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Transcript95 lines
- [00:00]
Rudy
A lot of people I know try alcohol lines, but very few people become successful in it. You're already hitting a lot of success in the first couple of years. Nationwide distribution, deals, expanding locally. You know, is there anything you've had to overcome and work through to get to where you are today?
- [00:16]
Rico Austin
One of the largest challenges is Rico Austin is a world traveling author, entrepreneur and tequila expert with a bold spirit for adventure and storytelling. He's the founder of Bajariba Tequila, an award winning brand inspired by his love for Baja and crafted from 100% blue Weber agave. One thing that I'm very proud of with our company at Baja Arriba is giving back. Give back to your community. Even if you can't do it financially, there's different ways you can can give back.
- [00:44]
Rudy
Yeah, maybe they're a Tequila fan or they're inspired by your story. They want to go build their business, their legacy. What would you say to someone that's not started yet, but they're thinking about it?
- [00:54]
Rico Austin
Basically, it spans the globe like a super high cold Internet. Elvis Presley. Today Apple is going to reinvent Lefong. It's not over until I win. The Living youg Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary.
- [01:18]
Rudy
The impossible has been.
- [01:20]
Rico Austin
Oh, that is sensational. Jordan, open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream foreign.
- [01:37]
Rudy
Welcome back to another episode of Legacy Makers Podcast. Today we're going to talk Tequila. So if you're a Tequila fan, you're in for a treat. Here with me is Rico. He's got an amazing Tequila brand. He's building a legacy, impacting lives and living his passion. And in fact, he's one of a few to actually have a PhD in tequila making. And this tequila brand's taking off already in 30 stores and nationwide distribution deals. So excited to dive in today. Rico, welcome to the show.
- [02:06]
Rico Austin
Thank you, Rudy. I'm pleased to be here.
- [02:09]
Rudy
Good. So let's start from ground zero. A lot of people I know try alcohol lines, but very few people become successful in it. You're already hitting a lot of success in the first couple of years. Nationwide distribution deals expanding locally. Can you tell us the story behind the line?
- [02:26]
Rico Austin
Yes. I started out writing a book, my bad Tequila, in 2010 and was promoting it. So everyone started calling me the Tequila guy. And I got heavily involved in trying different tequilas, trying to find the best Tequila out there and eventually got my PhD in tequila. I had a buddy, Mike Hill, that had El Arco Tequila. He had started his own tequila line. So he came to me with the idea of a Baja Peninsula shaped bottle and asked me if I was interested. And I said absolutely. We had another friend that we, the three of us had met in Cabo years ago that had since moved to Arizona. So we brought in Jay and my wife's a graphic artist. So we ran the deal idea to her and she was able to, to finesse it. And we had a little bit of struggles on the bottle design, but yeah.
- [03:34]
Rudy
It'S very bottle not easy, I imagine, but that's what makes a great product. You know, you've got to go above and beyond and work on the product. I always quote Steve Jobs, when they built, first built the Apple stores, they changed the lighting like 100 times to get it perfect. And then you want a good level of obsession in your products because it's, you know, you want to care about it and make it unique. And this is definitely unique. But let's, let's go back to the start. You know, obviously you pursued a passion into this. You saw a gap in the market, studied tequila for many years, wrote the book, got a PhD, but, but what got you into entrepreneurship? What's your kind of lifestyle story behind all of it?
- [04:13]
Rico Austin
Well, my mother raised five. Five boys. My, my father wasn't around a whole lot and I was the oldest of five. So we all started working at an early age and had to become an entrepreneur in a way. I sold greeting cards, seeds, shoveled snow, had a lawn mowing business and that really, really thrived. I had four younger brothers helping me. My mother would come down and inspect the yards after we're done. We had to sweep off the walks, do the clipping, and everyone had their, their own job.
- [04:56]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [04:57]
Rico Austin
And so I, I think from that early start that I had the entrepreneur drive that I, I love selling and, and seeing real cash come across. And so it was, I, I dedicate a lot of that to my mother and our upbringing.
