like vision of what I wanted. I wanted a bottle that I'd wanna put on my own home bar. I wanted it to be easy to hold them poor. I wanted to look elegant and pretty without looking like overly girly. So it's not like hot pink or anything. It's just sleek. Yeah. And it was actually, my mom and I were going back and forth on a pad of paper, like trying to draw designs.
I am not artistic at all. Luckily she has more of those skills. And then [00:03:00] working with a bottle designer. It took a while to get that done, but I thought, you can go with a stock bottle out of the gate. and it's less expensive.
I just thought in the sea of tequilas, in a really crowded category, we had to have a bottle that would stand out.
Christina: Yes. And I agree. People don't understand a product is the same like a service.
Why are you different? Why should I drink yours versus someone else? What makes it different? And you have to be able to show that. And so you're right. I remember when I did my packaging, they originally had sent me just this regular box and I was like, I don't want that.
I should be able to see the product. 'cause if you have a box on the shelf and you can't see what it is, that's kind of hard. So then I want them to put this window in it.
And then I wanted a window in the back, but then I find out. If you put a window on the back, you can't put the description. Like it's all this trial and error. And so that's what you did when you're making these bottles. It was like you had a vision, but how can I have someone make it? Where do you get the bottles made?
Mara: We get them overseas. then the product, that's made in Mexico. Yeah. So to be a hundred percent aga tequila has to be made at Appalachian of [00:04:00] origin.
So our tequila, comes out of the state of Halco in Mexico, which is where most tequila, I think 92% tequila comes from. So I had to find the bottle, I had to find a a distiller that would let me bring my own master distiller in. So I wanted a female master distiller to bring my vision to life for distilled owned and led all women.
Cool. So I found this like legendary female master distiller. I had to find a distillery. Letting someone bring your own chef into their kitchen, is not the easiest thing.
Listen, there could be a pretty bottle, but if the quality of the liquid inside the bottle, does it match the bottle? Yep. No one's gonna wanna buy it again right after having the bottle on their bar or the bottle's gonna sit there, as a display piece. So it was really important. I wanted to craft this, really meticulously crafted, additive free clean tequila that was like really approachable and easy to drink.
'cause that's the tequila I was looking for.
Christina: Did you have to fly down and were you going back and forth?
Mara: Yeah. No, and. So it's kind of both.
So when I founded, this was February, 2020, so it was COVID, so you couldn't get to Mexico.
Okay. I couldn't go to Mexico for our first tasting till May of 2021. Oh, wow. So everything was shut down. So our first [00:05:00] initial run, they actually had to send me samples, production samples. But I ended up getting to taste in person the first production, because what happened is they sent me samples,
I tried them and I was really unhappy and I didn't like it. So it ends up the distillery didn't follow like one small specification she had and the recipe. I was really, really disappointed.
So we actually scrapped, that whole thing started over, and I'm taking extra six months.
But then by the time she had like the samples ready, I was able to get to Mexico in May of 2021, because that's how long it took to get like the whole next production run ready. So then I went down and tried it and, and we like refined it based on what I was looking for. Listen tequila's done in a very like
traditional way. It's not like vodka where you do a neutral grain spirit and it's like the same over and over. There's always gonna be a little bit of like difference in every batch. So every single time you have to taste it and try it and see if anything has to be refined.
Christina: let me ask, because I mean, I'm sure my listeners are thinking this too, like how do you know what you want your tequila [00:06:00] to taste like? Where did this come from?
Mara: Yeah. The part of the due diligence process was trying a lot of tequila.
So
Christina: my husband would have fun with that. He loves tequila, and so he would be
Mara: like, fun, fun part.
Christina: I'll try it. I'll try it.
Mara: Yes. You know what I realized, so how this all started in the first place, right? I had been a tequila drinker for years,
Christina: okay?
Mara: And that was my drink of choice. I thought it was better for you as far as an adult beverage option.
Then discovered that everything I was drinking contained undisclosed additives. I did not know that all the big brands, all the celebrity ones they used, sweeteners including aspartame, glycerin, coloring. So., when I found that out I'm like, well, can I make something additive free?
