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Speaker 1: relying on them. Hey everyone, I'm Jennie Torres and I'm
Speaker 1: Austin Haykwitz. Welcome to another episode of Mind the Business
Speaker 1: Small Business Success Stories, a podcast by iHeartRadio and Into
Speaker 1: It QuickBooks. In each episode, Austin and I chat with
Speaker 1: small business owners as they share their stories about the
Speaker 1: ups and downs of owning a small business. Plus we'll
Speaker 1: learn from their experience about how you can help fortify
Speaker 1: and strengthen your own business.
Speaker 2: Genie, I remember in our last episode with Kristin of
Speaker 2: Claire for Creators, you mentioned having your mom and sister
Speaker 2: as part of your staff. What was that process like
Speaker 2: for you?
Speaker 1: Well, for me, it was a natural fit and a
Speaker 1: natural decision because I knew I wanted to work with
Speaker 1: people that I could trust and also people that I
Speaker 1: could keep it real with, and you know, when it
Speaker 1: comes to family, I think they checked off both of
Speaker 1: those boxes for me. So it's been fun to kind
Speaker 1: of see each other grow in that perspective and really
Speaker 1: gain respect, especially between me and my sister as like
Speaker 1: we're adults, we're colleagues. Now we're working together, we're building
Speaker 1: this business. It's been actually really good for our relationship,
Speaker 1: even on a personal level. So I know, Austin, you
Speaker 1: found Christian to help you with your business and bring
Speaker 1: him on as a partner, But how did you determine
Speaker 1: that his experience and strengths would align with what you
Speaker 1: needed for your business. Did you actually like interview him
Speaker 1: and go through that whole process.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, for those of you that might not know, Christian
Speaker 2: Blockwell is the co founder of my company and we
Speaker 2: work in tandem every day to build our business. But
Speaker 2: when we first met during the summer of twenty Christian
Speaker 2: was actually doing consulting for PwC in New York City.
Speaker 2: We did three things in the beginning that set our
Speaker 2: working relationship up for success. We had a trial period.
Speaker 2: We were transparent from day one, and we agreed on
Speaker 2: compensation and its long term potential very early. So the
Speaker 2: trial period helped us figure out how we worked well together.
Speaker 2: I'd argue this was really just a drawn out interview process,
Speaker 2: but I quickly learned how he communicated with others, how
Speaker 2: he organized his work, and more importantly, how we'd worked
Speaker 2: together to solve problems. Transparency in trust was also super
Speaker 2: important right as a content creator. I needed to know
Speaker 2: that I was working with someone that always had my
Speaker 2: best interest in mind and wasn't trying to take advantage
Speaker 2: of this awesome opportunity that I was afforded. And finally,
Speaker 2: aligning on compensation early was incredibly important because we both
Speaker 2: knew on day one what we were capable of and
Speaker 2: how that would impact us in the future if we
Speaker 2: were able to achieve that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really interesting. So before I hired my sister,
Speaker 1: I actually hired my first virtual assistant through my Instagram
Speaker 1: following I literally made an Instagram post I said, this
Speaker 1: is what I'm offering five to ten hours as a
Speaker 1: virtual assistant. This is what I can afford to pay
Speaker 1: and it was really cool, you know, in a sense
Speaker 1: of creating this new opportunity for me to now put
Speaker 1: money into someone else's pocket, and especially you know, as
Speaker 1: a woman of caller owned business, that for me is
Speaker 1: really special. So I'm curious, how did you go about
Speaker 1: finding talent that you use now for your company besides
Speaker 1: your partner, you.
Speaker 2: Know, from a tactical finding the talent perspective. I also
Speaker 2: find a lot of cool talent on social media, right
Speaker 2: I put those feelers out. I made posts on Instagram,
Speaker 2: LinkedIn Twitter, and even TikTok about my business's needs. And
Speaker 2: now the hard part though, is deciphering who's the right
Speaker 2: person for the job. So weirdly enough, Janis, I tasked
Speaker 2: everyone to email me a detailed description of their favorite
Speaker 2: vacation spot. That was like the application, like I just
Speaker 2: wanted to know that thing. Because I did this for
Speaker 2: two reasons. One, if someone doesn't have that self started
Speaker 2: mentality to just go and send an email about something
Speaker 2: they really enjoyed, like, you know, would they have that
Speaker 2: same mentality with your business?
