Living in Alignment

Being an entrepreneur is hands down the most fun thing I have ever done in my life. Being my own boss, completely in control of how I spend my time while being completely dependent on myself is booth exhilarating and fulfilling. I’ve shared my excitement about this path with many of my friends and family, joking that the only downside of this amazing life is that I’m not making any money. I say it in jest but it feels more and more true every day.

We’re approaching the one-month countdown to the launch of Hazlo (which feels surreal) and we’re also watching the wrong kind of zeros appearing in my bank account (which feels way too real). I made the decision to go full-time on my business with the assumption it’d be quite some time before I would see any money from Hazlo. I’ve known all along that I was going to need to find another source of income in order to support myself but I didn’t have any clear idea of what that would entail.

My first instinct was to look for consulting or contract work in the software industry. This would be both logical and the lowest barrier to entry given my experience and when I moved to Denver I began reaching out to various people to gauge their interest in bringing me on. I heard back from exactly zero companies during this first outreach attempt.

Now I worked in an outbound sales role for 5+ years so getting no response from a cold email was nothing new but what I found so interesting is that I was almost happy that no one responded. Contrary to what I’d do in the past where I’d be inspired to strategize another avenue into the company and craft up an even more compelling value proposition, the primary feeling I had was relief.

I spent some time reflecting on this, trying to figure out how I could be responding in this manner when my financial situation was in such a place. I calculated that I had a runway of 3 months if I didn’t have any money coming in so the need for income was very real, yet I was content knowing that I was about to spend another day in the red. What I came to realize is that I just really didn’t want to do software sales anymore.

There are many obvious reasons why I’ve been enamored with the idea of Hazlo from the quality of the product we created to the value I believe I will deliver to my customers. A major one that might not be as obvious is that it’s a physical product. After five years of selling technology, I was desperate to be able to feel and touch the product that I was advocating for so heavily. The option to work part-time in software made sense from a logical and financial perspective but was completely contradicting the direction I wanted to go in my life and what lead to me going all-in on my business. I decided that this misalignment is what was leading to my indifference so I set out in search of something that paired better with my vision for Hazlo.

Given that my business will be an alcohol-related brand, I shifted my attention to something in the alcohol-related world. Getting involved in the alcohol industry would not only help me financially but also allow me to make connections and gain a deeper understanding of the world I was trying to play in. The only problem with this idea is that there are limited options for jobs in this industry and the need for connections meant I didn’t have any currently. I decided that working at a bar or liquor store would be the best option, ideally one that focused heavily on Tequila.

I began the search but was again met with a surprising lack of urgency. I spoke to friends and got a list of the top Tequila bars and Mexican restaurants in the city but found myself making excuses to not go there and ask if they were hiring. I also had a list of great boutique liquor stores that were potential accounts for Hazlo but when I went there to meet with them, I couldn’t get myself to inquire about job opportunities.

This led to me shaming myself pretty heavily for not making more of an effort when I knew I needed a job badly. The self-doubt began to creep in as I started to believe I wasn’t willing to work hard to make my dream come true. Even so, I did my best to maintain a positive outlook, focusing on Hazlo and doubling down on my networking efforts so I could widen my search beyond these few options.

About a week later, one of my good friends from growing up came to town to visit her sister and we were planning to meet up for happy hour. I’d been living in Denver for about six weeks and had been out very little due to COVID so I haven’t had time to compile my list of go-to spots, the only bars I knew of were the Tequila bars that I was currently avoiding. I did know that a local artist I had found on Instagram had been promoting her solo gallery which was being held at this place called Ironton Distillery. I was a fan of the artist and it sounded like a cool experience to drink and check out the gallery so I recommended we go there.

When we arrived, we were told that the gallery was closed for the evening for a private party. They also said that they had about an hour's wait due to it being a glorious Denver Saturday so we put our name in and wandered around the neighborhood. We stopped into the spot next door which quoted us an even longer wait time so we decided that we might as well go back to Ironton and enjoy the last bit of the nice afternoon weather. No one seemed to be leaving the patio area so when we went back up to check on our table, our wait hadn’t changed at all but when I asked about sitting inside they said that we could be seated right away. 

