A Conversation with Ashley Haywood, Founder of EMBREW
Ashley has been successfully positioning her company as the worlds first sweetened artisan teabags, carefully injecting something more than passion by doing something that truly defines who she is and driving profits while building this business.
Ashley is openly transparent in today’s interview, and something tells me that this is how she not only lives her life but is evident that its how she runs her business. When faced with the common struggles most entrepreneurs particularly eCommerce entrepreneurs face on a daily basis she meets them with positivity and refuses to cut corners especially those that would impact her customers. Today we take a small peek into the mind of a hedgehog.
The Hedghog concept, for those unfamiliar its really an understanding of the intersection of passion, the economic engine, and what you can be the best in the world at.
Show Quotes:
Sometimes I get deep into my work and I just want to have everything I need right next to me!
I solved an issue that I feel like people would appreciate as well.
The thought just never really left me … one of those things that haunted me for a few years.
I was tired of it and fed up and wanted to do something that I could stand behind and something that truly defined who I was and so I decided to pull the trigger.
I think it’s important to not just fill your time with tasks but to really find things that you enjoy doing.
It makes me a better person and a better Mom and a better wife and a better employee for that matter.
A lot of people talk about failing fast and there is nothing fast about what I am doing.
The amount of time I have to dedicate, out of the 6 to 8 hours a week, is getting divided into fractions for each of the functions.
It is extremely challenging to decide what is going to drive the business forward the most and what is critical at that moment.
Time is definitely the number one struggle.
The second struggle is manufacturing
My preference is to have my manufacturing done domestically.
Originally it was all about making a sweetened teabag … I wanted to do something better
I discovered this whole world of direct trade, which is businesses that go directly to farms in order to source their products.
I just wanted to know where my tea was coming from, cause you can’t find that on the back of the box.
I can see exactly where my tea is coming from and I can pass this along to my customers too.
I wanted to make sure … that my business was improving the world in some way.
I do need this to go a lot faster especially as I grow.
My third struggle is with distribution
I’ve been bankrolling my business myself, so the startup capital was very small.
With this business I took the opposite approach, I knew nothing about manufacturing, I knew nothing about sourcing product, and knew nothing about making the business actually work, and so that’s what I dove into first.
I think in terms of how that might help me rather than be afraid
I have had to shift my mindset because it’s a scary thing, it’s a vulnerable thing to put yourself out there.
I think it depends on how you choose to go after your customer
“Time is not something that you find its something that you make.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Everyone has the same amount of time during the day and we all have to decide how we want to use that time.
You can’t make excuses for not having the time it’s just that you haven’t prioritized whatever it is that you haven’t gotten done.
I need to schedule time for myself, I need to schedule downtime and I need to schedule my time effectively for my business because I have a very finite amount of time to dedicate to it.
I encourage you and your listeners to make sure that you prioritize what you want to prioritize for the day, every day, … so you can be as effective as you can and still have time for yourself.
Links from the Cast:
Website: Sweetened Artisan Teabags
Instagram: @embrewdotcom
