Building a successful brand with no social media Ep10

In this episode I talk with James Mantzios owner of Greenbach and Jimmy Slings. 

James is the definition of work hard play hard and is slowly building Australia's next beverage empire. 

Greenbach: https://www.jimmyslings.com.au/products/the-sour-apple-700ml

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Alrighty, welcome back to the House Business Podcast. Today we have a special guest, special friend of mine. He's James, the owner of Jimmy Slings. He's the owner of Greenbatch, and he is the owner of many more things to come and many more things that he's going to talk about. James, welcome to the pod, mate. Thanks for having me. First thing service.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Let's have a shot.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Do I gotta shake it? Nah, nah.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Ready to root, mate.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Alright, greenbatch sour apple.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

I will correct you though. You're gonna say right.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Greenback. Greenback, there we go. Greenback. Pink Mayback. We're learning already. Greenback. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Oof. It's dangerous. That is good.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Super dangerous. Alright, man. That tasted amazing. We'll get into that soon. Bring me back. So, how did you start in business? What was your first business? Give me sort of your like your five-minute business history.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Ooh, oh yeah, mum's always said as a kid, she would make me sandwiches, I would sell them at lunch. It was always one of those things. Like, she would make me all these snacks. Oh, that was amazing. Yeah, I ate them all, but I was really selling them to kids at school, trying to get some chips or something out of it. Gone to a weird life of traveling full-time, used to snowboard for a company, and they sent me around the world and I learned how to meet people. Life's not scary, get into weird situations, travel by myself, do all that. So that kind of just taught me. It's not scary out there. Give it a crack. You'll get in weird situations and it'll be fine. I love that. And then um COVID hit, and I had to come back to Australia. Got into bartending, just doing whatever. And then at that point, I met a guy and he said, Oh, can you go and bartend at my house? We're gonna have a private party. And that started Jimmy Slings, as we know, the events company. I have bartenders working for me now, and we've got catering, we've got flair shows, we've got the whole lot. So and then started distilling. Yes, and now here we are.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

How how long were you bartending for?

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I was behind through my twenties, I was living in Greece and traveling and partying, and it was just an easy job to pick up wherever. So that was here and there, probably let's say on and off seven years. Easy.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So you're you're you're bartending, and then how do you get into sort of running like Jimmy Slings? What what did you need to do to sort of set up the business? And how did the how how did the business run? How does the business run?

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Business now, pretty organic. Don't do any advertising, don't do any events, all word of mouth, which is what you can ever hope for. It's the dream. It's a dream. Yeah. It's all return customers, and we've got a great team of people that help every day.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

How do you set up like a mobile bartending? So what what what do you sort of need to register and like what's the legalities of it all?

SPEAKER_02 3:10

So there's a lot of insurances, obviously. We're going into people's houses, serving alcohol, so there's like caterers' licenses, there's public liability insurance, there's my staff insurance. There was a bit, and I just learned as I went what you kind of need. I didn't know go into it, didn't have any real mates that were doing it at that stage, it was just something that kind of just happened.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Yeah, how did you find that transition from bartending to running a bartending business? Oh, so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Yeah, there's no rules there. Like you're going into people's houses, yeah, you there's RSA and all that, but it's a little bit more relaxed because you're in their home, you're drinking with them, you're having fun with them, you're becoming proper mates of people. Like some of my best friends now I've met by doing events for them.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, well, how did we meet, man? We met for an event. For an event. Yeah, yeah. I now that was one of my first ever weddings that I was recording. Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was after the first lockdown. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Because I was living down the ginder barn at the time and I drove up to go to James's wedding.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Yeah, shout out James. Here he is, Jimmy. Cheers to Jimmy, bro. So you're running Jimmy Slings before we move on to Greenback. Yep. Or Greenbatch. Greenback. Greenback, see, I got it right. Uh before we move into Greenback, give me like your craziest Jimmy Sling story. Ooh. Okay, shout out.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

There's a guy named Harry, you might see this one day. Had an event at his house, and it was meant to be real casual, 80 people for his son's birthday. It was like his 18th or 19th. Found out the day of, it bumped up to around 190, 200 people. Doesn't tell us, obviously. Classic. Classic, so not enough staff, reaching out, trying to get everyone sorted. Went through like 80 bowls of vodka that night. Like we had three different bars running, we had like 10 staff running, and it was just chaotic. He's just that guy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah, mad. So you're running Jimmy Slings. Um, you're gone for what, maybe how how long were you running Jimmy Slings before you started Greenback?

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So Jimmy Slings' first event was 2020. Um, there's a guy named Glenn. He was the first guy that ever asked me to do an event for him, still to this day. He's every year we do an event for Melbourne uh Melbourne Cup. Don't charge him, it's that guy, he started this whole thing. He's he's the guy that started this whole journey. Um gave you your first opportunity. First first idea and said, Hey, come bartender to my house. I've got a few staff coming around. And that was the first time that I said, Oh, this is pretty fun, pretty easy, get to mingle with everyone better. And then um, yeah, now to every Melbourne Cup, we do it at his house, no questions asked, he doesn't even say, Are you available? It is what it is. Yeah, amazing. But don't price comes down the wash.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

We're like, ah everyone has that first client.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, it was like, yep, it is what it is with him, and we always have fun, he invites me into all these things, and mine um mine was a landscaping company.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yep, they were the first ones that gave me my first shot at like the media company side. And when I first started working with them, it was like 600 bucks for photos and videos, which is pissed cheap. Yeah. Six years later, I was still charging 600 bucks because they were the OGs.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Exactly. I'm the exact same.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Without them, nothing happens.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