I wanted it to be additive free, but still a really easy to drink tequila. So there are some additive-free, and maybe some of those tequilas, are a little more alcohol forward, have a little more bite. Or maybe I have a little more spookiness or herbalness. I wanted to kinda get
the, a little bit sweeter taste profile, but without actually using the sweeteners. Okay. So that's how, so we started with that as our base premise of what we wanted. And [00:07:00] then the way we developed that was actually, we took a blanco and then put it in bourbon barrels for a short time, like rested, short time blancos very rarely go into wood, and that helps us develop some of that, a little bit of the vanilla caramel, a little bit sweeter, take some of the bite out without using additives.
I went in knowing which types of taste profiles I like. And I thought that our female consumer also would like, because listen, if you have to mix your tequila in a sugary margarita to mask the taste, you lose the whole benefit of like, why I wanted to drink tequila.
I love dessert, I wanna eat my sweets, I don't wanna drink them. How can I make a tequila that is so easy to drink that all you need to do is add a little bit of soda, water, and it's like the perfect cocktail.
Christina: Okay. I was gonna just ask you that. I was like, okay, what do you add? So just soda, water and you put it in and then you have, I love that
Mara: ice and soda water. That is it.
Christina: Make it simple and then let the drink itself be the flavor and to bring everything else. I like that a lot. When you were creating this and you had the first batch come out, you had a lot of disappointment in that. I wanna go a little deeper on [00:08:00] that feeling, because as entrepreneurs, especially when you're creating a product, you kind of get slap not just like you get a little disappointment, it's kind of like a slap, a disappointment.
Like you, you just like God, how could they get it so wrong? And I don't know if that's the kind of disappointment you had in the first time, but I would love to hear about it and then what you decided in that moment that kept you going.
Mara: Yes. It was, and that was one of the first really big hurdles and the story that I remember.
There have been so many more since, and some, I'm gonna remember some I'm not going to. Yeah. I think it helped me with two things. One, it reaffirmed for me that quality is everything to me. Like I am not a natural salesperson. If I don't love it and believe in the quality, I'm not going to do a very good job selling it.
So it had to be like, everything has to meet my standards. From the website to the messaging, to everything like it. It has to meet my quality standards. And then the second thing was, you have to learn to roll with a punch. Like there are so many highs and so many lows and I think trying to figure out how to navigate that and stay like a [00:09:00] little bit neutral to those and not get like over elated or over deflated is really the key because then it becomes all the time. I mean , we finally got the bottles, we got the product and then we had
bottle closures and the entire run, they came, they didn't fit properly. So when you have to get into the mindset of like, I'm gonna figure it out. Every day, there's gonna be something I need to navigate, and I'm going to just have to figure out how to navigate it without getting bent outta shape about it.
Christina: I feel like this is where the successful entrepreneurs are versus the ones who just never make it. And I talk to people all the time, they're like, how did you become so successful? And I'm like, because I don't stop. I push through. I've had so many difficulties at so many things.
But at the end of the day, instead of saying, well, I failed at that, I say, what did I learn at that? Like how did I learn? What can I apply? And I tell people all the time. I've been an entrepreneur for 20 plus years. I have failed at so many companies before I've even made it to be successful.
So back in the day, I had a company called Off Logic. It was a tech [00:10:00] startup. So you know how you log into your bank now and they give you the text code that you have to put in. We created that almost. 17 years ago, but we ran outta money to finish the patent and the VCs told us we were crazy and there was no way that anybody would want this.
It was just way before its time and it failed. And then now I look and I'm like, it's everywhere. Like we, we had that idea, we had the concept, but we just didn't make it happen. I take it as I learned stuff from that, I learned that if I have an idea that's ahead of time, I need the money to fund it myself.
Or it's not gonna work. And there's all these things we have to just keep pushing through. So when you were creating this, did you self-fund it? Did you go for funding?
Mara: Yeah, I self-funded it. Okay. I self-funded for four years, and then we did end of 2024, like a kind of smaller friends, family angels.
Then we're going back out to fundraise, next year. But, I wanna prove a concept myself first. I wanted to have the product done.
I also think it's a huge, mindset issue for many women, including me going out [00:11:00] and raising money. We usually want to wrapped up everything with a pretty little bow before we go out. I heard someone recently say, men get funded on an idea and women get funded on proof.
And as someone who went back in as a more seasoned entrepreneur, like I didn't go and do this outta my dorm room. I had the ability to fund it. It was very difficult to go out and ask people for money. I had to like reframe. My mindset, like I'm providing an opportunity.
I'm not asking for money, providing an opportunity, but I need that like literally like tattooed on my forehead because I need that constant reminder.