Speaker 3: Probably not.
Speaker 2: That was the first reason. But the second reason was
Speaker 2: I wanted to learn more about the intricacies that they
Speaker 2: experience that make them really happy. Right, maybe they're like
Speaker 2: the time off and they really enjoy interactions or the
Speaker 2: freebies or you know whatever part of that was. So
Speaker 2: that then helped me become a better leader and I
Speaker 2: was then better to align compensation with what they really
Speaker 2: cared about.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love that example and it reminds me of the
Speaker 1: hiring process that I went about for hiring my first
Speaker 1: virtual assistant slash content creator because I was kind of
Speaker 1: giving them a lot of different things to help me with.
Speaker 1: I had everyone give me an example of a piece
Speaker 1: of content that they would create for my brand. I
Speaker 1: also invited folks to criticize what we're not doing great
Speaker 1: and I wanted to see, like, who would give me
Speaker 1: the honest feedback that I need in order for me
Speaker 1: to not stay stagnant as a business owner as a brand.
Speaker 1: And so when I found the person that I eventually hired,
Speaker 1: I respected the fact that she was like, you know,
Speaker 1: you guys are doing this really well, but there's definitely
Speaker 1: opportunities here that you're missing out on, And that for
Speaker 1: me was like a no brainer. I'm like, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is this needs to be my person.
Speaker 2: I love that. I definitely have the same way of
Speaker 2: thinking about this. Right, I want people to be transparent.
Speaker 2: I want them to be upfront. I want them to
Speaker 2: let me know what am I doing right, what am
Speaker 2: I doing wrong? And how can we work together to
Speaker 2: solve this problem and become a better units going forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we both still are operating very much
Speaker 1: in the startup mentality, and I know for sure I
Speaker 1: definitely need to get a more formal hiring process together.
Speaker 1: But luckily, our guest for this next episode, Kevin Wog,
Speaker 1: the co founder of Lunar Heart Seltzer, has some insights
Speaker 1: on how to do just that. After a late night
Speaker 1: of partying in twenty nineteen, Kevin and his best friend
Speaker 1: Sean Roe stopped for a late night bite at their
Speaker 1: local Korean fried chicken joint. While trying to order drinks
Speaker 1: with their food. That night, the idea for Lunar Heart
Speaker 1: Seltzer was born. It's the first and only craft heart
Speaker 1: Seltzer brand made with real Asian fruits like yuzu and leechi.
Speaker 1: Their goal was simple to deliver an elevated heart Seltzer
Speaker 1: experience using flavors most emblematic of their childhood, heritage and
Speaker 1: identity in an unapologetic pursuit of what they call the
Speaker 1: reverse lunchbox moment. At Lunar, Kevin leads sales and finance
Speaker 1: while he and Sean developed new flavors and products in
Speaker 1: the Lunar lab together.
Speaker 4: Kevin Wang, welcome to mine the business.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me really excited for this episode, man,
Speaker 2: So I need to know how did you come up
Speaker 2: specifically with the idea of your company. We heard a
Speaker 2: little bit of the origin story here from Janie, but
Speaker 2: I'd love to hear it from your own words.
Speaker 3: The story is as what Jennie said, we were eating dinner.
Speaker 3: We were drinking bud light and a white Claw, and we
Speaker 3: were like, why isn't there something that really resonates with us, right,
Speaker 3: that really pairs well with the food. And that late
Speaker 3: night drunken thought turned into early morning, eight am ordering
Speaker 3: you know, brewing equipment on Amazon and online, and the
Speaker 3: next thing you know, we've got all this stuff, you know,
Speaker 3: kegs in fermenttors in our apartments in New York City.
Speaker 3: It started off really just innocuously right, brewing something that
Speaker 3: represented us, that took the flavors that you know I
Speaker 3: loved growing up. You know, I was I'm Taiwanese American,
Speaker 3: and every summer I would be in Taiwan, you know,
Speaker 3: on the streets with Grandma. She'ld buy some leachees and
Speaker 3: I would bite into those and that moment, like that
Speaker 3: is a core memory right there, And how do I
Speaker 3: take that and share that with people who've never had
Speaker 3: LEECHI like they're missing out right? How do I share that?
