Weekly Note; Just Show Up

12/15/19 10:03 pm

Just Show Up

Life aboard the boat on a cold winter Sunday night usually ends with the little space heater going full blast in the salon and watching the latest show on the small Direct TV that is mounted on the bulkhead. Tonight its one of my favorite classics, The Sound of Music while sipping a homemade hot buttered rum to warm up after talking to our dock mates well after the sun went down. Our sailboat is rocking again at the dock with the winds just starting up again with the 5ft WNW swell just outside the harbor rolling in only a few hundred yards away. 

This week was productive, checking in with my business Coach/Mentor - this time is invaluable to me and we have made amazing progress this year because of it, a few deliveries, catching up on emails and working through the financials. We’ve surpassed our goals for this month more than I could have ever imagined this week. And if that wasn’t good enough, we got word that I will get to have a tv interview to talk about our story with an unbelievably amazing person and can’t wait to share the details with you as soon as I can!

So, it reminds me of how each day, for the last 8 years I keep showing up to LOL, at first to my desk in the corner of our living room in Ojai when I started, and now to the same desk now located in my Ventura office. And as I show up, I am most certainly amazed at the adventures I have had because of it. When I created LOL, I just wanted to sell lemonade to pay for the parent plus loans we took out for our kids and I couldn’t have possibly imagined what would happen next. As we have gratefully accepted awards over the years and all of the amazing opportunities that have come our way, I think about how I could have missed these if I had given up. I think about the most special moments and occasions that families have shared our lemonades  and how they wouldn’t have had it if I had given up. 

I’ve met Oprah, Steve Demos, William Bolthouse, Seth Goldman, John Mackey, Malcom Gladwell and so many more amazing people along the way. My lemonade has taken me from Reno to New York keeping me out of my comfort zone every single step of the way.

Lessons learned this week; Just show up. You may not know what’s next, and surely the path may be unclear, but if you show up, you will find your way. And the rewards in showing up will be far greater than you could ever have dreamed.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Will check back in next week. 

Cheers

Lori Volk, Chief Believer Officer/Founder/Ironman

Lori’s Original Lemonade

Since 2011

Weekly Note

Weekly Note;

12/8/19 7:19pm

It’s dark with a chill in the air now as the night settles in on our home aboard our sailboat. I’ve been sipping a hot coffee with a little bit of Irish Creme as I reflect on the last few days as I sit writing this at our chart table. With a whirlwind of a week, just when I thought LOL and I were going into our hibernation month, the emails picked up and we actually just made our sales goal inside of the first week. While that is extremely encouraging, I had many things that moved the needle forward for my company as well. After 2 months of disputing yet another deduction with a distributor, I almost gave up trying to recoup it but I decided to persevere and get to the bottom of it. Fortunately, heading straight for the top of the chain in command (thanks to an exceptional receptionist) I was able to resolve the problem for me and possibly others as there was a breakdown in the system that they didn’t realize. It reminds me yet again, that everyone out there is just trying to do their best work. Mistakes are not intentional, but accidental (mostly) and I was treated so well during the this final interaction that it completely changed my perspective of this distributor. When one moment I wanted to quit out of frustration, the next moment I was apologizing for being so demanding. Lessons learned; don’t quit, persevere and assume the best of people.

Next, I had a couple of super cool calls by press/media that may turn into something pretty amazing - will keep you posted.

After that, we had our end of fiscal year meeting with the CPA and really reflected on what a great learning year this was and how much of a difference we were making now for LOL based on those lessons. I feel that I owe it to LOL to be a good steward as I truly believe this company has been a gift to me when I thought nothing else was possible and I could never be excited in business again. 

One of my goals was to attend a workshop or webinar every month to help me in my business - had a great one this last week by SCORE.org. I highly recommend you check out their website for resources to help grow your business. 

And of course on the personal front, I made my fitness goals, meeting with trainer, ordered a new pair of running shoes and getting back to thinking of triathlons and running events again...

And, we welcome back the Ranch House in Ojai to our lemonade family who will now be carrying our lemonades again!