Christina: I will tell you, if I go to a vc, I have no problem 'cause I've done it before. But going into friends and family I think would be really hard for me because I would get this fear of, what if it doesn't work out?
That's a thought that goes through my mind is they're giving me their money and what if I can't make it work? And then it's too much pressure on me. So kudos to you.
Mara: I mean, I feel a ton more responsibility.
But, it's early stage so everybody knows that there's a risk and you're investing early stage.
Christina: Tell us about the vision of what you're hoping this will be.
Mara: It's funny because it feels like I've been doing it for so long, like US dog [00:12:00] years, it feels like a very long time in even though it hasn't been. And then on the other hand, I feel like we're just getting started and we're total startup mode.
I want to build it really well in certain key markets. I want for women this would be their go-to brand. So if they drink tequila and they're getting together with friends, like I wanna be spirit. Those moments of connection, especially for women, over 35. Women over 35 generally get written off by Spirits brand.
I want to feel like I created a community of those people.
Are part of my community and that we're their go-to, to like spirit. Those moments of connection when you're getting together with people and that they've heard of it and love the brand. So it may not be everywhere they've heard of it. Love it the least in like the places where we have a presence.
Christina: So you want it to be that lifestyle brand where it's like we're getting together and we're gathering, we're not just drinking a bottle of wine, we're pulling out the good stuff. We're getting the tequila out. Yes. That's a feeling. It's like we're gathering we should drink this, not just.
Something.
Mara: Right. This is my transition, I love wine. Wine does not love me. [00:13:00] So at a certain, sometimes people have a problem with it and the sugar and they don't wake up feeling well, so that was kind of like, okay, well you still can enjoy yourself and have drinks with friends, and have a really great clean quality cocktail and enjoy yourself. I think many women and the women that you talk to all the time, they live really busy lives and
kind of also can carve out and deserve those like little moments of connection. So it doesn't have to be like a huge thing. It could be like you just had five girlfriends over, or you were playing Mahjong or poker.
Christina: It's just, it's just sitting and being, and it's like, I think that's what we're all after.
That's what my women who follow me are after. It's I've made it. I wanna go the next level. I wanna make more money. But how can I enjoy the journey along the way? Because I tell people, it's not about the goal. If the goal was just to create this, you've done it.
That's it. But we always have a new goal and a next goal and a next goal. But we have to enjoy the journey along the way. And if we're not taking time to slow down and have a [00:14:00] great glass of tequila and just talk with our friends on the couch, and having that cool conversation about life.
What's the point of all of this? It doesn't make sense anymore. We're just driving to an end and that's it. Now let's talk a little bit about community. You were talking a lot about community.
Mara: Yes. We've talked about this a little bit about how much work and how much effort goes into, starting something, an entrepreneurial journey.
Mm-hmm. It's a very lonely journey.
Christina: Yeah.
Mara: So I found it essential to find, you know. People that are there to support me. We talk about hanging out with girlfriends. My girlfriends do not wanna listen about and hear everything about inspiro tequila all the time. Neither does my family, by the way. No. So having a community to go to a supportive community.
So I made that a really big priority knowing that, I reentered the workforce. I was out raising kids for over 16 years. I have three kids. I was outta the workforce for over 16 years. I had a great carpool network. I had no business network, so I had to be very deliberate to try and build like a community of like female founders, female leaders, that I thought would help [00:15:00] support me.
So I looked at organizations. I joined different groups and organizations, and now I've refined those down to the ones that I think really are like the best suited and I get the most out of. But I joined like just tons of different networks, especially 'cause it was COVID so everyone could meet virtually.
I reach out to people, I got lots of introductions and every introduction would lead to another introduction and I followed up on every single one of them. So by following up on each person and, 'cause you never know, I take and I still take every meeting, everyone who dms me,
I give some time on my calendar because I think you get something out of, there's some learning out of every single interaction. Then I found people that I wanted to connect to and I did really thoughtful outreach, which I think is what's essential.
I never send a message saying, can I pick your brain? I go in like very specific. I'll have heard someone on a podcast say, I love this message you shared here on the podcast. I'd love to talk to you more about this tool you said you used, or this marketing group or, and I go in with something very specific.
Sometimes I sound even like on the stalkers level, I'm like, I saw your [00:16:00] kid just graduated from high school and you're doing and he is going here and whatever. But I think if you go in with a really personal message. A very specific request. You'll usually get someone answer and be willing to connect.