And like I know, let's say, there's way cheaper options to do events and stuff like that. But then quite often the people that try to shop around, they come back for their next event because they weren't poorly, they weren't happy with the experience, and then we came in the long run.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Yeah, yeah, you it always comes out in the wash. So tell me about how this bad boy came to be.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Alright, how it started? It was on the back of a breakup. I had to put my energy into something. Um, it was just two different ways, and it's okay. Never say a bad thing. What year is this? 20 last year?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fresh, we're fresh.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Fresh, fresh. It would have been around August last year. Um and then I just had to put my energy into something. It was like, oh, I'm not gonna sit in self-pity and had to shoot out. So in Crenulla in the Shire where we are now, apple martinis are huge. Don't know why. It's just what it is around here. It just is. And I always thought I could set out and make it better. So I played around my bat buddy Justin, who owned Silla Vodka, um started playing around with recipes, him and I just working in the lab after hours, landed on this, and now it's taken me on a crazy journey, and it's gone from a side hustle to making my own cocktail company better, to now it's a full-blown alcohol company and going global with it.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

The listeners of the pod, most of them are business owners or thinking about starting the business. Run me through the sort of business aspect of okay, how do you start an actual alcohol business? Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

That helped a lot being with someone who already had an established business. So having Justin and John by my side, letting me use their facility and letting me play around with stuff, I don't think I could have done it without them. Like they opened a door where I could be creative, could test the waters. I would be a lot harder, not impossible, but it would be harder going into this without them. Um, and then going forward, all the producers' licenses and wholesale, sellers' license, there's there's a lot of paperwork. Yeah. Again, not impossible, but if you back yourself and you think this is worth doing, you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Like talk me through the formulation stage of things. How does one sort of start playing around with taste and the legalities of like how much alcohol can be in the bottle, things like that?

SPEAKER_02 8:52

The taste side of things, because I kind of knew what I wanted to improve on going into it, I knew I had a window I was working within.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

So that's how we end up on the sour apple to start with. Um which now a lot of people do a shots like we did at the beginning, or we have RTDs coming out.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

R R T.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Oh, they're like the canned version, so think seltzes, spritzes, stuff like that. Um and also obviously the 700 mil. Um legality-wise, you pay taxes on percentages, what you're using. Okay. So the bigger, like the bigger ABV, so alcohol kind of volume or percentage, you're paying a lot more on it alcohol tax. That's where Australia is one of the worst countries in the world for that. We pay a lot here. You look at beers over the years or any kind of brand where your parents might have said, Oh, VB used to be$2 back in the day. The product itself, yes, it may have changed over years, but a lot of it is incrementally, the taxes are gone up. Yeah. So that's where it all gets expensive. Going out and spending$150 on a night out now is a cheap night.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Which is crazy. Like back when we were going out, I remember drinks were way cheaper than what they are now.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

I used to go, it was like a Thursday night, and it was like$2 house spirits. Yeah, you can't get that anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I remember UOW. They used to have like uh the UOW night, I think it was like Wednesday night, and it was like$4 for a beer and chips.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Like, yeah. Mate, if you go if you find that now, like you go there every night. Like, you don't get there anymore.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

So that's the pricing side in terms of taxes for the alcohol itself. How did you go about like how how does it work with a business trying to formulate their own alcohol? Do you how do you how does one make the taste? And then secondly, how do you bottle it up? Things like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Alright, we might have to do a tour through the factory later, bring the camera, bring the cameras for a little cheeky walk. Yeah. Um taste, there's a lot, a few ways you can go around it. So being like a smaller batch distillery and stuff like that, an easier way getting into the book market is buying like a neutral spirit, like your neutral ethanols and stuff. We have some really, really good manufacturers in Australia, and it's an easier process to get into that way again, but you don't have full control of budgets and stuff like that because you're outsourcing, so you've got to weigh up the costs and benefits on that. Um taste profile, I'm not gonna tell you how to do that. No, no, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

But how like tell me about like how do you get taste into an alcoholic beverage?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Okay, so there is a few ways, depending on what you're you can go down the fermenting and distilling side of things where you're fermenting fruits and all that, like that. There's heaps of organic companies are doing out there. You can go down some of the cheaper products that you might find, they're like, oh, twelve dollar bottles of spirits. You might get flavourings and additives added to that to get that flavour. Um this, I kind of studied what made a green apple a green apple, and all these citric flavours that you can only find in some apples.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

So I kind of knew what I wanted to work with here.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

And how long did it take you to get what you wanted, perfect it?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Probably five months. There was it were pretty close within a couple weeks, but then the more I was giving people tries, and like we're sitting at this very table, I remember having about ten of my mates, and we were just voting on different flavours. I just had a blind scale, and when everyone landed on one, everyone landed the exact same recipe. I said, Alright, cool, we're done.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So Jimmy did an event for uh my wife's business back in November last year. I remember it was it was summer as well. Yeah, yeah. So I think that was one of the first months that you had it.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Probably first, and I think the product was different, slightly different.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Slightly different. I thought it was amazing back then, yeah. And then when I just tasted it just now, it's completely different, it's better.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

And it's just slightly just evolved a little bit more. It's perfect. It's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