So as the night gets colder on the ocean, we close up the hatches, turn up the the little space heater and I remember the things that I used to take for granted while living on land, the large kitchen, bathroom, a regular bed, a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, wi-fi, tv bigger than 20”. I remember, we are on the downhill slide of our goal now, only 10 months left on the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps plan now - staying focused we will have paid off all of the debt we started with just 6 years ago. I am humbled at where we are now, what we are achieving and look forward to the moment we can celebrate the last payment with you.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Will check back in next week. 

Cheers

Lori Volk, Chief Believer Officer/Founder/Ironman

Lori’s Original Lemonade

Since 2011

Lemonade Life in a Lemon Peel - 6 Years!

Good Saturday Morning!

I'm writing from my cockpit and home aboard our 41' Cruising Sailboat inspired by the calmness of the harbor this morning. As I watch the myriad of fishing boats, kayaks, paddle boards and the Island Packers boat the sun is peeking through the cloud cover warming everything up.

This week was all about reflection on our past year's performance. With our fiscal year ending September 30th we look back at the good, bad and the ugly from last year. What a difference just one or two orders can make on the entire year's picture. I have been told I am lucky for being able to still be in business for 6 years now, but the struggle was real this year as I worked hard to make a profit for our lemonade company. There are so many layers of costs between us and our customers that cut away from the necessary profits that need to be made to be sustainable.  And even when you invest in retailers, as we spend thousands of dollars for shelf space, you are never guaranteed a long life there. We are dealing with that now as new products come out every day and retailers want to rotate us out. We will be looking at that this year as well to see what makes the best sense for our company's future.

For certain, I have learned that even with slashing our expenses, the need for capital to invest in promotions is critical to the success of a beverage company. The old saying, it takes money to make money was something I wanted to prove wrong. But looking at the end result of our hard work this last year, there is no denying the fact that statement is more true than I still care to admit.

Thanks to my mentors at SCORE I have connected to an amazing woman, CFO and Quickbooks guru. She speaks my language and is the first person that has taught me how to really read my financials and not feel like an idiot or leave the meeting in tears. Though we have only met a couple of times, I am painfully focusing my dreaming sales and marketing brain to the true heart of the company. And that heart lies in the lines of the P/L and Balance Sheet. Because, if those numbers are wrong, all the passion and incredible tasting product won't make it to the people that want it.

While, the only reason I wanted to "sell" my lemonade was to pay for the college expenses I promised our three kids, I look back now and realize how naieve I really was.  It was a dream, one I believed in so much so that I made it a reality. And that reality could be seen by everyone who met Lori's Lemonade - they could see my vision too.

For that reason, I continue every day to find a way to somehow make the impossible happen as I pour every single dollar we make back into the company to bring the best shelf stable, organic lemonades to a market looking for something real, from a real person with purpose.

Wish us luck friends as I continue to evolve, learn and grow a lemonade company into the success I know it can be.

Lori Volk, Chief Believer/Founder
Lori's Original Lemonade

Finding Answers In Nature - Outside The Office

Good Monday Morning!
(why is it Mondays come so fast after the weekend?)

While I usually try to blog on Fridays, last week got away from me as we had spent a few days in the wilderness of Santa Rosa Island. As I closed up 6 years on Saturday building the lemonade company, I have spent more time than I normally would away from the office and hustle and bustle of lemonade land. A firm believer in balancing life and taking time to restore and rejuvenate, I tell my kids to take care of themselves, but I seem to rarely take my own advice. This morning here is my view from my our 41 foot sailboat and as I hear the seagulls around the harbor and the barking of the sea lions, and waiving to the local diver who cleans boat bottoms, the sun isn't yet up but the water is a beautiful mirror to the sky, reflecting watery moving images all around me.  At the islands we met the most amazing people, all so different yet, we all had a common need for nature and adventure. Inspired by an older woman who actually spends 4 times a year out there by herself in the backcountry for 8 days traveling miles each day .... all by herself. I was so inspired by her that we will be doing our next adventure on the island in the back country. While I love spending time with my husband of 34 years camping, I have also found that going out alone has been a rewarding experience. While I have always relied on my husband to set up the tent, set up the cookstove and generally take care of things, I love being able to do these things myself.  Spending time on San Miguel Island again this year for 5 days alone where you need to bring everything, including your water, has been able to give me another perspective of who I am and confidence that I can carry over to my lemonade company.  While it may seem that you are "playing hooky" and leaving work to play, I have found that the opposite is true. In the silence of nature, I have found more answers for questions that I have in my