Now there are gonna be people who aren't, and I don't take that personally. I'm like, okay, they're not interested. They got other stuff going on in their life. It's fine. But if you go in without any thoughtful message, it won't resonate at all.
I think it's the same way. Like, listen, you have people, lots of people selling services. If you came to me and are like, I really wanna present my, this, my digital marketing, whatever, and then we have the call and you start your call saying, so tell me like, how did you get started about your business?
I would be like, you are wasting Yeah. 15 minutes of your half hour, because all of that information. Is available on my website and if you're trying to sell me something, you have this much time and you just spend 15 minutes asking. You could have read all that. It's out on my LinkedIn, it's out on my website.
It's everywhere. Right?
Christina: Yeah.
Mara: So I think the more thoughtful you could be built. And then I'm a very big believer in peer to peer mentoring. Yeah. So I have a group I made my [00:17:00] own little cohort within like women in spirits. ' cause there are not that many of us, but ones that I think. Like we're really on the same page and think the same way and just have like a cohort that meets like every other month on Zoom.
And then I also have like a little bit of a bigger group that I can go to of like women and consumer products. Okay. And that we may do events together or whatever, or collaborate or, but i'll reach out, I'll be like, Hey, I saw you have a new website who did your website? I love it.
And if people ask me, now we have a new website, I'll, I share that. So that sharing of like resources and information and also giving feedback. Maybe not everybody loves unsolicited feedback I happen to on, so I'll find a typo on something someone put out or their LinkedIn post or their website, and I'll send them a message.
I'll be like, here, I'm a founder. I would wanna know. And most people are usually appreciative of that, so yes. But I would wanna know.
Christina: Well it's, it's funny 'cause I just redid my website. There's still a few things I have to tweak 'cause I was like, oh, this wasn't done right. Or they put the wording weird.
But I wrote all the copy for the homepage, the sales page, the wait list pages, the email. [00:18:00] It was a lot of copy. Like a lot. Yeah. So I know there's errors probably in there because you're so tired, you're reading it. So if someone was like, oh, I noticed you just have this off, I would've been like, oh my God.
Thank you. Because we miss it after a while. We're kind of glossed over to it.
Mara: Now. I'm gonna go read it to review it for you. So I'm meant editor, like at heart. So I stopped doing something because I was literally rewriting like every social media caption, just not a good use of my time.
'cause like,
Christina: yeah.
Mara: I'm a lawyer by trade.
Christina: Oh, cool.
Mara: Writing's my thing. I was an editor of like my law review, so I am like a stickler for like grammar and everything. So I was like,
Christina: and the word you use, I'm sure it's like how the words are done because attorneys, my attorneys are so funny. They're like.
Let's not use that word. Let's use this word. And so I've developed that too. I'm like, if we say it this way, it's perceived this way. Yeah.
Mara: Yes. So I am like a much of a stickler and probably much the dismay of a lot of people who work with me. 'cause I revise every agreement and contract and rewrite things thought.
Christina: Yes. That's awesome. I love that. And so the community, how has it really changed where you were [00:19:00] before creating this? How has the community helped you?
Mara: Wow, there are really so many ways and that's a great question to like, reflect on for me.
Yeah. Because I'd say one. Putting myself out there and building community, let's say even initially within the spirits.
Christina: Mm-hmm.
Mara: Community. I think it's afforded me some credibility. So coming in as this random mother of three without any background in the spirits industry and saying, I'm like building a tequila company.
I feel like I definitely had to earn some credibility. So becoming like active in like those communities,
Just to get my like name out there. Someone who can be perceived , I did a lot of homework and came prepared. I did not throw this out willy-nilly, , hey, I'm starting a tequila company. 'cause my friends had a, and I had a great trip to Mexico. It was not like that at all.
So I feel like that piece of it, I feel like also having, go-to people and also being a go-to person. Yeah, we often think they're ahead of me in business and what can I offer? And I don't look at it that way. I look at myself as hopefully being a connector. And if I think that this person, they could be like, way more advanced than me [00:20:00] and I'm a way bigger company and this person, I think that'd be a, like a really good introduction and.
I think more women have to think like that, that it's those little things. If you make an introduction, if you refer someone, oh, I like, I happen to think this business is great and it might not even be for me right now. Hey, who are you looking for as customers? So it's those little things. It's making the referral, it's making an introduction, it's answering a message.