So tell me what what was the feeling like when you finally perfected it and you had it in a bottle? Oh, no, surreal.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

No, the the most surreal feeling was going into like a bottle shop or a pub and seeing it on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Alright, let's rewind. Let's rewind. That was the most surreal. I want to get to that. You finished the bottle. Products finished. Yeah. Right? What was the next step to getting this amazing thing out there?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Well, actually, a big problem that we face was scaling. So we had a recipe for a single bottle. Everything changes when you try to. I don't know why I can't explain it. It changes when we're doing like batches, big big bottle runs now and talking like litres and litres at a time. The recipe doesn't just multiply across the board. It was like, oh, we've got to strip it back and try it all again.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Oh, true.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

And I can't explain. There would be someone out there way smarter than me who'd be like, oh yeah, because the imbalances of this and that the way the chemicals react together, ingredients, yeah. And like like say sugar syrups mixing at different temperatures, there's a whole other thing. I think I'm pretty fortunate. I've kind of like, I don't really have any background in this.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

I've kind of landed on something and just hit the ground running and yeah, uh a theme of the podcast is like going after something that people don't really think is there. Yeah. So once you finish the product, once you've figured out how to batch like batch is it brew? Batch brew them. Batch batch make them, right? Yeah, yeah, we'll go to that here. Batch make them. You've got no business history per se. Yeah. How did you get the product out there?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Oh, that was a hard thing. And that's something I still battle with. I don't come with any sales experience. I don't I'm not used to being putting myself out there, walking into venues and saying, I try this. It's just doing podcasts. Doing podcast first time, sweating, insane. Anyways. Um just something I'm not used to, but you gotta do the uncomfortable things. For me, this was an uncomfortable thing for me.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, you're smashing it.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

I'm like, oh, I don't want to do it. And you would know, like, I've told you how nervous I was, but it's it's one of those things, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Your product speaks for itself. Yep. All the things that you don't want to do are the things that unfortunately push it forward. Oh, 100%. But also, like you telling your story, it's gonna inspire God knows how many people, and also when someone comes across your brand and watches this pod, they get a better sense of what this is about. What it is about. Because when it's on the shelf, it's very eye-catching.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

You can't miss it. I think it'll be hard to say, and especially if you see it in venue and we'll go down about all that, it's a little gimmick, you can't miss it. You can't miss it. Um, so so how what was your what was your first big sale? Ooh, first sale or first big sale? Let's go both. I can't actually remember the first sale. It would have been one of the boys. Like your mates, if they're not supporting you and paying full price, or the ones that are like, oh, asking for the giveaway stuff, they're not your true mates. Like 100%. Even like us, if you're like, hey bro, I'm buying a cafe opening a cafe, for example, or whatever you may want to do, I will be there and be paying full price no matter what. Like, I wouldn't take that. So there's I've had a lot of good friends over the years, like people like bounce ideas off, and good mates of mine, they're like, all right, they don't ask for anything. The ones that are like, oh, give us a case for going out, they're the ones you're like. Red flags. They're still mates, they're different, different scale of mates. Different, different. First big order I did would have been there was a Christmas order, pretty much just after I started, and they asked, Oh, can you do me some custom labels? It was like 250 bottles, and I was like, Cool, that's the first first kind of solid order. I'm like, so we did that, and now we do a lot of company branding, and we we rescale and we redo all new labels and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

What were you doing to fund this business? What were you doing before Greenback?

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Oh, only up until a couple of months ago. I was working Brista in the mornings, working five hours every day or whatever I had to do, running the events company and putting all that money into the distillery side of things and setting up, and then still to this day, I don't pay myself. It'll come out, it'll get there eventually. But I've got investors involved now and trying to scale into the US market, and there's some bigger, bigger things in play that I've got to I hustle elsewhere.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

There's a lot of people in that stage right now that are listening. I've been in that stage a hundred times over. What was your motivation to push this thing over the finish line?

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Only because you know me, but you know stuff like that. I like dumb toys. I like my fast cars, I like anything that gives me like and I want freedom. I tried to take a holiday a month for before this I was, and just being comfortable. There's no real I don't need that big white picket fence dream, but I want to be comfortable, be able to travel with my mates, build some dumb toys and have some fun with it. That's my motivation. Yeah, I love that. And I've built a product that one, I've scaled it in a way that if I decide to sell it one day, it's built everything back a house is built in a sellable way. So if you buy, say you buy this company, it doesn't interfere with any of my others. Yeah, okay, I get you. That's so a big part is like you would have known it back in the day when it was a little product, out of the events company. A big decision to move it to its own brand is one, you can push it in its own way, but two, if I ever do hypothetically 10 years down the track, sell it off, it doesn't interfere with anything else in my life.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Yeah. A lot of people get stuck in that decision-making process. Like, okay, I've got this idea, I don't know how to I don't know how to start it, I don't know if I should do this, I don't know if I should do that. Yeah. I read from you that you just do it. How do you what's your process? Oh, I'm don't follow what I'm doing, I'm heaps reckless. That's sometimes that's better. Okay, so the thought uh you like your toys, things like that, that's what got you through that business sort of hiccup at the beginning trying to work multiple jobs and all that. What is your driving force now in business?