work than sitting for hours and hours on end at my desk.  Allowing space for the brain to rest without restriction seems to be a lost art.  I recently showed up at Patagonia in Ventura, to buy some things for our island trip and when I arrived, there were no cars in the parking lot, the store looked dark and there was a sign outside that said "Field Day". I racked my brain to figure out what field day was, some sporting event?  I admit I was a bit frustrated as I needed these things and didn't have a lot of time to come back again. Turns out it that it was a day off for the employees to take time to do what they liked, mostly they went surfing. Yvon Chouinard who wrote Let My People Go Surfing always believed in this tradition of taking breaks away to help support the balance. And so, now as the sky

goes from dark to light I will take this with me today as I move through this week and get back on track. I look forward to the next step in building my company outside the walls of my office and feel a bit more strength after the rest to continue on.
Lori Volk
Chief Believer
Lori's Original Lemonade

Island Adventures, Sharks, Dolphins, New Website and Lemonade Fans!

It's been a short week as I took some time off with my husband for our 34th wedding anniversary! Living aboard a boat has some advantages and since the weather was nice we opted to head out to the Channel Islands for a few days. While it sounds luxurious, its not exactly that - sailing, anchoring, motoring, can all cause a bit of stress and is one continuous problem solving adventure. By definition, adventure is the unknown outcome of a chain of events. And, if you've talked to anyone who's been sailing for a few years, they have more than their share of stories to tell about their "adventures at sea".

Since LOL is still my "baby" and needs lots of care round the clock, I was fortunate (and not) to find Little Scorpion Cove with cell service. Using my hotspot on my phone, I can log into the internet on my mac and operate my entire business just like being at the office.  Our home is a 41' Mariner Neptune classic cruising sailboat built in Taiwan in 1984.  With only 20 built, everyone loves her design but have never heard of the name before.  Comfortable with all the amenities of a home (except smaller) we can literally travel anywhere in the world with this boat.  We operate on propane for cooking, solar for powering the
house batteries and we have 2 generators aboard that help boost the batteries when needed. Exploring the coves, watching the historic Chumash Tomol Crossing into the cove, 2 am strong south wind wreaking havoc in the cove, trouble picking up the anchor and spotting a 7 foot Blue Shark swimming alongside our boat in the channel made for an eventful trip.

As we were headed back to the mainland I uploaded more images for our new website under the direction of Creative 365. Quick progress is happening on our site update and we can't wait to launch it in the next couple of weeks.

And now, back to land and the real lemonade world.  Back at the local coffee shop yesterday morning, some fans spotted me and my lemonade wrapped cube and asked how business was going and said how much they loved our lemonade and buy it all the time. I love to hear this and every time someone asks its an automatic response with a gift of a lemonade bottle that I pull out of the back of the cube for them :) Their reactions usually end with a wonderful hug for me and lots of smiles.  So before I even hit the office door I had given away several bottles of lemonade to our wonderful fans.  Those moments of meeting our fans in random places keep me going every day.

We now have our eye on expansion through our current retailer network that is already established.

Looking forward to moving forward one day at a time on the lemonade adventure, where just like our cruising life aboard our sailboat, I have no idea what will happen next...

Cheers to the weekend!

Lori Volk
Chief Believer/Founder/Ironman
Lori's Original Lemonade

Record months, awards, new stores OH MY!

It's been awhile since I've posted. This morning I am writing from my home aboard our sailboat.  It's a cool overcast morning at the harbor and the barking of dozens of sea lions on the docks are distracting my thoughts! I can't believe we are closing in on the start of our 7th year. So here is an update of the whirlwind of action we have been experiencing here at LOL. 

In April we were chosen for American Small Business Champion 2018, SCORE/Sam's Club award for California.  I flew to Reno for an all expense paid trip for business training with 101 other award winners from across the country and learned a ton about how to run my business more efficiently. 

