890. Skrewball Whiskey Co-Founder, Brittany Merrill, On Bringing Your Vision To Life, Taking Risks And Finding Your Zone Of Genius

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What I found is that I appreciate all the struggles and all those things because those things taught me things and it was more about me keeping my eye on the path forward. You really do create the reality that you see.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. Today I'm really excited to be interviewing a founder of one of the fastest growing whiskey companies. Now if you are not necessarily somebody who wants to put a product out into the world, the reason that I am interviewing so many founders and co founders right now is because in order to do the things that these people have done, it takes a certain kind of mindset to be able to deal with the uncertainty, to be able to think really creatively.

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So today I'm really excited to have this conversation with Brittany Merrill Yang. She's spearheading the fastest market rollout in history, the spirit industry. She's the co founder and managing partner of Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey. If I didn't have yet whiskey, I.

Had yet peanut butter. At least that's how I felt.

Chemist turned lawyer turned spirits brand owner. She absolutely knows what it's like to dance in different types of entrepreneurship. She was one to watch as she took her husband's wacky idea of combining.

Peanut butter and whiskey and turn it.

Into a shelf stable product and Hollywood favorite that reached national distribution in just one short year. You guys coming from this industry right now, I know how hard that is. An industry disruptor and a woman making.

Waves in a male dominated industry.

She's a highly educated woman juggling parenting while running a leading spirits company, creating.

A brand that goes beyond just whiskey. Screwball is a lifestyle that is welcoming.

To all manner of weirdo, maverick and misfit that brings people together in a world of uncertainty. When she's not taking over the spirits industry one bottle at a time, she enjoys spending time with her daughters and getting off the grid while traveling to far rem places with her family. So let's dive in to the way that she thinks so that we can adopt a little bit of that mindset too.

Let's get started. Brittany, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

I always love meeting a fellow beverage business owner because I feel like we should just sit and hold each other and rock each other like babies for a while and say, how has your journey been? Are you you okay?

It's a tough industry. Yeah.

But also like, so I can't imagine doing anything else right now. And I think that part of that. I'm just so glad that I went in. A bit naive and I actually think that any business that I've started, I tend to say that to some business owners, like there is a good mix of naivety that is actually going to help you out because you don't want to know everything. You don't want to know all the problems that are going to come or.

You may not start.

But I feel like if we didn't have problems, we would not have a business. It's what we do. We solve them. So I'm so excited that you're here. I can't wait to to talk all about your business and all about your awesome peanut butter whiskey, which it's like it's 2pm I feel like we could probably start drinking that right now. But as you were saying, sometimes as the business owner we don't get to do that. So don't always get to do that. So Brittany, tell me a little bit about the company that you started and why you started it.

So we have Screwball Peanut butter Whiskey. It was a peanut butter whiskey. It was really based on my husband had bars and restaurants and so he had created a peanut butter whiskey cocktail. And like you said, I think there's a little bit of be naive. And I was like, we should totally bring this to the rest of the world. Is an amazing cocktail.

So it was your idea?

My idea really to bring it to outside. He wanted to keep it as a cocktail. And I think having the experience of being in the bar and seeing so many good brands with lots of money fail and they had already gotten to over certain hurdles, getting presented to the restaurants, that I think it was a lot more for him to kind of get over that. But I really saw, I think we always joke and we give ourselves less credit than we actually deserve. I think there is the naivete, but it's also really seen through. I saw this market of men, women, people that don't like whiskey, people that drink wine, liking and coming over and trying this. And so I really saw a market for it. And it ended up being right. There was a market for it. A lot of people in the industry didn't necessarily think it should exist. A lot of people outside didn't think it should exist. And now it's been one of the fastest growing independent liquor brands.

That is so awesome. Congratulations. Especially just because I know being in this, I know how challenging that is. So that's why I'm even more excited to kind of dig into the just the thought process behind it and what it feels like to be moving forward in an industry where everyone is telling you how hard it's going to be, why it's probably going to fail, showing you examples of failing. And I think that, that I'm always really excited to talk to someone like you because I think it converts over to everything. I think everybody's dealing with this in some form, but it just happens to be in your face a lot in the beverage industry because there are so many examples of failure every single day. So tell me a little bit just about that time for you where you saw the opportunity, what does that mean when you see the opportunity? Like, what did you sit down and put together for? Let's just say, for example, like your pitch deck to convince other people of this opportunity.