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Now I kind of want to leave something behind and like look back in the future of like let's say I'm getting on, like, hey, I created an international brand. I think that'll be pretty cool to look back, tell my kids about something that potentially could be around at that stage. And I think now with the spirits and alcohol side of things, I have something I can leave on as I don't want to say a legacy, but something as you can leave. Yeah, um, I think that's probably a big thing right now. I'm just seeing how far I can push myself too. Like it's not easy. What are the plans? Next big move is going back over to the States early next year. Already gone over, planted a few seeds, met a few people, and um we started the process already. So we got an LLC registered and we're doing a liquor licensing and for those that don't know, an LLC is essentially like our registered company in Australia. So like a PTY L T D style company that's there.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Run me through what makes your product different. Ooh. Grab a bottle if you want. Jimmy's Jimmy's product is flying, all the venues that it goes to. You can see it, you taste it, it tastes amazing, it's stock, it's it's moving quickly. But let me ask you, what makes yours different? Why is it so successful?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Okay, there's a few things in play. One, taste is something I really strived on. Like, and coming from cocktail background and coming from food service like a barista and stuff, it's always been quality for me. So using the best products or like researching apples, for example, seeing what makes a flavor profile of a green apple. Um so why I created this originally being crew and the whole how we got to here and apple martinis. There's only really one other brand that kind of comes close on the market, but they're really artificial, really just loaded with sweeteners and stuff like that. And as soon as you taste it, you know it's like a lolly. I want to dive into saying being its own product, and it's kind of proving itself in bars now, changing from the other one to this. Yes, it is more expensive. Yes, it's it's Australian made, which is great for a lot of people as well. It's double the alcohol percentage of the other brands, so it can be pushed in that more shot side of things, it's not a weak spirit. Um then there is a little gimmick that comes with it, don't know where, but LED bottles, I don't know what it is, but it's like a moth to flames. Light it up in a bar, hit the G spot, as we say, look underneath.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Is anyone else doing this?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Look, it's been done before. I can't say I'm the first and all that. There has definitely been companies over the years, to my knowledge, locally. Or anyone on this kind of wavelength? No, not that I've seen.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

In terms of cost-wise, it's worth its weight in gold, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:09

100%. Cost-wise for me, it's yes, it's an additional fee, but it's one of those little things that helps us stand out as well. And I think it's like when you're paying for ads or whatever, you get back what you put in. The little, like, yes, I could do this whole process cheaper. I could do cheaper bottles, but these are five mil thick bottles. I've never broken one. I've dropped multiple. They have a I'm not saying they're unsmashable, don't quote me on that.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

That's big though, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

It's a big thing, like quality in every little aspect. Better quality corks so they don't leak. Like these are the things where no shortcuts. No, because they'll come back and bite you. And like, let's say any career or any job you're doing, or even like when I used to build cars back in the day, you try to do a cheaper part and get away with it, it always fails, and it always bites you.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Yeah, I love that. That's uh that's pretty much how you run your business. No shortcuts.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

And like my staff, I do pay them above what I need to, but these guys, in my eyes, are the best people I could have by my team.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Yeah, how long were you running by yourself without staff?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

It was probably a year, don't quote me, but then there was always events where I needed more people, so I was asking friends at the time and just sorting it out that way. Now it's like, oh, we offer full packages with waitresses and like MCs or flair bartenders. Cater has kind of grown to this whole big thing now where it's not a little passion project anymore.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

So you've got Jimmy Slings, which is like more event heavy. So you've got bartenders, you've got the entertainment, everything like that, and then you've created a product for that business, solving a problem for your own business.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

The whole reason I started this in the first place was just to help me stand out in that field of events and having better something better I can offer to my clients. Yeah. And then hey, it took wind and it's taken, it's only just setting off now.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

So a lot of the best businesses are solving their own problems. Yeah. Like our martial arts studios, we're paying way too much for your giz, equipment, all that. Yep. We found our own supplier, got our own products in, and now it's its own business supplying all over the world, right? Same as you. So it's like a straight line approach. Like, okay, what problems do I have in my own business? How can I solve them? And then you go from there. So you've solved your own problem of alcohol, let's say, and now you're supplying clubs, liquor stores, other bars at other bars who are now realizing, oh, this is his.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

I didn't realise it was a problem until I'm now like, oh, there's a better, better fix to it. There's a better, there's a better product out there. And I'm not saying it's for everyone, you've got to be okay with sour stuff, and you've got to be everyone, it's really hard to create a flavor because not everyone likes the same stuff. And I think a big thing at the beginning was taking feedback like that and realizing it doesn't need to please everyone.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah. Um I'm I'm curious. So there's two there's two methods you could do it. You could go retail where everyone's just buying it online, the can direct to consumer, but you're going straight to the bars, you're going straight to the actual establishments that are selling oh god knows how many a night, right? Like pouring, pouring, pouring. How do you sell this? I want to know how you walk into a place and say, hey, this is my bottle, buy it. Oh, okay. There's a few ways I definitely could.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

A lot of it is walking with the bottle lit up, and a lot of the time, like I've I know I've been walking, I was walking to a venue in Bondai one night, and I just I had to park around the corner. I was walking through the street, and I had people say, What is that? That alone is like worth having this little gimmick for me. Um saying, Hey, give me two minutes of your time, try this. It's always like a big thing I go by is like, oh, once I get like liquor on lips, you taste it, it's pretty much sold.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

And it like you've tried it. When we when we finish up here, I'll give you a taste of the one I was comparing to, and you'll see why I did this.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

I I just want to stress like Greenback has no social media at the moment. Zero. Zero. Zero social media.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

I have zero. I don't even sell through the website.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Craziest thing. Crazy.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

