0:01

Hi, bosses. Emily here, host

0:03

of the Being Boss podcast, and I know

0:06

that as we wrap up our show, you

0:08

might find yourself with a hole in your podcast

0:10

listening schedule, and I'm here to help, because

0:13

navigating the world of business podcasts can

0:15

be hit or miss at best. To

0:17

help you find your way, I'm excited to share

0:20

an episode from a show you may be interested

0:22

in adding to your lineup. To help unpack

0:24

the necessary tools you need to jumpstart

0:27

your business, Intuit QuickBooks

0:29

brings you a new show, Mind the Business,

0:32

Small Business Success Stories, in

0:34

collaboration with Ruby Studios. I'm

0:37

excited to share an episode with you here in

0:39

paid partnership with iHeartRadio to

0:41

give you a taste of this show. This

0:43

is episode six, which is all about

0:45

how to build the right team and be the

0:48

best boss to maximize your success.

0:51

So settle into an interview from Mind

0:53

the Business hosts Janice Torres

0:56

and Austin Hankwitz as they interview

0:58

Kevin Wong, co-founder of

1:00

Lunar Hard Seltzer,

1:01

to discuss how he has grown

1:04

his two-man team into a growing

1:06

business that actively hires in

1:08

multiple cities.

1:14

The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast

1:17

are solely those of the individuals involved and do not

1:19

represent those of Intuit QuickBooks or any of its

1:21

cornerstone brands or employees. This podcast

1:23

does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional

1:26

advice or services. No assurance is given that the

1:28

info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors,

1:30

and the information presented is for general information purposes

1:33

only. Intuit QuickBooks does not have any responsibility

1:35

for updating or revising any information presented.

1:37

Listeners should verify statements before relying on them.

1:41

Hey,

1:42

everyone. I'm Janice

1:44

Torres. And

1:47

I'm Austin Hankwitz. Welcome to another

1:49

episode of Mind the Business, Small Business

1:51

Success Stories, a podcast by iHeartRadio

1:54

and Intuit QuickBooks.

1:58

In each episode, Austin and I... chat with small

2:00

business owners as they share their stories about

2:02

the ups and downs of owning a small

2:05

business. Plus, we'll learn from their experience

2:07

about how you can help fortify and strengthen

2:09

your own business.

2:10

Janice, I remember in

2:12

our last episode with Kristin of Claire

2:14

for Creators, you mentioned having your mom and

2:16

sister as part of your staff. What was that

2:18

process like for you?

2:19

Well, for me, it was a natural fit

2:22

and a natural decision because I knew I

2:24

wanted to work with people that I could trust

2:27

and also people that I could keep it real with. And

2:29

you know, when it comes to family, I think they

2:31

checked off both of those boxes for me. So it's

2:34

been fun to kind of see each

2:36

other grow in that perspective and really

2:38

gain respect, especially between

2:41

me and my sister as like, we're adults,

2:43

we're colleagues now, we're working together,

2:46

we're building this business. It's been actually really

2:48

good for our relationship, even on a personal

2:50

level. So I know Austin, you

2:52

found Kristin to help you with your business

2:54

and bring him on as a partner, but how did

2:56

you determine that his experience and

2:58

strengths would align with what you needed

3:01

for your business? Did you actually interview

3:03

him and go through that whole process?

3:04

Yeah. So for those of you that might not know, Kristin

3:07

Blackwell is the co-founder of my company and

3:09

we work in tandem every day to build our business.

3:12

But when we first met during the summer of 2020, Kristin

3:14

was actually doing consulting for PwC

3:16

in New York City. We did three things

3:19

in the beginning that set our working relationship

3:21

up for success. We had a trial period, we

3:23

were transparent from day one and we agreed on

3:25

compensation and its long-term potential

3:27

very early. So the trial period helped us figure

3:30

out how we worked well together, right? I'd

3:32

argue this was really just a drawn out interview

3:34

process, but I quickly learned how he communicated

3:36

with others, how he organized his work, and more

3:38

importantly, how we'd work together to solve problems.

3:41

Transparency in trust was also super important,

3:43

right? As a content creator, I needed to know that I

3:45

was working with someone that always had my best interest

3:48

in mind and wasn't trying to take advantage of this

3:50

awesome opportunity that I was afforded. And

3:52

finally, aligning on compensation early was

3:54

incredibly important because we both knew on

3:56

day one what we were capable of and

3:58

how that would impact us.

