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My successes.

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Vanlice Lemonade由Vee Washington于2017年7月创立, who set out to make the best lemonade on earth! The lemonade can be ordered online, 并在9家Hy-Vee门店以及独立零售商和餐厅销售.

I think for me, success was landing my first Hy-Vee contract.  That was a big pinnacle for me,  and now we have nine Hy-Vee locations.  We are in several restaurants, liquor stores and general stores. Success is also having conversations with stores like Target. 他们喜欢我们的产品，我希望我们能与大卖场合作.

I also find success at our Farmer markets. When you have return customers, and they tell you the feedback and they bring friends, and they go home and order, it’s this organic growth of the business by word of mouth.  我也喜欢农贸市场，因为这是一个雇佣大学生和年轻人并教他们创业的机会.

What do you do?

Vee在研究了不同文化如何制作柠檬水后，精心制作了香草柠檬水的配方, all-natural lemonade. He watched as Asians, 印度人, Hispanics, Native Americans, Americans, West Africans and more made their best lemonade. Vanlice Lemonade is a family-owned and immigrant-owned business. The lemonade can be ordered online, 并在9家Hy-Vee门店以及独立零售商和餐厅销售.

What inspired you to start your business?

I am a first-generation immigrant, and really, 我们的目标是找出如何制作出最好的柠檬水，并回归到真正的成分. 市面上有很多人造产品，尤其是针对我们的孩子的.  我发现很多他们说对你健康的饮料尝起来都很恶心. You have to develop something that tastes good at the same time. That was the focus.

I also set out to create a business I can do with my family. 我的女儿Hazel(7岁)积极地和我一起工作，学习如何成为一名企业家.  从第一天起，她就一直在帮助我，从洗柠檬到把东西放在架子上.  I'm teaching her what a CEO is,  and
it's been fun seeing her develop into this mini CEO. 事实上，在农贸市场，黑兹尔的迷你小摊通常比我的卖得好.  I love teaching her that anything's possible as long as you want to do it, and as long as you want to put your mind to it.

What's special about your business?

香草柠檬水是现榨柠檬水，里面有一点香草豆. 我们什么都自己做，包括生产我们自己的香草豆. We also do home deliveries -- old-school "milkman" style. 整个想法是把它带回到老式的柠檬水和纯天然的成分. 

 

What have been the high and low points of being a business owner?

最爽的肯定是看到我女儿更成熟了 .  我喜欢和她一起创作，然后看着她和朋友和同学一起测试，然后听她从学校得到的反馈.

I also like just watching our customers. I will sit back and watch the customer go and grab a lemonade, open it up, and they don’t know I’m the creator. I don’t tell people sometimes. I watch the expression on their face. It’s like oh my gosh, what is this? The kids grab it and they don’t want to put it down. 只是看着整个过程，然后听到人们的反馈，说它是多么自然，不会给我“讨厌的脸”，或者那些说“我是糖尿病患者”的人, it’s the only thing I can drink.“所以，这类事情对人们有积极的影响.

低是不知道真正发展业务需要多少钱，尤其是当你全职做这件事的时候. 最困难的事情是要预算你与家人在一起的时间，同时也要能够发展业务.  我试图管理资金方面的问题，还要管理我们销售产品的速度，但我们没有足够的资金来补充资金. 最大的问题是缺乏足够的资金来发展我们想要发展的业务. 

What is your relationship with SCORE? SCORE client What influenced you to seek help from SCORE?

A guy said, “You know what? I love your lemonade. You need to check out SCORE.” I was like, “What’s SCORE?他解释说，SCORE是一个想要帮助企业主的组织. 

一开始我很不情愿，但后来我们尝试了一下，我就知道它不一样了. It’s a different vibe.  这些人了解他们的业务，当你得到他们的时间时，他们可以帮助你弥补一些差距.

How SCORE helped.

SCORE has been highly beneficial.  It’s an incredible organization. Every time I meet with my mentor, it’s a mind-blowing experience where I see, this is how I fix this, or else he'll connect with somebody who can help me. 

Specifically, he helped with strategy and the production process. 我们必须为制作制定一个更好的时间表，并了解我们需要发展什么. We were having an issue outgrowing our space really fast, and so he laid out a whole plan of what we could do.

他做销售，我也做销售，所以他理解我，鼓励我走出自己的舒适区. 这个职位迫使你更加努力地销售，因为你需要这样做.  It’s scary at times, 但我们需要那些在生活中非常成功的人的鼓励，他们知道如何才能达到下一个层次. 

What's great about my mentor?

My current mentor is Greg. It usually took me a long time to explain my business to people, but when we first met, I said what I had to say, and he got it right away. 他立即画出了整张黑板，上面写着如何解决我的问题的建议.  I could see right away he was as passionate about it as I was.   He’s been extremely helpful.

你会给那些想创业的人什么建议?

我要给的第一个建议是，不要过早辞掉你的日常工作. 我走开了，我应该再等一会儿的.  你知道什么时候该辞职，但最好有个后备计划.

第二，关注并倾听那些真正做过这件事的人. Everyone wants to give you advice. Do this, you should do this, you should do that.  I just take advice from people who’ve done it. 当涉及到商业时，我试着研究我想成为的人. I study how they operate,  how they got there, 然后我一直试着按照他们走过的步骤去做(或者跳过一些步骤).

我觉得家人很努力地想保护你告诉你不该做的事. 他们是好意，但我觉得如果我听家人的话就不会在这里了. I probably would have quit by now.

 

What would you tell a fellow business owner about SCORE?

I would say hop on SCORE as fast as you can. Try to find a mentor as fast as you can. 然后注意这些研讨会发来的邮件, because they’re extremely helpful. I did a legal workshop on trademarking, it was crazy how much time and energy I saved.

皇冠现金官网弥补了你不知道的东西的空白，并帮助填补了你需要的空白.

 

What have you learned from your experiences as a business owner?

I like to ask questions. And I'm very humble, so it's that thing too. 所以如果有人愿意给我展示一些东西，我愿意坐在那里倾听和学习.

我未来3到5年的目标是至少经营100家门店. 我还想买一个大的盒式商店，比如塔吉特或全食. 我也希望能够弄清楚如何将我的手从业务的生产方面解放出来，专注于能够与人互动，销售更多的客户，从而能够腾出更多的时间.

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