It's like giving feedback. If someone asks me for feedback. All those little things I think are, can be like incredibly impactful of helping other women in business. And I'm fortunate that people did that for me too.
When I think about the kind of events I go to, right? I don't go to these big boozy festivals. I show up at like professional women's organizations and do tequila tastings and tell, share the story and speak on panels, right? That's my community. Those are the women who it's gonna resonate with and how this lady end up going from tequila company and they're gonna be like interested in the story and trying the product.
So I look at it that way as like I can also be like really actively in en engaged in the communities that I'm part of.
Christina: I love it [00:21:00] because this is what I'm creating. And this is the whole point of it. It's so you found your peers that are in the tequila or in the spirits kind of area first, and then you branched out a little.
I talked to another entrepreneur last month I had her on my podcast and she goes, well, I wanted to create this clean product 'cause I had cancer. And she goes, but I felt really lonely.
So I actually created this cohort of other people who had clean products. But now we do these popups together and I coordinate it. So we all do these popups at these different stores. So their products get displayed too. And people learn about their products and my products, and we're all kind of doing it together.
And she goes. It was one of the best things because we talk about everything, we're sharing it, but then we're helping each other grow. And I feel like that's what you're doing here, where it's like you're meeting different people who can go out there and help you grow, but at the same time, if you say, well, crap, you know, my, my lids on the bottles didn't fit, and we had to go through like four iterations to try to get this lid to fit, they're gonna completely understand where someone else might be like.
I don't understand what [00:22:00] the big deal is, where they're gonna be like, oh my God, well we had the this problem. Or they were overfilling or whatever. You know, the issue would be, yeah, and it feels good when you have a person. Who just understands that because like you said, my husband, I try to talk to him about the stuff I do, and for him, he just doesn't quite get it.
My kids don't get it. I have other friends I try to explain it to and what I do, and they're like, I'm just struggling to do laundry. You know? And it's, it's a different conversation.
Mara: Yeah. And you don't wanna bore people with it. Listen, my friends always ask me to go out like, what's going on?
All I do all day is think about work. And when I don't, when I'm out, I'm like, let's just have some tequila and enjoy. So I can totally appreciate that. And I look at bigger communities too, where there's like a lot of resources.
So there's like Slack channels that are specifically for consumer products. There are big women's groups where you can find service providers. Like the initial one I joined was like joined a bunch of different, like, larger national women's groups. And that's how I found like someone who initially did like our digital marketing and our pr.
That's, I. Found resources that I didn't know even where to go.
Christina: [00:23:00] Yeah. And it's great. Like I tell people, you know, depending on the group and what you want, like you can go to the really big ones, you can find really small ones. Right. I'm creating a small one where it's like your people are together.
And that's just because of what it is that I'm doing. Inside is very unique and different, but then you can also be in a larger group. You can also be in a group about something else. Like it doesn't matter. How much time do you wanna put into the groups? Because I tell people this all the time too. ' cause I get friends who will say, you know, entrepreneur friends who are like, man, I've been in this group for two years, and if they don't put me on stage or promote me, I'm out of it.
I go. But is that the only reason why you're in the group? Like, like what are you not getting something out of it? 'cause I try really hard, to get something out. I wanna meet people. I'm learning from people, you know, and it's hard sometimes in the virtual groups 'cause you post, you don't get these connections.
That's why I love my podcast because I actually get to sit down and have a real conversation with other entrepreneurs who are doing really cool stuff. But like online, it's like even if you post or tell your story or someone responds back, [00:24:00] you can still create meetups. You can still create little fun parties.
Like for you, it's like taking your tequila and saying, Hey, I'm gonna pick three months. I'm gonna travel the country. If I have my friends set up, you know, little like cocktail hours with people, I'm gonna come.
Give my tequila. You guys can all try it. Talk about my story as an entrepreneur and let's all grow together like that would be really cool. That would get it out to a lot of people. And then you're building the connections and the collaborations and all this stuff that you want. And maybe someone's like, oh, that's not really for us after we're done, but I know 10 people who would love that.
Or, Hey, I know an owner at a store. Who would totally sell this? Do you want an introduction? That's kind of what we want at the end of the day, right?
Mara: Totally. Totally. And I think, you get a little more discerning as far as like what groups you start out and you're like, I'm just gonna join, everything I find and then,
which ones do have personal connections? Summit are great for resources or webinars or education. I'm certified woman owned, so WeBank, they offer tons of educational programming, that I take advantage of. It's all free, some are good for that. But then I got to the point where now I wanted more in [00:25:00] person opportunities.