All wholesale, all the venues, all right.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Somebody's coming to my bar with a green light up bottle with no social media, and I'm buying it because it's that good. It's pretty out there. That's now and it's insane.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

And now I'm like, yes, I know it's a big thing. I'm not a social guy. You followed me on Instagram for a while. I don't post, I don't have a following like that. It's just not me. So now I'm learning to outsource the product speaks for itself though, man. It does. We're getting there, we're doing, I'm doing alright. Like, I'm I'm comfortable. Obviously, everyone wants to aim higher, get bigger sales, and like a big target is like expanding beyond. I always want to see how far I can push this.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Yeah, of course. So you've gone from barista to bartender to events coordinator to now liquor, like liquor owner, yeah, like liquor creator, liquor creator, all of that, right? So you're always gonna be forever evolving. So that leads into my next question: where do you see this particular product going?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

I do have a few steps like in my mindset of where I see it taken and where like I want to start sponsoring big events, like like say that golf cart I built a couple weeks back. I will, I'm like, oh, it'd be cool one day. I want to see this at Live Golf or a PGA event, and there's always like a little goal for every step. So it may be like sponsoring the Australian Open or something one day. But I don't there's no roof on this. I don't know where this could go. This could be I could be sitting by the F1 one day, sipping this in the race, in the lanes, like I don't know where sky's the limit, man. Sky's the limit, and I've got some really good people by my side, some good mates that I bounce all my ideas off. People, and like I do believe I'm the small fish in the big pond of my friends. Like, I look up to all my mates, they've all done really well in their own aspect of business, yeah, and that's my biggest drive.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

I've got a business question for you, so now I'm gonna ask Jimmy, the business owner. People come up to you, they give you like they're offering you opportunities, everything like that. How do you weed out the snake opportunities from the good opportunities?

SPEAKER_02 28:20

You've got to go like go in level-headed and wait. I get told all the time, like, oh meet my meet this guy, and he can open that avenue, but like pretty quickly you'll learn who's true and who's not. Um, if you took every idea head on and went at it, you would burn yourself out very quick if you're chasing maybes. Yep. Um, and like it is kind of a good position to be in when you know you're okay, if you can say no to some things as well. Back yourself, doing it your own way. You don't need to like the events company. I don't take every job that I get asked about. Sometimes it's not worth your energy and time to pursue that avenue. Um, and I think that's okay too. You don't need to please everyone, but also just go in there hungry as fuck and see how far you go.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Yeah, amazing. How do you how do you balance because I know the hours you work, yeah? You told me off air, like every business owner knows what it is.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Every business owner, yeah, for however long it takes, you know what it takes.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Like, how do you stay healthy? What's your what's your routine? What are your non-negotiables? And also you're I I look up to you because you really enjoy life. Yeah how do you balance all of it?

SPEAKER_02 29:34

So a big thing for me was my best mate passed away when I was 21. Um shout to Connor, he an accident happened, but that was a big thing for me. Like, life's short, like go do whatever you're gonna do. The next day, the day after his funeral, I jumped on a one-way plane to Japan by myself. I had no idea I was going to Japan, it just happened. So living not in fear of death, but like living in fear of not living. So, like every day I want to do it doesn't have to be every day is fun, but like I'm trying to do stuff that pleases me too. So maybe I go out fishing, I'm on the boat, or I just do the little things that actually bring joy to me. But every day, every morning, try to every morning, gym in the morning, coffee, and like start your day like seven. I think the biggest thing is always leaving the house like make the bed first thing in the morning. I don't know why it's yeah, that's true. It's unspoken rule. It's make the bed first thing you do, make sure the house is clean. So when you come home, you work big hours. Like I don't get home nine o'clock some nights, and I leave the house at 5 30 in the morning. I don't want to come home and clean or have dishes in the sink. Like 100%. And like I live alone, I can't blame anyone else for anything like that. So um yeah, I think just kind of doing the little things that please you. Yeah, it may be just sitting on the beach and reading a book, it may be whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

I love that. Um how old are you now? 31. 31. So 32 next year?

unknown 31:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Yeah, I turned 30 this year. It's crazy, eh? Crazy. Um I've got I've got a question for you. You seem to live a very healthy lifestyle, um, but also the lifestyle of a product like this is nighttime, is like oh yeah, I don't do it nights well.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

I do not do them well. Yeah, you I'm in bed. I okay, I do a lot of brand activation stuff, go to bars. I genuinely always try to be in bed by nine o'clock. That's amazing. It doesn't always happen, like admittedly, say I had a bit of a blowout weekend, the one that just passed, but pretty much I'll be lucky to have a beer a week. I don't drink a lot, but I think if you got trapped in that lifestyle, especially having a brand like this, of course, it'll be very easy to fall into that lifestyle. Yeah. So like saying being able to say no or being not living in fear of missing out, like I'll go out, I'll drink soda water all night. No one knows any different. It doesn't matter to you if I'm drinking a soda water and a short glass, it doesn't affect your night.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

So you've been in business this business? Yep. How long?

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Uh registered uh August last year.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

And how long have you been in business for Jimmy Slings?

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Jimmy Slings, that's 2020 it started, so five years now.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far? That's really, really hard to answer right now. What's been the hardest lesson you've had to learn?

