The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch is the most exciting and informative business show to hit the airwaves. It can be seen weeknights on CNBC.
Monday night (10/15/07) on The Big Idea two stories caught my eye. The first company pulled in 5 million in sales last year selling a forty-dollar bottle of Vodka called P.I.N.K. Their slogan… “World’s Perfect Party Spirit.� Created by David Mandell who initially ran the company out of his 2-bedroom NY apartment after quitting his job at the Federal Aviation 
Administration. What makes this Vodka different? Besides the beautiful award winning bottle’s design is that the Vodka is infused with both caffeine and the extract from the Brazilian guarana plant. So it’s more like a pumped up espresso than a martini. What’s amazing is how having no beverage-industry experience did not deter Mandell. He quickly filled in the blanks doing Google searches to locate a flavoring company that was willing to help him develop the formula. A major hurdle was to find a distiller willing to make a small quantity, 2,500 cases versus an order of 200,000 from Bacardi or Diageo.
The other story that won my heart is about two women who met when their daughters were first grade classmates. Long story short Bonnie Kelly and Teresa Walsh started chatting about how they could earn some extra cash. After experimenting with a few business ideas they each took 25 bucks from their grocery money and pursued their passion for sterling silver jewelry.
They started designing jewelry creations and hosting what they called “A Fun Ladies’ Night out Playing Dress-up with Jewelry!�™ One party led to another, and, it wasn’t long before Silpada Designs was born. In 2006 retail sales surpassed 190 million dollars and this year retail sales are projected to be nearly $250 million, making it the fastest-growing sterling silver jewelry home show company in the U.S. with more than 3 million customers across the country… and counting.
My weekend favorite is Your Business, the affable host is JJ Ramberg. This show focuses on small business and airs Sunday mornings on MSNBC. Of course shows like Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart and The View showcase entrepreneurs from time to time so I will keep you posted on these shows and many others as well.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12:09 am and is filed under Donny Deutsch, Women Entrepreneurs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “Businessman Gives Vodka a Face Lift”
Leave a Reply
October 17th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I LOVE Biography on the A&E channel (True Hollywood Story, Inside the Actors Studio and Behind the Music offer many valuable lessons that are applicable to business).
Live Your Dreams,
Jill Koenig
Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker
http://www.GoalGuru.com