Welcome back to The Daily Mastermind, George Wright III with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education. We're joined today by an awesome CEO. I've had a chance to kind of get to meet him, Jack Espy, and he's the CEO of Spirited Hive. And we're going to talk about some things because I really, I wanted to have him on the show because I was excited about how he put his vision into reality and then also talk about some leadership things and stuff. So Jack, welcome to the show, man. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me on. Excited to be here. Yeah, this is great because I think a lot of people sometimes that I interview have these big success stories and people think, oh man, where did they start? Where are they coming from? And you really have been able to create something amazing in the last little while. And it's like the perfect entrepreneurial story of having an idea in a really rough, difficult time, the pandemic, and pulling something to action. So do me a favor, just so people kind of get to know you, give us the origin story. Tell us when you started Spirited Hive, why you did it, and a little bit of the story is kind of how you got it started, and then we'll dig into it a bit. Totally, yeah. So the whole idea started at the beginning of the pandemic. So I was actually in college. I was at USC in LA, and my whole background was real estate finance, real estate development. And I graduated in 2020, so straightened the pandemic. And I was supposed to accept the job in, you know, capital markets in Los Angeles. And unfortunately, that job fell through because it was right at the beginning. And they're like, hey, look, we're not hiring anyone right now. And I totally understood. But, you know, nonetheless, that left me jobless right out of college. And, you know, like everyone else at this point in time, I was at home mixing up one too many quarantine cocktails. And I was making two drinks for my buddies, which my two favorite drinks are Moscow Mules and Mexican Mules, or they were at the time. And I was making these drinks for all my friends during the pandemic. And they were like, Jack, these drinks are really, really good. You should hand them. Because I was kind of right at the beginning of the whole can cocktail boom. You know, there's pretty much a new can cocktail coming out every single week. and you know i'm sitting there and i'm like well i've got nothing else better going on you know why not be kind of cool to create my own brand and at this point in time no one knew how long the pandemic was really gonna last um it's like well this would be kind of fun to pass a time and you know once you know the code's over i'll go back to real estate finance and it'll just be a fun kind of thing to do uh like a passion project and you know we're all sitting there thinking about different names for this brand and i was like wait guys what about the name mint b and they're like first of all that's the stupidest name i've ever heard of but why mint b and i was like oh well you know because there's mint and a moscow meal and p because they're you know they're both sweetened with honey and they're like dude what are you talking about there's no honey in either of those drinks and i was just gonna say i don't i didn't get that so you're catching me there yeah so i mean it's funny because like i'm not a mixologist and it's funny now because everyone's like oh you're creating this cane cocktail you must be a mixologist and i'm like no i just you know kind of fell into this and you know i was like oh i never knew that there was honey there wasn't honey in the moscow meal so i'm sitting there with my buddies and i'm like well what if i took a different approach at this whole cane cocktail category and made it a better for you cane cocktail that was only sweetened with honey no tain sugar no sucralose no any artificial sugars at all just sweetened with honey because i'm really big into health fitness and i really care about achieving my goals in the gym but also i don't like waking up and feeling crappy in the morning after having a couple of drinks and a lot of that comes from sugar and the ingredients that are used so i was like i want to take a different approach and create a better for you can cocktail and that's kind of what sparked this whole idea for hives so then kind of went down the road of creating one that was our tequila so our take on a mexican mule and then was bringing that of parties during the pandemic and then my friends that were girls were like hey like i love this idea but does it work vodka so that i made one with vodka and then my bourbon loving buddies were like hey does it work carabin and then a gin so then it kind of it was a culmination of this whole idea of you know who's your hive who's your community who are the people that you love to spend time with and toast to a life that is sweet with your hive and not everyone in your hive likes tequila, they might like bourbon, gin, or vodka. But now we have all the alcohol bases. So anyone in your hive, if they like that idea of a better few canned cocktail, we have one for them. So that was all teased out. And then it took me about two years to get the product to market. I was very naive to this industry, but it took me about two years. And then we launched in May of 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. So we've been in market for just about two years now. Wow, man, guys, listen, there are so many freaking lessons in what he just said. We're going to break them down. But man, first of all, congrats. That's a great story. And also, you've really been able to bring your vision to reality, which is great. But I always tell people when they're getting started, because