[Music]
welcome back to beer and business and we
are here at Southern Champion with
Marilee kicks the founder the owner the
CEO of this wonderful company and before
we get into it I have here I am
privileged to be sipping some crooked
Fox now this is a very interesting blend
for those of you who know a little bit
about Kentucky and Tennessee liquor this
is actually a blend that crosses
perceptions what do we got here so
crooked Fox is a blend of Kentucky and
Tennessee Bourbons and a lot of people
think that bourbon only comes from
Kentucky but it doesn’t they also make
it in Tennessee so what we did was we
took the best of the best with the
Kentucky and Tennessee Bourbons blended
them together and have a little bit of
smoked char in there so it tastes really
good this is a sweet sip so you are
obviously a female entrepreneur you’re a
CEO you’re a founder this is a spirits
company which is typically been an old
boys industry so there’s so many angles
that I’d like to talk about that I think
entrepreneurs want to hear about but
let’s start with how did you do it what
was on your mind what sparked you to
then turn a thought into something of
the business plan and take that first
step well it’s it wasn’t as much of a
conscious decision than more of an
impulse decision I was about to get a
divorce
and I had two kids to raise and I was
terrified and I knew that being a
teacher I wasn’t gonna make any money
and I I was really worried about being
able to afford any kind of lifestyle so
I took the chance on taking my whole
teacher salary every month and paying
for a rental warehouse and got my
permits got everything set up and I just
researched research researched and just
figured out how to do it pitched my
first product buzz buzz these little
colorful balls here I pitched that idea
to glaciers wholesale to a guy named
Blair Casey and and he told me no and
then I went to Republic national another
account and I asked them if they would
take in our product they said no came
back
glaziers a few months later after
working on it a little more refined the
prices a little bit and they finally
said yes luckily for me the guy that
bought it was a former Plano high school
student that was working for gallo and
glaziers and all of this so anyway we
got this product in on a test run ever
since then it’s it’s been history we’re
eight years in and now that guy works
for me Blair Casey so that’s a great
straight so what’s he actually a student
or did you just know that you were a
teacher he was a 26 year vet of the
industry but I didn’t start with him he
knew I was a teacher and I started out
doing this this company with myself
mostly and my sons and their friends and
I’d give him some beer money every now
and then to help me so yeah it was it
was a very difficult go for three years
I had to still teach and work at the
radio station and do this business at
night so you were basically just like
most entrepreneurs you were literally
bootstrapping with whatever spare coins
you had yeah because you didn’t have a
family member to say you know skip the
bootstrap phase here’s a hundred
thousand dollars you didn’t have like
actually my grandfather let me inherit
some money so I had twenty-seven
thousand dollars from a bond a Treasury
bond that I had and I took that money
and I didn’t tell my husband about it
because we were about to get a divorce
and I knew that I just needed that and
so I hid it in the back of this living
room clock and I knew he would never
wind the clock so I thought okay I’m
gonna put it back in there and so I hid
it in there and I used that to help
bootstrap the business and then I also
took some of that inheritance money that
I’d had that I had put down on my house
as a down payment
and the bank but that was giving me an
SBA loan said that they would give me a
home equity line of credit a HELOC if I
applied every every bit of equity from
my house they would supplement with a
little bit of an SBA loan as well and
then that would that would get me by
with my business plan tell me what was
the inspiration behind these little guys
is the first product that led you to
take all those risks and take all of
your spare change and get an SBA loan
what inspired you to create invent
conjure craft these I was grading papers
by the pool as a teacher does I had a
votive candle there it was really a cool
shape and cool design and I thought you
know I have a cocktail out here I
shouldn’t have a glass container out by
the pool and I thought wouldn’t it be
cool if I made a round container that
was the shape of this ball I was getting
my MBA and at Texas Woman’s University
and I needed a project and so I thought
why don’t I make these little things
called party balls and so I came up with
this idea that was my master’s degree
thesis project when I was getting my
master’s degree I went out to Louisville
to a company called bartosz net seus
foods and I said show me what a filler
line looks like show me what a pallet
rack looks like show me a pallet jack
show me a seamer so show me how do I do
this and I showed him my prototype and I
drew it out and I showed him what it was
supposed to look like and he said I’ve
never seen anything like that I’ve been
62 years in the business I’ve never seen
anything like that I don’t know it’s
actually a good thing because it can be
you know I learned how to create this
container by creating CAD designs and
developing it and I’m a child of the 60s
so I put my little love bug design down
underneath here to make a petal Oy base
so serious it’s super strong and it can
hold carbonation and a sphere is the
strongest shape they can I wanted it to
hold 95 pounds per square inch of
pressure and same with the lid so that a
Coke or any kind of carbonated type of
product in here wouldn’t blow the top
off that was one of the scientific my
parents were both scientists so you know
that was part of the science that went
back behind it and I also talked to
polymer experts at North Texas I talked
to the food science labs down at Texas
A&M
I talked to analytical food labs on
testing the product in there to make
sure it wouldn’t spoil
I talked to winery experts that were
people that could help me with where do
I get juice where do I get machinery
where do I get weight scales where do i
how do I test my product you know so I I
figured all that out so I think probably
my my best skill is research you’re a
complete autodidact as they would say
you know self-taught a hundred percent
so you just didn’t walk the plank on
this you did a ton of research behind
your concept before or as you were
taking those those other risks
financially right
were there any mentors that were
along that path that kind of stand out
saying well I’m glad I met this person
that you research and how did you meet
him who were they and how did they help
so Blair Casey is one of them from
glaciers wholesale glaciers is still a
very important integral part of our
business they’re one of our main
distributors worldwide so we love
glaciers and I hated to steal Blair
Casey but I asked permission first he
was very helpful my parents were very
helpful when I was out of cash after the
first six months they they sold part of
their ranch and gave me fifty thousand
dollars just to get me buy that helped a
lot that’s real money but that’s not
real money in dollars in venture example
I didn’t have that and and nobody would
give that to me because I was just a
teacher so being just a teacher