3:59

us in the future if we were able to achieve that.

4:02

Yeah, that's really interesting. So before

4:04

I hired my sister, I actually hired

4:07

my first virtual assistant through my Instagram

4:09

following. I literally made an Instagram post.

4:12

I said, this is what I'm offering five to 10

4:14

hours as a virtual assistant. This is what I can afford

4:16

to pay. And it was

4:19

really cool, you know, in a sense of creating

4:21

this new opportunity for me to now

4:23

put money into someone else's pocket. And especially,

4:26

you know, as a woman of color owned business, that

4:28

for me is really special. So I'm curious,

4:31

how did you go about

4:32

finding talent that you use

4:34

now for your company besides your partner? You

4:37

know, from a tactical finding the talent

4:39

perspective, I also find a lot of cool talent

4:41

on social media, right? I put those feelings out. I

4:43

made posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter,

4:46

and even TikTok about my business's needs. And

4:48

now the hard part, though, is deciphering who's the right

4:50

person for the job. So weirdly enough,

4:52

Janice, I tasked everyone to email

4:55

me a detailed description of their favorite

4:57

vacation spot. That was like the application.

5:00

Like I just wanted to know that thing because I did

5:02

this for two reasons. One, if someone doesn't

5:04

have that self-starter mentality to

5:06

just go and send an email about something they really

5:09

enjoyed, like, you know, would they have that same mentality

5:11

with your business? Probably not. That

5:13

was the first reason. But the second reason was I wanted to learn more about

5:15

the intricacies that they experience that make them really happy,

5:17

right? Maybe they like the time off and they really enjoy

5:20

interactions or the freebies or, you know, whatever

5:22

part of that was. So that then helped me become

5:24

a better leader. And I was the better to

5:27

align compensation with what they really cared about.

5:29

Yeah, I love that example. And it reminds me

5:31

of the hiring process that I went about for hiring

5:34

my first virtual assistant slash content

5:36

creator, because I was kind of giving them a lot of different things to help

5:38

me with. I had everyone

5:40

give me an example of a piece of content that

5:42

they would create for my brand. I

5:44

also invited folks to criticize what

5:47

we're not doing great. And I wanted

5:49

to see like who would give me the honest feedback

5:51

that I need in order for me to not

5:53

stay stagnant as a business owner, as a brand.

5:56

And so when I found the person that I eventually

5:58

hired, I

5:59

respected the fact that she was like, you know, you guys are doing

6:02

this really well, but there's definitely

6:04

opportunities here that you're missing out on. And

6:07

that for me was like a no brainer. I'm like, yeah, this

6:09

needs to be my person.

6:10

I love that. I definitely have the same way of thinking

6:13

about this, right? I want people to be transparent.

6:15

I want them to be upfront. I want them to let me know what

6:17

am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? And how can we work

6:19

together to solve this problem and become a better

6:22

units going forward?

6:23

Yeah, I think we both still are operating

6:25

very much in like the startup mentality. And I know for

6:27

sure, I definitely need to get a more formal

6:30

hiring process together. But luckily

6:32

our guest for this next episode,

6:35

Kevin Wong, the co-founder of Lunar Heart

6:37

Seltzer has some insights on how to

6:39

do just

6:40

that. After a late night

6:42

of partying in 2019,

6:45

Kevin

6:48

and his best friend, Sean Rowe stopped for

6:50

a late night bite at their local Korean fried

6:52

chicken joint. While trying to order drinks

6:54

with their food, that night the idea

6:56

for Lunar Heart Seltzer was born. It's

6:59

the first and only craft heart Seltzer

7:01

brand made with real Asian fruits like yuzu

7:04

and lychee. Their goal was simple,

7:06

to deliver an elevated heart Seltzer experience

7:09

using flavors most emblematic of their childhood,

7:12

heritage and identity in an

7:14

unapologetic pursuit of what they call the reverse

7:17

lunchbox moment. At Lunar,

7:19

Kevin leads sales and finance while he and

7:21

Sean develop new flavors and products in the

7:24

Lunar Lab together.

7:28

Kevin Wong, welcome to Mind the Business.