For me, I like to sell them on the vision. Right? We. Like I said, my husband was probably the first person I had to convince because he was like, I've seen it fail so many times. And it was when I put together a brand, I put together an identity, it became something separate, something. It had this living organism to it and really convincing people that it was more than just a flavored whiskey. I think they're like, oh, there's a million flavored whiskeys. There's every flavor on the market. What are they going to come up with next? You're just a race to the bottom. And so really kind of distinguishing ourselves from what has been and really showing that peanut butter is a unique flavor. It's a flavor that we all grew up with. I don't even have to do all of the advertising to get people to love peanut butter. They love it. And so it was really getting them to fall in love with this brand and this thing and seeing more than just a product. I think they have to see the people behind it. They have to see the story, the meaning of putting together. I think one of the biggest things, too, is in this industry, it is a very poetic industry. There has to be a story. There has to be a life behind these brands. You don't really see that in the food industry, but you see it in the spirits industry. They want to see who came up with this, why. And so we. I think one of the hard things is I don't come from the liquor industry. My husband's an immigrant from Cambodia. I was a chemist turned lawyer. You know, this wasn't. It didn't necessarily make sense. But that, I think, is a problem. I think some people think about it very rigid right there. Like, you have to be this. And this is the pedigree. And I was really showing him. It's really this modern fairy tale of what we have created. And it's a modern story. It's a different story. And I think people have really gravitated to the fact that it is not the same story they've heard over and over.

I love this so much because, you know, this podcast is so much entrepreneurs and people who have products or authors or coaches or things like that. And a lot of it always, whenever I interview people to. It goes back to painting the vision, like, really getting people behind the vision. I know you said the food industry isn't so much like that, but I'm even seeing some of that, like, Lean now. People just want to know the story. They want to know the founder. They want, like, their money to go somewhere and mean something, even if it's just because they like the person, the story. So now you have the idea, you have the vision. You've, like, really leaned into the vision. You could see the market for it. What were your thoughts on how to get this out? What were the modalities that you already kind of had experience within and then what were some that you knew you were going to have to go into and how did you get into them?

As you said, the liquor industry is very interesting. And one of the most interesting things that makes this the hardest yet very interesting, and I kind of have learned to love it is we can't sell direct to consumer. So we have this whole thing where we have to sell to a distributor. And so if you get their buy in and then they go and sell it to the retailer like the grocery store, and then the customer can finally get into this is this three tier system. And there's like this disconnect between us and our customer and the people we were trying to please. And I think a lot of times people think, oh, I need to get this big distributor to buy in right away. So I have all this muscle and that's what's going to do it. And I think we. I said I don't want to do that because I'm not going to negotiate. And maybe this is a lawyer me. I'm not going to negotiate a good contract if I'm starting off as a little guy. And they're not going to be why they have a thousand other products to sell, why are they going to sell mine? I needed to show that there was going to be success. And so we started with a guy who had never done distribution before. He had a license to do it. And we talked to him and he's a great friend of ours still. And so really working on building that model to show, hey, here are customers, here are them enjoying it and really showing what we can do and doing that on a very small controlled scale so that we have that platform rather than I think there's so much of, I think you see it on Instagram all the time is that that iceberg. And they don't see all the stuff under. And I wish we would show more of the under because I think there's just one, hey, look, I got this big distributor and I don't think that that's necessarily the, you know, like I would be proud of these smaller steps that we take.

Such a great point for everybody listening because sometimes we're like, I think it's great to shoot for the moon. But also sometimes that's not actually the best route. Like having a little more. I'm trying to just talk to all different types of entrepreneurs right now. But having a little bit more control over your brand in the beginning is typically good. Sometimes that big thing that we think is going to be the Shiny thing, because this person got it or this person got it. So it must mean that it's great. Can have you, like, exactly like what you said, you kind of are giving up majority of your control in that way, because you're not the person who has the ball. They have the ball in their court in those beginning negotiations.

And you can burn those relationships because, right. If you start with the big guy and you don't have you, you're learning as you go. And so it's good to build that experience. And it's. I mean, the way I would just think about it is, you know, it's like if somebody gave you a job that was three times above what your position is, it would be like, oh, this is great. But then you might fail at it. And that's, you know, whereas you build your. I should have learned, you know, maybe if you. If you actually go through the steps. And so it's just really, I think, learning every part of the process and making. I like to make. I assume I'm going to make mistakes, but I want to make those on a smaller scale.