I heard that so many times from every
single Bank and now all those banks are
coming by going hey can I talk to you
can we have lunch can we you know can I
give you a loan can we talk private
equity can we you know can we do
anything to give you money so that you
know banks can give you money private
equity people can give you money but
it’s still closely helped we we keep
everything family-owned still you know I
think it’s interesting about what you
just said is you know you’re you’re just
a teacher did that motivate you did that
create a chip I mean a positive chip not
someone with a bad chip on their
shoulder who becomes bitter but it was
any of that positive motivation that
said you know what there’s a there’s one
day that you’re gonna look back and say
boy I wish I had made you know Marilee
kick and southern champion a partner um
no I don’t think it made a chip on my
shoulder or anything like that I just
thought if I build it they’ll come and
and I had to make it work because I
didn’t have a choice because I couldn’t
lose that money I had to make it work
and you know all those people that
helped me along the way I found that I
found that people are very helpful when
you ask they want to help they want to
see you succeed I I think a lot of
people want to see you succeed so I
wasn’t afraid to ask another guy that
was really helpful for me was a guy
named Bert or pelo he’s a legend here in
the booze business in Texas he knows
everybody and I said Bert I need help
selling my product can you come be a
broker for me or help and he goes well
Marilee I don’t think you need any help
I think you’re doing just fine
now I’m like Bert I need help
I said I need to get more more sales and
he said are you going to the wswa
and I had no idea what that was but I
wrote it down and I said yes I am
and I got the lamb no I got the last
spot on the trade show floor so I would
one of the things I wish I would have
learned earlier is trade shows you know
when you’re selling a consumer product
you’ve got to get it out there and you
can’t afford radio programs or TV spots
or anything like that any kind of real
advertising that’s out there so you have
to rely on yourself you know to get this
stuff out there and so trade shows were
huge for me my son and I took a road
trip and went to Vegas and went to our
first wswa which is the wine and spirits
wholesalers of America so every
wholesaler in the whole US was there we
had a little ten-by-ten booth and we we
put the the products out there the
little buzz Falls and every single
distributor in the US walked by our
booth and said what the heck is that and
so we told them and within one day we
had 15 new States sign up so that was
the make-or-break versus having just
three hundred retailers in Texas you
know now I’ve got 15 states with 1500
retailers in each one so it was really
great but if you hadn’t networked with
humility and just openly asked can you
help me with this then he wouldn’t have
told you about the wswa and you wouldn’t
have taken your son and said we’re going
to Vegas mom that’s great no you’re
gonna go work I need you to help me set
up a booth go there and then meet this
and then come back with you know another
15 contracts yeah it was unbelievable
it was unbelievable and so ever since
then we’ve made these buzz balls and
we’ve made the wine based versions and
the spirit based versions of these
things now but then since we’ve done
that a couple of years ago we invested
in ourselves and said you know what we
are going to make our own spirits lines
and we’re going to invest in other
things too so we’re vertically
integrated so that’s one of our
advantages as we do everything ourselves
we make these plastic containers with
our own machinery we ink these plastic
containers same with these Biggie’s to
we create these plastic cans we sleeve
them we have our own internal marketing
and graphics department we create our
own bourbon well we get it from Kentucky
in Tennessee but we bottle everything
here and we we do our own labeling we do
our own packaging filling boxing
shipping compliance legal work
everything here so we’re completely
vertically integrated which is really
something different I think then then
most people have in this industry which
really means end to end right what is it
like being a woman in an industry that
has been so famous for its hard-partying
old boys culture because the two sides a
hospital they have traditionally been
well here’s the liquid here’s the beer
the spirits the wine and here’s the
convention side of the business and
convention and big plans and big events
you had all kinds of women very
successful working for caesar’s selling
out giant conventions CES and things and
then on this side this is the boys and
the boys sell the liquor and the boys
sell the beer and the boys you know are
all part of that but you have been
incredibly successful here how have you
been able to be a successful CEO
let’s forget male or female in an old
boys market where they probably first
see you as a woman and wonder what is
she doing here you don’t know what you
don’t know when you go into something
you know so I didn’t know that I was one
of the only women doing this when I
started it so that kind of helped me the
other thing is is I grew up in Montana a
small-town girl so I’m used to doing
everything myself and including partying
with the boys so all you do is drink and
have sex in a small town so I was I said
you know I’ve got to be good at one of
them so I chose booze
I don’t mind hanging out with the boys I
I don’t get my feathers ruffled although
I am a feminist from the standpoint of
go get’em girl you know and to help
women and support women entrepreneurs I
am NOT
ball bash and you know kind of feminist
you know I love guys I’m married to a
guy I’ve got two boys as sons and most
of the guys I do work with our guys in
the in the distribution world but I love
hanging out with them and I love
partying with them I love their dirty
jokes I tell dirty jokes too and we’re
friends you know so to me it’s it’s not
about male or female it’s more about do
you like them or not
authenticity yeah being fun I saw some
buzz balls that had Texas Rangers logos
on yeah and yeah you have one right
there yeah and tell me about that about
extending this because you’re doing this
on your own and everything but now I
mean Major League Baseball or
professional sports that’s a level one
partner yeah proudly on on your product
yeah it’s amazing
part of this I give a credit to my team
you know it’s almost all credit to my
team they came up with the idea they
said it looks like a baseball we should
sleeve it with a baseball logo and so
they made an arrangement with the Texas
Rangers and we’re a partner of the Texas
Rangers so we are prominently displayed
at all the Texas Rangers games were up
on their billboards where we’ve got
kiosks going around we’ve got hawkers
going through the stands and it’s part
of our branding and our advertising and
getting our footprint out there so that
people know about it and we actually
bought some billboards along you know
near globe Life Park so that we could
help support it a little bit but you
know it’s it’s all about getting your
name out there you know I remember when
Mike’s Hard Lemonade started out you
know and I didn’t know what that was I
thought it was in smirnoff ice I thought
that was really Smirnoff it I didn’t
realize that was a malt based beverage
it was a flavored beer I thought it was
