BevAssets: "Out of the Ordinary Brand Development"- Alcohol, N/A, and THC, Importation, Sales, Distribution, Direct to Consumer
- KLS
- Apr 1
- 8 min read
For the 170th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with BevAssets and Managing Partner, Samuel Anderson. "Out of the Ordinary" Brand development. BevAssets consults for the beverage industry. Spirits, Non Alc, Low Alc, THC, RTD, wines, beer and ciders. Specialties include Importation, Distribution, Sales, Direct to Consumer, Point of Sale, Events, Demos, Tastings, Consumer sales optimization, Marketing, SEO, and Web Design.
"Together Talks" feature # 170: BevAssets presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most? Share a decision that you made that was detrimental? What is your why?
Story of how it was created?
My partner, Alicia Vargo, and I found BevAssets a year ago. Our motto is to help people find work and do right by brands. We envisioned that and decided to create this company to accomplish that. In our industry, people are looking for work or want to set up a business. We actually help them do that. Then there's a lot of brands, especially small developing brands, that are looking for distribution. We help them find customers and we help them find distributors.
What separates you from your competition?
We're not a broker. We're an agency. We have a book of sales agents, we don't like to call them brokers, across North America. 55 plus agents from New York to the Los Angeles that when a client comes to us for a specific region, we make that connection. Our agent represents that area and can give the customer a fighting chance of getting into that distribution. That's one differentiator.
The other thing is our third level of our company, we have partnership companies. Our company partners with logistics companies and DTC companies. Whether they need help with distribution or logistics or delivery, we have assets to provide to them. We build that into our agreements. and come up with a company. We're a network of companies and individuals that actually help companies find that distribution and customers and a lot more than that.
What have been the biggest challenges?
BevAssets was incognito until WSWA about three months ago. We came out of the woodwork and announced ourselves. People were really understanding the value of what we bring. Oftentimes they spend their money in marketing and then DTC and packaging. By the time they get to someone like us, actual people that do the selling, oftentimes they want us to work on commission, but we're a retained agency. Part of the challenge is to make sure they understand the benefit of what we're charging. At the end of the day, our network is our net worth. We have to explain to people, we're not going to walk in a partner without a retainer.
That's one challenge. Two is, people just don't understand the category. They spend their life savings or they get friends and family to invest with them. We start with a lot of startup brands within our business. Some brands have been around five or 10 years, so they're early on in their journey. There's a lot of education to make sure they understand what they get for our services and also they understand who their competitors are. We give a full scope of what the options are in a marketplace. There's a lot of education involved. I always say, yes, maybe no, or no, maybe yes in terms of what they are capable of.
What companies are the best fit?
We get to choose who we work with. We want people that are honest, but they also people that are willing to put the work in. We are very, very transparent about the good, the bad and ugly when you try to find distribution. We are able to make introductions and assist with their presentation. We'll do the whole pitch from soup to nuts of why that distributor needs to consider you.
Once we step back and we educate them about what they need to do to prepare them to actually go to distribution in the customer, we talked to them about conversion, about velocity, about how different customers work. Clients get a whole lot with our retainers, not just making a introduction. We do the whole commercial plan, my background is commercial planning, strategy and pricing, and Alicia's background is operations.
We do all that work in addition to managing the whole seller. We're very protected with that because every client that we have is important. If I could step back, the first level, we take a handful of brands that we manage ourselves and literally a handful that we manage. They can reach us 24/7. We see our clients as family.
What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business?
I've always been a corporate guy, for 37 of my 39 year career. I figured I would just retire as a corporate guy. Two years ago I didn't have the option. I was retired. I was reporting to COO and well as Chief Growth Officer they both exited a month before me and they came after me and I exited and I had to figure it out. It's either you create something for yourself or you starve. I put food on my table, so zero reservations other than it was just a lot of learning over the last year or two. It's been 24 months but I'm truly blessed. No reservations with my partner at all. She has been doing it for 20 years, I'm blessed to actually have her as a partner because she really understands how to be an entrepreneur. I've been learning from her.