Okay, so if you could go back to Brittany when you were starting this out, what's your first business advice? You can tell her three things. You can go back and tell her three things. What would you tell her?

I think the first one is to really just have more trust in yourself. I think I put so much on the fact that these people had experience in the field and they knew what they were doing. And they don't. Like. They do, they do, but they don't know your brand. Just kind of like when people give you parenting advice, they don't necessarily know your child. There's things that you can do, and you have this gut instinct, and you always have to go back to that because you're ultimately going to be the one dealing with the problems. Like, one of my favorite things is I love people give you tons of advice, and you. Maybe you don't take it, and they'll be like, they'll never take credit that, like, they told you not to do it. Right? Like, that. That was bad advice. Like, nobody ever takes credit. They take credit for their good advice. They don't take credit for their bad advice. And so I think a lot of that is trusting myself. This industry was. And I know they call it shark tank for a reason. You really just feel like there's so much out there that you don't know and they're swirling around you, and it's tough. But I think, like we said, it Was really just trusting more of my gut and listening to people a little bit less. But I think it's important. Conversely, I think it is important to hear everyone out but still feeling confident in your decisions.

Oh, I mean, that is so timely for me right now. You have no idea. Just because I've gone through this a lot. But there's one thing right now that I'm like, but they know more than I do that I'm like, but it doesn't feel right. It's so easy to just be like, yeah, but your feelings have been wrong before. Which is true. My feelings have been wrong before, but they've also been really right. That's such good advice to hear.

I think it's really one of the things that I've always done with myself is that there is a gut, but I should also be able to articulate it. And so when people are saying things and telling you no, you listen to it all and you can. It's good to be able to articulate, hey, I appreciate the advice I get. Does not work for me because X, Y and Z. And so I think that when, for example, they were, they saw it more as a flavored whiskey, but we didn't, we weren't creating this line extension, right? We were creating one brand for that product, for that. And so they, I think there's just really, I know the price was a major thing. We're the most premium price flavored whiskey on the market. And it was just one of those things. They're like, there's, you're dead on arrival, you're not gonna do well. And for us it was. But we're selling a product that we created to taste the best that we could make it taste. And we didn't create it the same way another company would. Where we thought about cost of goods and if I am gonna sell it at a lower price, I'm gonna make it a worse product. And that to me is not an okay trade off.

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What was the thought around we can maintain this price and it's going to work for people.

I think there's multiple levels to it. Ultimately when we came we, you know, and that's like you said, the naivete. So a normal person in the industry and but I think that's the beauty. We approach the project from a different standpoint and so we created something nobody else would have created with all that experience, right? So they would come into this and say I need to be a 1999, I need my components to cost X, Y and Z and that's how I'm going to get here. We approached the problem and said we want to create the best tasting thing we can do. What do we need to do to create the best tasting product we could create? And so it was the quality of ingredients. And like you said, we wanted to have the brand and the outside of the package reflect the same thing. And I love beautiful things. And so I was like, I want this to look beautiful in my house. And so I know that was a weird thing that most people probably would not have thought of, but I was like, I want this to look beautiful on my back bar or, you know, wherever I display it.

Totally. I'm totally with you. It's why I buy stuff.

Literally. I think it reflects the same, because if I create a quality product and then I don't put anything into the packaging, it's kind of like how when you're at a restaurant and they have a dirty bathroom, it's that people, they want to see that you've put the time and energy into it. It's not just a pretty package. I think there's some companies, unfortunately, that spend so much time on a pretty package and not enough on the product. But to me, it was more a reflection that I wanted to keep that same pride on the outside as I do on the inside.

This is so interesting for people listening who are, like, thinking about creating a product of any kind. It's kind of like your North Star. You guys decided early on was going to be like, taste above everything else, especially for an actual consumable.

Right?

Like, that's. That was my theory when creating as well. I was like, okay, you know, we can make it super cute. We can make it really low calorie. We could say it's gotta be these macros, because this is what people want. Because that's actually. It's so interesting. I'm sure you did so much R and D. So many people said that they wanted, like, a certain calories and certain, like, amount of sugar, except at the end of the day, they're like, if it doesn't taste good, I won't buy it again. And then I won't care about the calories or whatever. I was like, this is so funny, trying to create from that.