they try to figure everything out ahead of time. And I always tell them, some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know, you're definitely included in that. They just have an idea and they say yes, and then they go figure it out. Um, you didn't, not only, not only did you figure it out as you went along, but it sounds like the idea developed as you went along. In other words, you were starting with the idea and you were moving down the road when you perfected the name, you perfected the other products, you perfected the other things. So I really feel like, you know, what, what do you say to people that generally are like, okay, I think I have an idea. I don't really know where you went out and took that idea out and got the feedback you needed to move forward. Like, is that something that you thought about or did you just start doing it and it all came together? Yeah, I mean, I literally just started doing it, you know, and it was interesting because. I was asked actually on a podcast not too long ago, like, what was the scariest part at that point? And the scariest part was an actually when we got recognition and people are like, yeah, this is great. Like, let's get this thing going. Then I was like, wow, like this is legit. Because for so long, this is during the pandemic. And I'm like, yeah, I don't really know what's going on. You know, I have this idea I'm going for it. Like, oh, I'm working with a form formulator and then I'm, you know, producing it on a small scale and then, oh, I got a distributor, like very cool. Like I can sell into retail. And then it was like people were actually buying it and we sold out And I was like oh wait this is kind of scary Like now this is like this is real This is legit Like this is a full company that I have to give my all into it But for anyone out there that's listening and they have an idea that they're passionate about, I mean, that's the biggest thing. If you have an idea that you're passionate about, you don't need to have everything. You don't need to have all the I's dotted and the T's crossed. And so many people will tell you different, but I didn't. And it's something that you can learn as you go. And you also figure those things out as you go. I mean, we didn't have this whole idea of the Hive community until, you know, months and months, almost probably a year down the road. And that's like a big thing behind our marketing. And a lot of that gets teased out as you develop the brand. So you don't need to have everything figured out to launch a company. I think the biggest thing and the biggest hurdle that it takes for a lot of, you know, entrepreneurs is, you know, they think they have to have everything figured out before they can start. And that's just not the case, I don't think. Yeah, well, you definitely had two ingredients that I think are very common to people that really follow. And you said it, number one, if it's something you're passionate about, if not, you're like constantly like, is this going to work or is this not going to work? So having the passion, and I think your job has done a phenomenal or your company has done a phenomenal job of adding the people part. Meaning if you're passionate about something that's great, but if you also have the right people around you, it helps you to stay focused on it. And so that both of those are very, very key principles. And I think that that's a great example of that. Let me ask you this, because you said when you started, you're like, well, I was going down finance. I'm in college, graduated, lost my job. I'm obviously great that you overcame that. But you said a comment, you said, as I was going, I knew I could always go back to real estate. So you probably started the company with the idea you had a backup. What point do you feel like that changed where you thought, I'm not interested in the backup or where I'm all in? Because I find that a common element with entrepreneurs that really create success like you have is there was a point where you just go all in and there isn't really a backup anymore. What point was that for you? Yeah. And it was actually like, because I think a lot of people have that idea of like maybe that backup wasn't like a defined time you know in in time you know this was for me so I didn't say this but I was at NYU so I graduated from USC lots of jobs I was supposed to get you know while I came up with this idea I was also at NYU getting my master's in real estate finance which was completely online So I was doing that master's program. I really wanted, like I was saying, to be in finance, real estate finance. Came up with the idea for Hive. Was kind of doing both. And then it got to the point where I was missing homework assignments with NYU. And I was missing kind of deadlines that I put in place for myself with Hive. Because I was juggling too many things. And I literally had a moment in time where I was like, I need to just focus on Hive completely. I can't be doing both these things. And it really came down to this idea that, you know, NYU grad school will always be around. That's never going away. I can always come back to that whenever I want. Whereas Hive is a specific moment in time, like this industry is going so quickly and it's becoming so saturated that I only have a finite amount of time that I can actually give it my all and get after and go for it. And it was very scary. I remember I was talking to my parents about it. at first and my stepdad's a founder of a company and he understands but he was also like he was like no he's like no you're not doing this like you have to you have to focus you have to finish what you started and i'm a big proponent of finishing what i've started but i was like like i'm