Ethan's Angle

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Isabelle Baker discusses her journey building an online Instagram brand Follow Isabelle: https://www.instagram.com/ihonestlyloved

Lorin Warner - Founder of Honest Eatery Instagram & Facebook: @EatAtHonest

How did Thirst start? What inspired Ethan to be an entrepreneur?  In this episode, Ethan Cisneros is interviewed by Kurt Francom as Ethan tells the story of what inspired him to become a daily hustler and start a great brand like Thirst.

I got to sit down with my friend Hailee Henson who is a co-owner of Goodly Cookies, a fast growing fresh baked cookie store. We talk about several different realities and strategies when it comes to actually having a store, employees, and making payroll. Enjoy! 

I sit down with the legend @abiayres and we talk about what it actually takes to connect with your audience and bring real value. 

I sit down with Dr. Hanks, founder at Happy Tooth Dentistry. We talk about bringing real value through our products and services, matching our actions to our ambitions, and finding happiness in work. 

*sorry for the audio in this* I sit down with entrepreneur and blogger Olivia Gochnour as we talk the reality of how to VALUE and also use influencer marketing for real!

I sit down with Parker Andriese and we talk about how to actually "learn it" and some of the pressures that come with owning a business. 

Don't get OVERLY stressed, get scheduled and let it ride. 

An inside look into my mindset as an entrepreneur. 

text marketing, value checks, ghost kitchen, and happy cards

I will be using this show/podcast to document the journey of what I'm up to. Giving the inside look into strategies, problems, and lessons learned. 

Marketing tactics for a brick and mortar are always changing. Here are the top ten tactics AS OF TODAY that Thirst Drinks uses to get customers through your door:  1. announce on insta with feed and stories  2. announce on Facebook feed  3. reach out to a few influencers  4. send out email blast  5. send out text blast  6. create print ads at your store  7. create a shareable/engagement promoting insta post  8. post in local and popular Facebook groups about your event  9. engage with customers leading up to event  10. Show extreme gratitude for the customers that show up. A good experience promotes word of mouth (the strongest form of marketing).

About a year into my business I started a video series that airs on the @thirstdrinks Instagram page called Thirsty Mom TV in which I run around Salt Lake City talking to the "Thirsty Moms" as I call them. The reason is because early on I identified that a large majority of my customer base were mothers. In attempt to bring value in my content, I started speaking to them directly. Tonight I posted my 67th episode. Over the years it has evolved into value through humor as I run around week after week making a fool of myself talking to the Thirsty Moms. It is just another way for me as a business owner to connect with my customers and have a real and authentic relationship. Go follow @thirstdrinks on Instagram and catch me week after week on Thirsty Mom TV. What creative ways do you connect and bring value to your customers?

Last night we did a campaign at Thirst that some might call a "failure". We planned out a pop-up where we advertised serving free drinks for anyone and everyone for a select two hours at a select location. We had an underwhelming turn out. It sparked the conversation among myself and my marketing manager about the "ROI" of any marketing campaign. I went on to make the point that the return on investment for any campaign is predicated on whether or not that campaign exists. Had we not done any pop-up at all, it for sure would not have been ROI positive. But because we did try it, it allowed the opportunity for someone to see that post, or come to the pop-up and have a good conversation with us (because there weren't many people there and we had time to connect with everyone individually that did come). The conversation then went to the topic of posting on social media. To properly utilize social media, I believe you should be posting A LOT. At Thirst, we currently post to Instagram on main feed anywhere from 3-6 times per day and on stories anywhere from 5-50 times per day. Some might ask how we can do that without "spamming" or "annoying" our customers. The rule at our company is that we only will post something if we have something to say. You will never see a piece of content from us along the lines of "great day to buy drinks" or "be sure to come grab a cookie". In order for us to have something to say, we need to be DOING a lot of things. If you're struggling to post on social media, you sometimes need to point the finger back at yourself and say "are we doing enough things to post about?". AKA: are we doing enough things as a company to allow us to find new customers and be ROI positive. If we were JUST running a soda shop and selling cookies and drinks, we wouldn't have much to post about other than to tell our customers to buy our products. Instead, we do things such as weekend features, drink of the week, seasonal treats, Thirsty Utah Business series, Thirsty Mom TV, daily promotions and deals, etc. It's work! But it allows us to have the opportunity to talk and be active with our customers rather than just ask them to buy our products. In order for any campaign to be ROI positive, you must first execute on that campaign. You can't score if you're just sitting in the dug out. Step up to the plate.

"Why do you work so much bro? Isn't that what you have employees for? Hire more employees." This is probably one of the most common questions that I get asked. I have empathy for these people. From the outside looking in, it is easy to make a quick assumption about an entrepreneur who seems to be doing all the "dirty work" all the time. Here is why I believe it is necessary. The first reason is financial. People seem to think when you open a business, it somehow comes along with an unlimited bank account that can be used to make payroll each week and hire unlimited employees. It is obviously not the case. For the first 1.5 years of my business (and even now during a slower month or week) it was quite necessary for me to work shifts on the floor just to cover payroll. The next reason is that the people running the systems and processes of your business, adapting as sales increase, etc. are the ones that are shaping your business. Had I just hired employees to work every single shift and do everything it basically wouldn't have been my business. If it is YOUR business then YOU should be the one in their shaping it into exactly the business you want it to be. The next reason is that I want the money that I would use to pay and employee to reinvest in my business! A five hour shift in the shop will cost me $75 minimum after fees and taxes to pay an employee to work it. I want to keep that $75 and reinvest it into facebook ads (or some type of advertising or asset ) to drive new business! The common rebuttal to this theory is that if you hire employees to do the ground work, you can focus on driving more sales and that employee will eventually pay for themselves. Work smarter not harder. What I'm saying is that I'll work hard AND smart. My strategy is to work that shift and spend time driving new sales AND I'll have money to invest behind my efforts. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of employees. But I think it's a balance of getting your hands dirty, shaping the business, and saving money on payroll to reinvest while also having time to go get new business. Another reason is that my team wouldn't respect me as much if they felt that "I didn't know what it was like" to work the ground shifts or do the dirty work. I have the respect of all my team members because not only did I do all the ground work from the start, I STILL do the dishes, make soda and take orders. If I'm going to ask them to do something, I am willing and actively doing it myself. The last reason is that before I go out and tell employees how to run my business, I need to figure out exactly what the business is and how I want it run. I feel like my business is a little baby. I first need to raise it and grow it into it's full potential and figure out exactly how it operates before I send it out into the world. It was very much necessary for me to make the first 1,000,000 drinks that were served at Thirst with my own two hands before I was able to train my employees that now run the shop how to do it PERFECTLY. So that is why I work so much. Often times there is no other choice financially other than to do the dirty work, if it is MY business then I will be the one shaping and tweaking it towards perfection as it grows, I want the money that I would otherwise pay an employee to work to reinvest in my company, getting my hands dirty allows me to have a team that respects me, and lastly before I tell employees how to run my business I first need to put in the work to figure out what exactly my business is and how I want it run.