Did you experience that at all? I think that's why you need to take everything with a grain of salt. And that's why I said, people don't take. In life, there are choices, and you can't make everything important. And you can put your best foot forward on every line, which is what I said. Like I said every line. We try and put our best foot forward, but you can't optimize every column. And so you have to choose the order of operations. This is what comes first, this is what comes second. And. And all those things. And so if you're listening to everybody, you're gonna be running around and chasing your tail. I think my husband does that more. And that's where he'll be like, oh, this person didn't like it. I want to change it. I'm like, no. 99 of people like, it that's it. You're not gonna. There's. It's okay. And that's the one thing I think that a lot of people make the mistake of is it is their baby, and they want everyone to like it and being okay with not having everybody like it. The.

The irony, calling it ugly.

You know, the irony we said, is with the research and development, they said they'll go to product if like 3 out of 10 people like it. I mean, that's not a very high margin. And so when we were getting nine out of 10 people liking it, I was like, War. No. Three times. We're good.

Wow, that's interesting. I did not know that. I love hearing that. This is awesome for everyone listening because I think in the beginning as an entrepreneur, you're so afraid of people not liking you. Like, you're not. You don't even want to get the criticism online. You don't want to be told they didn't like your. That someone didn't have a good experience in your course, that someone doesn't like your book, someone doesn't like your TED Talk, your product, whatever it is. And it's so great to hear from somebody who's out there, who's doing so amazing in an industry that's. That's challenging to just go forward with that one thing that you know that you are, or that one to two things that you really, really know that you are, and you want to be that light you up. Because at the end of the day, it's like you can get behind what you've done because that was your North Star. And you don't really mind if you're not put in a category with all of these other things, because clearly there's enough people. Why don't we, why don't we talk about that? Like, just the numbers of like the sea that you're fishing from. I think the realization that you don't need everyone, you actually just need a very small piece of the pie to be successful. What were your kind of thoughts around when you were thinking about more like, people and market share of how many customers that you need to feel like this was a success.

So it's kind of interesting, I think when I see those business decks and they're like, there's this many people in the industry, I actually, like, write that number off. I don't even care about that number because that to me is like, we kept saying, you're not going to reach them all. You just need to reach a good amount of people. And I am the Worst person on this because I came from science and I came from all this, and you would think I'm like a super big numbers person and numbers matter, but trends and correlations and things of those nature matter to me more. And so I like to look at, for example, when we do a tasting in a grocery store, how many of those people can we convert to actually go and buy it? Those numbers matter more than the, hey, this is how many we're selling, you know, because those might. There's so many other factors, right, of how many people know about it, how many people have tried it, all these other factors that come into it. And so what I really care about is if I am touching, you know, not necessarily physically touching a customer, but if I am interacting with the customer on a one, on one basis, can I sell them my story? And I know that a lot of times you have to think about the scalability of that, but if I can do that, then that's my first. There's nothing wrong with the product. I can still convert people over. And so kind of going from there and making sure that is very strong. That's my thing that I always go back to.

I get to be in a lot of rooms with a lot of entrepreneurs who. I get to hear their why, what's stopping them? We do, like a lot of entrepreneur masterminds, so we get to go around and hear the ideas or, you know, what worked, what didn't work, what are the things that are really stopping people. And I love what you're sharing because a lot of what stops people and part of what felt like I wanted to, like, throw in the towel was because I got really overwhelmed with looking at what people were telling me, how ideas and businesses needed to be pitched. Like, I had to have all these numbers. I had to look at these comps. Are you kidding me? Like, if I look at the comps of these big companies out there, like, I get so overwhelmed and feel so small, and it feels so, so far beyond anything that I feel like I could do in that moment, that it's really easy to just get lost, right?

Like.

Or feel like you're getting lost when. If we can go back to. But did this work with the people who I know would be the customer, did they like this? And following that gut instinct of, I know this is a good thing, I know it's supposed to come out, maybe it's not supposed to be that huge thing yet, but going back to just following that little step by step, it's really, really easy for our Dreams, our little seedlings to be mag. Massively crushed like within those first seasons. So for you, who did you have? Was it your husband? Did you run in a circle? Who was like, believed in you and kind of like pumped you back up after you would have those days where you're like, I don't know, maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe we are just going to throw all our money away.

