Aligning Business with Mindset

Sasha: 0:00

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Courtney: 4:48

Hey, thanks for taking the time to have me today. I'm excited to hopefully, you know, transfer some knowledge and share some ideas that might be a little more on the unconventional side.

Sasha: 4:57

Yeah, so I'm excited to learn more about your business journey. I will be honest and say I've only tried kombucha one time.

Courtney: 5:04

That's okay.

Sasha: 5:04

And I don't know if I was really that much of a fan of it.

Courtney: 5:09

Yep. And that's not uncommon.

Sasha: 5:11

Yeah, I mean, it had a just an interesting taste. But I know a lot of people are very into it because of the health benefits of things like that. I wouldn't necessarily also think of Michigan as a place that's probably really big into, into kombucha. So what made you like, get into it and want to kind of start your business?

Courtney: 5:31

Yeah, great question. How can I start fermenting tea for a living? Right, so when we say kombucha? You know, half the people listening to the show might have known what it is, and they're devout lovers of the product. The other half probably thought we were speaking like a second language, right. So for those that don't know, kombucha is a tea, but it's fermented for health instead of alcohol. So in that fermentation process, you're getting probiotics, live cultures, digestive enzymes, all of those really great health benefits. And our company mission is to help our customers make healthier lifestyle choices, one sip at a time. So originally, I had gone to culinary school, and I was a pastry chef, which is a little bit on the other side of making people have a healthy.

Sasha: 6:12

that, that I could definitely get into like,

Courtney: 6:17

absolutely. And I loved it. It was great. But I did feel a calling to like, people were so disconnected from their food sources. Yeah, we didn't equate brussel sprouts growing out of stock and cow to hamburger. And I was like, well, we gotta eat to survive. I mean, we can eat for fun too. But like, understanding our bodies is a big concept. Right? And we need to honor that more. So I went to school to be a dietitian, ended up with an additional business degree as well in entrepreneurship. And graduated, got a really great job with a fortune 50 company. Yeah, right out of college, fantastic. But I knew I didn't ethically agree with the company I was working for. It was a resume builder, benefits, salary, white picket fence, right. So I worked on a farm on the side to maintain my ethos and some of my core values. And one day, she paid me in a kombucha culture, she didn't have enough veggies that day. So I went home when I started fermenting the tea, you know, I used to drink it while I was volunteering on the farm. And lo and behold, in my culinary background, I was pretty darn good at it. And I was 24. And I thought, well, this makes me happy and healthy. And, you know, I feel this, this calling to help other people lead happier and healthier lives. Right. And so I left my cushy salary job with a really big company and lunch Culture Kombucha in 2015.

Sasha: 7:48

Wow, that's young too

Courtney: 7:51

I was a naive, young, young acumen

Sasha: 7:56

that probably helps

Courtney: 7:58

Yeah, well, that's what got me to do it. You know, had I known what I know. No, I wouldn't have gone through the struggles. Right.

Sasha: 8:04

Yeah. So I guess the first thing I want to ask is, I mean, there's so many people who are afraid to take that leap from especially having like a good job with the salaries and the benefits, and you know, all the things that you're supposed to do, right when you get out of college and you become an adult. So what what made you decide that, you know, you really wanted to just put it all into your business and jump all the way into it and walk away from like, the corporate world.

Courtney: 8:36

Yeah. So a lot happened when I was starting my business, I kind of lovingly look back on it now and refer to as my quarter life crisis. If you can say that, because you're totally right, you know, there, there's no guarantee nothing is ever guaranteed when you're self employed, and so you got to know that you believe in yourself enough to make it work no matter what. So I when I started cultured, I had left my fortune 50 job and I was actually engaged. And so the agreement with my, my fiancee at the time was that, you know, he had a full time salaried job as well. And so while I grew the business, we would do that. And he would support me in it. And then a month and a half after I left my job and started a business, the relationship ended.

Sasha: 9:24

Oh, no.

Courtney: 9:25

Yeah. And so I here's young whippersnapper Courtney, 24 years old, you were just into starting this company and like life, just boom, drop the hat changes, right. And so I guess that's one of the the lessons is like, it's your life is gonna change, so be prepared for that. So I had $248 to my name, and a dog and a Jeep. And the dog and I slept in that Jeep on the beach many nights when we were starting the business. And so that was continually rolled over into the business as we started until like afford an apartment, and you know, it goes on from there.

Sasha: 10:04

Wow. T

Courtney: 10:05

hat's what our startups looked like.

Sasha: 10:08

I'm surprised you kept going. Honestly, I think a lot of people would have said, No, I'll just go back to my job.

Courtney: 10:15

I'm really stubborn. really stubborn. And I think honestly, at the time, it was my ego. That being said, I am pretty thankful for that ego now, in a weird way. You know, I, it's been hard. I mean, there's no two ways about that. But I wouldn't be nearly the person that I am now without pushing through those obstacles.

