People tell me all of the time that it takes money to make money! While it would be nice to have a lot of extra money to run our lemonade company, the reality is we have what we need and that is it. Four years ago I took out a 5k loan from my local credit union with a small piece of artwork held tightly in the palm of my hand feeling the adrenaline running through my veins. It was my logo, newly drawn in pencil by a local artist.
I believed this logo would change mine and my family’s life forever. I just knew that we could sell lemonade and help defray our living expenses and pay for our 3 kids college as I promised them. I was desperate to believe in something to help us- Lori’s Original Lemonade was born.
Last week we had to make one of the most difficult decisions, to lay off one of our team members. It is never easy, but this was especially difficult for so many reasons – we all cried. My accountants say its winter, we are seasonal, but it doesn’t make it easier. We are growing at such a rate that its harder and harder to keep expenses down. It’s the holidays, I envision beautiful gifts for my valued customers who feel like my new family. But, instead we decided to wrap a bottle of lemonade up with a candy cane and a nice note.
As we enter our 5th year we realize that it is making the tough choices that we are making now which is enabling our company to continue to be successful year after year – Staying scrappy is helping us learn valuable business principles and finding alternative solutions and resources we didn’t know we had.
Lori, Chief Believer xoxo