doing it i was like no i'm doing it i'm going after this dream that i have and i'm gonna chase it and it was super scary because there was no safety you know at that point in time i was like you know oh wow this is like legit it was kind of like when i was like um at the point where people we sold out for the first time and people loved the brand it was kind of that uh-oh kind of moment it's like wow this is legit um but you know it's really cool to see that if i had made a different decision my life would have been completely different um and i would have always been kicking myself oh like i wish you had done after yes yeah i i'm curious because i i do feel like there's multiple in a really successful entrepreneur, there's multiple points of inflection, right? One is you said, I'm going to do this and you just started going and you had it around your purpose and passion, your passion really, and people, and it helped you to really get that thing going, you figured out. But then there's that point of, all right, I got to go all in. And when you made that decision, and so I'm curious, just one more level deeper on that. That's the hard decision for most because even a great idea is going nowhere unless you go all in. what do you think was the real difference maker for you? Was it that you kind of talked with your parents? Did you feel, because I feel like sometimes people feel like they're forced into it. Like you had enough opportunity, you just had to. Or was it that you had some good support network? What really helped you to kick over that edge of I'm in? Or was it just a combination of all those things? I think it's a combination of a lot of those things, but it's my passion behind it. You know, something that like really was like, hey, like I love this idea. I love the product. I love the vision that I have for this. And it was, you know, right at the beginning is right at the starting line of it. I saw this vision of what it could be. And that first step over the starting line was, let's go see, let's go see what it is. Because, you know, this it's the fleeting moment in time, especially because I was so young. And it was really scary. I think the scariest part of like that hesitation was I had never worked for someone ever before in my entire life I knew nothing about the industry I had to learn so much and I was very naive but all those things is a culmination of creating great success too because for me I was like well what's what's the worst that can happen the worst thing I could do is fail you know so just just go and see was the biggest thing and making that first jump was a scary jump. But, you know, it was a lot of learning along the way and industry that's probably one of the most difficult industries in the world and most complex and most saturated. But, you know, you learn as you go. Yeah, it's it's it's a testament to the fact that, you know, you figure out all those details and I think that common denominator of something you passionate about but also you love I mean cause if you think about the people and the health and fitness and all that all those components just make it kind of easier for you to move forward So you had probably a million different challenges along the way, and you're still growing. What do you think was one of the, did you have a point in time where you had like, or maybe a specific example of when you questioned whether you should keep doing this, or you had to really overcome something that you're like, bro, I don't know what I'm doing. This isn't going to go the direction I want unless I get some help. Or was there any of those kind of moments that you were pretty much questioning whether you were going forward or not? Yeah, I mean, it's for any entrepreneur or founder out there listening to this, they're probably laughing because those speed bumps in the road at the beginning, they may feel like massive potholes. It's like, oh my gosh, I just totaled this far. I don't know if I can do this anymore. But five, ten years down the road, it's like, oh yeah, that was like a pebble in the road. That was nothing. You can just keep on going. The bigger you are, the bigger the problems you have, right? Right. Exactly. And so you just, there's another chink in the armor. It's like, okay, whatever. Like brush it off the shoulder, keep going. But I remember the first one that I ever had, we were taking our stab at a variety pack. And, you know, this was something that, you know, the industry is very seasonal, you know, for spring and spring and summer like that's where we sell the products like crazy and then it falls off for you know fall and winter because not that many people are drinking cane cocktails so we were a little bit behind the gun of getting a variety pack done for summer so we were kind of pushing it pretty quickly in the market um which was something that we shouldn't have done we should have you know pumped the brakes and waited to the next summer because it was way too quickly to get like that to market so we pushed the design pushed everything got everything done and we um sent the carton off to be printed and i remember vividly i was flying back from a red eye from uh i was actually at a usc tailgate with all my fraternity brothers so i wasn't feeling that great the next morning on that red eye back to new york and i land in new york and i get a call from my designer and he goes hey um we just printed 35,000 cartons of the variety pack I'm like yes let's go and he's like there's a small issue and I was like well what's the issue and he was like there's a typo oh and I go what I was like wait hold on and there I am on the plane like just landed and I'm like tired hungover like out of it I'm like wait what do you mean there's