- [05:18]
Rudy
Yeah, well, I always say, like, as an entrepreneur, one of the best things you can do is get into sales early. Right. Some. So I was a personal trainer at 18 and you have to walk up to people sweating on a treadmill and interrupt them and try and sell them. Personal training, it's not, not an easy sell, you know.
- [05:34]
Rico Austin
Right.
- [05:35]
Rudy
They're trying, you're like trying to talk to them, you know, from the side. And I think, you know, many of the best entrepreneurs, they're very good at sales and marketing. So seems you picked up some of those skills early on and doing all these, you know, kind of hustles. Right. So why tequila? Obviously you're passionate about it, but why did you want to really go all in and build a brand behind it and a product line?
- [05:58]
Rico Austin
Every once in a while you'll see beautiful bottles, but there's never any good tequila in it. Sure. That it's one or the other. You either have good tequila that's in a plain looking bottle or regular looking bottle, or you have something magnificent. And the tequila is horrible.
- [06:17]
Rudy
Yeah. Yeah.
- [06:17]
Rico Austin
So we wanted to bring to market a premier tequila that looked great on your shelf and that you are proud to serve to your guests and family.
- [06:28]
Rudy
And what's the, you know, talk to me about the. What makes this tequila so unique?
- [06:32]
Rico Austin
Gavis are 100% blue Weber agaves in the highlands of Total Nilco El alto, which is 7,000ft elevation and it's about 60 miles east of Guadalajara.
- [06:47]
Rudy
Okay.
- [06:48]
Rico Austin
The three of us founders searched from distillery to distillery to distillery and maybe one of us would agree or two of us, but never the three of us. So we had to start back again. My friend Jim Riley, that was the founder of Izuna Tequila, gives me a call because he knew we were having trouble. Find tequila, goes, go see Juan. You nez in a total neilco at Elvijito Distillery Gnome 1107. And I've said I never heard of it. And he goes, trust me, go there. So the three of us went there, set up a meeting with Juan small distillery. He served us the tequila, he had the chips, salsa, guacamole out there. And when the three of us tasted that tequila, we looked at each other, we could not believe it. And I could tell that my two partners loved it as well. So I got up from my chair, walked over to Juan, put out my hand and said, if you'll have us, this is the tequila we want. Love it. So that was the start of it.
- [07:52]
Rudy
Love it. So a lot of testing, Right. You have to travel, try all this tequila. Life could be worse, I guess, right? Not a bad job. And then, you know, now, now with this brand, what is the feedback you're getting from customers? Are they, are they, can they tell the difference?
- [08:10]
Rico Austin
Oh, yes. We get comments and testimonials all the time. We have a lot of them on our website.
- [08:17]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [08:18]
Rico Austin
That they say it's the best tequila that they've ever had. And. And we as partners all agree with that. And we've taken in some investors the same thing. They said they've never tasted tequila like this. And we have it certified non additives. So there's no flavorings, no colorings, no sugars. It's.
- [08:38]
Rudy
I know, a lot of health. You know, people in the health space, if they do drink alcohol, a lot of them go to tequila. You know, they actually. Out of all the alcohol, if they do have alcohol, they'll stick with just straight tequila because out of all of them, it's, you know, it's actually got some health benefits, it's low in calories, all of that. That sort of stuff, Right.
- [08:55]
Rico Austin
Yeah, that. That's correct. Yeah. The doctors recommend either tequila or wine if you're going to drink. To drink a spirit or.
- [09:03]
Rudy
And I see some people having it for immune, like when they're sick or immune health, too. I don't know the science behind it or.
- [09:10]
Rico Austin
But.
- [09:10]
Rudy
But it's definitely interesting as, you know, how it's kind of became, I think, you know, 10, 20 years ago, it was like wine was the healthiest drink. Now I see almost tequila shifting into that space.