SPEAKER_02 32:29

I think trying to overcommit and please everyone. Um, I do still do it, and I'll always try to say the event side of things. If you call me today, oh I want to do a big party tonight, my red flag is I'll still make it happen. And I know that burns me out, and then that reflects everything else I've got to do that week, for example, because I do want to overachieve on everything, and I am everything I've done and everything I want to do, I want to be not just better than other people, but better than myself. So say with this, I could have left it after a couple revisions, and but I would have never been happy. The labels have changed over the years, the brand has changed big time, huge, huge amount since you've seen it last. Um so biggest lesson is you can't please everyone, even though I'll always try, and I know that's my red flag because I'll keep pushing myself to get it done. There's no oh that'll do. There's no that'll do for me.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Yeah, I I'm similar. Whenever there's an opportunity, I say yes, even if my books are full, everything's full. Because I was at a time where I didn't have anything. Yeah. So, like, when it's good, I feel like you've got to ride this wave.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

You've got to take it while it's there. Otherwise, you get to those there's always gonna be slower periods.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

The worst business advice I ever got was ride the wave while it's there, because I have taken that to the extra. Because I just want the opportunity. I know the opportunity is an opportunity, so I'll go for it. Same red flag, bro. Same red flag. So, next question: how do you avoid burnout?

SPEAKER_02 34:13

I don't think it's possible to avoid it at this kind of mindset and level. Agreed. I think you can manage it. Like I felt it coming on yesterday. I didn't do any work. I yeah, I had a day like that yesterday too, bro. I was like, you know what? I was like, yesterday I came into the factory, spoke to Robbie downstairs, I said, mate, I don't want to be here. I think I put in like 15 minutes of work, and I said, Alright, I'm going to the gym. I didn't do anything in the gym. I probably should have had a nap. Bad day yesterday. Burning out, avoiding burning out. And just I just went down. I'm pretty faithful, live meet Cranola Beach. I walk the dog down there and early bed. That was the biggest thing for me. Like, start today's new day. It's alright.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Yeah, yeah. I I think for me, if I feel myself starting to get like my head's not working, things like that, I'll get some sunshine, get some, get some vitamin D, go to a cafe, no laptop, no book, no nothing. Just have an ice long black and just just sit. Just sit for 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Yeah, and you need those lower days, let's say, to appreciate the bigger ones.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

It's hard because there's so much hustle porn out there though. Like you open your phone and people only post their wins and you feel like you've fallen behind.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

You can't look at Instagram or social media because, for example, you only see what I want you to see. Exactly. You don't you could see a brand doing well and oh it's so fortunate. You don't see me working at night, doing what I gotta do, going to the cafe, working a second, third job at 5 a.m. every day just to sustain it.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yeah. What advice do you have for business owners starting out who might not be getting the traction that they want to block out that noise?

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Just take it with a grain of salt, like you know, you know it's not real. And if it is real, good on them. But not everything you see will be real, and you can't let that dictate your life and how you compare the others. Because in anything you do, let's say it's gym, you're always going to compare yourself to different people in the gym. They may have been doing it for 10 years longer than you. You can't relate to that. Their business may have been 10 years older than you. If you look back in 10 years and you see yourself starting it now, you'll be so proud of yourself.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yeah. I've got a dumb question for you, but for the for those listening. Um What are the main expenses with starting an alcohol product like this? And then what what are the expenses that you didn't know about un until it was pretty much too late?

SPEAKER_02 36:33

The biggest biggest thing for me has been the alcohol tax thresholds and stuff like that. And media I I'm not a calculated guy. I'm I don't do well with numbers. I didn't finish high school. Like so going into this and having to learn how all that stuff works and working off formulas and stuff like that, and now like going forward, like, okay, where do we save in our costings? And maybe our bottles, buying from different suppliers and stuff like that. That's the stuff I'm learning as I'm going. And now I do have some really good people that are jumping in behind the scenes and helping me rein in on that stuff. Because otherwise I'll be like, it's fine, we'll get to that. Without these my mates behind me behind the scenes, keeping me accountable, like, oh, where are you saving this week? Or what venues are you hitting? That's a big thing for me. There was a lot of things like let's look at stickers for example. Very expensive to one for designers and creative. If you if that's not you, you've got to outsource that. Yeah, that's me. I've put thousands of dollars into a guy or into multiple people over the years, like evolutions and stuff like that. Just revisions on a label. And then you got printing costs and stuff like that. And like I get all my stuff done in Australia, so they're very expensive. It costs. It costs. I could definitely go outside, but everything I do is I like it as much as I can, Australian sourced. So the bottle supplies are Australian, the designers are Australian, everything I can, the printing guy, the media, everything. Everything the media, all the recipe stuff I use is all sourced from within Australia.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah, I love that. I love that. So main cost is obviously the taxes on the alcohol, the lids, the bottles, the materials to make it, everything like that.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

And then you've got to account your own labour too. Like I that's something I don't do at the moment, but I do have a mate of mine saying, You've got to start paying yourself because you'll lose interest pretty quick if you can't live off it. Yeah. So, okay, you've got just you gotta say, okay, I'm happy to pay myself X amount a week, and then you work backwards to figure out what it may go into per bottle. How many I need to sell? How many I need to sell to justify that? And then you and then you still need to put profit in the business.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Yeah, ideally. I've got a question for you. How did you choose what your retail price is versus like a wholesale price? Is it is it does it change per client? Uh is it volume based? What works?