What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur?
Well the 15th and 30th isn't promised. I never advocate for people to not go after that W2 job because being an entrepreneur is very hard or everybody would be doing it. If you want to jump into this space, my journey is you got to be willing to do the work. You got to be willing to pick up the phone. My tagline is just pick up the phone and part of the battle is just actually communicating and networking and following up with the appropriate people and doing what you say you're going to do.
It's been a rewarding journey. I've made so many friends across the globe quite frankly. I mean now you and I are friends forever. So many people try to network via text messages or comments on LinkedIn. That's not how it works. You got to be willing to go where the people are at and if you're not willing to put the work in it's probably not for you.
I can tell you this, I'm doing just fine. I pay myself on the first and I take a draw on the 15 and I have my own insurance. Anybody can do it if you're willing to put the work in and you just have to be honest and you have to be yourself. It is imperative to understand you get out of this what you put into it.
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?
I'm no longer an employee. You know what employee means, the definition of employee, slave. I'm not a slave to someone else's time. I manage my own time. If I want to go down to Florida tomorrow, I don't have to ask permission. If I want to take vacation, I can do that. I can work anywhere in the world. Do I do that right now? No, full transparency, I'm working 18 hours days. I don't want to romance this at all, because there's just a lot of follow-up. It's not a lot of physical work. It's just a lot of mental work.
But now, I'm the master of my own destiny now. I don't get the Sunday night stomach aches, wondering if I am going to get fired tomorrow. I control my own fate. I'm not worried about it. The most brilliant thing of why I'm not concerned, I know several people across the globe. If one client pauses me, that's okay because you're going to introduce me to a potential client and I'm going to get introduced a potential client. You said at the beginning of our discussion before you started recording this, I asked "how do you make money", you said "we don't, we like to help people. But from that, I'm actually able to build my community and I help people in my community." I love that.
What is your why?
Our business why is to help people find work and do right by brands. Our destination is to create a company that actually does that, a place where people can go and be part of and find the work. Brands can come into this community and get the resources and the solutions to help them on a better path. In this business, we're in the three tier distribution system, the primary plan adult beverages. There's a couple gatekeepers you have to get through. First of all getting to the distributor to take you and then into the retailer or the on premise operator actually to reach the consumer. We bring those solutions. I just said about how people find work, they're actually going to help and open those gates because they have relationships and they have networks.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
My pride joy is my family. My greatest accomplishment and I might get emotional here, but I'm very blessed. I've been married to my wife, Susan, for 39 years. I have three wonderful kids and two granddaughters and two Australian shepherds. That is my personal why, why I'm doing what I do personally, is because I want to feed them and take care of them. At the end of the day, when it's all said and done, they are what matters. My motto is "Nice guys finish last in the beginning, but always finish first in the end."
Additional Company
WNDY, it stands for we're not dead yet incorporated. One of my platforms tackles ageism, which unfortunately is in the workforce. I do everything in my power to help people of age to actually find work. This company was created because all these guys were CEOs at huge companies. We created a company to help brands.
Piece of Advice
Your network is your net worth. I made the great mistake of going all in for just my company. I was too focused. Instead, pick up the phone and call, answer when they call you, be open to anything and say yes to everything. Because you don't know what is on the other end, don't be closed minded not to accept that call.
Anybody that calls me, I accept it, I don't even care if they're trying to sell me, take the phone call. Learn who they are, learn who's on the other end of that line. Don't stop networking. Get out and go meet people, visit conferences, volunteer, or simply pick up the phone. Once you get them in your network, that community you talked about, you need to feed it. Plant the seeds along the way, don't trample over them. Some will barely grow, others will grow really big. Some people you'll talk to maybe only once, others will become trusted partners. But you must keep on reaching out and as I say, pick up the phone.
Community Callout
In Closing
KLS wants to thank BevAssets and Managing Partner, Samuel Anderson, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
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