Sasha: 10:39

Yeah, I think that's where a lot of businesses like, and I think that makes the difference between, like successful businesses sometimes. And those that don't last is, you know, having that tenacity to kind of keep going, when most people would probably say, Nope, I'm done. Like, this is enough for me.

Courtney: 10:58

Absolutely. Tenacity is the best word you could use. You know, it's had I started out with a big check from an investor. And I mean, I wouldn't have known, you know, I wouldn't have the the experiences drive you in shape you. And that's truly what makes you your core values come to the surface as a business owner, and I think developing those core values is really the driving factor in how you run your business on a daily basis.

Sasha: 11:24

Yeah. So what do you think are the core values in your business?

Courtney: 11:29

Yeah, so as you know, the business grows and changes, right? And so influences on it are going to change. And then I think it took me a little bit longer, to really identify them, you know, they've always been there. When you're that bootstrapped, you don't have a really cool sign when you walk in the front row, it says, peace, love, and happiness are our values right. Like get through the day is my value right now. So, for us, our mission is to help our customers make healthier lifestyle choices once sip at a time. You know, we are a triple bottom line business. And so we focus, not just on our financial bottom line, obviously, that's one of them. We also focus on our environmental impact, and the livelihood of our, our team, as well as our community. And so we have measurables, around all of those.

Sasha: 12:20

Have you always was that always like the intention to to not only just focus on the financial, but the environmental and like your team as well?

Courtney: 12:30

For me, personally, yeah, those are part of my core value systems as a human. You know, I am a believer in karma, and all of those, you know, both reciprocation and you know, the way that the energy that we put out there, I think is reciprocated back to us. And so yeah, we're, you know, we're certified organic, certified vegan, women owned, you know, we'd, our 5000 square foot facility generates less than one tonne of garbage a month.

Sasha: 12:59

Wow. That's amazing.

Courtney: 13:00

Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, well, it's, it's, it is amazing, but, you know, it's really also in a sense. effortlessness when you when you let it drive you, you know, it makes some decisions easier.

Sasha: 13:14

Yeah, I think it's smart that you went into your business with those values behind it. I think a lot of times, sometimes, you know, when we're building things, we want to do those things. But the bottom line is what drives a lot of people in their businesses and the financial piece of it, and it becomes harder to implement, you know, the environmental aspect or the team aspect later on when if you've just been financially you know, focused and so if you're starting your business, knowing that this is the type of business you want to build, and you want to have, then everything that you're doing becomes more intentional with that behind it.

Courtney: 13:51

And intentional is one of our core values, you know, intentionality. And, you know, we we see ourselves as we make a really good product, you know, the back of our label says that we make damn good kombucha. But the reality is, we're, we're making a product, but it really has nothing to do with the product. You know, kombucha is a vessel to teach people about their health and wellness. You know, we're teaching people to read labels are teaching people what organics is, we're teaching them about probiotics, or we're helping them take that next step in their health journey. And that's the beautiful thing that gets me out of bed in the morning. It's like, God, I don't want to go put fires out today, and I really don't want to do my bookkeeping. But if I don't do that bookkeeping, someone's not going to you know, have that experience. And so you know, really focusing on your how and your why I think is one of the critical things that can help make those decisions because you know, it isn't always more cost effective to, to recycle, or to buy the organic products. But we we tend to look at it from the standpoint of Native American tribes will have this a lot where they look at the seventh generation repercussions of a decision. And so when I look at decision for my business, I'm looking a little bit further out, you know, I might not have seven generations in mind. Maybe there's no equivalent of like in business generation being shorter for us or something. But, you know, like, if I'm

Sasha: 15:19

thinking beyond like, the immediate implication of your decision, like, how else is this decision going to keep affecting

Courtney: 15:28

totally, and the wider you can expand your mindset, the greater you can allow yourself to expand in the consciousness of your business, not to get to like a ethoric about it, but easy example, you know, we would be paying extra in garbage if we didn't have our composting program.

Sasha: 15:47

Yeah.

Courtney: 15:48

And so because of our composting program, where we send our steeped tea and our cultures and our used fruit scraps, it goes down the road and becomes pig feed and compost for an awesome farm. And so that's reciprocal, and as action is lowering our bills, and it's supporting them to right and so like, it doesn't have to be complicated, you just have to be open to extending a little more thought.

Sasha: 16:08

And yeah, like just putting a little bit more effort, because I mean, that goes, you're even like going back into your local community, like, you're helping that specific area, and that farm and things like that. I love that. And I think people just don't, don't do it as often as like, we probably are capable of doing because the, the business businesses tend to be money focused. And that's always the first thought of any decision, like, does this make sense financially. But, again, like I mentioned, like the fact that you, you know, you had those three kind of pillars, it helps you, ask, you know, any decision should be asked under each of those lenses, because that gets you to the best, the best decision for your business.