So, and this is kind of going back to my chemistry background is the way I take it. And I think it goes back to what you said about having enough energy to start. And so I always liken it to. There's the, this theme that they talk about activation energy. And then that's the energy that it takes to get to the top of the hill, right? And then when you're at the top, you can either go all the way back or all the way forward. And once you kind of hit over, there's no going back. And so I always say about putting enough of yourself, your energy, everything into it in that beginning to where you can't go back and going back isn't an option because it doesn't matter what your parent, everybody's gonna be like, oh, we believe in you and all of that. And, and quite frankly, I think, I think your friends and family are the ones because they're afraid of you. Not afraid, they're afraid for you of what happened. And so they're just like, they're like, oh my gosh, are you sure you don't want to go back? Like, they actually probably would hold you back more. So I think you really have to go in. I always remember when I was going to quit my job and I went in and I talked to my dad and you have to understand, my dad had like, he was the person who had been laid off for six months and was pretending to go to a job just to, you know, make sure and ends getting met. But, but we, you know, I, I was kind of oblivious to it to some extent. Not completely, but, you know, so from his perspective, I had a chemistry degree, I was working in law. I was at this big law firm. I had this great career where I had a stable paycheck. Everything was like, this was his dream for me and for me to say, I'm going to throw it all away and I'm going to do this peanut butter whiskey and I have a baby on my lap as I'm saying this. And my dad, dad who is a very like, he's more manly. You don't see him cry very often. He's not super emotional. He, he is emotional, but not, you know, you know, one that shows his emotions. And he, you see that wallow up in your throat. I mean, you, that physical gut falling, throat clenching and the tears. He's just like. But he also wants to be respectful, right? And so he's like, why? I don't, I don't get this. And, and I went and I talked to him and I. My favorite part is that he, at the end of the conversation, he's like, I have one more question for you. And I was like, all right. You know, and he's like, why haven't you already quit? And it's the thing that, and the thing that I told him was I have worked so hard to be an incredible employee. I can get another job. Yes, I'll be back a few years. Yes, I'll have this debt. It's stuff that I'm taking on all this knowingly, but I'm not necessarily going to have another opportunity to see this out. And so I think he, he kind of realized that. But like I said, if you just listen to your friends and family, I think they're going to try and stop you from doing this. Not because they don't want you to be successful, but because they know there's so many other stories on the other side.

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If you follow along with the podcast. You know that that my parents were staying with me for a couple months of staying out in Arizona to work on my closet. And I've really been trying to get to know my parents a little bit better, learn about their past stories. And I recently heard a new story about my dad that really got me wondering how many other stories don't I know? And that's why I got story worth. StoryWorth is offering $10 off your first purchase at StoryWorth. Don't StoryWorth is an online service that helps you and your loved ones connect through sharing stories and memories and preserving them for years to come.

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Lori that's s t o r dash.

Y w o r dash t dash dot com Lori to save $10 on your first purchase. StoryWorth.com Lori tell me about your relationship.

With regret then, because clearly there's a part of you that has your mindset is obviously pulling you in the direction of your dream. There's no going back for you now. So I want to know about kind of like what is that voice in your head that keeps you going? Like that decision making point that you're like, this is the mindset that I know I can attribute to why I will continue on this journey no matter how hard it gets.

I think that every single successful person I've met has always said the same thing to me. And they've always said things happen for a reason. And they've always said that every time they were down, something better came along. And I used to always say that. And I have really just in the last month or two, I feel like that's almost egotistical of me to think that the world and the universe is going to like it's going to work for me. Right. What I found is that I appreciate all the struggles and all those things because those things taught me things. And it was more about me keeping my eye on the path forward. Right. I think if I took my eye off the ball and said, hey, this horrible thing's happening, the world is against me and all of those things, then I would not be able to find the path forward. But because I had that belief that things happen for a reason, this is going to make it better. And I believed that there is a path forward that I. I find it. You really do create the reality that you see. And so. So that's the one thing I've noticed of everyone that I've talked to. They've always been like, the things happen for a reason. And so every downturn and there are things that I regret, but I don't really regret them in the sense of that there is that. God bless the broken road, right? There is that realization that if those bad things didn't happen and I didn't make those mistakes, there's other mistakes I would have made. There's maybe worse outcomes that could have happened. And so even though I like to think I would, I don't want to go back and redo them. But at the same time, I'm thankful for what they have taught me.