a there's a typo and he goes yeah we spelled tequila missing the eye so it's spelled oh that is just racing i'm like what's going on and like you know for us that was a lot of money at that point it was so much money and i was like at the end of the day like the buck stops with me in the sense that that was my mistake you know like yes we're paying people to make all those edits and decisions to make sure everything's revised everything's done but at the end of the day everything stops with me as a leader of the company i'm like hey you know that's at the end of the day that's still my mistake yes there should have been placed like points in place for it to not pass through that but at the end of the day that's on me so i was like okay well what can we do to figure that out and i was like sitting there for multiple days like you know i don't know if we're going to come back from this and i don't know what to do and then we just just figured out we just kept on going and we ended up using them for um you know kind of gift boxes almost to influencers and it worked out great because there was a perfect way to send something to an influencer and all our flavors right there um so it worked and you know we were fine yes we we took a hit on it a little bit but you know we've had so many other big speed bumps in the road that you know don't even you know that are so much bigger than that and now it's just like can't like you know what you figure it out you learn as you go and you know we're not perfect if you learn from our failures and you know now I'm very I look at everything I look at every single word on hand yeah yeah yeah you know point of sale material all that man I tell you those are that is such a great story um and I'm sure you've been able to use that because you know it it it goes straight to the point of so many things you know success leaves clues right failure is a gateway way to success. Now it's going to help you do more. You took responsibility as a leader, which I think probably inspired your team as well, because it would have been very easily to blame someone else for that. And yet you found a solution as well. So it's moving forward. So I love that. And I think entrepreneurs' journeys are riddled with dozens of those examples that you look back on and think, if I could stack all those up, most would look back as a bad experience, but you're stacking those up as things that just helped you get moving forward into, into other areas. So that's awesome. What you, you know, your company is based really heavily around this idea of community. Why do you, in addition to fitness and things like this, but why do you focus so much on community and why is that so important? Do you feel like, you know, to your company and maybe even to most companies, um, how do you, and how do you distinguish kind of between community and culture, or maybe it's the same thing for you, but talk to me about your thoughts around community and why it's such a big deal for Spirited Hive. Yeah, totally. I mean, this company was really built off community, you know, like that first night that I was making drinks with my buddies, it was, you know, meant, you know, it was built for friends with friends, you know, like I would have had this company if it wasn't with my buddies during the pandemic, just mixing up these cocktails, you know. And the funny thing is, is that I was never meant to be behind the bar making the cocktails. I was just the least lazy one out of my friends to do it. So if I hadn't been with my friends, I wouldn't have created this company. So this company is all derived around community. And it's something that I think is so precious in life is creating those connections with people. And at the end of the day, drinking is an occasion that brings people together, you know. And I think everything in moderation is great and is fine. And if you're drinking safely with your friends, you know, that brings people together and it brings connection. So that something that means so much And something that we doing that big behind this program is or big behind the company is our ambassador program And we were just talking about this before we started is you know that something that we trying to really hit home with all the markets that we selling in is these ideas of or this program is meant to bring people together So this Ambassador program we have multiple influencers in multiple different states and they bring people together through just activations or events And it brings people, yes, for people to try Hive, but pretty much to bring people together around this idea of who's your Hive, who's your community, who are the people that you love to spend time with. And a lot of that has to do with working out or an event. We do events usually on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. we do a Barry's class or, you know, a go rock event or a run class or something like that. And something that I like to call type two fun, which is my favorite type of fun. Like you enjoy the sock. You're like, ah, this sucks. But the words you're like, oh, that was a great workout. And you get to enjoy it with your friends. You know, like type two fun is never as much fun as unless you're with your friends. And then we enjoy a couple of hives afterwards and, you know, toast to a life that is sweet and all of those kind of things. So, You know, community is such a big pillar of this company. And it's something that I think a lot of these brands aren't really focusing on is, you know, bringing people together. Because like I said, you know, it means so much more when you're spending time with your friends, especially, you know, developing this company during COVID when a lot of people put