Courtney: 16:51

Anytime I've made decisions based off of a purely financial motive,

Sasha: 16:55

oh they never work out.

Courtney: 16:57

the worst decisions, oh my gosh

Sasha: 17:00

their always the worst.

Courtney: 17:01

You know that's some universal shit smacking you in the face. And like, what were you doing? You're offering Pat, go back to your core values, you know?

Sasha: 17:11

It's the universe just saying like, money is not everything? Like, it should not be the main motivator for

Courtney: 17:16

It's clearly the universe saying we're gonna take everything. care of you, you'll be fine. Do it the way you know, you should?

Sasha: 17:22

Yeah.

Courtney: 17:23

Right. And so like, even if I think about, you know, triple bottom line business, for us. Initially, there was more effort invested into finding alternative chemicals. But those alternative chemicals have been cheaper for us in the long run, right? They have less groundwater impact, so they're better for the environment, they're less hazardous for my team members to use. So we've taken into account for, you know, our team and taking care of them. And they cost us less because they're organic alternatives. What if I just went with a cheap commercial cleaner? Y

Sasha: 17:53

Yeah. I love that. I just think your whole story is just amazing. And it you just seem so intentional about the things that you have done to kind of get your business to where it is. I wanted to ask because I know.

Courtney: 18:10

Some days, it's easier than others, I will say that

Sasha: 18:12

it always looks prettier on the outside. And I'm sure you know, when you were with your dog and your van, I'm sure it was a much different situation at that point. I do want to ask, because at the very beginning, I know you you bootstrapped a lot of your business. And so I guess, if you could kind of just walk a little bit through that journey of bootstrapping and scaling your business and what that look like for you.

Courtney: 18:36

Absolutely. So we started with $240. It was literally about what I had at that time. And we started with a hot plate, and a couple five gallon buckets. And we went to our first farmers market. You know, got our license to get us through and sold it and sold out in 20 minutes. So we knew we had a viable product supported by the community, all that great stuff. And we just kind of continued every farmers market, you know, I only took out what I needed to survive. Mind you operating in survival mode long term, I do not recommend it. Get yourself out of that faster than I did. And then we just continued to reinvest in ourselves. And you know, after we had two years of financial bootstrapping behind us, we were able to get a small line of credit. After that small line of credit, we've secured our first SBA 7A loan, which is a government collateralized loan to expand into our new facility. And so we, you know, I, my attorney used to joke with me and he'd say you're the best case scenario for yourself and the worst case for a bank, you know, all you have is a dog and a jeep. But all you have is a dog in a jeep so they can't colatorize anything. Right. You know, my brewing equipment was from Goodwill, like stirring spoons and buckets and right and but you do what you got to do to make it work. So nothing Talk about bootstrapping is sexy. It's not the entrepreneurship, Instagram reels that you see, you know, but honestly, most of those are fake. It's not the reality of running a business, you know. So just if you if that's the lifestyle you want, you're in it for the wrong reasons.

Sasha: 20:18

I definitely agree with that. I actually listened to I listened to a podcast called how I built this. And there was a I forget what the business was called, but it was a kabocha company. And it was a woman, I think it was heard her, it was hard to friends at the time. And it was kind of similar. I think they probably are slightly, they had a little bit more resources, and probably you did, but it was like they did they brewed and like their apartment. And it was nothing but farmers markets, and at going to like they had to hire people to you know, help them at each different farmers market, because they just word of mouth kind of help them grow that way. So I think that

Courtney: 20:59

Yeah, like those help you grow with intentionality in a sense, right? Because you have limited resources, you don't just kind of spread can't really spread yourself without understanding. Exactly. And you learn that really quick.

Sasha: 21:13

Yeah. So what do you think, what do you think has kind of been the biggest mindset shift that you had to have, or maybe you had it all the way when, in order to kind of go from that bootstrapping to a place where you were able to get a facility and you know, now you're, you know, this big brand, and Michigan and you're in all these stores, I've again, I've listened to how I got this does deal with a lot of retail products, and I for anybody who sells products and trying to get them into stores, and that that journey in and of itself. It seems like so much work and you know, you're you're you have to be able to sell product in order to get the stores but then you might not have the resources in order to make all those products in order to get it into the store. So it's like this catch 22, hamster wheel that you're doing in order to grow. So like, how did you, how did you think in like I have, I can do this, my business can do this? Like, how did you work through your mindset with that?

Courtney: 22:15

Yeah, um, I can tell you where I'm at with it now. And I can tell you what I wish I would have done sooner. Because there's just days where the reality of it is, you don't think you're gonna make it, you know. And obviously, those are the toughest. And so you just really just have to show up. Show up first, right? Put foot on the ground. Get out of bed. And honestly, just go. I wish earlier on I had trusted my gut more.

