en·tre·pre·neur. noun \ˌäⁿn-trə-p(r)ə-ˈnər, -ˈn(y)u̇r\.
Entrepreneur : An innovator of business enterprise who recognizes opportunities to introduce a new product, a new process or an improved organization, and who raises the necessary money, assembles the factors for production and organizes an operation to exploit the opportunity.
I’m not sure what gives me the entrepreneur spirit, but it feels like it has just come naturally. Even when I worked in the large Fortune 500 company of Eastman Kodak (Fortune 50 when I was there in the 1990′s), I found myself in start-up type of situations working on cutting edge products or in the Research Labs helping create products that didn’t even exist. My other “real” jobs have all been with small companies that were trying to make a go of it.
I guess I just naturally gravitate to it. Maybe that’s the dreamer in me. Just the other day, my sister reminded me that even as a kid I was a little entrepreneur. When I was in 7th grade, she reminded me, I used to sell bubble gum to the other kids. 7th grade was the first time the kids could chew gum in school (gum wasn’t allowed in the k-6 elementary school). I guess I saw that there was a need or demand. I would ride my bicycle two miles to the drug store (I don’t think my parents even knew I was doing this when I first started) and I would buy packs bubblegum, then I would sell the gum by the piece to kids at school.
Fast forward many years and I am involved in a few start-ups and they are food related, which also just seems natural for me.
I am partners in a hot sauce business called All Spice Cafe. We do not have a cafe but that is the dream of JD, the original sauce creator, to someday have a cafe that is all spice based. The introduction of a line for sauces and other fiery food items is a way to reach that dream of having a cafe/bistro. From the start I’ve been involved in all of the behind the scenes of the business (website, marketing materials, graphics layouts, promotions, tradeshows, …) and now am even developing product recipes. We currently have products on the shelves of over 25 Whole Foods Markets in So.Cal/AZ/NV/HI, as well as many small gourmet shops.
While doing on-site sampling and demos of the All Spice products I had the opportunity to meet other small producers of gourmet products and I saw the need for a place online for all of these great items to be available to the consumer in one place. I know there exists several places like this, but they don’t truly provide the ultimate experience for the consumer – mainly items drop ship from all over, not arriving in one package. So I created EnjoyTheFlavor.com which is still developing and evolving, but is making a great start.
I am always thinking of new ideas, products, recipes, you name it. It’s just a matter of the right thing, at the right time, with the right people. You never know, anything is possible! Most importantly have fun doing what you love (ref: DH) and it won’t be “work.”