Speaker 3: And that was really kind of the goal. And you know,
Speaker 3: we would just brew. I'd have friends come over every
Speaker 3: month to try whatever we were cooking up. And by
Speaker 3: the end, after about a year and a half, they
Speaker 3: were like, Kevin, this is this is really good, Like
Speaker 3: you should sell this? And we were like, yeah, why not?
Speaker 3: And that was the beginning of that slippery slope. I
Speaker 3: love it.
Speaker 2: So let's keep rolling with that idea. What is the
Speaker 2: reverse lunchbox moment?
Speaker 3: So my parents immigrated to the US from Taiwan, and
Speaker 3: they would make lunch for me and for me to
Speaker 3: bring to school for a lot of you know, children
Speaker 3: of immigrants. You open up your lunch box and you've
Speaker 3: got you know, maybe like a ammy or you know,
Speaker 3: fried rice or kimchi, and the kids around you are like, ew,
Speaker 3: what is that, And that's a lunchbox moment, right when
Speaker 3: you all of a sudden feel this this insecurity, this
Speaker 3: feeling of being an outsider because people are judging you
Speaker 3: for what you're bringing for lunch, and for you, you're like,
Speaker 3: that's what I eat every day, Like this is my
Speaker 3: favorite I love ed a mommy like that was my
Speaker 3: favorite favorite fruit growing up. And so the reverse lunchbox
Speaker 3: moment is us trying to take that and actually own it,
Speaker 3: own that narrative and be like, look, here is what
Speaker 3: I'm bringing, and I am proud to be bringing kimchi
Speaker 3: for lunch. I am proud to be seen drinking a
Speaker 3: leechy hertzelter instead of feeling ashamed. So how we reverse
Speaker 3: that and reverse that narrative?
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: So, Kevin, can you tell us how long into the
Speaker 1: business did it take you to realize, oh, I need
Speaker 1: some help, like I can't keep doing this, you know
Speaker 1: as a two person show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, both of us quit jobs in February twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: and we made our first hire a year after. And
Speaker 3: the first year was the most tiring year of my life.
Speaker 3: With the business that we're building, right, it's a physical product,
Speaker 3: it's alcohol. And you know, when we started a lot
Speaker 3: of different distribution partners, retailers, you know, investors, they were like,
Speaker 3: this product is so niche, right, which stun that hurt. Now,
Speaker 3: first of all, there's twenty two million Asian Americans in
Speaker 3: the US, but also, hey, who doesn't love Alchi martinizz
Speaker 3: Come on, that's not a niche product. And so we
Speaker 3: really had to go at it ourselves and we had
Speaker 3: to prove that this was beyond just a niche. And
Speaker 3: to do that, I literally was running the streets of
Speaker 3: New York. I would knock on doors Monday through Friday,
Speaker 3: the whole day, the whole night. I would just have
Speaker 3: a backpack of cans. And by after about a year,
Speaker 3: we had the traction where distributors partners were like, oh wow,
Speaker 3: Lunar is everywhere, like this is a thing. Let's work together.
Speaker 3: And by then I was like, Okay, I need someone
Speaker 3: to help me here. I can't be doing this the
Speaker 3: whole time. I have other things to do to run
Speaker 3: this business. So we made a first hire, which was
Speaker 3: our director of.
Speaker 1: Sales, and then from there, what did the scale up
Speaker 1: and building of the team look like from that point on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we started with our director of sales, and
Speaker 3: we quickly realized we need more salespeople to help kind
Speaker 3: of share that load, and so now we have We're
Speaker 3: at about five employees today. Most of them are our
Speaker 3: sales team. They are feet on the streets. They are
Speaker 3: there actively working with their customers, working with our distributor partners,
Speaker 3: you know, really being out there to resolve any issues,
Speaker 3: close new business, and then up sell and grow our
Speaker 3: accounts as we continue to build our prisons out. Very cool.
Speaker 1: How do you find the right talent for your team?
Speaker 1: Like where do you source these folks from?