Smirnoff which was vodka and it wasn’t
you know so I mean the whole thing is a
marketing spin you know we’re making
alcoholic beverages that are spirit
based cocktails and wine based cocktails
we’re ready to drink ready to drink yeah
so it’s all in the way you have fun with
it and I think these are fun you know so
Texas Rangers they’re one of our local
companies that we partner with we also
partner with the Dallas Stars had a very
good run last year hope they do better
next year and make a playoff well
depending on the team you root for
sometimes your drinking really early in
the season if things aren’t going very
well well that’s the thing with booze
you drinking good times and in bad so
that’s a very sustainable industry
entrepreneurs they all want to know they
all want to hear the story the story
behind the story so were there any
mistakes along the way that worked out
well or didn’t work out well and just
was an important lesson it seems to
every young business has them I think
you have some stories yeah I mean
mistakes I don’t I think it was more of
a consequent not really as consequence
not really a mistake but you know like I
said I had to do everything myself and I
would go to two plastic companies and I
would say would you build these
containers for me in the United States
and say no not unless you’re gonna make
five million pieces of it and I’m like
well I only need a thousand you know
yeah lots of balls you know and I said
you know I don’t need that many but they
weren’t into the volumes that I was
ready to do so I had to go to China to
make the plastic containers and then my
son and I went to China after and we
wanted to figure out how to do it
ourselves
you went to you went to China and we
figured out how they were doing it and
then we had our own custom machinery
made and brought the machines back to
the United States and so we have our own
plant that brought all these jobs and
everything back to the United States we
have our own plant that makes these big
plastic balls these plastic balls these
plastic balls so we’re vertically
integrated from that so that is a
consequence that I didn’t realize at the
time you know making such a unique and
weird odd shaped container would be
detrimental because I’d have to have
custom machinery and custom everything
custom everything now one good thing
that came out of that is it’s harder to
knock off because the big boys don’t
want to adjust all their machines to
make a little round buzz ball they don’t
want to have custom machinery and custom
blow molds and custom you know
proprietary molds so luckily for me that
worked out in my favor you know there’s
something there that I think is very
topical right now as well is that you
did China to China where you went over
there you saw how they did it and you
came back home and you did it and built
jobs and did it yourself where you’ve
got everyone from Disney who supposedly
discovered that a DB DVD replication
house in China was a million out the
front door a hundred thousand out the
back door that Disney didn’t even know
about and they looked at her
authentic and I’m not knocking
everything made in China because there’s
certain economic reasons to do it I
don’t want to you know throw the baby
out with the bathwater but that is been
a very prevalent thing that would that
would happen and you you brought the
knowledge back and then you did it in
such a way that you’ve got this
proprietary advantage because some
people look at that and say maybe today
that’s too hard for me to fuss with and
therefore they let you alone and while
they let you alone you’re growing you
know do you do you look back on any
things that happened earlier like a
mistake that or something that you later
found out oh my gosh you know did this
wrong and it was just an important
lesson I had a guy that worked for me
I’m not gonna say his name but I had a
guy that worked for me and I loved this
guy I trusted this guy he meant the
world to me and he was experienced in in
this business and I brought him on board
and he worked for me for about six
months and then I just felt like
something was was not right I didn’t
trust my gut instinct something seemed
odd some people in the organization were
saying something seems odd but I like
this guy so much that I overlooked it
back to what would you tell somebody in
an elevator speech you know I would
definitely say trust your instincts so
that is where crooked Fox came from
because basically he went out and he
tried to make a knockoff buzz Bob tried
to steep while he stole all my
intellectual property all of how do I
set up you know in the school of merrily
how to you know how do I shortcut this
life lesson he learned a lot from me in
terms of copying my materials and
copying my stuff and then incorporating
himself as a replica of me and trying to
steal that we sued and we won it’s over
now but that was my life lesson of trust
your instinct and if you think
something’s wrong it probably is wrong
and that’s an in life in general right
not just business I think that’s a very
important point about about managing
people so clearly now I understand a Sly
Fox that was crooked and we have crooked
Fox right I think what most people you
know think about is you know how do I
make good decisions on people and
sometimes it just takes time because you
have to have years
evaluating people you hire an accountant
you have years of evaluating that person
and you learn how to trust you learn
like a little playbook on people and
those things take time what do you wish
something that maybe didn’t take time
that somebody had told you on day one
that you could have taken that piece of
advice on day one everybody says trust
people trust people trust people you
gotta learn to trust people I I still
don’t trust people and it’s very
difficult to trust people until they
prove they can be trusted I’ve been
burned so many times by people that I’ve
trusted you know in including this one
so I think when you’re a business owner
you you look at things through through a
different lens when you’re a mother or a
father you have an idea of what your
children are doing and when they lie to
you you kind of had us have a sixth
sense that tells you and not really
buying that you know you probably did
this you were probably the culprit
behind this and that goes for managing
employees too it’s like you don’t always
know what’s right what’s wrong but you
just have to follow your instinct and
and hope that you’re making the best
choices somewhere along the way you know
and that you’re gonna make mistakes too
but you just have to trust your parental
instincts and as a manager as a business
owner if it appears from the outside
that you very carefully brought family
into the business and you’ve also talked
about at the beginning you went out and
found experts and said hey I don’t know
what I know can you help me write it was
there any intentionality to the pace at
which you actually brought the family
into the business know is desperation at
first I couldn’t afford anybody else so
I brought in my sons they both helped
out and their friends helped out my
son’s girlfriend who is now his wife
came in and helped out you know just so
it wasn’t it wasn’t because of I chose
them it was just hey they needed a job I
needed an employee and I knew I could
make them work so but now over time
we’ve hired a lot of friends family
friends and it is difficult if there’s a
situation you know there’s a lot of
