How to Turn Heads by Running Your Business Your Way with Alex Pratt

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down how to turn heads by running your business your way. To drop these value bombs, I have brought to Alex Pratt in the EO Fire Studios. Alex is the CEO and founder of Good Boy Vodka, a fast-growing RTD brand known for great taste and a mission supporting veterans, service dogs, and breast cancer causes. And today, we'll talk about the early decisions that make or break a business. Also, we'll talk about growth.

0:38We'll talk about what separates a business from the rest in the competitive markets, how to future-proof your business, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Alex and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising.

1:21Get started today with Franocity's Franchise Funding Guide, packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings, visit franocity.com. That's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.com. Alex, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's going on, Fire Nation? Great question, John, that most people disagree with. I would say that with With building a business and becoming successful, I think that there's ways to understand what successful means. I think everybody interprets that definition differently.

2:05But I think if successful is related to making money, I think that just with additional capital doesn't mean that your life is necessarily easier. And just because you're quote-unquote successful doesn't mean that you live a better life than anyone else. So like they say, the more things you've got going on, the more issues and problems. So I think being able to balance that as you grow within your business and personally is just really important. And I've really tuned into that and tried to demonstrate that more in my life over the last few years here. Well, Fire Nation, that's why we're talking about how to turn heads by running your business your way.

2:46And Alex has definitely been doing that with Good Boy Vodka for sure. But I want to talk about the early decisions that truly make or break a business, Alex. And how can founders get them right from day one? Yeah, I mean, my family came from trailer manufacturing. We built transportation equipment for many countries. And we built it here in the United States of America. We had a 60-year-old business, and I grew up in it. I was third generation. And, you know, I think there's a lot of things that, you know, you can do when starting your own business that, you know, can be pretty painful. And I think that, you know, just trying to understand a few of the main factors and the keys is like, you know, time management has just been massive, right?

3:31I mean, there's only 24 hours in a day. And when you're trying to start your own business, it's, you know, you have a lot of things going on. And so really trying to nail down what needs to get done, not necessarily what you want to get done, but what has to get done to kind of move your business forward, I think, is massive. And that's a skill you'll continue to develop. I mean, I'm still working on time management now. There's just so many things. You're not sure which direction to go. And so I always write down on an old school notepad, not even in the iPhone notes. I like to write it down and say, these are the objectives that I need to, you know, finish today for my day to feel successful and for me to feel I'm adding value to my team.

4:14And so, you know, that's big for me. I also think, you know, you know, we're building a brand and so building brands can be very expensive. And, you know, for us, smart spending is just a massive topic that we and the team and everyone is involved in talking about every day. It's, you know, you can spend and spend and spend, but is it a good spend? You know, we always say every dollar spent has to have a measurable outcome. It's huge within our business, within our industry. You know, you can definitely get carried away with spending. So smart spending is definitely, you know, really important to us and the growth of our business.

4:51And then, you know, obviously some things that, you know, we can make mistakes in doing is not understanding our consumer. You know, that's huge for us is really trying to understand our consumer. you know who who is our consumer and and what do they like and and and you know what what what makes them pull a product off the shelf and so um that's really important you know taking a step back from the busy busy day and and and trying to understand like when you're innovating what that looks like and and um you know you really have to see it from your consumer's perspective not always from yours and so uh that that's always been um you know really important to us and then And obviously, when starting a business, you need to understand the trends.

5:30You know, it doesn't really matter which industry you're trying to develop in. It's there is a trend going on and you need to make sure that your business plan is executing on today's trends. And it's what people want. Right. So I think those are some of the highlights that I always try to keep in my back pocket and understand. And it's like your day one notes. You just go back to those and you just make sure, hey, when I'm doing something new, I'm checking those off the box. And so, yeah, I look at those very closely. Alex, so many startups, they get crushed before they ever even gain traction.

6:04So what have you found to be the real key to overcoming those massive hurdles that crush so many startups before they gain that ever elusive traction? I don't know what the stats are these days, but it's something like within the brand space, It's like 99.9 % of brands go bankrupt within the first year. Yeah, it's not pretty. It's not pretty. It's not pretty. And I think there's probably a high success rate of failure in starting a business across any industry in the U.S. I mean, you know, it's tough. And, you know, there's just – you have to be willing to work harder than the 99.9 % of people.

6:41Otherwise, you're going to have the same outcome. And I always say, you know, if you do the same things that everyone else is doing, you're going to have the same outcome as everybody else. So I always try to step back and say, like, you know, what can we do differently and how can we do things better? And can we give people a better experience? Is it better liquid? Is it better branding? Is it mission driven? You know, and so we've tied a lot of those things into what we're doing. But, you know, for us in the beginning, the hardest part about starting a brand and I'm, you know, we're talking about the brand today.