Speaker 3: You know, that was a great challenge in the beginning.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't come from this alcohol world, right,
Speaker 3: I use the work in tech and so like when
Speaker 3: I started, I was like, you know what, I'll post
Speaker 3: on LinkedIn, you know, I'll put up a post, I'll
Speaker 3: ask friends, but like, no one I knew knew anybody
Speaker 3: in the world. Like, it just was so many degrees
Speaker 3: removed from this industry. So referrals was kind of out
Speaker 3: of the question. And I was like, Okay, shoot, how
Speaker 3: do I find the right people the talent? We're looking
Speaker 3: for people that can represent our brand right and really
Speaker 3: champion the values and really kind of be a storyteller
Speaker 3: for us as Asian Americans, or it just probably ask
Speaker 3: people of color, like, how do we be there and
Speaker 3: really represent a fight for our narrative? And that's like
Speaker 3: even more limiting right on kind of the pool of applicants.
Speaker 3: So we started posting on industry specific job boards, and
Speaker 3: then we did a lot of asking our accounts for help.
Speaker 3: So we would ask our bartenders or our beverage directors
Speaker 3: at a bar, at the hotel, or at the beer
Speaker 3: buyer at a grocery store. We'd ask them like, hey,
Speaker 3: do you know anybody who was in this industry? And
Speaker 3: that's how we were really getting the word out about
Speaker 3: the brand. That plus a lot of press. We really
Speaker 3: focus on media to get that attention, to get that awareness,
Speaker 3: and that kind of came back to us where we
Speaker 3: started getting a flood of pretty awesome applicants that kind
Speaker 3: of matched those criteria. People were self selecting into this job.
Speaker 3: So we're we're pretty blessed to have an awesome team.
Speaker 3: We're majority minority employees. It's really awesome to see.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's brilliant.
Speaker 1: So Austin and I have talked about the fact that
Speaker 1: I actually work with my sister in my own business,
Speaker 1: and I'm still figuring out my company policy because I
Speaker 1: think it's easy when you're working with somebody that's so familiar,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, we'll just figure it out as we go.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious, what have been some important factors for
Speaker 1: you and Sean to be able to figure out how
Speaker 1: to work together well? And then also, how do you
Speaker 1: communicate your company expectations to employees.
Speaker 3: We're kind of making it up as we go along.
Speaker 4: That's super real.
Speaker 3: We have a culture book, we have company values, and
Speaker 3: so it's like a page. It's super simple.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: The culture is built by the actions and behaviors we
Speaker 3: take in the words we say when we're together. I
Speaker 3: think rather than a corporate doc on the screen, like
Speaker 3: who's going to just like open that? Let me reference
Speaker 3: my behavior against this dog, like who's going to do that?
Speaker 3: You know, like we're you know, we're human. And people
Speaker 3: say culture comes from the top. I think it does,
Speaker 3: but also comes from the people that you bring on.
Speaker 3: You know, especially in an early stage of a company,
Speaker 3: it's really around making sure that everyone feels included, feels
Speaker 3: value that we're taking time to appreciate each other. We
Speaker 3: have a team all hands every week and we'll kind
Speaker 3: of do snaps where we kind of show thanks to
Speaker 3: our colleagues or kind of really make sure we're showing appreciation.
Speaker 3: And I think that's important for us as a company
Speaker 3: and then for like me and my founder, the two
Speaker 3: of us, we had never worked together like we were
Speaker 3: friends before, we never like work together, right, Like, that's
Speaker 3: like a whole thing, Like that could be a whole
Speaker 3: show about like how do you transition a friendship into
Speaker 3: a like a partnership, Like that's a whole thing. There
Speaker 3: was definitely a challenge learning how we worked together. So
Speaker 3: we actually made a commitment to each other that we
Speaker 3: would go to like couples therapy, making sure that we
Speaker 3: are investing time in our relationship beyond just you know, work,
Speaker 3: which is all consuming, and making sure that we are
Speaker 3: taking time to be intentional about how we are, you know,
Speaker 3: checking in on each other.
Speaker 4: So that's is it actual couples therapy? Like, Yeah, that
Speaker 4: is the coolest thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 2: I need to do that, I need to try that.
Speaker 2: At least I love that idea. Christian, if you're listening
Speaker 2: to this, we're going to a couples therapy.
Speaker 4: My god, I love that. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Coming up on Mind the Business Small Business success Stories.
Speaker 3: First, you start off by journaling what did I do
Speaker 3: this week? And then you kind of group those and
Speaker 3: be like, what are tasks that fit into a rule?