Tears if you have to let them go or if
they leave you
it is a difficult compromising feeling
do you have any tips on people other
than trust slowly and let them earn your
trust on selecting or managing people I
think that the most important lesson I
could give somebody that’s a new manager
is don’t be their best friends don’t try
to do everything with them and open up
to them on everything you’ve got to keep
a certain distance there but at the same
time I think the most important reason
why people stay with you is because you
care because you care about them
genuinely about who they are the things
they do they’re family and things that
interest them so if you take an actual
interest in them and care about them I
think they’ll they’ll stay on board that
is really insightful on people but the
moat one most important people here is
you and you look at yourself today you
probably say wow I’m very different than
it was four years ago and I’m different
when I’m gonna be four years out how do
you in the busyness of your business
keep developing yourself or be
self-reflective enough to develop
yourself I join a lot of women’s
organizations now and I didn’t used to
do that because the networking is super
super important I am promoting myself as
well you know going out for awards if I
need to or following up on interviews if
I if I if I’m asked like this one so
there’s a lot of personal development
like that that I didn’t have time to do
before and I wasn’t honestly even asked
to do so there’s some of that that has
come now I guess through time you know
because of the revenues we earn or
because of the awards I’ve won in the
past what have you learned as a CEO say
in the last three years and you step
back and go wow that was you know what
an interesting chapter era
yes season I think the most important
thing for any CEO is go go go you know
you don’t have time to analyze things to
death you know you’re not going to
always know the right or wrong answer to
things but you have to go and you have
to make mistakes and if you make a
mistake we’ll fix it you know you can
always go back and fix it
you don’t have to dwell on it forever
and make the perfect choice because you
never know if it’s gonna be the perfect
choice and then there’s all that mileage
you left behind just thinking about it
so go as it said you know a baseball
player that gets three hits out of ten
is batting 301 of the top 20 contracts
in the league you know and that’s three
out of ten and entrepreneurs have to
boldly come up the bat thinking you know
my batting average is gonna be my
batting average if I fail I fail but I’m
not gonna stop coming up and I’m not
gonna stop swinging that’s one thing
I’ve noticed about entrepreneurs is
there is a definite breed in
entrepreneurs entrepreneurs are people
that will go under things go around
things go above things they are you know
the rules are set in place by people
that are not entrepreneurs the rules are
set in place and an entrepreneur is
gonna find a way to get around that so
that that’s why there’s bankers out
there the bankers are the ones that say
oh you shouldn’t do that or I’m much too
conservative to do something that risky
but an entrepreneur is gonna do that
risk they’re gonna take that risk you
know you say to a banker that says that
thanks for the validation I’m doing it
I’m doing it what is next for Southern
champion you’ve you’ve gotten into the
spirits differentiated great blend
incredible product and I see you’ve gone
from the small balls to great big balls
yeah we’ve got some biggies yeah we’ve
got the biggie balls I was just like
this is lunch party yeah it’s a 3-liter
ball and it’s really actually it’s very
heavy if you tried to lift it it’s heavy
it’s like a bowling ball but it’s great
to put in your fridge and you know have
multiple servings 28 servings
it’ll fill you up birthday party yeah
it’s definitely a party and we only have
those in a few flavors we started
selling those in grocery stores in
California and some in Wyoming and some
in Texas and so we’re working with that
and then we have some private label
things that we’re doing as well and then
we have these that are coming out this
spring called buzz tall’s so we got
skinnier so we were short and fat and
then we got big and fat and then we got
tall and skinny that’s what we have you
know for our ready to drink buzz ball
portfolio and then we
our vodka rum gin bourbon wines and this
bourbon here that I was telling you
about the crooked box so and then we’re
doing some private labels as well so
we’re making private liquor brands and
we’re also doing some non-alcoholic
brands as well
GNC the vitamin stores you know we’re
doing some energy drinks for them as
well so we’re doing some non-alcoholic
packaged drinks for them so we’re just
kind of becoming a beverage conglomerate
you know and next thing I’m gonna do is
maybe barbecue sauce or something tell
me about GNC because clearly that’s an
adjacent that’s like an adjacent market
all of this is going to be sold in the
same aisle in it to a largely similar
customer uh-huh and it’s 21 and over
obviously but how did the GNC
relationship there’s got to be a good
story there that is a private label they
vitally know it’s a private label it’s
through a private label so a company
came to us and said we want a plastic
can and you guys have the ability to do
it and so we’re doing it for them and
this is what we want inside where do you
see this in five years are you still a
CEO or are you the Chairman and maybe
one of the boys steps in where do you
see it my son Alex is the president now
and I’m grooming him to take over I will
be retired hopefully in five years we’ll
see but that’s my goal it’s to retire
when I’m 60 can you really retire you
with your motor and your engine you’ve
got a lot of energy or grandkids by then
and I can like step back a little bit
you know so but I do have other
businesses that I plan on starting as
well and I do some charity work as well
for sex trafficked children to try to
help them get off the streets of Dallas
you know being a teacher I’m a kid
advocate so I really want to help kids
grow and develop and and become the best
they can be
so I’m married to a teacher she teaches
and Dallas at the school in Dallas two
kids learning differences so I
completely understand that and she
thinks I’m nuts so if you put her and me
together we probably get you the
entrepreneur and the teacher all in one
well this has been a delight and I think
this has really been strong stuff for
entrepreneurs around the world who can
take notes on this as they whether they
got a t-shirt company in Berlin or
they’re looking to do something in the
spirit slain there’s there’s just a
hunger out there to hear from people
like yourself who have the scars on your
back have done it and put it all
together do you have two quick parting
shots for those folks yeah I think that
the the most important thing I can say
is trust your instinct and every
business is a relationship business
build your business through your
relationships you have good
relationships and then they’ll stick by
you thank you so much that’s a great one
to end on well here’s to you and here’s
to southern champion in your future
thank you for watching burn business
this week we have been with merrily kick
the founder the CEO the chairman the
vision the heart and soul of southern
champion and the creator of buzz balls I
hope you’ve enjoyed it we’ll see you next time
welcome back to beer and business and we