7:30

Thanks for having me. Really excited

7:32

for this episode, man. So I need to

7:34

know, how did you come up specifically

7:37

with the idea of your company? We heard a little

7:39

bit of the origin story here from Janice, but I'd love

7:41

to hear it from your own words.

7:43

The story is as what Janice

7:45

said. We were eating dinner, we

7:47

were drinking Bud Light and White Claw, and we were

7:50

like, why isn't there something that really

7:52

resonates with us, right? That really pairs well

7:54

with the food. And that

7:56

late night drunken thought turned into early

7:59

morning, 8 a.m. ordering brewing

8:01

equipment on Amazon and online.

8:03

And the next thing you know, we've got all the

8:06

stuff, kegs and fermenters in

8:08

our apartments in New York City. It started

8:10

off really just innocuously, brewing

8:12

something that represented us, that

8:15

took the flavors that I loved growing

8:17

up. I'm Taiwanese American, and

8:20

every summer I would be in Taiwan. On

8:22

the streets with grandma, she'll buy some lychees,

8:24

and I would bite into those. And that

8:27

moment, that is a core memory right

8:29

there. And how do I take that

8:31

and share that with people who've never had lychee?

8:34

They're missing out, right? How do I share that? And

8:37

that was really kind of the goal. And

8:40

we would just brew.

8:42

I'd have friends come over every month to try

8:44

whatever we were cooking up. And by

8:46

the end, after about a year and a half, they were like, Kevin,

8:49

this is really good. Like you should sell

8:51

this. And we were like, yeah, why not? And

8:54

that was the beginning of that

8:56

slippery slope. I love it. So

8:59

let's keep rolling with that idea. What

9:01

is the reverse lunchbox moment? So

9:04

my parents immigrated to the US

9:06

from Taiwan, and they

9:08

would make lunch with me for me to bring

9:10

to school.

9:11

For a lot of children of immigrants,

9:14

you open up your lunchbox, and you've

9:16

got maybe edamame or fried

9:18

rice or kimchi.

9:21

And the kids around you are like, ew, what

9:23

is that? And that's the lunchbox moment,

9:25

right? When you all of a sudden feel this

9:28

insecurity, this feeling of being an outsider

9:30

because people are judging you for

9:33

what you're bringing for lunch.

9:35

And for you, you're like, that's what

9:37

I eat every day. Like this is my favorite, I love edamame.

9:39

Like that was my favorite food growing

9:41

up. And so the reverse

9:43

lunchbox moment is us trying to take

9:45

that and actually own it, own that narrative and

9:47

be like, look, here is what I'm bringing.

9:50

And I am proud to be bringing

9:52

kimchi for lunch. I am proud to be seen

9:54

drinking a leeche hard seltzer instead

9:57

of feeling ashamed. So how do we reverse

9:59

that? and reverse that narrative. I love that.

10:02

So Kevin, can you tell us how long

10:04

into the business did it take you to realize,

10:07

oh, I need some help. Like I can't keep doing this,

10:09

you know, as a two person show.

10:11

Yeah, both of us quit our jobs

10:14

in February of 2021. And

10:18

we made our first hire

10:20

a year after. And

10:23

the first year was the most tiring

10:25

year of my life.

10:26

With the business that we're building,

10:28

right? It's a physical product, it's alcohol.

10:31

And when we started, a lot

10:33

of different distribution partners,

10:36

retailers, investors, they

10:38

were like, this product is so niche,

10:40

right? Which stung, that hurt. Now, first

10:42

of all, there's 22 million Asian Americans in

10:45

the US, but also, hey, who doesn't love

10:47

Alicia Martini? Like, come on, that's not a niche

10:49

product. And so we really had

10:51

to go at it ourselves. And we had to prove

10:54

that this was beyond just a

10:56

niche.

10:57

And to do that, I

10:59

literally was running the streets of New

11:01

York, I would knock on doors Monday through Friday,

11:03

the whole day, the whole night, I would just have a backpack

11:06

of cans.

11:07

And by, after about a year, we had

11:09

the traction where distributors,

11:13

partners were like, oh wow, Lunar

11:15

is everywhere, like this is a thing, let's

11:17

work together. And by then, I

11:19

was like, okay, I need someone to

11:22

help me here. I can't be

11:24

doing this the whole time. I have other things to do

11:26

to run this business. So we made our first hire,

11:29

which was our director of sales.