Speaker 3: Where do I need help? But you're either solving a
Speaker 3: need because you need more or you're solving a need
Speaker 3: because you need better.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back after the break.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories,
Speaker 2: brought to you by iHeartRadio and Into It Quick Books.
Speaker 2: All right, Kevin, let's get into the numbers. When budgeting
Speaker 2: for a new hire, how do you make that decision?
Speaker 2: Do you build a model? Do you try and figure
Speaker 2: out the sales aspect? Walk me through a step by
Speaker 2: step how you figure out is it time to hire
Speaker 2: another person?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's such an art and a science.
Speaker 3: I would say, I think some of it is the numbers,
Speaker 3: but you always need your budget to make sense, You
Speaker 3: need a numbers to add up. But then there's a
Speaker 3: part of it where if I just simply don't have
Speaker 3: time to like do stuff beyond things that the business needs,
Speaker 3: that is as valuable as the model if I just
Speaker 3: don't have time to do anything else, well, seems like
Speaker 3: I need help. It always takes longer to hire than
Speaker 3: you expect, so like for us, we are always hiring
Speaker 3: in advance, like, well, in advance, we'll telegraph and we
Speaker 3: will kind of broadcast way earlier than we need. Hey,
Speaker 3: we're looking for this role because it takes time for
Speaker 3: people to discover the role, to work with that courage
Speaker 3: to be like, you know what, this is a jump
Speaker 3: I want to take to jump into startup world, right,
Speaker 3: So making sure we're giving people that opportunity, and this
Speaker 3: has been really successful for us. We have this thing
Speaker 3: align on a career's page that says, you know, feel
Speaker 3: free to invent your own role, and we're inviting people
Speaker 3: to pitch themselves to us, like here's why you should
Speaker 3: hire me because of X, like you need my help
Speaker 3: in doing why. And that has been so awesome because
Speaker 3: there are these awesome go getters out there that are
Speaker 3: going to reach out, that are going to pitch us,
Speaker 3: and sometimes we're not even thinking about that and we're like, oh,
Speaker 3: you're right like that, let us put that into the model.
Speaker 3: Let us think about that, and we'll get back to you. Like,
Speaker 3: thank you for putting that idea into our mind. You know, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that's really insightful, Kevin. And now here's the statistic. Right,
Speaker 3: according to quick Books, more than half of small businesses, right,
Speaker 3: fifty one percent are saying it's becoming harder and harder
Speaker 3: to hire those skilled workers. Even forty two percent are
Speaker 3: saying it's getting harder to retain the skilled workers. So
Speaker 3: let's say you've hired someone you figured it out. How
Speaker 3: do you keep your employees engaged and happy in a
Speaker 3: time of inflation and quiet quitting?
Speaker 2: Right? How do you show employees that they're valued and appreciated,
Speaker 2: especially those new hires.
Speaker 3: The most important thing is showing appreciation. I think our
Speaker 3: tradition of snaps has been really valuable.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: There's so many things that happen in any given week,
Speaker 3: and I think for me and for a lot of people,
Speaker 3: you're focused on the next thing, you're focused on growing
Speaker 3: the business, and you might forget or overlook. You know,
Speaker 3: so and so did this, and this was really helpful
Speaker 3: for me, and I might have to take it for
Speaker 3: granted and moved on like awesome, great, cool, let's move on.
Speaker 3: Let's use this to do the next project and making
Speaker 3: sure that we're being really thoughtful about showing appreciation. And
Speaker 3: I think after that, it's aligning and making sure you're
Speaker 3: keeping in mind what your employee's goals are long term. Right,
Speaker 3: Let's say that someone wants to start their own business
Speaker 3: in five ten years. That's awesome, that's a phenomenal goal
Speaker 3: to have. And how do I make sure that I
Speaker 3: am setting them up to be successful in five years,
Speaker 3: that their time here working with us is valuable and
Speaker 3: is going to contribute to their success later on. And
Speaker 3: so things like bringing them into meetings where like maybe
Speaker 3: they're not part of that team, but that's okay because
Speaker 3: they want to learn and experience it. I think things
Speaker 3: like that are important for an employer to make sure
Speaker 3: you're not just saying we care about the long term
Speaker 3: success of your team, but really walking the walk and
Speaker 3: being there to check in with your employees like, Hey,
Speaker 3: just want to check in, you know, how you're feeling,
Speaker 3: has this been helpful for you? And just making sure
Speaker 3: you're continually investing in that long term goal. And that's
Speaker 3: I think how you really, you know, show that you're
Speaker 3: listening and that you're acting upon it.
