Nick Nanton (13:48)
Yes. So I have been really blessed with being so bad at so many things that I have learned that like if you can build a world class team, you can pretty much accomplish anything you want. And so my idea muscle has gotten strong. I had a guy who used to work for me and he got into a role where he was like pitching me all these ideas and I was like, I was trying to explain to him, trying to help him have better ideas in a way. And I said, you know, and they weren't bad ideas but like monetizable ideas. And I had to make a distinction that I had never thought of. I said, you know what, I love the fact you have these ideas, but I've realized that I have, you know, 30 something years of experience because I started my first businesses when I was, you know, entrepreneurial, kid in the neighborhood, whatever of monetizing ideas, which is very different than having ideas. And so I've been blessed with, you know, through immigrant parents and everything where we struggled when I was growing up with financial. So I had to learn certain things and I had to make money and I, so like I had to, I had to struggle and learn these things. I learned a lot of times what I was really bad at. But I learned how to monetize ideas and I learned to do it. I can do it. I can execute on anything in a world class way if I have a world class team. And so I didn't think it would be hard to build a world class team. I hadn't done it in Bourbon, but my idea muscle is so strong now. For better, for worse. I'm now at this place where like, oh yeah, that's not a problem. Let me just go find the right team. I knew I had a team of great designers. I've been having people trying, I've had people trying to invest money with me for over a decade and I would never take their money. I would only like with my documentaries. I only take contributions like, I guarantee you no return because I don't want you. Documentaries usually are not profitable. And I don't want you. I just tell people I sell great steak dinners, not poker matches. Like, you know, you know exactly what you're getting. And I'm going to, I'm going to do my best to over deliver, but there's not none of this, like, oh, I don't, you know, like just that, like, I spend a ton of money on great food and booze. I don't like losing money at the, at the craps table. I just don't. Or whatever, right? So I try to demonetize it. And so I finally, when I had this idea, I actually called a couple friends of mine I knew. Some. My buddies own a company called Blue Delta Jeans. They make custom jeans for like everybody, right? And they've been very good to me. And I knew they worked with some people in the bourbon industry. And so I called my friend Nick Weaver there and he told me, he's like, man, I love Chris Vossen. I love bourbon. Let's do something with this. I'm like, all right. And so originally I thought we were just going to host like a two day seminar in Kentucky and we're going to bottle some custom bourbon and everyone's going to take a case home or whatever and we're going to charge whatever for the two days with Chris and whatever. Everyone goes home. And then my buddy keeps, he's super busy. He owns like a mattress company, the Jean company. They do FEMA cleanups. Like, he's just like a straight up entrepreneur. First time I met with him, him and his partner, business partner Josh, took me to a barbecue joint and a bait shop in Mississippi. It was like, all right, these dudes are. They're awesome. So I got restless. So I started talking to some other people I knew and like, oh, no, it doesn't work that way. Like, you can't just go get bourbon. Like, you could get like a barrel pick, which means you like taste a barrel. You like this barrel better than the other one. Great. And they put like, you know, let's say it's Four Roses. They put a little sticker on the side of it that says, you know, Nick and Chris's barrel. I'm like, well, that's not what I want to do. And so kept bugging my buddy Nick and he's like, dude, I'm too busy. But let me introduce you to my friend, Roy Milner. Roy built one of the top 100 breweries in America at BlackBerry Farm in Tennessee, and he owns a bourbon brand. And Roy and I talked on the phone for maybe eight minutes before. We had, like, 14 different connections that were mutual, and we both had trust from this other guy. And he says, why don't you and Chris just meet me in Louisville in Kentucky? I'll take you around some distilleries, and I'll show you what I think we can do. So great. So within a month, we were there. And then by the end of that trip, I'm like, chris, I don't think I want to just bring some people in for, like, an event. I think I want to, like, why don't we start a bourbon together and let our friends play, too? He's like, I was thinking the same thing. So I was like, roy, can we do that? He's like, yeah, yeah, we could absolutely do that. I got the right partners, whatever. And so that's what we decided to do. I did it pretty uniquely, and I. Maybe this will be helpful to people listening. The only reason I'll share the whole. The deal structure. I invited my investors in. I said, I'm not taking. I'm taking 25 investors, and it's $120,000 each, but it's $30,000 a year for four years. So that. Because I don't need it all now. And I told him. I'm like, think of it like a mastermind. Think of it like a mastermind. Like, that you might make some money back, but I can guarantee you a great experience. So, first of all, if you don't want to learn about, like, I don't know that much about bourbon, but if you don't want to learn about bourbon and you don't drink, you're not invited because you're in it for all the wrong reasons. And if you are interested, then why don't you come join me on this journey? We're going to learn a ton. You're going to get a lot of bourbon. You're going to. You're going to own a bourbon with Chris Voss. And I said, if you can't make more than your investment back annually by saying you own a bourbon with Chris Voss, don't do this. So I, like, told him all the reasons not to do it. And then everyone's like, take my money. I'm like, wait a minute. Now I got to get. Now I got to get everything drawn up. And I got. So we held a dinner in Nashville. I think I had 18 people then got my first 15 investors from that 18. And then I went to some other friends, and we closed it out very quickly. And it's. We're About a year in and showing some great promise, we also trademarked business bourbon. It's the first spirit in the world to celebrate the art of fair dealings. They're just partying. We decided we did not want to go retail with it because retail is very difficult. Very. I mean you can't outspend the Pappy's of the world, the buffalo traces of the world. I mean, name it, name it, name it, right? And so we just decided we were going to do something different where it's a. We have, I think all this shareholder society. So. And again, this is no pitch. It's just I'm sharing how my brain works. It's the difference. Never split, always share is our slogan. And so if you want to hold your share of our bourbon, you have to join the shareholder society. And so it's an invite only community for entrepreneurs, philanthropists and investors. We meet up twice a year in different locations, usually at least once a year in Kentucky. And you get quarterly allotments of bourbon shipped to your house. We have full size bottles and then we have what we call shareables. You can share it with your friends and business acquaintances. And it's been. The community is incredible because, because we set the boundaries right. We said this is why you would fit, this is why you wouldn't. And you also. We have a no a hole rule. So that gets rid of a lot of people quick. And it's just been amazing the amount of deals that are starting to get done in those rooms and the amount of friendships that are being created. So that's the story of the difference. And hopefully it helps people see that there is, number one, money is the cheapest commodity in the world. It is what it is worth, what it is worth. I often promise people roe return and experience because I can promise that I cannot promise roi. I don't know what's going to happen in the world. But if you are, if I can create an experience, my goal would be that you, you do this only for the experience. And if you got money back, it would just be gravy. And everyone was like, yeah. And we have the right people involved. We have some, you know, some really cool, some, some heroes of mine who actually invested, which is, which has been really fun. So you know, think I would just encourage people to think in a way that like, if I was offering it the way everyone else offered it, it would, I would be competing. My friend Sally Hogg said, great author says different is better than better. Like being better is almost impossible, but being different is pretty Easy. So in whatever it is you're doing in your business, in your life, reframe to what would make me different. This is a different. By name, by name. It's a different offering. It allows people to join a community, get to know Chris, get to know and. And to learn about bourbon together and to socialize, to network and do business together.
