They say that no two snowflakes are the same, and whoever they are, I believe them. I have found that this mantra is applicable in many different aspects of daily life, far beyond the reaches of mountain snowfall. Lately I have found that a similar uniqueness is not only important but imperative to growth as a person, and as a business.
In a state that is literally swimming in craft chugs - over 200 breweries and nearly 50 distilleries dot our landscape here in Colorado - it always surprises me when I see a bar owner pouring the same worn out drinks in his struggling pub, forced to drop the prices down so low just to draw in customers that he is barely pulling a profit from each draft beer he sells. The fact is that in 2015, any place that needs to serve $1 Bud Light to get people in the door is going about it all wrong and portraying a strong air of desperation in the process. With all the great beer and spirits being produced in Colorado, it should come as no surprise that drinkers want the local stuff!
I spent years working in bars around the state, doing everything from cooking tater tots to pouring 25 versions of the Long Island Iced Tea to booking and promoting concerts (I’ve even sat in as a bouncer once or twice), in places ranging from college dives to rock clubs and ski town pubs and grills. From the inside, the best places have personality - they aren’t afraid to put their stamp on things. The personalities of the management as well as the employees are allowed to shine through. Even the drinks have a persona about them. The owners have created their brand and are running with it, no holds barred. Recently I have come into contact with two brands, one local and one from California, that are taking concepts done many times before them and re-stamping them with their own flavor.
In Denver, many local pubs are pouring locally made craft spirits. This benefits not only their business but another local as well, injecting an extra shot of Colorado’s eccentric personality into their drinks. On a recent day at local live music haven Herman’s Hideaway I was treated to taste of Vanjak Vodka - a smooth, clean vodka with plenty of personality that even myself, a proclaimed rum drinker, enjoyed.
Vanjak is produced just up Highway 6 in the booze mecca of Golden, a town becoming almost as well known for the number of craft distilleries and breweries as it is for being home to one of beer’s biggest giants. I spoke with founder Jon Guelzow about what he has done to make his product stand out from the swatch of clear liquors on the shelves of local liquor stores.
“We want a clean tasting, smooth vodka that has no aftertaste,” Guelzow says. Using local ingredients is a key part of that process for the Vanjak team. “We looked at the vodka industry as a whole and realized that the majority of the vodkas being sold are all foreign. We were looking at the resources we had here in Colorado and we felt as though if we put a moderately priced vodka in the market we could do something good with it.”
Their product passes through their signature ‘Silver Filtration’ process, which according to the company’s website allows them “to curb as well as enhance, certain organoleptic characteristics of the finished product.” The silver works as an anti-bacterial and allows the company to send the vodka through a carbon process producing a very clean product. “You can taste the smoothness,” Guelzow says. “It tastes like what vodka is supposed to taste like.”
Another thing separating Vanjak from other fine vodkas (especially ones produced here in Colorado) is the price point - a 750 ml bottle costs around $17. Many other small-batch vodkas are nearly twice as expensive.
They also try to incorporate their love of the outdoors into marketing the brand. Guelzow and his wife have been in Colorado for over twenty years, drawn in by the active culture here. Vanjak Vodka, appropriately, plays towards that, marketing itself as a true Colorado brand that ‘embodies the state’s purity and refreshingly honest character.’
“(The culture) is a pretty big deal, to be honest with you, because my wife and I both moved here for the outdoor activities,” he said. “Most people that move here have that theme in their life, so we are trying to capitalize on that.”
Guelzow comes from a long background in the liquor industry, over twenty years at this point, a long path that fostered his desire to create a strong local product that the state can be proud of. Vanjak is delivered to clients out of the back of their company truck, no middleman involved. “I started off at a distributor being a salesman, went into retail, and now went into distilling,” he said. “It made sense, and it’s something we enjoy doing - making a brand having fun with it.”
Having fun seems to be the key to putting personality into your business - fun is something that is hard to fake. For entrepreneurs, separating yourself from those doing the same thing is second nature, but it is often easier said than done. An entrepreneur needs to find their voice, their way of letting people known that the product is originally and absolutely theirs.