Oh, I so feel you. Especially in the beginning, when you don't know what you're doing yet and you don't really have someone to ask. And the industry is so different that even when you ask someone in your industry, their path is a little different than yours sometimes, like, you're like this great, but I think my path is going to be different, or my people are different, or this is for a different person. So you don't really get to find a mentor sometimes. And things. We can get a lot of outside help, which is, like, true. I'm sure you guys got a lot. A lot of outside help and conversations, but at the same time, you're going to mess up a lot. Can you tell me about just how you keep a positive attitude about the founder, the CEO, or the leader that you are? Even when you're feeling like every week there's like a big mistake every day or something that you're like, well, didn't see that coming. Or, well, that relationship wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Or that contract, I didn't read it thorough enough. Can you tell me about that?

That my favorite, and like you said with mentors is, you know, and we didn't have many, but I really like listening to people and when people talk, really listening to them. And so one of. We had met Vern Underwood, who he owned Young's Market Company, which is one of the largest distributors, and then he owned Infinium, who we're now partnered with. And when I was talking to him, and we're like, oh, you've done these amazing things and you've made all these great decisions. And he goes, well, I'm going to stop you there, because is, I've made a lot of Decisions. And I'm not going to tell you which decisions were good decisions and which decisions were bad decisions. I've made a lot of decisions and on a whole I think they've been better decisions than the other way because I've been successful. But I think that's the thing is it's things we so want to blame each narrow in and say, this decision, this decision. But there's times where you make a bad decision and it ends up leading you down a road that you wouldn't be down. And I think one of the things they say is that failure is the highest intensity learning environment and it will make you avoid all these other mistakes down the road. And so it's really keeping that mindset that like really just looking at the situation and saying, what is this trying to teach me? What can I do better next time? And so, and, and maybe that is, I worked as a lawyer with really high stakes cases and you can't just be like, oh, flub that up, like, whoops and go to your client, you know, you have to move forward. What can I do now? What can I, how can I fix it? It's really that keeping your mindset less on the dwelling of the issue, it's really compartmentalizing and saying, okay, first let's quarantine, like quarantine the problem. See what we can do, what can we do to move forward? And then once the fire is over, then kind of going back and reassessing and saying, what could I learn from it for the next time?

It's so funny, I have the word compartmentalizing on my paper to ask you about, like what your process is around, like taking emotion out of things. And you pretty much just shared that. So because it's. This would be interesting because you work with your husband. I work with my husband too, but not in this new company that I've started. So now we're pretty separate in this arena. But I did work with him before this in a couple of our companies that we ran together. And it was blaringly clear for me that as a woman it took me a little longer to separate my emotion from things. It's not everybody, but I'm curious if you had to like learn how to compartmentalize maybe things that happen in your company and separate your emotion a little bit more than maybe him or just is that a no? Were you the person because you were in law, maybe you were able to do it more?

I think that, you know, with the law and I'm much more that person of separating My. My husband's a very passionate individual, and I think he struggles.

Oh, so you guys flip flopped.

Yes. Oh, I love it. Okay. So I think he struggle with it a little bit more. But I think the best thing for us is actually when the company is smaller, I think it's harder because we don't have our clear roles, and so we're both doing everything. And it's so much harder where we clearly, like, if you just talk to us, you'll see we're very different people. And he has his skills, I have my set of skills. And it's really good when we're both working together and doing those. It's hard when we overlap, but I think what we've done as this has grown is we really respect, really respecting those differences. And I had heard it's like they were talking about power couples. I'm not saying we're a power couple, but they were saying it's really the difference isn't just two successful people. It's two people that are successful in their own right, and they really have respect and amplify that other person's traits rather than competing with each other. Because I think it's so easy. I think a lot of highly successful people, that's what they want to do. They want to be like, I'm the best. I'm the best. And you can't do that in a relationship. Relationship can't do that within a business, and you can't be worried about being the best. It's really putting this brand as a separate person, kind of like your child. Right. And trying to say, what can we do together to make this better?

Okay, so industry learnings. Where do you guys go right now for when you are wanting to grow your company even more? Where are the modalities that you like to learn?

Is it.

Is it podcasts? Is it books? Do you. Is there something within the industry that you like to go and do? Is it all of the above? Is it other couples? Like, how do you like to grow yourselves personally? And then how do you like to go discover how to grow the business?