So who's holding in person? I didn't want all virtual. So I think you kind of refined that list down to see like what it is that you really want. Where's the community? Very engaged and people are like responsive. So if you're like, Hey, do you wanna have a meetup?
Mm-hmm. That you find people who are responsive. So I think you kind of sometimes have to learn that along the way a little bit and like. Narrow down the different communities that you're in. It's kinda all part of the learning process and like what works for you and what's effective. And different communities could be like probably really good for like service based businesses versus product based businesses.
Christina: And I like being in communities where there's both, right? So my community be more just for service space because I had a product, so I have some experience, but if you came to me and you were like, Christina, can you be my advisor and help me grow? I wouldn't feel as comfortable because it's not something I've been doing for so long.
Most of the businesses, I've grown and done exceptionally well and have been service-based, so I decided to just keep it service based. [00:26:00] I like being in groups where I have both too, because I learned something from you guys. You guys have a product. And I'm gonna tell people , they don't understand,
creating a product I think is the hardest thing to do because in service I can pivot instantly. Oh, I made a course and it's not selling as well. I'm gonna tweak this or that, and I keep moving. But if the product's not right and you have invested in bottles that just aren't working, but you spent a year in these bottles.
Yeah. It's not easy to just be like, throw the bottles away and we'll create new and it doesn't work like that.
Mara: I appreciate that you can totally learn from other verticals. I try and learn, I went to Chicago Tech Week and sat in on, different panels. I wanna know what's going on and how people are using it.
I try and learn as much as possible from a lot of different verticals because, I don't know, people are doing things really well in other areas and I think it's a good way to learn. I watch a million pitch competitions. Most of 'em are like for, besides when I watch Shark Tank, but most of the pitch competition I watch, there are a lot of them are tech companies and I'm just curious about like how they build and their valuations and how they get modeled.
So I do believe in starting out. I also think [00:27:00] it's great that you are, going to define your group more narrowly. I tell people that all the time, they come to like pitch to me. If you say it's for everybody or everything.
I'm like, what's your specialty? Because I don't think that anyone is like great at every channel. So if you tell me we do like email and social and paid and SEO and Insta and like everything, and PR , how are good at what you do really well. And I think the more defined.
Especially when I talk to a lot of women who are like looking at becoming, coaches or doing strategy. I'm like, if you define your offering, like much more narrowly, like here are the types of things I'm really good at and can coach. If you say it's just broad for an entrepreneur, it's like just too overwhelming.
I don't know what that means. You have to be like, really. Specific.
Christina: Yeah. And I think that's what throws a lot of people off. Here's the funny thing. So I've been coaching for a long time, but two years ago I actually came online.
And I have another business that's super successful, didn't really need to be online for it. And when I came online. I had a course, I had the coaching programs. It was starting to grow really, really well instead of just doing [00:28:00] one-on-one coaching. But I wasn't enjoying it. It wasn't authentic to me. And when I started to pivot, I said, this is what I wanna do.
I know in my heart, because I've, I've helped so many of these women already, I just wanna do it. You're being too narrow. You're, you're excluding everybody, but then you're not gonna have any money. I go. I teach and coach on this all the time. If you don't get narrow enough, you, I mean, there's, there is a point where you can be too narrow, but it's hard to really get there.
But if I'm not narrow enough. Then nobody hears me if I'm more narrow. That's why it's like income jumping. So it's like you already have your business, you already have consistent sales. I could help you build a business. I've done it before. I could help you get consistent sales. I've done it before, but I'm at the point where I wanna help you go from a hundred thousand to half a million, from half a million to a million, a million to beyond.
Because I know what it takes to do it, but I do it effortlessly. So instead of adding more activity, more work. Let's take that away and let me show you how cool it can be to go to the next level and the next level without making it complicated. And then you get your life back and how to be happy, how to [00:29:00] enjoy the moment.
I love you're talking about how , your tequila is, let's sit on the couch. Let's, let's have a conversation. Let's relax. Because entrepreneurs, when we hit this point of consistent sales. We get in this rut and we wanna do more, we wanna go to the next level and it we add and add and add, and we forget how to actually enjoy life and how to go out there and be happy to be in the moment.
