Sarah says she thinks the reason we are successful today is the fact that “we have always been a team that is looking forward and not relishing in our successes. We always know there is a bigger account we want to close, or an area of the business we can be better.” Now that’s teamwork right there. Here is her story.
ONEHOPE: Tell us a story from the early days of ONEHOPE that highlights the challenges of entrepreneurship and disrupting the wine industry.
Sarah: In the first year of business I moved back to San Diego to live with my parents, and grow the business in a market I was familiar with. It was a different story back then because we didn’t have a distributor yet so my day would generally start at 5am where I would research accounts and buyer info til about 10am, then head out on the town with samples to make sales calls till about 5pm, then come home, log all my activity, create invoices, load sold cases into the car to be delivered the following day, and then do more outreach for other appointments to fill up the calendar. We would cold call the accounts, make the sale, deliver the cases, personally invoice, then be the bill collectors and try to get paid.
There was 1 account that always pops out in my mind that now a days would be a nightmare account, but back then it was a dream come true. The account was a tiny market in the gaslamp quarter that had half stocked shelves. Every time I stopped in, the buyer would buy 5-10 cases and pay cash on the spot! I later came to find out that the account could not do business with any wine distributors because they couldn’t pay their outstanding bills which meant they became blacklisted from all of the wine distributors and could not get any wine…. until I walked in with cases in hand, and walked out with a fist full of cash. I am eternally grateful because it was accounts like that, that kept us around in the early days, to be able to celebrate 10 years today!
ONEHOPE: Tell us about the moment you knew your young company was going to be successful.
Sarah: I think the reason why we are still around today is the fact that we have always been a team that is looking forward and not relishing in our successes. We always know there is a bigger account we want to close, or an area of the business we can be better.
That being said, it feels pretty great when a National Chain like Whole Foods wants to do a repeat program for the 3rd year or the VIA community signs up 300 new CEOs in 1 month, or the estate in Napa that was a figment of my imagination, comes to fruition and you can see a physical stunning residence in front of you…..these moments make me feel like we are successful!
ONEHOPE: Tell us the cause you are most passionate about and why.
Sarah: I am very passionate about helping children living with Autism. It is a cause I care about tremendously because there is a tool that actually EXISTS to help these children cope with their surroundings and live a happy life, it is just a matter of getting the tool to these children, and we can do that through ACT Today for Autism. Through ABA Therapy, children with Autism show a 90% chance for improvement, and just by purchasing a bottle of our cab, anyone can make a difference in a childs life. Now THAT is impactful!
Love,
The ONEHOPE Team
No comment yet, add your voice below!