- [09:21]
Rico Austin
Right.
- [09:22]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [09:22]
Rico Austin
As long as it's taken in moderation, you know, a shot or two in a nice sipping glass, swirled around, sniff it, smell it. You know, if you have good tequila, you'll enjoy. It's like having a sip of fine cognac.
- [09:38]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [09:39]
Rico Austin
And. And you can sip on a shot for 30 minutes to an hour just enjoying yourself. Some people love to have a cigar with it.
- [09:48]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [09:48]
Rico Austin
You know, out on their back patio by the fireplace.
- [09:51]
Rudy
Yeah. It's definitely become a cultural. Cultural thing. So let's talk. You know, this is the growth of the business, the amazing product. But what are some of the challenges you've had along the way? You know, before this, in other ventures, all this I always, you know, like to highlight. Entrepreneurship's not a straight road to success.
- [10:09]
Rico Austin
Well, one of the most difficult problems or challenges we had was the shape of the bottle. When we first came in, it came across here, where we had the peninsula, so it looked more like the peninsula. And anyway, we're only getting one out of six bottles that were not breaking, so that didn't work. So we had to go back. And I noticed a lot of wasted tequila. Yeah. And right here there was a. A bay on the map. So that. Oh, why don't we just extend this out.
- [10:48]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [10:49]
Rico Austin
Put the bay here. And. And it worked. And now we're getting 100% fill rate. And we use recycled glass as well.
- [10:58]
Rudy
That's great. And what does it sell for?
- [11:02]
Rico Austin
It retails. The. The platter retails for anywhere from 75 to $90. And in the reposado, anywhere from 85 to $110.
- [11:15]
Rudy
And that is that class in the premium sort of market. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [11:19]
Rico Austin
Absolutely. Okay.
- [11:20]
Rudy
Nice, nice. And, you know, you talked a bit about the struggle with the bottles and stuff. What about, you know, more on a personal level, you know, in your own success journey, you know, is there anything you've had to overcome and work through to get to where you are today?
- [11:35]
Rico Austin
Well, I think one of the largest challenges is the monetary because it's very expensive to. To start with Tequila company.
- [11:49]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [11:50]
Rico Austin
But we started on a very small scale and just did our most viable product. You know, rather than saying, okay, we need to start out with 5,000 bottles or whatever, let's do what we can afford, a couple thousand. And the good thing, all of our vendors were willing to. To work with it. Yeah, Good, good. And that was another challenge we had too, was all the vendors of, you know, we. We had to find a box maker, a. A cork maker. Yeah. There's a lot of little bottle maker. A painter. Yeah, painter. Yeah. And then, of course, the distillery and then having it bottled.
- [12:28]
Rudy
So, yeah, people don't. And then shipping eventually and all that ful. Realize all that goes into it. So. So, you know, and I. And I think with E Commerce or physical products or consumable products in the early stages, you're battling all the costs and getting the, you know, samples and then getting a small order run and getting it to the, you know, pe out, selling it or to the suppliers. And then it. If you're successful, it takes this flip where it's like, now, you know, they're like, oh, I want to have it in 30 locations and have 5,000 bottles. And then you're like, well, that's going to take six months, you know, and now you kind of pivot in. So. And you're starting to get to that point with this national expansion and local expansion, too. So how are you working through that and meeting purchase order demands?
- [13:15]
Rico Austin
Well, your timing on the questions. Perfect, Rudy, because we. We just signed a contract and we're getting into a major grocery chain. Yep. And so the three of us partners are heading down in March to talk with all of our vendors. Of course, I've already sent emails to them asking them, you know, is production going to be a problem? Here's what we're going to gear up to and giving them forecasts. But at the same time, we want to go down on a personal note and thank them for the business and to make certain that they understand this is what we need. We only have one opportunity.
- [13:54]
Rudy
Yeah, yeah, totally. And you're expecting in what, thousands of bottles you're going to have to produce during that period of time? Yeah. Is.