Our waitress was super nice but you could they didn’t have enough people working for how busy they were as she was running all over the place so another gentleman wound up taking our order. After our second round of drinks, we were trying to close out to head to our dinner reservation and wound up flagging down the same man to help us out. He was super nice and helpful so I asked him, “Are our tips going to you? You’ve been helping us out all day and we want to make sure we reward you for it.”

His response was, “I’m actually the GM so no, I won’t be getting the tips but all of the staff splits tips evenly. I’m helping out because we’re pretty understaffed right now. We’re hiring for all positions if any of you are looking for a job.” My friend immediately turns and points at me saying, “He needs a job.” He offered me his business card and said to shoot him an email with my resume and went back to trying to manage the madness.

The next day I sat at my desk debating whether I should follow up on this job opportunity. My hesitation was twofold, for one they are a distillery that makes all of their own alcohol (not Tequila obviously since that can only be made in Mexico) and the cocktail menu was extremely sophisticated (we’re talking absinthe cocktails with house-made strawberry purée sophisticated). 

I was thinking about what my qualifications were and why they would want to hire me - I’m a struggling entrepreneur who’s obsessed with Tequila and whose only experience making drinks was at a college bar where our specialty was Jaeger bombs. I felt supremely underqualified and that I was sure to be rejected but I had this gut feeling that I needed to send them my resume. 

I decided that I would regret not sending the email way more than I would regret getting rejected so I spent a little time updating my resume and fired off the email. To my surprise, he emailed me back saying they’d love to have me come in for an interview that following Wednesday.

As I prepped for the interview, the lack of experience became more and more prevalent. I was watching youtube videos on how to make basic cocktails like old fashioned and negronis and was not totally confident I could make one under pressure. I decided that my best bet was to be brutally honest about who I was and my qualifications – that I’m seeking this job as a part-time position while I launch my beverage brand and that my only bar experience was from 7 years ago where I learned how to make a mean whiskey coke. I didn’t want to waste either of our times if they needed someone with extensive craft cocktail experience.

When I showed up to the interview, I was met by the GM whom I had emailed with and the new bar manager who was there for his first day. The interview was pretty casual, they asked some questions to get to know me where I had the opportunity to tell them the brutally honest spiel I had prepared. They were surprisingly excited about my business venture and said that they were open to bringing someone on without experience for them to train. It almost seemed too good to be true and when they asked me what questions I had, I tried my best to play it cool and not come back immediately with a desperate plea of, “When can I start?”

They mentioned at the beginning of the interview that they had worked together previously so the new manager starting was a sort of reunion.  I figured a safe question to ask them about where they worked together before and what that was like. They responded saying they spent 4 years working together at a Tequila bar. When I probed further, they told me they were the two main managers for Los Chingones, the top Tequila bar recommendation I had been given since moving to Denver.

What’s more, the new bar manager had gone through CRT certification (Tequila Regulatory Council) meaning the Mexican government has certified him to be a Tequila educator. The last 20 minutes of the interview were spent discussing our favorite Tequilas. 

When they offered for me to come in two days later for a trial shift I happily accepted and drove away in complete shock about what just happened. It still gives me chills thinking about that drive home. Everything came together so perfectly and this opportunity seemed to just fall into my lap. I say fall into my lap because there is no doubt that immense luck was involved but I believe there were two things I did that put me in a position to be this lucky. 

The first being that I trusted my gut. The times in my life when I’ve been the most miserable is when I pursued something because it was the logical choice and what I “should” do. I was faced with those same logical opportunities but I leaned on my experience to give me the strength to not settle even as the money stress continued to build.

The second is that I never stopped moving forward. I was faced with limited resources and connections, overwhelming self-doubt, and a dwindling savings account but I refused to be stagnant.  I kept working on myself and my business and putting out into the universe that I wanted something that checked all of the boxes. 

I had my first real shift on Friday and I’m already loving being back working at a bar.

I know this was a longer post than normal but once I got started, I couldn't help but add in all of the details to help paint the picture and convey just how unbelievable the ending is. This isn't the first time it's felt like the universe conspired to make things happen for me, the fact that it keeps happening is what makes me believe that I’m headed in the right direction in life and with my business. 

I’m well aware of how lucky I am and I’m going to do my best to make the most of this opportunity!