11:31

And then from there, what did the

11:34

scale up and building of the team look

11:36

like from that point on? Yeah,

11:38

so we started with our director of sales, and

11:40

we quickly realized we need more

11:42

salespeople to help kind of share that load.

11:45

And so now we have, we're at about five employees

11:48

today. Most of them are our sales team.

11:50

They're our feet on the streets. They are there actively

11:52

working with their customers, working with our distributor

11:55

partners, really being out there to

11:57

resolve any issues, close new business.

12:00

and then upsell and grow our accounts as

12:02

we continue to build our presence out. Very cool.

12:05

How do you find the right talent for your team? Where

12:07

do you source these folks from? That

12:10

was a great challenge in the beginning.

12:13

I don't come from this alcohol

12:15

world. I use the work in tech.

12:18

When I started, I was like, you know what? I'll post on LinkedIn.

12:21

I'll put up a post. I'll ask friends. But

12:23

no one I knew knew anybody in the world.

12:25

It just was so many degrees removed from this

12:27

industry.

12:28

Referrals was kind of out of the question.

12:31

I

12:31

was like, okay, shoot. How do I find

12:34

the right people, the talent? We're

12:36

looking for people that can represent our brand and

12:39

really champion the values

12:41

and really be a storyteller for

12:43

us as Asian Americans or just broadly as people

12:46

of color. How do we be there and really

12:48

represent a fight for our narrative? That's

12:50

even more limiting

12:53

on the pull of applicants. We started posting

12:55

on industry

12:56

specific job boards.

12:58

And then we did a lot of asking our

13:01

accounts for help. We would ask our

13:03

bartenders or beverage directors at a bar,

13:05

at the hotel, at the beer

13:07

buyer, at a grocery store. We'd ask them, hey, do

13:10

you know anybody who is in this industry?

13:12

That's how we were really getting the word out about the

13:14

brand. That plus a

13:17

lot of press, we really focused on media

13:19

to get that attention, to get that awareness. And

13:22

that came back to us where we started

13:24

getting a flood of pretty awesome applicants that

13:27

match those criteria people were self-selecting

13:28

into this job. So

13:31

we're pretty blessed to have an awesome team.

13:33

We're majority minority employees.

13:36

It's really awesome to see.

13:37

Yeah, that's brilliant. So

13:39

Austin and I have talked about the fact that I actually

13:42

work with my sister in my own business.

13:44

And I'm still figuring out my company

13:46

policy because I think it's easy when you're

13:48

working with somebody that's so familiar. It's like,

13:50

yeah, we'll just figure it out as we go. So

13:53

I'm curious what have been some important factors

13:55

for you and Sean to be able to figure out how to work

13:57

together well. And then also, how do you

13:59

communicate your company expectations to

14:02

employees?

14:03

We're kind of making it up as

14:05

we go along. That's

14:07

super real. We have a culture

14:09

book, we have company values, and so

14:12

it's like a page. It's super

14:14

simple. You know, the culture is built by

14:16

the

14:17

actions and behaviors we take in the

14:19

words we say when we're together. I think rather

14:21

than a corporate doc on the screen, like who's

14:23

going to just like open that like, let me reference my behavior

14:26

against this dog. Like who's going to do that? You know,

14:28

like we're, you know, we're human. People

14:30

say culture comes from the top. I think it does, but

14:32

it also comes from the people that you bring on, you know,

14:34

especially in an early stage of company. It's

14:36

really about making sure that everyone feels included,

14:39

feels valued, that we're taking time

14:41

to appreciate each other. We

14:43

have a team on our hands every week and we'll kind of do

14:45

snaps where we kind of show thanks to our colleagues,

14:48

our kind of really make sure we're showing

14:50

appreciation. And I think that's important for us as

14:53

a company. And then for like me and

14:55

my founder, the two of us, we

14:58

had never worked together. Like we were friends before.

15:00

We never like worked together. Right. Like

15:02

that's like a whole thing. Like that could be a whole show about like, how

15:04

do you transition a friendship into a

15:06

like a partnership? Like that's a whole thing.

15:08

There was definitely a challenge learning how we worked together.