- [14:01]
Rico Austin
Is that going to be a challenge with our vendors? I don't think so, because we chose the right vendors in the beginning, and fortunately for us, they were all willing to work with a small company.
- [14:14]
Rudy
And I, like, ready to go big, sort of.
- [14:16]
Rico Austin
And I liked what they said. They said, we never know how large you're going to get, so why would we turn someone around a way that wants to. To use our product?
- [14:27]
Rudy
Same with product. You know, some products, some people say, oh, this is going to change the world, and take off, and they never sell any. Right. And then some people start slow and take off eventually. And some people take off really well and then. And then flop, you know, and you. You really. I've seen that helping thousands of businesses and, you know, like, like they say, you never really know until you're a few years in. How's this going to go? Is. So was that an exciting moment going from, like, hey, now we're starting to get these, you know, bigger deals and big purchase orders. Is it like, it feels it's coming to life once you, you know, get there?
- [15:01]
Rico Austin
Yes. When we got our first large order, it was 85 cases, which is a pallet, and then some.
- [15:09]
Rudy
How many bottles is that?
- [15:12]
Rico Austin
480.
- [15:12]
Rudy
Nice.
- [15:13]
Rico Austin
And that was just, you know. Yeah, one place, because before it was 6, 12, 18.
- [15:19]
Rudy
Yeah, yeah.
- [15:20]
Rico Austin
And you pinch yourself basically, like, yeah. Wow. Am I really living my dream? And. And my passion is coming true. Yeah. Thank you, dear God. Boy.
- [15:30]
Rudy
And you're selling more in one sale than, like, what you sold in the first year or something, Right?
- [15:35]
Rico Austin
Exactly.
- [15:36]
Rudy
And I remember that, you know, I've grown a lot of businesses and. And I remember when I made my first 100 grand in a year, and then a first million in a year, and then I've done a million in a weekend. So it's like, you know, crazy. Right? And I'm sure for you, you, you know, you pinch yourself when you got the first 500 bottle order, and eventually you'll be doing that every day. You know, you'll get a 5,000 order, then a 50,000, you know, order. And that's the great thing about entrepreneurship is that you keep going and you. You keep seeing success. So I really do love that about, you know, every story, right? Every story has that. That growth moment.
- [16:15]
Rico Austin
So.
- [16:15]
Rudy
So I just want to shift a little into legacy makers now. And you're you know, on the legacy side, which is obviously a lot of people maybe watching this before they saw your episode or dived into more about you. So can you tell them a little about, you know, your story and what you're going to share in Legacy Makers and your episode?
- [16:35]
Rico Austin
Well, basically start out with why I became an entrepreneur growing up in a small rural community, farming community, and Idaho along the Snake River.
- [16:48]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [16:48]
Rico Austin
And getting my education later on because I had to help support the family. So I finally enrolled at Boise State University and I had a dream of playing American football for him. And I was the oldest one the team. I was 25 years old at the time. I, I got my associate's degree, which was a two year degree. And so we'll be talking about that. Be talking about my, my books.
- [17:17]
Rudy
I have lots of books, right? Lots of books. Yeah.
- [17:20]
Rico Austin
Yeah. Ten published books. And this was my bestseller.
- [17:23]
Rudy
Yeah.
- [17:23]
Rico Austin
My bad.
- [17:24]
Rudy
Tequila, give us a glimpse into that book.
- [17:26]
Rico Austin
This is a spring break trip gone bad.
- [17:29]
Rudy
Okay.
- [17:31]
Rico Austin
So it's a warning, parents, you need to read this because when you're sending your children out to go on spring break, you're gonna find out some of the things they're gonna be. Be doing in the problems and trouble they're gonna be getting into. But this one I'm very proud of. I spent about four years on it. Just accumulated. Boy, a successful man. Just putting in all the things that helped me that I learned along the way so that young men and women don't have to go through the. What was your trials?