Straying outside of the booze world, and away from Colorado, travel blogger Alyssa Ramos is the perfect example of an entrepreneur doing the business of blogging her way. I recently came across an article she wrote for the Huffington Post that documented how her constant travel has ruined her dating life, and started thinking about the ‘constant travel’ part. I know plenty of bloggers, most of whom make no money and have little actual knowledge to share outside of their opinions. This got me wondering how Ramos grew her brand to a point where she is not only travelling constantly but doing so as an authority and trend setter. Her blog, My Life’s A Movie, is a record of her world travels and advice documented through articles, listicles, photos, and video - plus a full social media suite of awesomeness.
It seemed to me that no one starts out simply as a blogger. I wanted to know how she built this - how she got people to care and to trust her judgment on things. The ability to have something to say that people actually want to hear has to come from somewhere, and for Ramos it all started with a snap decision to move from Florida to LA. She left a solid job to head into the unknown. “I graduated with a bio degree, I was a vet tech,” Ramos says. “I came to LA to visit and I hadn’t considered moving anywhere before, but I ended up cancelling my ticket home and staying in LA. So that was the whole ‘quit your job and do something else’ part.”
The travel bug was planted by an itch to volunteer in Africa. She had never done anything like that before - her travel experience consisted of little other than sojourns with friends or significant others and quick road trips during college. She looked into a volunteer opportunity in Muizenburg, South Africa and planned on making the leap. “I was waiting for someone else to book the trip too, and I waited so long that it ended up getting filled,” she says. With her deposit money for the trip out the door, she made the decision to just put together a trip to Africa on her own (it ended up working out - she booked a flight and met up with the volunteer program anyway). She has since founded a charity aiding the children in Muizenberg in obtaining new t-shirts, a luxury many of them never had. Find out more at heartsleeves.org
While there, another idea struck in addition to the charity she founded. “I was like, ‘I might as well see how much it costs to jump over to Thailand, because it’s cheaper if you’re already over there,” Ramos says. “I’m apparently really good at figuring out cheap flights and I got connections from South Africa to Thailand to Australia and back to LA, a revolution around the world.”
Three continents in three weeks- that’ll do a lot for not only the confidence but for the wanderlust in you. How do you go back to a 9-5 lifestyle after you’ve had a first-hand experience with cultures around the world? When you have experienced the door-opening freedom of extended travel, is there a way to re-incorporate yourself into the hustle and bustle of the corporate world? “I hate having a schedule that someone else makes,” Ramos says. “I can’t do that.”
Her reaction after returning from three weeks encircling the globe? “I’m going to do more crazy stuff!” She has since traveled to 32 countries on six continents now and has not only a blog but a social media following reaching over 50,000 people (35,000 on Instagram alone).
That extended trip was the start of the My Life’s a Movie brand. On the surface, the image of her blog is that of a ditzy wanderlust exploring the world from a single girl’s perspective, and certainly this is part of the curb appeal. But dig a little deeper, read the articles, and you’ll find a brilliant voice that is making solo international travel much more appealing and attainable for women and men alike. “I am keen at business, I know what I’m doing and, especially with Huffington Post, I write my headlines in a way that makes people go, ‘Did that bitch really just say that?”
Her content is very clearly hers, and her advice is worded in a way that is not only relevant but surprisingly not intimidating. “I don’t ever want it to be like ‘ooh look at me, I did this awesome thing and I can travel and you can’t” Ramos says. “That’s the opposite of what I try to do. I try to do things that are actually informative for them and it’s almost like ‘I’m going to test the waters and see what’s out there so that you can go do it to.’”
Her approach to documenting her travels is simple. “I just have so much to say and I have a really good memory,” she says. “I take a lot of pictures but I can remember so much and have so much to say about it. There is so much more to say about travelling than about a celebrity or a TV show. I write non-stop.”
Her passion shines through her work, and is what keeps her going. Because of this, she has developed a strong business sense and is very specific about what she posts and when. As a blogger, there is no money coming in right away - everything is earned through hard work and relationship building. “It’s a lot of risk,” Ramos says. “I’m not rich and I’m not going to be rich anytime soon because the money I do make I spend on traveling.”
Makes sense. She’s already got me wanting to pack my bags and hit the road immediately. As I sit here finishing yet another stiff Vanjak Tuff Mudder, I am already dreaming about my next trip. Keep that snow falling because in a few short weeks, Jackson Hole here I come!
Tim Wenger is a Denver-based microshiner, journalist, musician, and avid snowboarder. Check in with him at @timwenger1 and catch more of his work at Colorado Music Buzz, Snowboard Colorado, and his weekly talk show on worldviral.tv