are here at Southern Champion with
Marilee kicks the founder the owner the
CEO of this wonderful company and before
we get into it I have here I am
privileged to be sipping some crooked
Fox now this is a very interesting blend
for those of you who know a little bit
about Kentucky and Tennessee liquor this
is actually a blend that crosses
perceptions what do we got here so
crooked Fox is a blend of Kentucky and
Tennessee Bourbons and a lot of people
think that bourbon only comes from
Kentucky but it doesn’t they also make
it in Tennessee so what we did was we
took the best of the best with the
Kentucky and Tennessee Bourbons blended
them together and have a little bit of
smoked char in there so it tastes really
good this is a sweet sip so you are
obviously a female entrepreneur you’re a
CEO you’re a founder this is a spirits
company which is typically been an old
boys industry so there’s so many angles
that I’d like to talk about that I think
entrepreneurs want to hear about but
let’s start with how did you do it what
was on your mind what sparked you to
then turn a thought into something of
the business plan and take that first
step well it’s it wasn’t as much of a
conscious decision than more of an
impulse decision I was about to get a
divorce
and I had two kids to raise and I was
terrified and I knew that being a
teacher I wasn’t gonna make any money
and I I was really worried about being
able to afford any kind of lifestyle so
I took the chance on taking my whole
teacher salary every month and paying
for a rental warehouse and got my
permits got everything set up and I just
researched research researched and just
figured out how to do it pitched my
first product buzz buzz these little
colorful balls here I pitched that idea
to glaciers wholesale to a guy named
Blair Casey and and he told me no and
then I went to Republic national another
account and I asked them if they would
take in our product they said no came
back
glaziers a few months later after
working on it a little more refined the
prices a little bit and they finally
said yes luckily for me the guy that
bought it was a former Plano high school
student that was working for gallo and
glaziers and all of this so anyway we
got this product in on a test run ever
since then it’s it’s been history we’re
eight years in and now that guy works
for me Blair Casey so that’s a great
straight so what’s he actually a student
or did you just know that you were a
teacher he was a 26 year vet of the
industry but I didn’t start with him he
knew I was a teacher and I started out
doing this this company with myself
mostly and my sons and their friends and
I’d give him some beer money every now
and then to help me so yeah it was it
was a very difficult go for three years
I had to still teach and work at the
radio station and do this business at
night so you were basically just like
most entrepreneurs you were literally
bootstrapping with whatever spare coins
you had yeah because you didn’t have a
family member to say you know skip the
bootstrap phase here’s a hundred
thousand dollars you didn’t have like
actually my grandfather let me inherit
some money so I had twenty-seven
thousand dollars from a bond a Treasury
bond that I had and I took that money
and I didn’t tell my husband about it
because we were about to get a divorce
and I knew that I just needed that and
so I hid it in the back of this living
room clock and I knew he would never
wind the clock so I thought okay I’m
gonna put it back in there and so I hid
it in there and I used that to help
bootstrap the business and then I also
took some of that inheritance money that
I’d had that I had put down on my house
as a down payment
and the bank but that was giving me an
SBA loan said that they would give me a
home equity line of credit a HELOC if I
applied every every bit of equity from
my house they would supplement with a
little bit of an SBA loan as well and
then that would that would get me by
with my business plan tell me what was
the inspiration behind these little guys
is the first product that led you to
take all those risks and take all of
your spare change and get an SBA loan
what inspired you to create invent
conjure craft these I was grading papers
by the pool as a teacher does I had a
votive candle there it was really a cool
shape and cool design and I thought you
know I have a cocktail out here I
shouldn’t have a glass container out by
the pool and I thought wouldn’t it be
cool if I made a round container that
was the shape of this ball I was getting
my MBA and at Texas Woman’s University
and I needed a project and so I thought
why don’t I make these little things
called party balls and so I came up with
this idea that was my master’s degree
thesis project when I was getting my
master’s degree I went out to Louisville
to a company called bartosz net seus
foods and I said show me what a filler
line looks like show me what a pallet
rack looks like show me a pallet jack
show me a seamer so show me how do I do
this and I showed him my prototype and I
drew it out and I showed him what it was
supposed to look like and he said I’ve
never seen anything like that I’ve been
62 years in the business I’ve never seen
anything like that I don’t know it’s
actually a good thing because it can be
you know I learned how to create this
container by creating CAD designs and
developing it and I’m a child of the 60s
so I put my little love bug design down
underneath here to make a petal Oy base
so serious it’s super strong and it can
hold carbonation and a sphere is the
strongest shape they can I wanted it to
hold 95 pounds per square inch of
pressure and same with the lid so that a
Coke or any kind of carbonated type of
product in here wouldn’t blow the top
off that was one of the scientific my
parents were both scientists so you know
that was part of the science that went
back behind it and I also talked to
polymer experts at North Texas I talked
to the food science labs down at Texas
A&M
I talked to analytical food labs on
testing the product in there to make
sure it wouldn’t spoil
I talked to winery experts that were
people that could help me with where do
I get juice where do I get machinery
where do I get weight scales where do i
how do I test my product you know so I I
figured all that out so I think probably
my my best skill is research you’re a
complete autodidact as they would say
you know self-taught a hundred percent
so you just didn’t walk the plank on
this you did a ton of research behind
your concept before or as you were
taking those those other risks
financially right
were there any mentors that were
along that path that kind of stand out
saying well I’m glad I met this person
that you research and how did you meet
him who were they and how did they help
so Blair Casey is one of them from
glaciers wholesale glaciers is still a
very important integral part of our
business they’re one of our main
distributors worldwide so we love
glaciers and I hated to steal Blair
Casey but I asked permission first he
was very helpful my parents were very
helpful when I was out of cash after the
first six months they they sold part of
their ranch and gave me fifty thousand
dollars just to get me buy that helped a
lot that’s real money but that’s not
real money in dollars in venture example
I didn’t have that and and nobody would
give that to me because I was just a
teacher so being just a teacher
I heard that so many times from every