15:12

So we actually made a commitment to each other that

15:14

we would go to like couples therapy,

15:16

making sure that we are investing time

15:19

in our relationship beyond

15:21

just, you know, work, which is all consuming and

15:24

making sure that we're taking time to be intentional

15:26

about how we are checking in on each

15:28

other. So that's

15:30

actual couples therapy. Like, yeah,

15:32

that is the coolest thing I've ever heard. I need

15:34

to do that. I need to try that at least. I love that

15:36

idea. Christian, if you're listening to this,

15:39

we're going to couples therapy. My God. I love

15:41

that.

15:41

Oh my gosh.

15:46

Coming up on mind the business, small business

15:48

success stories. First you start off

15:51

by journaling. What did I do this week? And

15:53

then you kind of group those and be like, what are tasks

15:56

that fit into a role? Where do I need help?

15:59

need because you need more

16:01

or you're solving a need because you need better.

16:04

We'll be right back after the break.

16:18

Welcome back to mind the business small business success

16:20

stories brought to you by iHeartRadio and

16:22

Intuit QuickBooks. All

16:26

right, Kevin, let's get into the numbers. When

16:29

budgeting for a new hire, how

16:31

do you make that decision? Do you build a model?

16:33

Do you try and figure out the sales aspect? Walk

16:36

me through step by step how you figure out,

16:38

is it time to hire another person?

16:40

Yeah, you know, it's such an art and a science, I

16:43

would say. I think some of it is the numbers,

16:46

but

16:46

you also need your budget to make sense. You need a numbers

16:48

to add up.

16:49

But then there's a part of it where if I

16:51

just simply don't have time to like do stuff

16:54

beyond things that the business needs

16:57

that is as valuable as the

16:59

model. If I just don't have time to do anything else,

17:02

well, it seems like I need help. It always

17:04

takes longer to hire than you expect. So

17:06

like for us, we are always hiring in

17:08

advance, like well in advance. We'll telegraph

17:11

and we'll kind of broadcast way earlier

17:14

than we need. Hey, we're looking for this role

17:16

because it takes time for people to

17:18

discover the role, to like work with that courage to

17:20

be like, you know what, this is a jump I want to take to

17:22

jump in the startup world. Right. So making sure

17:24

we're giving people that opportunity. And

17:27

this

17:27

has been really successful for us. We have

17:29

this thing online on a careers page

17:32

that says, you know, feel free to invent

17:34

your own role and we're inviting

17:36

people to pitch themselves to

17:38

us. Like here's why you should hire me because of X. Like

17:41

you need my help in doing Y. And

17:44

that has been so awesome because there are

17:46

these awesome go getters out there that

17:48

are going to reach out that are going to pitch

17:50

us. And sometimes we're not even thinking

17:52

about that. And we're like, oh, you're right. Like that,

17:55

let us

17:56

put that into the model. Let us think about that

17:58

and we'll get back to you. I think. Thank you for putting

18:01

that idea into your mind. Yeah, I

18:02

think that's really insightful, Kevin. And now here's

18:05

a statistic, right? According to QuickBooks,

18:07

more than half of small businesses, right? 51% are

18:10

saying it's becoming harder and harder to hire

18:12

those skilled workers and even 42% are saying

18:15

it's getting harder to retain the skilled workers.

18:18

So let's say you've hired someone, you figured it out.

18:20

How do you keep your employees engaged and

18:23

happy in a time of inflation and quiet

18:25

quitting? Right? How do you show employees that they're

18:27

valued and appreciated, especially those new hires?

18:30

The most important thing is showing appreciation. I think

18:32

our tradition of snaps has been really valuable,

18:34

right? There's so many things that happen

18:36

in any given week. And I think for

18:38

me and for a lot of people, you're focused

18:40

on the next thing. You're focused on growing the business. And

18:43

you might forget or overlook, you know, so-and-so

18:45

did this. And this was really helpful for me.

18:48

And I might have to take it for granted and move on. Like, awesome,

18:50

great, cool. Let's move on. Let's use this to do the next

18:52

project. And making sure that we're

18:54

being really thoughtful about showing appreciation.