Sasha: 22:48

I hear that a lot of people. And it's always just like, it just seems to be innately we know what we should be doing. But we have trouble listening to our voice sometimes.

Courtney: 23:00

Yeah, I mean, I think we've all got the everyone has access to the gift of having their intuition. You know, it's whether or not we're willing to sit with it, and we're willing to put the work in to understand it. And so for me, my mindset issues were, you know, I was my own greatest challenge. I was in my own way, self sabotage, like sit with the work and figure out how you're self sabotaging yourself, because for me, you know, every time I made a decision for finances, I made a decision that was outside of that, like I was self sabotaging myself and my own mindset. I, in order for me to get out of survival mode, like a lot of my decisions were made from a point of lack and scarcity because I was stuck in survival mode, Had I trusted myself and I follow that intuition. I would have been totally fine.

Sasha: 23:48

Yeah, I mean, I think that's so many business owners, like especially, you want your business to be successful, you made a lot of decisions out of that scarcity, or that desperation of like, I just want something to work and like, this seems like it might work. So I'm just going to do this.

Courtney: 24:04

Yep. We make short term decisions, you know, we pivot quickly out of scarcity, we make rash decisions out of scarcity. And generally speaking, that's us being impatient in some form, and not trusting our own gut implant, you know, and, and I do believe that when we honor that in ourselves, there's reward for it, you know, and it's, it's the ability to stick with yourself for the long term plan and trust

Sasha: 24:33

Yeah. I love that. I don't know if you've already I yourself. don't know if that is what you're going to answer to my next question. So my last question would just be if you had to give advice to anyone starting a business, what would it be?

Courtney: 24:45

Ooh. Actually, yes, I would say you know, understanding your guidance system for sure, but I'm assuming because they're in your intro, I can swear so yeah. Honestly, fuck your fear, just straight up, fuck your fear, just go for it. If you're feeling called to it if you're like I, if your guts already talking to you and telling you to do it, forget the fear, put it aside, don't let your... don't let your survival mind and your scarcity mindset overthrow your passion to do what you love.

Sasha: 25:22

I love it I've been and I love the way you said it too,

Courtney: 25:25

you have. You have to be like, you know, it's time for you to go.

Sasha: 25:31

Fear gets in the way of so much like it stops. And it's always it's the fear of the unknown, you know, those things that are out of our control. But I had someone else on the podcast and we talked a lot about fear. And it was kind of like, you know, what, if you don't do it, right, like, you ever know what the outcomes gonna be unless you try it. And so, you know, prepare for the worst case scenario, but also like, think about what the positive that can come. What lesson can you learn from taking this decision and making that leap?

Courtney: 26:03

And truly, you know, in developing a business and growing it, it really is all about taking those lessons and integrating them so you can move forward. Business doesn't get easier. You get more familiar with it.

Sasha: 26:14

Yeah. It never gets easier.

Courtney: 26:17

No, it isn't. It's your ability to adapt and integrate.

Sasha: 26:21

Well, Courtney, thank you so much for being on the show today. I just think your journey is truly just inspiring. And and even though it's in the food industry and might you might not think that those listening, if you're creative, you're like probably what could I have taken from this hopefully, there are some nuggets and gems that you found in there because I do think your journey is really just inspiring and gone through a lot. So I appreciate you being on the show. You can learn more about Courtney's business at drinkcultured.com And you can follow her on Instagram at cultural kombucha on Instagram. I'm looking at your Instagram and even though I don't drink it, I will say your branding and your bottles like very tasty.

Courtney: 27:03

Thank you for that. We really appreciate the opportunity. And, you know, thank you for all you do for your listeners.

Sasha: 27:10

Thank you for being on the show. happening next week on the strategy for creatives Podcast. I'm talking to Dorothy Kolb and operations and finance executive with over 20 years experience in the sports media and creative agency spaces about how to know whether or not it's time to leave the corporate world to pursue that entrepreneurship journey full time. So don't forget to tune in next Tuesday to listen to the episode. Thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the Strategy for Creatives podcast. I hope you enjoyed the insightful discussion, and hopefully found valuable tips that you can put in your business today. If you found the podcast helpful, I'd love it if you take a moment to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me make a better show and reach more listeners like you. And don't forget to share the podcast with your favorite business owner who could benefit from the strategies and insights I share on the show. New episodes come out every Tuesday, so make sure to subscribe and stay up to date with the latest trends and techniques for growing your creative business. If you want more, don't forget to join the Strategy for Creatives Facebook group, or you can follow me on Instagram @strategybysasha. Have a topic suggestion or a question you want to hear answered? Email me at hello@strategybysasha.com. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week with another episode of the Strategy for

Creatives: 28:28

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