single Bank and now all those banks are
coming by going hey can I talk to you
can we have lunch can we you know can I
give you a loan can we talk private
equity can we you know can we do
anything to give you money so that you
know banks can give you money private
equity people can give you money but
it’s still closely helped we we keep
everything family-owned still you know I
think it’s interesting about what you
just said is you know you’re you’re just
a teacher did that motivate you did that
create a chip I mean a positive chip not
someone with a bad chip on their
shoulder who becomes bitter but it was
any of that positive motivation that
said you know what there’s a there’s one
day that you’re gonna look back and say
boy I wish I had made you know Marilee
kick and southern champion a partner um
no I don’t think it made a chip on my
shoulder or anything like that I just
thought if I build it they’ll come and
and I had to make it work because I
didn’t have a choice because I couldn’t
lose that money I had to make it work
and you know all those people that
helped me along the way I found that I
found that people are very helpful when
you ask they want to help they want to
see you succeed I I think a lot of
people want to see you succeed so I
wasn’t afraid to ask another guy that
was really helpful for me was a guy
named Bert or pelo he’s a legend here in
the booze business in Texas he knows
everybody and I said Bert I need help
selling my product can you come be a
broker for me or help and he goes well
Marilee I don’t think you need any help
I think you’re doing just fine
now I’m like Bert I need help
I said I need to get more more sales and
he said are you going to the wswa
and I had no idea what that was but I
wrote it down and I said yes I am
and I got the lamb no I got the last
spot on the trade show floor so I would
one of the things I wish I would have
learned earlier is trade shows you know
when you’re selling a consumer product
you’ve got to get it out there and you
can’t afford radio programs or TV spots
or anything like that any kind of real
advertising that’s out there so you have
to rely on yourself you know to get this
stuff out there and so trade shows were
huge for me my son and I took a road
trip and went to Vegas and went to our
first wswa which is the wine and spirits
wholesalers of America so every
wholesaler in the whole US was there we
had a little ten-by-ten booth and we we
put the the products out there the
little buzz Falls and every single
distributor in the US walked by our
booth and said what the heck is that and
so we told them and within one day we
had 15 new States sign up so that was
the make-or-break versus having just
three hundred retailers in Texas you
know now I’ve got 15 states with 1500
retailers in each one so it was really
great but if you hadn’t networked with
humility and just openly asked can you
help me with this then he wouldn’t have
told you about the wswa and you wouldn’t
have taken your son and said we’re going
to Vegas mom that’s great no you’re
gonna go work I need you to help me set
up a booth go there and then meet this
and then come back with you know another
15 contracts yeah it was unbelievable
it was unbelievable and so ever since
then we’ve made these buzz balls and
we’ve made the wine based versions and
the spirit based versions of these
things now but then since we’ve done
that a couple of years ago we invested
in ourselves and said you know what we
are going to make our own spirits lines
and we’re going to invest in other
things too so we’re vertically
integrated so that’s one of our
advantages as we do everything ourselves
we make these plastic containers with
our own machinery we ink these plastic
containers same with these Biggie’s to
we create these plastic cans we sleeve
them we have our own internal marketing
and graphics department we create our
own bourbon well we get it from Kentucky
in Tennessee but we bottle everything
here and we we do our own labeling we do
our own packaging filling boxing
shipping compliance legal work
everything here so we’re completely
vertically integrated which is really
something different I think then then
most people have in this industry which
really means end to end right what is it
like being a woman in an industry that
has been so famous for its hard-partying
old boys culture because the two sides a
hospital they have traditionally been
well here’s the liquid here’s the beer
the spirits the wine and here’s the
convention side of the business and
convention and big plans and big events
you had all kinds of women very
successful working for caesar’s selling
out giant conventions CES and things and
then on this side this is the boys and
the boys sell the liquor and the boys
sell the beer and the boys you know are
all part of that but you have been
incredibly successful here how have you
been able to be a successful CEO
let’s forget male or female in an old
boys market where they probably first
see you as a woman and wonder what is
she doing here you don’t know what you
don’t know when you go into something
you know so I didn’t know that I was one
of the only women doing this when I
started it so that kind of helped me the
other thing is is I grew up in Montana a
small-town girl so I’m used to doing
everything myself and including partying
with the boys so all you do is drink and
have sex in a small town so I was I said
you know I’ve got to be good at one of
them so I chose booze
I don’t mind hanging out with the boys I
I don’t get my feathers ruffled although
I am a feminist from the standpoint of
go get’em girl you know and to help
women and support women entrepreneurs I
am NOT
ball bash and you know kind of feminist
you know I love guys I’m married to a
guy I’ve got two boys as sons and most
of the guys I do work with our guys in
the in the distribution world but I love
hanging out with them and I love
partying with them I love their dirty
jokes I tell dirty jokes too and we’re
friends you know so to me it’s it’s not
about male or female it’s more about do
you like them or not
authenticity yeah being fun I saw some
buzz balls that had Texas Rangers logos
on yeah and yeah you have one right
there yeah and tell me about that about
extending this because you’re doing this
on your own and everything but now I
mean Major League Baseball or
professional sports that’s a level one
partner yeah proudly on on your product
yeah it’s amazing
part of this I give a credit to my team
you know it’s almost all credit to my
team they came up with the idea they
said it looks like a baseball we should
sleeve it with a baseball logo and so
they made an arrangement with the Texas
Rangers and we’re a partner of the Texas
Rangers so we are prominently displayed
at all the Texas Rangers games were up
on their billboards where we’ve got
kiosks going around we’ve got hawkers
going through the stands and it’s part
of our branding and our advertising and
getting our footprint out there so that
people know about it and we actually
bought some billboards along you know
near globe Life Park so that we could
help support it a little bit but you
know it’s it’s all about getting your
name out there you know I remember when
Mike’s Hard Lemonade started out you
know and I didn’t know what that was I
thought it was in smirnoff ice I thought
that was really Smirnoff it I didn’t
realize that was a malt based beverage
it was a flavored beer I thought it was
Smirnoff which was vodka and it wasn’t