Like you said, when you go to your friends, you know your regular friends, you're like, I don't wanna talk business. I've done it all day. But a lot of us we're stuck in that and that's all we think about all day long.
Mara: Right. I'm a terrible, terrible role model for balance, so I don't even preach that or pretend that I am good at that.
I don't have off hours. When I'm away, I'm working. I really don't know how to turn that off. I'm a kinda myopically focused person. So when I'm focused on something that is like,
Christina: it's a hard, I'll tell you, it's a hard thing. I call it shadow success.
You get into success and then it starts switching from success into shadow success, and you feel like you're in success and you're doing all these great things, and everybody who looks at you is like, wow, [00:30:00] you're amazing. Like, how do you do all that? You're making a lot of money. But slowly you're just losing the happiness and the joy and it always feels like a new hurdle.
A new hurdle. And that's the shadow side of it and what happens is I got really deep into that and then I woke up one day, well, I almost died. That was where I woke up. And when I almost died, I realized, what am I doing? I am running around like a crazy person. I'm barely seeing my kids. I have four kids from 16 to 6, and I'm like, I'm not even like spending time with them when I'm with them.
I'm thinking about business, I'm not even thinking about them. And that was the moment where I was like, this is not the life that I wanna live. And so I've been climbing outta that. And so it seems hard at first, but the moments when you actually just stop thinking about it. It feels amazing. It's like I sit and I read to my kids now and I'm not thinking about business.
I'm not thinking about, oh, I gotta correct my sales page. Or did this go through? Or, oh, I have to send this email. None of it. I'm just reading the story. I'm laughing, I'm joking. I'm making moments and [00:31:00] memories. And so this is what I wanna teach women to do because we're gonna get to a point in our life where we're gonna sit back and say, what happened?
Like where did it go? And I don't want women to be in that.
Mara: Yes. I can, I definitely can appreciate and understand that,
Christina: yeah. Let me ask this question
are all your employees women?
Mara: I have one of their full-time and our master Stiller, so we're actually certified woman owned. So being certified woman owned is kind of the highest requirements. So you have to actually be owned and controlled by women.
Yeah. So for me that was really important because, one, I feel then there's a level of transparency. There are brands where there's like this one female founder in the front and then everyone behind her are a bunch of middle aged white men who look at the industry.
So I really wanted to be actually authentically have powered by an all women team. 'cause then tequila, it's pretty rare. And in spirits in general, there are very few even certified women-owned spirits brands. I think maybe like 12 across like every category. Oh wow. So for me that was important.
It was important just because I felt like it was here's our credibility, here's our positioning. Like you know exactly who this. Who's behind [00:32:00] this? We do have some sales ambassadors on the ground fros that are men. Fabulous.
Christina: Yep.
Mara: But they can only be men who like buy into this. If it's someone who does not buy into the relevance of a female consumer.
I've done pitches, competitions even where I get like men who respond like, isn't women, a niche market. So if you don't buy in to the fact that like women are a very significant market to sell to. Then you're not the right fit for us. If you are not comfortable going everywhere, being like, this is still owned and led by women, this is like from a female founder, then you're also probably not right for us.
So the people that come on have to believe in our values. Yeah. And so it was important to me that we get the women-owned certification, that we have women behind the brand because I thought the way to speak authentically to this consumer we're trying to address had to come, like, I only know I have a female perspective, but had to come from a women team like brands who've tried to do this.
And it doesn't ring authentic, and they're like, oh, this is, they've done it with a whiskey. This is a whiskey for women. Women get like super offended. They do not like it. They're like, it's not for me, and [00:33:00] you're not like speaking to me authentically. Or they make it, they dumb it down for the consumer.
They put in hot pink bottles or make it fruity flavored like we think. She's a thoughtful, educated consumer who wants high quality products. It's a craft ultra premium tequila. So that was important to me too, like how we speak to her. But the reason we focus on her, and I think the only way we could come at it from this lens in an industry that traditionally comes from a different perspective.
Like when you think of spirits, it's usually scantily clad women and dark club scenes is like the marketing. Yeah. You don't see any of that there. There are no women in bathing suits on boats in any of our market. You don't see it on our social media. You don't see it on
Christina: Yeah.
Mara: That, because that is not something that resonates with me and that's not how I.
Want to portray the brand. So I do think those things to be like really deliberate, like that. It had to come from people who would think about that. 'cause maybe a guy would not find, that possibly offensive. But for me, that doesn't resonate to me with me.