Speaker 2: Man, does anyone else want to work for Kevin. Now
Speaker 2: after hearing this, this is so exciting today.
Speaker 1: He sounds like the coolest boss ever, Like for real. Okay,
Speaker 1: So looking back when you first started your talent search,
Speaker 1: what's the thing that surprised you the most about the process.
Speaker 3: I think the first thing is it just tastes longer
Speaker 3: than you expect. First of all, you need to write
Speaker 3: it and write it well. I think that is also hard,
Speaker 3: Like people don't think about that. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of people like, oh, it's copy and paste the job
Speaker 3: wreck from somewhere else. No, like you need to really
Speaker 3: be thoughtful about what you're writing in there so that
Speaker 3: people know what you're expecting. And then finding out where
Speaker 3: to put it, where to market and really push the
Speaker 3: rec out where can you find the people that you're
Speaker 3: looking for? Then screening, filtering, there's like so many steps,
Speaker 3: Like no one really thinks about it. You're like, oh,
Speaker 3: ye're hiring, right, Like that's like one word that just
Speaker 3: somehow like hand waves over all the things that need
Speaker 3: to be done. So I think that was the biggest surprise.
Speaker 3: Just took a long time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So for the.
Speaker 2: Small business owner who's listening right now, who's maybe ready
Speaker 2: to hire that first external employee or just really take
Speaker 2: that next step toward building out a team.
Speaker 3: What advice would you have for them? You know, I
Speaker 3: would say, first you start off by journaling in a
Speaker 3: given week, what did you do? And then you kind
Speaker 3: of group those and be like, what are tasks that
Speaker 3: fit into a role. Where do I need help right?
Speaker 3: Or where am I not good at? I think those
Speaker 3: are two of the areas that make the most sense.
Speaker 3: But you're either solving a need because you need more
Speaker 3: or you're solving a need because you need better. And
Speaker 3: I would say you start there identifying what rule you need.
Speaker 3: And then the second piece of advice, I would just say,
Speaker 3: start hiring early. Putting out that rec doesn't mean you
Speaker 3: need to hire. Sometimes putting out the rec and writing
Speaker 3: it helps you think through who and what you need
Speaker 3: to hire for. And then I would say sometimes you'll
Speaker 3: start interviewing people and you'll find someone that clicks. You'll
Speaker 3: find this all star that is going to be just awesome,
Speaker 3: and missing out on someone like that to add value
Speaker 3: to your business is a shame. There are so many
Speaker 3: awesome people that can really take your business to the
Speaker 3: next level.
Speaker 2: These are some gems right now, you're dropping for us,
Speaker 2: Kevin Man, I'm loving these, especially the you know, solving
Speaker 2: for a need because you need more or because you
Speaker 2: need better. That's so interesting to think about.
Speaker 1: So running a brand that's breaking into markets across the
Speaker 1: United States requires a lot of understanding of various states
Speaker 1: laws and taxes for employees. Right, So how did you
Speaker 1: begin to build out your HR resources?
Speaker 3: That is a great question. I think for me, it's
Speaker 3: when you think about bringing on employees. Right, It's so
Speaker 3: simple to say, but there's a weight of that decision. Right,
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, their livelihood, their income is now
Speaker 3: resting on you as a business owner. It's on your shoulders.
Speaker 3: So how do you really take time to make sure
Speaker 3: that you're informing them of this is your vacation policy,
Speaker 3: this is their health insurance benefits even you know, like
Speaker 3: reading all the different types of insurance you could offer,
Speaker 3: Like I barely understood PPO, and like I don't know
Speaker 3: all these other I didn't know anything, and nor did
Speaker 3: I really care. You know, when I just worked at
Speaker 3: someone else's company, But all of a sudden, I was like, wow,
Speaker 3: my co founder and I spent a whole weekend with
Speaker 3: just reading like what does this mean? What would I want?