you know so I mean the whole thing is a
marketing spin you know we’re making
alcoholic beverages that are spirit
based cocktails and wine based cocktails
we’re ready to drink ready to drink yeah
so it’s all in the way you have fun with
it and I think these are fun you know so
Texas Rangers they’re one of our local
companies that we partner with we also
partner with the Dallas Stars had a very
good run last year hope they do better
next year and make a playoff well
depending on the team you root for
sometimes your drinking really early in
the season if things aren’t going very
well well that’s the thing with booze
you drinking good times and in bad so
that’s a very sustainable industry
entrepreneurs they all want to know they
all want to hear the story the story
behind the story so were there any
mistakes along the way that worked out
well or didn’t work out well and just
was an important lesson it seems to
every young business has them I think
you have some stories yeah I mean
mistakes I don’t I think it was more of
a consequent not really as consequence
not really a mistake but you know like I
said I had to do everything myself and I
would go to two plastic companies and I
would say would you build these
containers for me in the United States
and say no not unless you’re gonna make
five million pieces of it and I’m like
well I only need a thousand you know
yeah lots of balls you know and I said
you know I don’t need that many but they
weren’t into the volumes that I was
ready to do so I had to go to China to
make the plastic containers and then my
son and I went to China after and we
wanted to figure out how to do it
ourselves
you went to you went to China and we
figured out how they were doing it and
then we had our own custom machinery
made and brought the machines back to
the United States and so we have our own
plant that brought all these jobs and
everything back to the United States we
have our own plant that makes these big
plastic balls these plastic balls these
plastic balls so we’re vertically
integrated from that so that is a
consequence that I didn’t realize at the
time you know making such a unique and
weird odd shaped container would be
detrimental because I’d have to have
custom machinery and custom everything
custom everything now one good thing
that came out of that is it’s harder to
knock off because the big boys don’t
want to adjust all their machines to
make a little round buzz ball they don’t
want to have custom machinery and custom
blow molds and custom you know
proprietary molds so luckily for me that
worked out in my favor you know there’s
something there that I think is very
topical right now as well is that you
did China to China where you went over
there you saw how they did it and you
came back home and you did it and built
jobs and did it yourself where you’ve
got everyone from Disney who supposedly
discovered that a DB DVD replication
house in China was a million out the
front door a hundred thousand out the
back door that Disney didn’t even know
about and they looked at her
authentic and I’m not knocking
everything made in China because there’s
certain economic reasons to do it I
don’t want to you know throw the baby
out with the bathwater but that is been
a very prevalent thing that would that
would happen and you you brought the
knowledge back and then you did it in
such a way that you’ve got this
proprietary advantage because some
people look at that and say maybe today
that’s too hard for me to fuss with and
therefore they let you alone and while
they let you alone you’re growing you
know do you do you look back on any
things that happened earlier like a
mistake that or something that you later
found out oh my gosh you know did this
wrong and it was just an important
lesson I had a guy that worked for me
I’m not gonna say his name but I had a
guy that worked for me and I loved this
guy I trusted this guy he meant the
world to me and he was experienced in in
this business and I brought him on board
and he worked for me for about six
months and then I just felt like
something was was not right I didn’t
trust my gut instinct something seemed
odd some people in the organization were
saying something seems odd but I like
this guy so much that I overlooked it
back to what would you tell somebody in
an elevator speech you know I would
definitely say trust your instincts so
that is where crooked Fox came from
because basically he went out and he
tried to make a knockoff buzz Bob tried
to steep while he stole all my
intellectual property all of how do I
set up you know in the school of merrily
how to you know how do I shortcut this
life lesson he learned a lot from me in
terms of copying my materials and
copying my stuff and then incorporating
himself as a replica of me and trying to
steal that we sued and we won it’s over
now but that was my life lesson of trust
your instinct and if you think
something’s wrong it probably is wrong
and that’s an in life in general right
not just business I think that’s a very
important point about about managing
people so clearly now I understand a Sly
Fox that was crooked and we have crooked
Fox right I think what most people you
know think about is you know how do I
make good decisions on people and
sometimes it just takes time because you
have to have years
evaluating people you hire an accountant
you have years of evaluating that person
and you learn how to trust you learn
like a little playbook on people and
those things take time what do you wish
something that maybe didn’t take time
that somebody had told you on day one
that you could have taken that piece of
advice on day one everybody says trust
people trust people trust people you
gotta learn to trust people I I still
don’t trust people and it’s very
difficult to trust people until they
prove they can be trusted I’ve been
burned so many times by people that I’ve
trusted you know in including this one
so I think when you’re a business owner
you you look at things through through a
different lens when you’re a mother or a
father you have an idea of what your
children are doing and when they lie to
you you kind of had us have a sixth
sense that tells you and not really
buying that you know you probably did
this you were probably the culprit
behind this and that goes for managing
employees too it’s like you don’t always
know what’s right what’s wrong but you
just have to follow your instinct and
and hope that you’re making the best
choices somewhere along the way you know
and that you’re gonna make mistakes too
but you just have to trust your parental
instincts and as a manager as a business
owner if it appears from the outside
that you very carefully brought family
into the business and you’ve also talked
about at the beginning you went out and
found experts and said hey I don’t know
what I know can you help me write it was
there any intentionality to the pace at
which you actually brought the family
into the business know is desperation at
first I couldn’t afford anybody else so
I brought in my sons they both helped
out and their friends helped out my
son’s girlfriend who is now his wife
came in and helped out you know just so
it wasn’t it wasn’t because of I chose
them it was just hey they needed a job I
needed an employee and I knew I could
make them work so but now over time
we’ve hired a lot of friends family
friends and it is difficult if there’s a
situation you know there’s a lot of
Tears if you have to let them go or if