18:57

And I think after that, it's

18:59

aligning and making sure you're keeping

19:01

in mind what your employees' goals are

19:03

long term. Let's say that

19:06

someone wants to start their own business in five, 10

19:08

years. That's awesome. That's a phenomenal

19:11

goal to have. And how do I make sure that

19:13

I am setting them up

19:14

to be successful in five years? That their

19:16

time here working with us is

19:19

valuable and is going to contribute to their success

19:21

later on. And so things like bringing them

19:23

into meetings where like maybe they're not part of that

19:25

team, but that's okay because they want to learn

19:27

and experience it. I think things like that

19:30

are

19:30

important for an employer to make sure you

19:33

are not just saying we care about

19:35

the long term success of your team,

19:37

but really

19:39

walking the walk and being there

19:41

to check in with your employees like, hey, just

19:43

want to check in, you know, how you feeling? Has

19:45

this been helpful for you? And just making sure you're

19:47

continually investing in that long

19:49

term goal. And that's, I think, how you really

19:52

show that you're listening and that

19:54

you're acting upon it. Man,

19:57

does anyone else want to work for Kevin now after

19:59

hearing this? This is so... It's so exciting to me. It

20:01

sounds like the coolest boss ever, like for real. Okay,

20:05

so looking back when you first started

20:07

your talent search, what's the thing that

20:09

surprised you the most about the process?

20:12

I think the first thing is that it just takes longer than

20:14

you expect. First of all, you need to write it and

20:17

write it well. I think that is also hard. People

20:19

don't think about that. I think a lot of people are like, oh, let's copy and paste

20:21

the job rec from somewhere else. No,

20:23

you need to really be thoughtful about what

20:25

you're writing in there so that people know what you're

20:28

expecting. Then finding out

20:30

where to put it, where to market and really

20:33

push the rack out. Where can you find the people

20:35

that you're looking for? Then screening, filtering.

20:37

There's so many steps. No one really thinks about it.

20:39

You're like, oh yeah, hiring. That's one

20:41

word that just somehow handwaves over

20:44

all the things that need to be done. I

20:46

think that was the biggest surprise. It just took a long time.

20:48

For the small business

20:50

owner who's listening right now, who's maybe ready to

20:52

hire that first external employee

20:55

or just really take that next step toward building

20:57

out a team, what advice would you have for them?

20:59

I would say

21:01

first you start off by journaling

21:03

in a given week. What did you do? Then

21:06

you group those and be like, what are tasks

21:08

that fit into a role? Where do I need help?

21:11

Or where am I not good at?

21:13

I think those are two of the areas

21:15

that make the most sense. You're either solving

21:18

a need because you need more or you're

21:19

solving a need because you need better.

21:22

I would say you start there identifying what

21:24

role you need. The second piece of advice

21:26

I would just say, start hiring early.

21:29

Putting out that rec doesn't mean you need to hire.

21:32

Sometimes putting out the rec and writing it helps

21:34

you think through

21:35

who and what you need to hire for. Then

21:38

I would say sometimes you'll start interviewing

21:40

people. You'll find someone that clicks. You'll

21:42

find this all-star that is going to be

21:44

just awesome.

21:47

Missing out on someone like that

21:49

to add value to your business

21:52

is a shame. There are so many awesome people that

21:54

can really take your business to the next level.

21:56

These are some gems right now you're dropping for us,

21:59

Kevin, man.

23:59

So there's a lot of geographic based hiring

24:02

that we will need to do and on the

24:04

flip side We haven't really hired for

24:06

marketing yet You know we should and

24:08

so we absolutely plan on building

24:10

out a world-class marketing team And that will

24:12

probably come online in the next few years But

24:15

it's one of those things when it's a challenge

24:17

to think a year in the future let alone three

24:19

or four or five I can have all these lofty goals,

24:21

but you know things change right and I think it's

24:24

being able to roll with that and adapt I

24:26

think that's kind of the name of the game for any small

24:29

business or any startup

24:29

owner. I

24:31

agree So then let's think about the

24:33

next quarter six months What's like real immediate

24:35

next big things that you're really excited about that might be happening

24:38

this summer or maybe this fall?

24:39

Yeah, we are about to launch lunar

24:42

into California, so that is an exciting

24:44

development for us Congratulations.

24:47

Thanks, man. We've had customers reach out to

24:49

us for almost two years asking

24:51

for a lunar to be available in the state and We've

24:55

always told them coming soon coming soon,

24:57

and it's been two years so now

25:00

actually coming soon So we're really

25:02

excited to be doing that and we are also

25:05

looking for content creators interns

25:07

to kickstart our marketing team So

25:10

if you are passionate about pioneering the

25:12

cultural revolution in American

25:14

alcohol drop a line on our website

25:17

Send us a DM. I'd love to chat.