Speaker 3: What would I want when I was younger? What do
Speaker 3: I want now? Trying to have that whole breadth of
Speaker 3: options for our employees, I think, and you know, we
Speaker 3: got feedback to first year they're like, no, this one sucks,
Speaker 3: like this insurance is really I was like, okay, no,
Speaker 3: did we had more options? So I think it's really
Speaker 3: about that. And you know, you're locked into a lot
Speaker 3: of these changes and things. It's like a yearly cycle.
Speaker 3: And so I would say before you commit something so large,
Speaker 3: just know that it's your employees well being. It's a
Speaker 3: human's well being, it's their livelihood for a whole year.
Speaker 3: So make sure you treat that with the respect that
Speaker 3: it needs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love that advice.
Speaker 2: So as you continue to grow, Lunar Hard Seltzer, what
Speaker 2: are some of the hiring goals you have for the
Speaker 2: next call it five years?
Speaker 3: Five years? Oh my, five years? Awesome. That's a lot
Speaker 3: of that's a lot of planning. I think for us,
Speaker 3: a big part of how we are growing this business
Speaker 3: it's around geographic expansion. So for us, on the sales
Speaker 3: side of things, we will be building out kind of
Speaker 3: a nationwide sales team that's going to cover a lot
Speaker 3: of regions, so there's a lot of geographic based hiring
Speaker 3: that we will need to do. And on the flip side,
Speaker 3: we haven't really hired for marketing yet. You know we
Speaker 3: should and so we absolutely plan on building out a
Speaker 3: world class marketing team and that will probably come online
Speaker 3: in the next few years. But it's one of those
Speaker 3: things when it's a challenge to think a year in
Speaker 3: the future, let alone three or four or five. I
Speaker 3: can have all these lofty goals, but things change, right
Speaker 3: and I think it's being able to roll with that
Speaker 3: and adapt. I think that's kind of the name of
Speaker 3: the game for any small business or any startup owner.
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 2: So then let's think about the next quarter six months.
Speaker 2: What's like real immediate next big things that you're really
Speaker 2: excited about that might be happening this summer or maybe
Speaker 2: this fall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we are about to launch Lunar into California, So
Speaker 3: that is an exciting development for us. Congratulations, thanks man.
Speaker 3: We've had customers reach out to us for almost two
Speaker 3: years asking for a larner to be available in the state,
Speaker 3: and we've always told them coming soon, coming soon, and
Speaker 3: it's been two years, so now actually coming soon. So
Speaker 3: we're we're really excited to be doing that. And we
Speaker 3: are also looking for content creators interns to kickstart our
Speaker 3: marketing team. So if you are passionate about pioneering the
Speaker 3: cultural revolution in American alcohol, drop a line on a website,
Speaker 3: send us a DM. I love the chat. I love it.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, man. Congratulations on launching the State of California.
Speaker 2: That is super super exciting.
Speaker 4: Absolutely so Kevin.
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, we have to know what
Speaker 1: is your favorite Korean fried chicken spot.
Speaker 3: Oh man, no pressure, this is a hot topic here, guys.
Speaker 3: There's a spot in New York City. It's called Turntable
Speaker 3: Chicken Jazz. It's got vinyl records. It looks super super cool.
Speaker 3: They've got these massive chicken like drumsticks. These chickens are huge.
Speaker 3: I don't know what they're doing, but they're so medy,
Speaker 3: they're so delicious. They're like triple fried. So go there
Speaker 3: for New York City. It's a blast.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: My introduction to Korean fried chicken was through a restaurant
Speaker 1: chain called bon Chon in New Jersey, and I was
Speaker 1: like forever change, So shout out to the Fried Chicken
Speaker 1: for being the muse the inspiration for this incredible brand
Speaker 1: that you've built.
Speaker 4: And thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3: Thank you all for having me. Next time we'll do
Speaker 3: this irl over some Fred Chicken.
Speaker 2: Heck, yeah, I love it. Thanks Kevin, Denise. That conversation
Speaker 2: with Kevin was top notch.
Speaker 3: I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I feel like I learned a lot of little gems
Speaker 2: and secrets, But I want to know from you what
Speaker 2: stuck out the most.
Speaker 4: For me? It was two things.