they leave you
it is a difficult compromising feeling
do you have any tips on people other
than trust slowly and let them earn your
trust on selecting or managing people I
think that the most important lesson I
could give somebody that’s a new manager
is don’t be their best friends don’t try
to do everything with them and open up
to them on everything you’ve got to keep
a certain distance there but at the same
time I think the most important reason
why people stay with you is because you
care because you care about them
genuinely about who they are the things
they do they’re family and things that
interest them so if you take an actual
interest in them and care about them I
think they’ll they’ll stay on board that
is really insightful on people but the
moat one most important people here is
you and you look at yourself today you
probably say wow I’m very different than
it was four years ago and I’m different
when I’m gonna be four years out how do
you in the busyness of your business
keep developing yourself or be
self-reflective enough to develop
yourself I join a lot of women’s
organizations now and I didn’t used to
do that because the networking is super
super important I am promoting myself as
well you know going out for awards if I
need to or following up on interviews if
I if I if I’m asked like this one so
there’s a lot of personal development
like that that I didn’t have time to do
before and I wasn’t honestly even asked
to do so there’s some of that that has
come now I guess through time you know
because of the revenues we earn or
because of the awards I’ve won in the
past what have you learned as a CEO say
in the last three years and you step
back and go wow that was you know what
an interesting chapter era
yes season I think the most important
thing for any CEO is go go go you know
you don’t have time to analyze things to
death you know you’re not going to
always know the right or wrong answer to
things but you have to go and you have
to make mistakes and if you make a
mistake we’ll fix it you know you can
always go back and fix it
you don’t have to dwell on it forever
and make the perfect choice because you
never know if it’s gonna be the perfect
choice and then there’s all that mileage
you left behind just thinking about it
so go as it said you know a baseball
player that gets three hits out of ten
is batting 301 of the top 20 contracts
in the league you know and that’s three
out of ten and entrepreneurs have to
boldly come up the bat thinking you know
my batting average is gonna be my
batting average if I fail I fail but I’m
not gonna stop coming up and I’m not
gonna stop swinging that’s one thing
I’ve noticed about entrepreneurs is
there is a definite breed in
entrepreneurs entrepreneurs are people
that will go under things go around
things go above things they are you know
the rules are set in place by people
that are not entrepreneurs the rules are
set in place and an entrepreneur is
gonna find a way to get around that so
that that’s why there’s bankers out
there the bankers are the ones that say
oh you shouldn’t do that or I’m much too
conservative to do something that risky
but an entrepreneur is gonna do that
risk they’re gonna take that risk you
know you say to a banker that says that
thanks for the validation I’m doing it
I’m doing it what is next for Southern
champion you’ve you’ve gotten into the
spirits differentiated great blend
incredible product and I see you’ve gone
from the small balls to great big balls
yeah we’ve got some biggies yeah we’ve
got the biggie balls I was just like
this is lunch party yeah it’s a 3-liter
ball and it’s really actually it’s very
heavy if you tried to lift it it’s heavy
it’s like a bowling ball but it’s great
to put in your fridge and you know have
multiple servings 28 servings
it’ll fill you up birthday party yeah
it’s definitely a party and we only have
those in a few flavors we started
selling those in grocery stores in
California and some in Wyoming and some
in Texas and so we’re working with that
and then we have some private label
things that we’re doing as well and then
we have these that are coming out this
spring called buzz tall’s so we got
skinnier so we were short and fat and
then we got big and fat and then we got
tall and skinny that’s what we have you
know for our ready to drink buzz ball
portfolio and then we
our vodka rum gin bourbon wines and this
bourbon here that I was telling you
about the crooked box so and then we’re
doing some private labels as well so
we’re making private liquor brands and
we’re also doing some non-alcoholic
brands as well
GNC the vitamin stores you know we’re
doing some energy drinks for them as
well so we’re doing some non-alcoholic
packaged drinks for them so we’re just
kind of becoming a beverage conglomerate
you know and next thing I’m gonna do is
maybe barbecue sauce or something tell
me about GNC because clearly that’s an
adjacent that’s like an adjacent market
all of this is going to be sold in the
same aisle in it to a largely similar
customer uh-huh and it’s 21 and over
obviously but how did the GNC
relationship there’s got to be a good
story there that is a private label they
vitally know it’s a private label it’s
through a private label so a company
came to us and said we want a plastic
can and you guys have the ability to do
it and so we’re doing it for them and
this is what we want inside where do you
see this in five years are you still a
CEO or are you the Chairman and maybe
one of the boys steps in where do you
see it my son Alex is the president now
and I’m grooming him to take over I will
be retired hopefully in five years we’ll
see but that’s my goal it’s to retire
when I’m 60 can you really retire you
with your motor and your engine you’ve
got a lot of energy or grandkids by then
and I can like step back a little bit
you know so but I do have other
businesses that I plan on starting as
well and I do some charity work as well
for sex trafficked children to try to
help them get off the streets of Dallas
you know being a teacher I’m a kid
advocate so I really want to help kids
grow and develop and and become the best
they can be
so I’m married to a teacher she teaches
and Dallas at the school in Dallas two
kids learning differences so I
completely understand that and she
thinks I’m nuts so if you put her and me
together we probably get you the
entrepreneur and the teacher all in one
well this has been a delight and I think
this has really been strong stuff for
entrepreneurs around the world who can
take notes on this as they whether they
got a t-shirt company in Berlin or
they’re looking to do something in the
spirit slain there’s there’s just a
hunger out there to hear from people
like yourself who have the scars on your
back have done it and put it all
together do you have two quick parting
shots for those folks yeah I think that
the the most important thing I can say
is trust your instinct and every
business is a relationship business
build your business through your
relationships you have good
relationships and then they’ll stick by
you thank you so much that’s a great one
to end on well here’s to you and here’s
to southern champion in your future
thank you for watching burn business
this week we have been with merrily kick
the founder the CEO the chairman the
vision the heart and soul of southern
champion and the creator of buzz balls I
hope you’ve enjoyed it we’ll see you next time
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