- [18:07]
Rudy
Give me one of your favorite kind of lessons from that or.
- [18:11]
Rico Austin
Well, I, I'd like what Henry Ford said. The harder I work, the luckier I get. Yeah. And, and that's very, very true. Some people think that you're just born into it. They, they just, they might look at you, Rudy, and not realize all the hard work that you put into it or me, you know, that they'll just think, oh, you know, their parents helped him or they were lucky or whatever, and there's no luck involved.
- [18:39]
Rudy
Well, a lot of what, you know, we create here and in a lot of my content and my TV shows, one of my big goals is to show the hard side of entrepreneurship because I do think in the general world there's this Persona of. All entrepreneurs are like super lucky or born into it or have this incredible life, which they do for the most part. But, you know, they're getting slammed with a lawsuit, an employee stealing from them, a vendor canceling. Right. Like, you know, hopefully you never have that. But they tell you, yeah, the tequila, no problem. We'll have the bottles ready. And then the day before the truck, you know, sorry. You know, like, they don't see that. Right. Sleepless nights. And I think that's so important to show the highs and the lows of what it takes to be successful.
- [19:24]
Rico Austin
And something else I would say to young people is find a mentor. Yeah, it's very important. It might be a schoolteacher, might be a neighbor, it might be a parent or an aunt or uncle. But it's very important to have a mentor, and especially in today's world. And. And I would urge older people, too, to. To try and help a younger person. You know, don't give them anything, but just help them with wisdom and knowledge. And.
- [19:58]
Rudy
Yeah, I think, you know, I actually posted about this recently. I've had, you know, in different ways, lots of little mentors throughout my life in different areas. And every successful person has. Has had lots of mentors throughout their journey because, you know, it just cuts time. Right. And if you look at pro sport, there's not a single athlete that doesn't have many coaches. Right. And people around them. But for some reason, in entrepreneurship, a lot of people choose to go at it alone. And it's so hard, you know, there's so many things you don't know. So I love that, too. So, last couple of questions around the legacy side. You know, I always ask, and generally the answer is the same, but I love to ask it. What does a legacy mean to you?
- [20:39]
Rico Austin
A legacy means to me is what I leave behind and what people think of me when I'm gone or when my name is mentioned. And I hope it's always I had good morals, values, respect for others and for myself. The friendships that I made along the way, the love that I was able to give to family members and receive from friends and family members. To me, it's what you leave behind. And also, I wanted to mention, now that you brought that up, Rudy, that one thing that I'm very proud of with our company at Baja Riba is giving back.
- [21:22]
Rudy
Yep.
- [21:22]
Rico Austin
And I think we have given back already to 17 different organizations. And that's what I'm so proud of. Our partners, too, is they all feel the same way and we align the same. So give back to your community. There's. Even if you can't do it financially, there's different ways you can. Can give back.
- [21:42]
Rudy
Yeah. Love it. And last question around legacy. Someone's listening. Maybe they're a tequila fan or they're inspired by your story. They want to go build their business, their legacy. What, what would you say to someone that's not started yet but they're thinking about it?
- [21:57]
Rico Austin
Basically put yourself into as many books reading on the subject as you can. Talk to the people that are in the business. Learn everything you can. Because even after you learn when you think you know it all, there's still going to be 20 million things that have never even come to your mind.
- [22:21]
Rudy
Yeah. Love it. And last question, if someone's watching, where do they find you in the business? And maybe try the tequila.
- [22:28]
Rico Austin
Our website, bajariba.com b a j a r r I b a dot com with my books ricoaustin.com r I c o a u s t I n dot com and they're on Amazon and other different.
- [22:46]
Rudy
Good, good. Love it. Well, if you're listening to this, not watching it live on video, check out the video because you'll see these beautiful bottles. And if you're a tequila fan, obviously give it a try. Rico, pleasure for having you in. Super excited to see your main episode, guys. Until next time, keep building a legacy and I'll see you.