From Reno, it was off to New York (my first time to NY!) to the Fancy Food Show and celebrate the sofi Silver Award for our Ginger Lemonade presented to us by the Specialty Food Association in a worldwide competition of over 3000 products.  In New York we met with buyers, including an 8k store chain and media as we attended special events for the winners.

Our win in NY led to a call from a wonderful buyer from Cost Plus World Market in July who believed our lemonade might be a perfect fit for their stores! We have spent the last two months preparing for the launch and our lemonades should be arriving in select 212 stores nationwide this week and next!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one fiscal year, we were nominated by Dianne de Malley of DDM Metering Systems, Inc for the Pacific Coast Business Times/SBA Spirit of Small Business Award - Woman Owned Business in August and attended the annual luncheon at the Biltmore, Santa Barbara to receive the award.

And there is more....! Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine is featuring us on their October 2018 issue titled "Second Acts" describing our journey from the startup of our lemonade company as I was desperate to help defray college costs for my kids.

It's been a whirlwind of a year - We are grateful for the continued support of our Ambassador Team,  customers, friends, family, suppliers, distributors, retailers and everyone else who believes in us every day. 

I've learned the importance of a balance sheet (after 6 years!) and I am working hard to continue to bring the highest quality lemonade to the market while doing it in a sustainable way to ensure the health of our company.  I've learned more this year than any other year in how to operate my business and couldn't have done that without the mentors and advisors I've had along the way, including
SCORE. 

As we wind down this year's lemonade season, we are looking forward to the exciting opportunities that lay around the next corner for us.  Part of the thrill is coming into the office every day wondering what is going to happen next!

I appreciate each and everyone of you and am grateful for the opportunity to be involved in one of the most amazing industries.

Thank you!

Lori, Chief Believer
Lori's Original Lemonade

a day in the life of lemonade while living aboard a boat...

It's 430 am on Saturday morning... our new lemonades are here!!

With the excitement of the new bottles of lemonade arriving yesterday in Ventura, its like having a new baby - there's pictures to take, people to share it with and the general excitement has taken away my need for sleep. I held the finished bottles for the first time yesterday and appreciated all of the months of work that went into creating these two new flavors with our growing team. They were warm from the pallets sitting in the sun that had been delivered yesterday. The beautiful new Wild Strawberry has lived up to its name. Like a wild child, this flavor had so many challenges, from labels, to ingredients, at every turn it was keeping us on our toes. But seeing it now wrapped in a newly updated label design with the bright red color from the California strawberries, blending with the bright label colors I was in love. As soon as I popped the top the smells from the lemon and strawberries were perfectly sweet. The taste was amazing - sweet, lemony, balanced, perfectly delicious.

Next was the Original Lemonade. So easy was this one - though we did have to change the name at the last minute as another drink had the same name... This is our base recipe, the start of all of the lemonades, truly the original that we started with on the driveway before we added the lavender. It is in the purest form and the label, brilliantly designed by our dedicated designer, Aaryn brought out the essence of the love that we put into our company. As I held the bottle for the first time I admired the brilliant colors on the label that don't come across on the computer. The color was purely lemon and as I popped the top I smelled the fresh, organic lemon juice that we use in our drinks. The fresh warm scent of lemonade transported me back to the moments I created this recipe for our kid's lemonade stand years ago, now in a surreal realm realizing we have served almost a million people our little family recipe... I think of the farmers that don't have to suffer pesticide because we only use organic ingredients. I feel the love that has gone into months of planning for this lemonade. So many people have been asking for a plain lemonade and I resisted for so long. But today, I know it was the right thing to do. This one has now become my husband Tom's favorite.

This morning from the warm little cocoon of Silent Lady has the sounds of the plankton tapping on the bottom of our boat and the sea lions are actively barking again (they never seem to sleep) as they inch closer trying to find places to get out of the water. The rigging drips onto the deck and as I look out the hatch above me it is still pitch black -

Five years in and I can hardly remember what life was like before lemonade - three and a half years living aboard Silent Lady has taught me again how to live in a minimalistic way and appreciate the ordinary things that you have while living in a land house that I took for granted.

It is another new day for our lemonade company and for that I'm grateful...

Lori Volk, Chief Believer

Lori's Original Lemonade