7:11And so the hardest thing about starting a brand is getting distribution. I mean, you can have amazing products, but if they can't find their way to a shelf, then the consumer can't buy it. And there's no pull and there's no revenue and you fail. Right. And so for us, getting distribution in the beginning was super challenging. You know, everybody said, you know, get in line. You know, you're you know, everybody and their brother wants the next successful brand. It's it's, you know, good luck. Right. And so, you know, on top of that, there's a huge amount of spending that's required to get shelf space and et cetera.

7:39So, you know, for us, distribution was our first hurdle. And, you know, there's really no magical story behind it. It's just like we were just absolute animals and never gave up and were super persistent and we continue to share our story and our mission. And, you know, Good Boy Vodka is a charity driven brand. We have a tagline. It's every poor helps a pup. And what that means is that we donate a portion of our proceeds back to American veterans and military animals that help fight for our freedom. And so that's been near and dear to our hearts. And, you know, it's made us build that into our own charity, which is now called the Good Boy Foundation.

8:18And so now we get back to hundreds and hundreds and thousands, actually, of hyper local charities across the United States. And we make impacts in these small markets, and it makes a big impact across the nation. And so that was really important to us in understanding the hurdles of distribution. And also, you know, for us, it's really trying to understand what the consumer is doing and what the consumer wants. And so once you get distribution, yes, you can have product on shelf, and they'll give you a shot. But you only have a certain amount of time before they pull you back off the shelf if you don't sell the product.

8:52And so all the pre-thinking needs to go on. Before that, you know, today in the U.S., there's a huge health movement. You know, people want healthier products, cleaner products, all-natural products. And so when we're developing our products, we keep that in mind. You know, we're all-natural. We're zero carbs. We're no sugar. You know, we use clean ingredients. And so I think understanding both sides to what needs to happen for the consumer is really important to us. And we try not to get too far ahead of ourselves in one or the other lane when we're trying to be successful in certain channels within our market.

9:33So that was a major hurdle for us. And it is for anybody starting a brand. And, yeah, I just don't have any magic potion there. It's just like, if you believe it enough, someone else is going to believe it too. And that is so true. I found that over and over again of interviewing these amazing founders for 13 years now, Fire Nation. It's belief in your product, belief in the solution that you are providing to a real problem in this world. And we have a lot more to talk about with this and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business.

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13:58What was the moment for you that you knew you were on the right track with Good Boy Vodka? Take us to that moment, kind of describe it. What did it feel like? Yeah. I mean, for us, we were just working so hard that we got kind of trapped inside of our own minds and we're just, you know, every day just trying to move the pond forward just a little bit. And you just get so stuck in, in just trying to just keep expanding and getting more stores and more placements. And you really don't get us, you know, there's, there's really no time to like take a breath and say like, Oh, how am I doing? And so for us, you know, when it started clicking is when the brand became bigger than us and our team.

14:40And what we mean by that is when we went to random liquor stores or random restaurants and we had distribution there and our product was on the special and we weren't directly making an impact. You know, how did this happen? You know, and so there is when the consumers start outworking you and the brand starts outworking, you know, you and your team and you start seeing success without your direct impact is it's it's it's a magical moment. It feels great. Your hard work is paying off. And so, you know, now we see our brand expanding way above and beyond anything that me and my team are doing, which is great.

15:21I mean, we have our amazing distribution companies that work with us that are constantly expanding without our direct driven help and motivation and incentives and anything that we're doing to help them. They're just they love the brand and people are attracted to the brand. And and that that's that's just been amazing for us. and even some store placements. I mean, never in our wildest imaginations would we think that some of these large retailers would be asking us for the product. We get these emails, hey, we want to put you guys on our set this year. Oh, that's cool. And so when that changes, you go from being on your hands and knees, begging people, please give me an opportunity, I promise my brain will do well, to now people reaching out.

16:03I mean, that is incredible. And what it does is it honestly just motivates you to double down. and keep working hard and continue to expand your team. And yeah, those successes for us were major wins and just continued to feed the fire. So you've touched upon some of this before the break, but I want to dive even deeper because as you just told that story, I mean, you are really becoming a great brand. You are becoming a great business. You are just achieving some really great results. What separates a great business from the rest of the pack in today's incredibly competitive market? Yeah, I mean, that is such a great question, John, because there's really no answer to why certain brands work.

16:47We all have our ideas and we all we all work really hard and we all try to do the best we can to make products that resonate with consumers. But, you know, honestly, you know, the big suppliers, the Gallows, the Constellations, the Diageos, the Pronodes, I mean, they can obviously outspend anybody, right? And so they obviously have incredibly talented employees. But why does the small brand with limited funding, you know, make these headways, right? It's like, is it the packaging? Is it the marketing? Is it the people behind the brand? Is it the mission? And so, you know, we knew that we couldn't outspend these big, you know, suppliers within our space.

17:30And so we just try to get really creative and work really hard in the ways where we could make impacts. And so for us, you know, we have this amazing mission with our brand, giving back to American Veterans and Warrior Dogs. We have our own foundation that we started that we're making donations and all these hyper local markets. And so, you know, we've become more than just an exciting new RTD. We're now a mission based driven business that the more we sell, the more good we can do. And so, you know, like, for instance, we just launched our new lemonade pack and our new lemonade pack is is designed and based around helping women.