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Like, let's work on wholesale to start with. Yeah. So it is pretty well volume-based. So if I go to a venue and they're moving 12 bottles a night, well, I'll give a much cheaper rate because they're a solid client to me, compared to a venue that might do one bottle a month.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

It's not worth because if you like, I want everyone to be pushing the product, but then sometimes by the time it gets delivered out there and all the hands involved to get it to that person, it costs. It costs money. You've got to put that little bit more on it.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Do they pay for the bottles outright and then it's theirs to sort of sit in there?

SPEAKER_02 39:35

Yeah, yeah. So say you own a venue, a cocktail bar, or whatever, and you pay your wholesale price, you might sell it as shots and pump volume that way. A lot of venues do. There's about 22 standard shots in a 700mm bottle. So if you do the maths on it, there's some good markups. Yeah. Some really good money to be made. And you can move volume quick, depending on the value, uh the venue. Australia is a bit hard of a country because we can't really advertise shots. We can't push that party culture where you go like we used to. Like we used to, or any other country in the world. Go to anywhere in Asia, go to America, Bali, now whatever.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

That brings me to my next question. What are your plans with overseas? Because obviously alcohol sells better overseas. It's just a fact. How do you how are you how are you combating that?

SPEAKER_02 40:22

So Australia has one of the biggest drinking cultures in the world. Yeah. Um I think we would be number one. Don't quote me on that, but but you also got to compare it. So, yes, America and Australia, but America has an extra three years where they can't drink. So we can start drinking this legally at 18. And that's when you're gonna start doing your shots and binge-style drinking because it's cool and hip and new to you. Where Americans, they can't start till they're 21, so you've missed a whole new market there. Yeah. Um, so we make a lot of volume in our 18 to 25 year old 30s, let's say. Demographic yeah. Demographic, where they're a bit later. Um, going forward, looking at the US side of things, I explained to you why I named it why I did, and there's a little bit of subtle wittiness in everything.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Why did you name name it what you did?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Why did you name it what you did? So it's called Greenback because if you look at a US market, to them, greenback is an old term slang for money, hundred dollar bills, play on status, but spelt B-A-C-H like higher Mercedes. Maybach. I don't know if you're a car guy, you know what a Maybach is. So we're playing on status. We're playing on Maybach money. We're just playing on this whole subtle wittiness of oh, this is why we are. You look at the bottle, there's all the little weaving in the branding, there's the band seal over the top, there's everything I look at, I look at every aspect.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

So, like I did when I went to the designer, I said, I want this, is and even down to the cut-out letters. So when you do turn the light on, it shines through the label. Yeah, yeah, I didn't notice that. So that's something that not a lot of woody people do. So it's like transparent? Yeah, and the stickers cost me more, but it's something I was fixated on. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

And you see that lit up at night, and that's you see the word glow through, there's no other brand that does that.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

How did how did they get it to be green and transparent?

SPEAKER_02 42:27

It's not.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

The green is the liquid. The liquid.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

So it's a fully clear sticker.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Look at that. You wouldn't even notice, eh?

SPEAKER_02 42:34

And that's something, and I'll show you, we'll go into a dark room later and turn it on. Oh yeah, dark room. And that a couple of shots because the dark room. So that's just something I was like, alright, in my head, and it was very difficult. I've got to say a shout out to the George and the guys in the printing company for listening to my crazy ideas.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Yes, it hasn't been easy. That's amazing, man. It's an amazing product, and I'm excited to see it go overseas and all of that. If you had to choose a country where you would like want to see this thing, where would it be? I know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Nah, a big part for me, I'll probably one of my two of my favourite countries is Japan and Bali. Really? I thought you were gonna say Greece straight out. Oh, yeah, that'll be fun too. But I do find myself like I go back to Japan in a couple weeks for my 10th trip, and like Bali is just one of those. I growing up, I said, nah, I'll never go there. It's a Bali, uh it's a Bogan's destination. Bali belly, yeah. And I said, eh, it's not for me. One of my mates took me a couple years, and I'm hooked. I love it. It's so much fun. Yeah. Go over, I train every day, I surf every day. Good culture. The culture, the the people, there's a lot like the whole Asian culture, there's a lot of respect. Yeah, there's a lot of really, really good people you'll find amongst your travels there.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

Yeah, I um I I get that feeling when I'm in Europe. Yeah, when I'm sitting having a coffee and everyone just dressed nice, they carry themselves a different way. Like creatively, it just inspires me to another level. But yeah, Bali, I can imagine the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

I have travelled a lot and Australia still will always be home. Yeah, yeah. Australia's always home.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

My limit's like three weeks.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me a while, have some fun, but then I'm like, you know what? We have it pretty damn good here.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah, yeah. Like my family's from the Philippines and I go there frequently. Yep. It's it's amazing when I'm there, it feels like home, but it just makes me appreciate here so much. Especially from a business point of view. You can really launch anything here.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Oh, 100%. There's endless opportunities, there's endless money, there's endless connections, there's endless everything.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Yeah. How how much of that would would you say is the Cranola community? Like, uh do you think the Cranola community has a good business hub here?