Christina: I joke with my husband when I see these, 'cause we used to have a [00:34:00] boat before we moved here to Tennessee.
We're gonna get one probably next year, but I'm like, yeah, can you show me boats where they, these super hot women in bikinis dancing around drinking cocktails? Because that's not my reality. Sure there are, but I feel like they're selling it to the men that, oh, you know, even though they try to make it to the women, it's more of
if you have this, you get these kind of women drinking it and Totally. I just think it's so bizarre that they try to do that. And you're right, a lot of the marketing for women. They, they kind of dumb it down. Like, we're not smart, like we don't know anything.
Oh, we just want a fruity, low carb drink. And it's like people, when I talk to people, so I can't have beer anymore. I guess I could have certain kind of beers, but I'm gluten-free now. I'm allergic to gluten. But I used to love Guinness.
Mara: I'm gluten-free.
Christina: Okay. You're see, you know, but when I would younger tequila's, gluten free, I know.
I love it. And I used to drink Guinness and people, when I would go out with guys back in the day before I got married, they'd be like, oh, do you want like a light beer? And I was like, no, I wanna Guinness. And they're like, you're gonna drink a, you don't drink it. And I'm like, I'll show you. I'll drink it.
Like guys have this perspective [00:35:00] of, oh, you're a lady. Oh, these things. But. It is not true. And if you don't have the right marketing and the right things put up in front for your team, your sales team, it ruins your brand. Because if they're saying the wrong things, and like you said, being authentic, and then someone goes and get this, you have this disconnect.
They don't know why and they're just not gonna buy it.
Mara: And you want them to feel like we're like really connected. We talk about connection a lot. I want them to feel like we can, like I understand your life. I know what's going on. And I feel like to have that feeling of connection, they have to come from someone who feel like understands you and listen, that's that's how investors invest.
That's how they invest in people they relate with, which is why women. Don't get a lot of investment money. Because like it's mostly men at the table's.
Christina: I know and that's why I was asking how you funded it because, especially being woman led and having that Hey, I want to really be for women.
You're going up to men and you're kind of saying, Hey, here's the idea. So. I think that's fantastic. I love this whole idea and everything about it. Now as we're wrapping up the podcast, do you have any events where [00:36:00] people can come and try it? Are there stores that they could go to? What's the next step for somebody?
Mara: Yes. Check us out online, www.inspirotequila.com. If we're not in your market, you can order us online for delivery, but if we're in your market, like we're in your market, I know we're in stores around, Nashville, in the suburbs of Nashville. Okay. I'm in Chicago, so we're all over. The Illinois market.
And then in other markets too. So we're in like 11 states right now. Okay, cool. But if you don't find us nearby, then please, you can order and try it online and then see if you can get us locally, connected with me on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my jam. We're obviously, we're on social media and spero tequila on social media or my personal social media, be inspired by Mara, where I share the behind the scenes of this crazy journey.
But LinkedIn is where I share the most and connects. People the most. So Maro Smith on LinkedIn is a great place to connect with me.
Christina: I love it. And then if they like it, is it pretty easy for someone to go to a store and say, Hey, I really want you to start carrying this, or is there a process to do that?
Mara: Only if we're in that market. If we're in that state, we have to have a distribution in that state because it's so highly regulated. You have to have a wholesaler in [00:37:00] every state. So if it's a state we're already in, okay, then it's easy. Let's say like a country club. We're already in Nashville for your country club.
Members ask for it easy, they can get it because we're in that state. Okay. But if we're not in that state, then right now it's to you. Order us online.
Christina: Get it online for sure. And I bet they make great holiday gifts.
Mara: The bottles are gorgeous. People love it. It's a perfect, it's a perfect gift.
So if you miss the holidays, it's also perfect, like, mother's Day, all the. Valenti Valentine's
Christina: Day.
Mara: Yes.
Christina: Valentine. Totally. Yes. You can, you could drop the link quickly to your husband and say, Hey, you know, just wanted to share something with you. Like give the idea of Hey, I would like something like this.
I think it's fantastic. And your story was amazing. It's hard to hear the struggle, but the struggle makes it real. And you didn't give up and you're pushing through every day. And I think that is just. So amazing. And it just speaks to a lot of people who find that struggle or at a point where their business isn't exactly where they want it to be now, but you can push through and make it something amazing.
So Mara, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate it.
Mara: [00:38:00] Thank you. I appreciate you having me.
