TeAm SuCcEsS

In  Start Your Own Microbrewery, Distillery, or Cidery , the staff of Entrepreneur Media Inc. and writer Corie Brown with Zester Daily Contributors explain how you can get started in the craft alcoholic beverage industry, whether you want to start your own microbrewery, distillery or cidery. In this edited excerpt, the authors suggest six critical elements that will determine whether you succeed or fail in the craft alcoholic beverage industry. To thrive in today’s craft alcoholic beverage business, you'll need to bring brains, heart, and brawn to your venture. And while your entrepreneurial personality may trend one way or the other, what matters is how you take those small identifiers in your own story and work them in your favor. Following are six key characteristics that will help you succeed in the craft alcoholic beverage industry.   1. Start prepared There's no time to learn on the job these days. You may not need specific credentials, but you need to come to ...

There comes a time in the lifespan of every organization when the price to stay the same outweighs the price to change; when the old ways of working are no longer sufficient or get in the way of growth. It is at this time that organizations, no matter their size, must examine the best organizational design for continued success. Moving from startup to established business, pursuing new markets, or assimilating a newly acquired company all represent an opportunity and a challenge for leaders. When organization design is mentioned to many leaders, minds quickly jump to the organization chart -- the “boxes and wires” of an organization. While this is one of the more tangible, visible parts of organization design, the process is about so much more than moving lines on paper, as simply changing reporting relationships rarely has a lasting impact on the way a company functions. In fact, you should leave the organization chart until the end of the design process.

Managing a startup can be a minefield, especially when the pull of entrepreneurship clouds your decision-making – and when you go it alone with no business experience. But if you do decide to start your own business, it’s a great idea to learn from other’s mistakes and set yourself up for success. Here are five mistakes to avoid: 1. Inaccurately gauging demand for your product or service. Remember – just because  you  like jalapeño-flavored pickled okra, that doesn’t mean  everyone  likes it. Too many small businesses fail because the owner overestimates demand. Before launching your venture, find out how strong the demand is for your product or service. Is it a product or service that most people need or want? Does it fit with current trends? For instance, a DVD rental store is probably not a good investment now due to the popularity of streaming services. Before settling on a business venture, ask yourself if the benefits to the customer are compelling an...

An aligned workforce is a happy, engaged workforce. Unfortunately, alignment between an organization and its employees doesn’t come naturally -- it takes planning, hard work and communication. Think of alignment as a playbook for the entire company, just like in sports. For a coach to make sure every player is on the same page and goals are made, that playbook needs to be shared and discussed in real time. There’s a reason watching a sports game is much like watching a choreographed performance -- every movement and play has a purpose that each player knows inside and out. The same goes for employers and their employees. To achieve a completely aligned workforce that plays as a team and knocks each ball out of the park, here are the four levels of organizational alignment every company needs to build and maintain:    1. Employee-role alignment The first level of organizational alignment requires finding the right fit for the position at hand. After a...

I started my business in 1999 while a student in college. There were pros and cons, but I’m largely thankful for the experience and would recommend it to other aspiring entrepreneurs. Here are seven reasons why. 1. Low risk, high reward What have you got to lose? You don’t own anything, you have few commitments relative to later in life, and the worst case scenario is that you go back to doing what you’re doing now. This isn’t to say you should take a casual approach to starting a business. Your years in college will be over before you know it, and suddenly the risks will be larger. You probably have time to start one serious business venture per year of college and within 12 months figure out if it’s going to work out or not. Maybe you’ll get it right the first time, maybe you’ll pivot, maybe you’ll quit and start something new. The sooner you can test your ideas, the better.

It’s not uncommon for women to face unique challenges, especially when trying to juggle traditional roles of wife and mother with the demands of starting and running a business. Over the years as a business owner myself, and through training women to run their own etiquette businesses, I have learned a few tips that may help women looking to start a business. 1. Find your passion. You are going to spend many long hours working in and on your business, so pick an industry that you don’t just like, but are passionate about. When you are passionate, it shows, and your enthusiasm and belief in what you are doing translates to your customers, sparking their enthusiasm about what you are offering.

It’s not only about the name and market share you stand with, but the consistent sales performance and numbers your team has been coming up with as well. After all, this is one big metric by which the investors, your boss and above all, the audience is going to judge you. You might’ve chipped in a zillion efforts to build an efficacious brand, made up a team that speaks volumes about your hiring capacity and introduced ample team building activities to maintain cohesion in the entire department, but in the end, it all comes down to the numbers you score. Think about all the times your company wasn’t going as per the business plan and sales figures started to dwindle. There sure was a mild possibility that many in your team might have lost their jobs with backups being readily available. It does stand imperative to avert such situations and go for a higher sales performance through enhanced and focused efforts. Here’s a clear insight into the same. #1. Focus on One Product...