25:19

I love it. That's awesome, man. Congratulations

25:22

on Launching the state of California

25:24

that is super super exciting

25:25

Absolutely. So Kevin before

25:28

we let you go. We have to know what

25:30

is your favorite Korean fried chicken spot? Oh,

25:33

man This

25:35

is a hot topic here guys There's

25:39

a spot in New York City. It's called turntable chicken

25:41

jazz.

25:42

It's got vinyl records. It looks super

25:44

super cool They've got these massive

25:47

chicken like drumsticks. These chickens

25:49

are huge I don't know what they're doing, but

25:51

they're so meaty. They're so delicious. They're like

25:53

triple fried

25:54

So go there in New York City. It's a blast.

25:57

I love that. My introduction to Korean fried

25:59

chicken was through a restaurant chain called Bonchon

26:01

in New Jersey. And I

26:03

was like

26:04

forever changed. So shout out to the fried

26:06

chicken for being the muse, the inspiration

26:09

for this incredible brand that you've built. And thank

26:11

you so much for being here.

26:12

Thank you all for having me. Next time we'll do

26:14

this IRL over some fried chicken. Heck

26:16

yeah. I love it. Thanks, Kevin.

26:25

Janice, that conversation with Kevin was top

26:27

notch. I really enjoyed it. I feel like I learned a

26:29

lot of little gems and secrets, but I want

26:31

to know from you what stuck out the most.

26:33

For me it was two things. The first, it's always

26:35

so interesting for me to hear how

26:38

business owners go about thinking

26:40

through their hiring process. Like what areas

26:43

of the business am I going to prioritize in? First, for

26:45

Kevin it was sales. For me it was actually

26:47

hiring just a virtual assistant who could answer

26:50

emails and go back and forth with administrative

26:52

stuff so they could take that off my plate. So

26:55

I always think that's super interesting. And I

26:57

think it's a good reminder. There's no right or wrong way

26:59

to go about building and scaling

27:01

your business. It's really just about

27:05

taking one step at a time and seeing

27:07

where those deficiencies are in your

27:09

business model and finding the right resources

27:12

and the right talent to get you to

27:14

that next level. So that was number one.

27:16

And then I think the second for me was I love

27:19

the fact that Kevin was so real about how we

27:22

do our business. We're just kind of learning on

27:24

the fly here. And I think that's really what entrepreneurship

27:26

is for most folks who don't have the background

27:29

in it. You are kind of building the plane

27:31

as you're flying. And so to hear that

27:34

even awesome companies like his

27:36

are kind of just winging it a

27:38

little bit. It makes me feel better about the fact that

27:40

I've also had that similar journey too. How

27:43

about you?

27:43

Absolutely. I'm over here in the seat

27:46

of fake it till you make it because that's pretty

27:48

true. For me I think it was two things that stuck out

27:50

and it kind of goes back to what you're just talking about with your first

27:52

hire. Are you hiring because you need to

27:54

do more or because you need to do better? And

27:57

I think at the end of the day for you maybe it was because you need to

27:59

do more. You need this.

27:59

assistant to help you out to be more productive. Maybe

28:02

some people are hiring because they need a better type of

28:04

product focused employee or a better market

28:07

or whatever that might be. So I think just like understanding

28:09

the difference between those two factors is really

28:11

important. And then the second thing that stuck out to me

28:13

was just how long the hiring

28:16

process was. And especially for the types

28:18

of sales employees and how hard it was for him to find

28:20

those people, the job description writing,

28:22

finding those specific experiences and

28:24

hiring for those skill sets for people to be successful

28:27

in their role for his business was super, super

28:29

important. It seemed

28:29

like so hiring is one word, but it

28:32

involves 17 different processes

28:34

around it. So I was super excited

28:36

that Kevin walked us through all of them and I'm eager

28:38

to hear what's next in store for his company, Lunar.

28:41

Absolutely. Shout out to all

28:43

the solo Pernors and the new business

28:45

owners who are wearing those 17 hats and are

28:47

slowly trying to figure out how to assign them to other

28:49

people. It's not easy, but you

28:51

know, it's all part of the

28:52

journey. Absolutely. Well, that's

28:54

it for today's episode. You can find me on

28:57

social media at Austin Hankwoods

28:58

and you can find me at Yokeyero De Nero

29:00

podcast. You can also follow

29:03

Intuit QuickBooks.