I think they're different things. Right. So with the business, I think one great thing is we've learned. It's a small industry. So once you've learned it, you've got all of these amazing people at your disposal. I think one of the things that we've struggled now is we have less people telling us the honest truth. Before, people were telling us the honest, like, hey, I don't like this. And less and less people are doing that. And so I think that that's not as helpful. And so now the modes that we look to are different. Right. Before we would look for industry people to give us criticism. I want the criticism. If you're not giving me criticism, like I am not doing everything right, that's not really helpful. And so, you know, lately we've having to do more consumer research and actually going to the customer because they're not going to be polite to me and they're going to tell me what they really think. And so the modes change as your position changes. And sometimes I see what. And then also going down, right Making sure that your employees ask, going to your employees, asking them what they're seeing. And it's really just the modes change as your position changes. As a company grows. It's not just one source.

The entire time when you were growing your team, number one, did you work with anyone to help you grow it? Number two, did you know how you were going to grow it or did your business tell you like, dang, we need somebody in this right now. What did you think was like most important for you to get in place for your business to grow in the beginning?

So we're still a very small company. I think we have less than 15 employees. So it's very, very small. And one of the most important things for us is that we want to make sure that as the company changes, it evolves, it has different needs. And so when we would hire someone, we want to make sure that they can grow into a position that they're. There's a constant position. And so I think it's really easy to hire too many people and then just have this like very dysfunctional system. Whereas we've tried to keep it a slower growth of people and use. You can look to outside agencies, you can look to things to handle what needs to be done now while not creating a long term, I believe hiring an employee is a long term commitment that I'm devoted to and I think it's more for them to leave us and that we've given them enough skills for them to go on to their next job than us laying people off.

How have you made sure to grow your network or get into different networks or email people and ask people that you want to connect with for questions or things like that? Because the reason I'm asking this question is, is so many people are like, well, I don't know how to do that or I don't know this person or I don't have the network that you have well, we both did not have that network either. So tell me a little bit about your kind of like, theory on relationships in business, why they're important, and how you grow your network when you need somebody in it who's not in it yet.

I think that every level, top to bottom, everybody wants to feel appreciated and respected for what they have. And so. So I have never found a person that I've asked for help and said, hey, can you give me advice on this? And I've never had somebody go, ah, I don't have time for that. Right. Like, I've noticed that people are very willing to give that advice. They love giving that advice. And it's great to find organizations and thought and places where people can share those and then. And appreciating them for that. So I think, I think it's like you said, it's everything. But I think you have to find something early on, I found that you have to find something that's true to you. Right. And so they have all of these do this and give out all these cards and X, Y and Z. But it really has to be authentic to you. And I like to form deeper relationships with a smaller number of people, but those people I know are more connected and I can kind of go to them to help me, to point me make those introductions. My husband is great at making relationships with lots of people. And so I think it's just. Just ultimately people see through inauthenticity. And so if you're going to be there and just be like, schmoozing and. And it's not respectful to pretend like, oh, I want your opinion on this, just because I really want to, like, create a relationship with you. And so it's about creating authentic friendships with people rather than just, hey, this is like the number of people that I can contact.

Yeah. And it's so interesting if you are someone who I. I prefer smaller, really, like smaller amounts of people, but going deeper as well.

Man.

But sometimes you just, like, need to shake those trees till you find those people. You're like, wow, I'm an introverted extrovert. So I really like smaller containers as well. So that's also encouraging because I think people who are, you know, I know for me, even when I was starting different businesses, I would look at people and be like, oh, my God, do I have to be like an extrovert? And constantly networking and doing all of these things in order for my business to be successful? And that was, like, exasperating because I also love being at home like with my husband or, like, working from home. So can you tell me a little bit about what your kind of daily workflow looks like? I know it's different all the time.

But it changes every day. You know, you're working really, like, finance side, then you're working marketing side. You're working all different things. Production, operations, everything. So I don't think there's a day I wake up and know what I'm gonna do. It's really all over the board. I will say that. Like I said, me and my husband kind of separate things, and so he loves. And that's the one thing I think everyone thinks, like, oh, you have to be an extrovert. And a lot of the examples, it's like, more than this, men versus women, and this and that. It's really. There's a lot more extroverted examples of entrepreneurs. And you really don't see that extroverts like to take on introverts. Right? And you can hire extroverts and people that do business development if that's not what you like to do. And so I like to really see things. And so sometimes when we go and I want to see the market, I actually purposely don't go by myself, because if I go by myself, then I have to talk to the person. Not that I have to talk, but I don't get to actually see what's going on. I don't get to walk around their restaurant and see things that are going on. And so sometimes I will go with somebody else, and then I have a conversation with them. But then I also get to go and see the customers and hear what the customers are saying and do all of that. And so, I mean, that really goes back to. I think everyone thinks you have to do everything yourself. And there are things. I think recognizing what your strengths are and where you need help is important.