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Yeah, insane. There is like there is a lot here. Like, I don't need to look outside of my hub. Like living in we're like a big city, but we're not. We're really community-based. All my mates I've met in the community here, and they're the ones getting me in touch with people globally. So I didn't need to outreach to anyone. I didn't have to put myself into different areas. I didn't have to, because we have a really good community here. If I don't know someone, my mate knows someone that knows someone. Yeah. And that's just um I think one tip I would give, going back a little bit there, get into situations like work in hospitality. The people I met by working in bars and cafes and just meeting a thousand people a week is crazy. Like giving my kids, I wouldn't push them if to college or uni if they didn't know what they want to do. I would say, go work a job where you're meeting people, go have fun, go be confident, go make mistakes, go live a life that you want to do. As long as you're safe and it's not what you know too, you know. Yeah. And you're gonna meet these people day to day and like give them time of day. Talk to people, even the ones that you don't like. You might meet someone that on the outside seems miserable. Go have a beer with it. Yeah, go, they're the ones that you will learn the most from. Yeah, always learn from someone. You're always learning, and don't think you know enough because you don't.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

I I think getting out there and meeting new people is very important. Yeah. Uh bartending, very similar to videographer. Yeah. You meet so many walks of life.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

100%.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Yeah. And you just feel like, okay, how did they end up in that situation? What took them down that path? You can learn a lot from not judging someone, but just looking and listening and learning on them.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Studying what they're doing, how they're doing it, how are they how are they talking, how are they moving, yeah. How do they want I totally understand? And another one. That's how we met. Yeah, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

We met by fluke at a wedding. Yeah. Here we are. Here we are.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Five years, four years later. Um, to wrap up, uh, what is the best piece of business advice that you've gotten?

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Oh, got it. Just early days into this, I was like a puppy, full of energy.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Just you're still full of energy, bro.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

I'm still full of energy, but like less chaotic energy now. It's more like structured energy. It is, stay on that, structure your days better. Like, I know my brain runs in a million ways. I'm gonna be that undiagnosed ADHD kid, but I can't just do one task. I'm trying to so having people that come into my life that do follow calendars and structure and time and calculated it's helped massively. Yeah and just saying, okay, giving yourself achievable goals through the day as well. It may be a two-week goal, I want to be in 10 new venues by next week. That's a big thing where I'm like, oh, I wasn't I kept brushing it. This podcast, for example, how many times do we reschedule? Three or four times. And a lot of us be like, ah, I'll get to that, I'll get to this. Like just saying, okay, I gotta do this, this is what I want, and this is where I'll well like I want to get to that point. What do I need to do to get there? Yeah, building a little roadmap. It doesn't need to be this big five-year plan. It could be like, I want 10 new venues. Who do I need to speak to to get there?

SPEAKER_00 48:02

And putting those things in place, structure your days. I like that. Structure your days, structure your intention for the day and everything like that. I really, really like that.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

One thing I could before we wrap up, one thing I could never be grateful enough of my parents to pushing me, but travel more while you can. Travel while you go see the world. You there's ideas out there you would never even think of. And there's you realise how good we've got it, how other places run it, how other venues run it, how our businesses run, different perspective. Yeah. So the biggest thing I tell all, like, say, when I was working in the cafes and stuff like that, anyone I met, your early 20s, you haven't been on a plane, go travel, like go see the world. A job like this is easy to come by. So don't get caught up on something like that.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

It it's hard for people in their 20s, especially in Australia. Like the the comparing game is no matter what area, Crenola, Liverpool, whatever. Yeah, it's so hard. And when I try and talk to people in their 20s, mid-20s, it's like, oh, this person just got a bought a house. Who cares, bro? Like, he's on his journey, she's on her journey. What do you want to do? Yeah. What's the unconventional thing that you want to do?

SPEAKER_02 49:12

And okay, I I get a lot of put a lot of pressure put on me, like my grandma, for example.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

Do you shout out?

SPEAKER_02 49:18

Shout out, yeah, yeah. But oh, praying for you, find a nice girl, settle down. Not everyone has the same dream. Like, my dream is right now creating freedom for myself, so when I do have that family, I'm not stressed about it. I want to live comfortably, I want to do that on my own terms. So I love that. I do think a lot of people get stuck in this time-structured trap of I need to do it by this point, or my friends got married at 26. You look back at them, how many of them by the time they're 30 are unfulfilled within themselves, and that comes back, and then that reflects on the family, it may end in divorce or whatever. So kind of just going back to like when Connor passed away, that structure my whole life. Then I'm like, it happened so quick. Don't get caught up in the little things that don't even dictate you.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Yeah. Go for the unconventional.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Go, go, doesn't matter what you do. People are making killings or selling chairs or any little thing. There's so many opportunities out there. You just gotta put your like, I'm selling neon green fluid to a lot of people, they don't even know what it is. And we're having fun with it.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Uh one of the richest people I know is furniture higher. Crazy. Furniture higher, crazy crazy.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

And but we all need it.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

We all need it.

SPEAKER_02 50:38

You find that niche, you find that hole in the market, and you back yourself 100% because no one else is gonna back you up harder than you will.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

You never know where it's gonna lead, right? Here we are. Here we are. Well, that wraps up today's episode of the House Business Podcast. I just want to thank uh Jimmy for his time. It's it's hot up here. It is hot up here. The lighting was good, but it's it's it's in his factory. Um, thank you for the drink, thank you for the shot. And um I'll leave Jimmy's socials down below and then uh I might even start using him one day. Maybe we'll maybe maybe I'll convince him after that. I promise I will help him because this guy needs to build his brand. But um, I'll leave the description in the link below. But uh please check out his drink, please check out his uh bartending business, and also just take away from this episode structure your days. If your idea is unconventional, just run with it. Hey, the unconventional works. That's it, bro. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.