18:05And so we help with breast cancer, breast cancer awareness, better women shelters. It's all ways and positively advocating for women. And so, you know, we just we we love the charity side of our business. And it almost seems like the more we give back and the more we help and the more we do things that we enjoy, just it comes full circle for us. and the business just does better. And, you know, we have great tasting products and we have, you know, the healthier side. I mean, alcohol is not, you know, the best thing for the human body, but people consume it. They enjoy it. It's been going on before, you know, before the Bible, right?

18:46And so they write about it in the Bible. And so, you know, it's going to be something that has continued to be consumed for a long time. And so, you know, we just try to do it the best way possible. And we try to add in all the ingredients that make sense from, you know, the charity piece to great tasting liquid to being priced properly to being available in the markets that our consumers want to buy it. And, yeah, I mean, it's a tough question, but, you know, you just have to do your best in every category that you possibly can and have a little bit of luck behind it. that's all you can do. We also have to be realistic with Fire Nation now is that we're living in an ever-changing environment.

19:26I mean, we always have. But right now with AI and other things that are happening around the world, we just need to really be thinking about not just the present, but the future. So how are you thinking about future-proofing your business so that it can thrive no matter how this market shifts? Yeah, for us, I mean, the beverage industry is such a fast-moving, trendy industry. And so, you know, for instance, the John Daly cocktail that we have, you know, we've got a partnership with PGA legend John Daly, and that was just an incredible partnership. I use the expression, high tide rises all ships.

20:06You know, that partnership elevated our entire portfolio and allowed us to get visibility and sail through and marketing for all of our products. And our entire business started doing better because of the John Daly product. Did you try to get some product placement in Happy Gilmore 2 with John Daly? Yeah, I mean, John is like family to us now. We're going on our fourth year of our partnership with him and his drink has just been exploding. It's one of the top five. But I mean, imagine him like sitting on the couch during Happy Gilmore 2, like with a good boy, good vodka bottle in his hands. So yeah, so John's in Happy Gilmore 2 and he's got the product placed in all the scenes.

20:44I mean, John, they kind of called John and they said, hey, John, are you, you know, we want you to be in Happy Gilmore. And he's like, well, I'm not sure I want to be in Happy Gilmore. I don't want a small role, whatever. Like, no, no, you're going to be you're going to be his brother. Like you have a major role. And he's like, yeah, I'm in. He goes, well, I'm not I'm not doing it unless I can have my drink in the movie. And they're like, done. So we actually met the Netflix producers and we were like the official beverage of the show. Like we casting was drinking it. Oh, it's all over the movie.

21:14I hope you watch it. I mean, it's just incredible. He's sitting in the chair. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled out for now. Oh, yeah. He's sitting in the chair. He's got the label out and everything. It was amazing. I mean, we couldn't even operate our business the whole week that that came out because we had so many emails from like co-packers and suppliers and can manufacturers. They're like, oh, we want to sell you. You know, we want to make your stuff. I'm like, oh, my gosh. So, yeah, it was amazing for us. It was great. It was really great. I mean, Alex, there's so much we could talk about and so much success you've had.

21:40And, you know, there is luck involved, but luck, of course, is where effort meets opportunity. And you are definitely putting in the effort. The opportunities are coming and you are getting, quote, unquote, lucky with all these great opportunities. Bring us home. If Fire Nation wants to connect with you, wants to learn more about your business, your product, what is your call to action for Fire Nation today? Yeah, I mean, the call to action for us is, you know, if you want to learn more about us, I mean, we've got a great website, goodboyvodka.com. We've got a great foundation page, thegoodboyfoundation.com.

22:11Read about it. Learn about it. You can email us at info at goodboyvodka.com. We love hearing from fans, consumers, people interested in our business. We're hiring a tremendous amount of positions right now for people who have sales experience in the alcohol and beverage industry. We love doing these types of interviews and stuff with you, John, and the people in your space. because it helps share our story and our mission of trying to make the world a little bit better place than we started. Well, listen, as a veteran, as a dog owner, and as the brother to a sister who had serious breast cancer, you're hitting all of my buckets.

22:54So thank you for doing what you do. Yeah. We got to get you some good boy and some dog toys immediately. Oh man, let's make it happen. Thank you. I appreciate the appreciation. I have a 75 pound golden doodle, so he needs some indestructible toys. We haven't quite found those yet, but I'm sure they exist out there somewhere. Ours are indestructible, but we'll keep sending more. Amazing. Well, Alex, thank you for what you do because our listeners know that they're the average of the five people they spend the most time with. And Fire Nation, you've been hanging out with AP and JLD today, so keep up that heat.

23:29And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Alex in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Alex, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, John. Cheers. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Alex for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. And I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment.

24:01I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, HighLevel, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

24:44Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Get started today with Franocity's franchise funding guide, packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings. Visit Franocity.com. That's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y dot com.