Tell me what your zone of genius is, and then what you absolutely could not wait to get out of because you felt terrible at it.

I love marketing. That's like, my baby. I love it because it really is. I saw something that said it was the intersection of all things human. It really is. It's, like, very humanistic. It's creating this relationship. I love that because I think a lot of people think of it as business and manipulation, and I don't think it is. I think it's really fundamentally, like you said, creating that relationship. People are looking for that relationship with, like, what they know about the product and everything else. And so that is what I love. I Hate all of the paperwork of compliance. And they said not. Not compliant. Like, it's very important, but you know what I'm saying, Just all the, like, tax this and that.

Like, super details. Like, not. Not your favorite.

Or it's not that detail. I don't like, like, tax systems that. Where you. There's no overarching themes. Right? It's like you have to read a book. Like, I love areas where there are overarching themes. You can learn them. You can be ingrained in them and develop an expertise. I hate things where it's constantly changing, and I just have to listen to somebody go and read a textbook on why. Why you have to do what you do have to do. And so I leave that to everybody else.

Yeah, that's the death of my soul as well. So I have someone who's helping me with that. Honestly, a business like this makes you so grateful for other humans who have an opposite skill set of you. Like, I literally want to send some of my people flowers daily and be like, thank you for not having me do this, because I'm so grateful.

So great to find people that actually truly enjoy that.

Right.

Like, they have passion.

Literally got a text from my chief of staff, who was like. Like, I'm literally enjoying going through all these legal documents, and I was like, oh, I just love you so much. Like, I love you. Okay, so if I was a fly on the wall with you and your husband while you were out to eat and just talking about your dreams for the future and your dreams for the company or things that really are lighting you guys up right now, like, just in those. In those personal moments where you guys get really excited about things that. But just the future. What are some of those conversations that we would hear?

Well, one of them kind of happened recently. We were at the store, and we're horrible people, and we. We go and we'll go to the aisle where screwball is, and nobody recognizes us, and we'll be like, what is this? Peanut butter whiskey? And the greatest thing ever happened was this woman came up to us, and she was like, I have to tell you, this is the greatest thing ever. And she was telling us about me and my husband's story. She was like, he's a Cambodian refugee, and she's, like, a lawyer and a chemist. And, like, she's telling us all about this. And that, to us, is what lights us up, because it's. It's the passion. And that's, like, where, like I said, I love the marketing. I love connecting with people and I, I've been, like you said, with the vision. My vision is, oh, we, when we built the, when my husband had the restaurants, we always really tried to be part of the community, donate to the community and do that. And this has been allowed us to do that. And so recently we've been able to. He actually went to the border of Ukraine and was able to get donations and we were building like a. Putting money towards putting an orphanage for kids with disabilities and stuff. So really getting back to the community and doing all of those things that this has enabled us to do is really what makes us passionate, lights us up.

Well, I am so grateful for you. I will be buying all the peanut butter whiskey for real. We have a lake house where we like, bring all of our friends and we will. We had some honey whiskey and things like that and all the guys love whiskey, so we'll make sure that we put that up there. And I literally cannot wait because now I feel so bought into your story, it's crazy. So thank you so much. And you just dropped so much wisdom in all regards, whether you have a product or whatever business that you have. You just really have a beautiful, insightful, grounded mind on business. So I really, really appreciate you. Where can we find it? Where can we get it? We all need it now.

Pretty much any major chain, any local chain as well, or any local liquor store. So it's pretty much everywhere. And if it's not, you can always go to our website and we have all of the places that we know of that are listed.

Amazing.

And that's just screwballwhiskey.com correct? Yes. Okay. Incredible. You guys, one of the best things that you can do for our guest is to let her know what your biggest takeaway was. So we will tag you. What's your Instagram handle? And we can tag Screwball Whiskey. So if you could give those two handles, that'd be awesome.

So mine's Brittany, Meryl Yang and Screwball Whiskey.

Amazing. You guys definitely give her a follow up. Shout her out, let her know what your biggest takeaway was. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.