Speaker 1: The first, it's always so interesting for me to hear
Speaker 1: how business owners go about thinking through their hiring process,
Speaker 1: like what areas of the business am I going to
Speaker 1: prioritize in? First For Kevin it was sales. For me,
Speaker 1: it was actually hiring just a virtual assistant who could
Speaker 1: answer emails and go back and forth with administrative stuff
Speaker 1: so they could take that off my plate. So I
Speaker 1: always think that's super interesting, and I think it's a
Speaker 1: good reminder there's no right or wrong way to go
Speaker 1: about building and scaling your business. It's really just about,
Speaker 1: you know, taking one step out of time and seeing
Speaker 1: where those deficiencies are in your business model and finding
Speaker 1: the right resources and the right talent to get you
Speaker 1: to that next level. So that was number one, and
Speaker 1: then I think the second for me was I love
Speaker 1: the fact that Kevin was so real about, you know,
Speaker 1: how we do our business. We're just kind of learning
Speaker 1: on the fly here, and I think that's really what
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship is for most folks who don't have the background
Speaker 1: in it.
Speaker 4: You are kind of building the plane as you're flying.
Speaker 1: And so to hear that, you know, even awesome companies
Speaker 1: like his are kind of just winging it a little bit,
Speaker 1: it makes me feel better about the fact that I've
Speaker 1: also had that similar journey too.
Speaker 4: How about you.
Speaker 2: Absolutely I'm over here in the seat of you know,
Speaker 2: fake it till you make it, because that's pretty true.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: For me, I think it's.
Speaker 2: Two things that stuck out, And it kind of goes
Speaker 2: back to what you're just talking about with your first hire.
Speaker 2: You know, are you hiring because you need to do
Speaker 2: more or because you need to do better? And I
Speaker 2: think at the end of the day, for you, maybe
Speaker 2: it was because you need to do more, right, you
Speaker 2: need this assistant.
Speaker 3: To help you out to be more productive.
Speaker 2: Maybe some people are hiring because they need a better
Speaker 2: type of product focused employee or a better marketer or
Speaker 2: whatever that might be. So I think just like understanding
Speaker 2: the difference between those two factors is really important. And
Speaker 2: then the second thing that stuck out to me was
Speaker 2: just how long the hiring process was, and especially for
Speaker 2: the types of sales employees, and how hard it was
Speaker 2: from to find those people the job description writing, finding
Speaker 2: those specific experiences and hiring for those skill sets for
Speaker 2: people to be successful in their role for his business
Speaker 2: was super super important. It seemed like, so hiring is
Speaker 2: one word, but it involves seventeen different processes around it.
Speaker 2: So I was super excited that Kevin walked us through
Speaker 2: all of them, and I'm eager to hear what's next.
Speaker 1: And so for his company, Louner absolutely shout out to
Speaker 1: all the solopreneurs and the new business owners who are
Speaker 1: wearing those seventeen hats and are slowly trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how to assign them to other people. It's not easy,
Speaker 1: but you know, it's all part of the journey.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, that's it for today's episode. You can find
Speaker 2: me on social media at Austin Hankwitz.
Speaker 1: And you can find me at Yokiero Dineto podcast.
Speaker 2: You can also follow Into It QuickBooks on all social
Speaker 2: media at QuickBooks, and to get tools you need to start,
Speaker 2: run and grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today.
Speaker 1: Catch the next episode of Mine the Business Small Business
Speaker 1: success Stories on Thursday, June twenty second, where we speak
Speaker 1: to Gulaid and Divina Ismail about their coffee company, Any SIPs,
Speaker 1: and how they learned to adapt to economic trends.
Speaker 2: You won't want to miss that one, so don't forget
Speaker 2: to follow, rate and review the show wherever you listen
Speaker 2: to podcasts so you can stay up to date on
Speaker 2: future episodes.
Speaker 1: Check out our show notes for more information from this
Speaker 1: episode and workforce solutions, and a huge thank you to
Speaker 1: our guest Kevin Wang. You can catch up with him
Speaker 1: and all things Lunar Hard Seltzer on their Instagram at
Speaker 1: Drink Lunar.
Speaker 2: This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio and Into It QuickBooks.
Speaker 1: Our executive producer is Molly Sosha, our supervising producer is
Speaker 1: Nikiah Swinton, and our writer is Tyree Rush.
Speaker 2: Our head of post production is James Foster, and we
Speaker 2: will see you next time.