it, spend time together. So once we launched right outside of COVID, people were loving that, you know, bringing people back together and bringing that sense of community back around is something that means so much. to me and so much spirited high. Yeah, man, I love it. And your success really does give some great ideas for people that might be out there. I loved your idea of type two fun. I mean, combining stuff that sucks that you don't want to do with friends and lifestyle. It reminds me also of what I find really good successful companies have. People are chasing success right now, but they're only doing it for lifestyle. So if you can't have both, which I believe you can have you know, success and lifestyle, things and the emotions that they bring. But it's funny because the whole reason I started the Daily Mastermind is this concept of the mastermind, which is two or more people coming together in the spirit of harmony to create an end goal, much like the hive, right? The hive works together in who's your hive. So I really love that. And I think people need to realize that a lot of people in success, entrepreneurs look for, you know, success strategies and techniques and sometimes the underlying message, like you're saying, community, friendship, things like that really is the secret sauce that helps people to move forward with the strategies that they're trying to do. So I think, you know, I'm going to really recommend if you're listening to this to really, you know, follow Jack and kind of find out and really read between the lines because the way you're structuring your company and the mission and purpose you have is more than just a success story. So let me ask you this, because you started your business in one of the most, probably the most difficult times you could, a pandemic, right? A global pandemic. What advice would you give in today's market? Because I know it's real competitive and things like this. If someone is looking to kind of get their idea out there or grow to the next level, do you have anything right now you would recommend to young entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that are growing? How to just really get the courage up to take either their business to fruition or their ideas to the next level. What's kind of some of your more practical advice today that you'd give someone? Yeah, I feel like something that's been so successful for us is making or developing a brand that's very easy for people to follow and something that is a story brand, you know, that tells a story because consumers love to not only invest in products and purchase products that are good and have good packaging, but also a brand that has a story behind it and has real meaning behind it around like for ours is, you know, obviously community. And then the founder story of how it kind of really came to be is very organic and very easy. And I'm not saying you should like, you know, fabricate something like that, but really put time, effort and thought into, you know, how does this idea or this brand or this vision differ from another brand vision or whatever? And how does that make us niche? And then how can we kind of develop a story around that or bring the story to life for the consumer to really understand and for them to buy into it too? Yeah, I think that's a great recommendation because I definitely see that myself in the marketplace that really your unique selling proposition nowadays needs to be brand and story. it's not about just your features and benefits like you could be really heavily promoting all not that you don't but all natural and honey and this and that but your brand your story your community the people really is the brand and i think that's what separates you as well and then all the other things layer in so that's great advice i love that advice um where can people follow you where can they connect with you and i'll put links in the show notes guys if you're listening but where's the best place for them to connect with you yeah do you want to reach out to me i mean i'm very active on social and you know if you guys shoot me a dm or if you have any questions just you know reach out to me my instagram's at jack espy that's espy and then if you want to purchase spirited hive we ship to pretty much almost any state in the u.s from 40 states and that's just spiritedhive.com and if you want to follow us for any you know new merch that's dropping or any new flavors that are coming out coming out you can follow us at spirited hive on Instagram and Facebook. Yeah, like I said, guys, I highly recommend you check this out because even just following the model he's got, but more importantly, you've got to sometimes not just take strategies people give you, but see the meaning behind them and the way you're orchestrating things. I mean, I think it's a testament to community, to friendship, to following your passion and all those things. So I appreciate you spending time with us today, man. I look forward to more conversations in the future. And guys, listen, if you're listening to this show, do me a favor, share this episode. I think it's going to help a lot of people feel more inspired to follow their dreams, turn them into reality, maybe even give them some specifics that they can use in their situation. And like I said, it's never too late to start living the life that you were meant to live. But the key is you've got to take action. Don't try to have it all figured out. Like Jack said, just get going down the road. And with that said, I appreciate you being here. Look forward to talking with you more tomorrow. Once again, my name is George Wright III. We've been here with Jack Espy, and this has been The Deal with the Instrument. Have a great day.
