Every other month on our website we’ll be highlighting a different client of the Owatonna Area Business Development Center in a new series called “Center Stories,” interviewed by Executive Director Sean E. Williams.
What made you decide to go into business for yourself?
I had a 30-year-career in corporate marketing - loved that, learned so much about marketing, wouldn't trade any of those experiences for the world - but I've always wanted to work for myself, and I think I got to a point in my career where I wanted something new and different, and the idea of working for myself and being able to take all those marketing skills and transition them into something that was my own was kind of the impetus for the idea. And I love wine, and wine has been a passion of mine, a hobby. Through all my travels, I had gotten to discover new places, new wines - the whole vineyard lifestyle is just so fun to me, and I really enjoy it. So all those worlds coming together is what made me jump in at first.
What resources did you find and take advantage of here in Owatonna, in starting your business?
I tried to take advantage of everything from the OABDC - I heard you speak at Owatonna Business Women. That's where I first learned about the different programs that you offered, which led me to take the Start Your Own Business Bootcamp. So I took advantage of that. Our individual consulting sessions and asking questions and being able to have you review my documents and my financials was super helpful. Through our conversations, I learned that if I got ahead of some of the regulations and just understanding the inspection process and all of that that would be really helpful to me. So I scheduled individual meetings with the city, with the Chamber, and then I just started calling all the different business owners in Owatonna that I had a connection with, or could introduce myself to, and said, “Hey, let's meet for coffee. Let me ask you questions.” I took advantage of finding a mentor in Bill Cronin at MSB - I thought that was someone I had developed a personal relationship with that I could ask him questions and he would give me honest answers and advice. So that kind of transcended into me visiting with other business owners.
I worked with MOHS Contracting - their knowledge of the whole construction process and the inspection process was also super helpful to me, just because they understood the building process and had worked with the city inspectors and the city, and so they knew how the process went and could guide me as well.
I think for me, it was just all of the relationships that I've developed over the years that really led me to be able to ask the right questions and get involved early, instead of after the fact. I had met with the inspector and gotten advice before we actually had an inspection with the city - before the city saw my application - so they knew what I was doing. They understood my goals.
That would be some of my advice too, for anyone starting a business, is find all those resources early and ask the questions before you start making decisions, because it really helps you make the right decisions. It just puts you in a better position to start correctly.
It sounds like you really took advantage of the knowledge that already existed out there, versus trying to create it from scratch yourself.
One hundred percent. I think asking questions and getting advice from people who have been through the same thing or done a similar project is so helpful because we don't know what we don't know.
What was the best piece of advice you got?
The best advice I got when I went into this journey was keep it simple. You can always grow. It's hard to pull back once you're in over your head. I interviewed several business owners down here, before we jumped in headfirst, and that was kind of a consistent piece of advice: Start simple, don't make it complicated.
That's the whole Co.Starters thing, where it's, yeah, start small. It's easier to grow.
I had a young couple come in and they sat at the bar forever and they were just watching me all night. Why are there people watching me? And finally she got the gumption to say, “Hey, are you Stacy Hanson?” And I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Can I ask you some questions?” And she just started asking me all these questions about opening a business. Finally, I said, “Are you thinking about opening a business?” Yeah - said she has taken a class through the OABDC and so she's looking for a space right now.
You’re already returning the favor and helping other people thinking about starting a business. That’s great! What is your favorite part of owning your own business?
I think just personally, I'm a very social person, so this atmosphere for me is it fills my cup, getting to see and meet new people - people from all aspects of my life. So that's really been just fulfilling for me - the interactions with people and being social in Owatonna, just knowing that every hour I put in, all my efforts are directly impacting my success. I think that's a big part of it. When you work for a corporation, you're a little piece of a big puzzle, but when you're a small business owner, it's all about you. “Am I going to be successful? Am I going to make any financial success?” to me is really a motivator.
Yeah, you're a lot more motivated when you're the one that's benefiting from it. And if you don't do that work, then nothing gets done. What do you wish you had known before you started? Or what would you have done differently, looking back on the last year?
That's a great question. I've learned a lot about the customer base in Owatonna, especially with wine. Wine is such an individual preference. People have their different preferences and wines. I don't know if this is something I would have done differently, but it's something I think every business owner needs to continue to do - you have to listen to your customers. I got feedback right away on my menu, what people loved, what people wished I had. So I was able to quickly pivot and add some things to my menu that I didn't have on originally, and that was just from conversations with customers. I maybe could have done more of that up front. But it worked out really well the way I did it too, because people got to react to a menu. Customer feedback is so important. I continue to get it every day. People come in all the time and say, “Are you open to a suggestion?” And I'm like, “Yes, please. Yeah.”
How has location impacted your business?
I think being downtown is a huge benefit, and I take advantage of everything that the Chamber or the city offers. That's another piece of advice I would give a business owner - there are a lot of groups in Owatonna, and sometimes it can be overwhelming, because it can be a lot of meetings too. But immediately I joined the Owatonna Business Partnership. Immediately I joined the Chamber, getting involved in the Innovators and Business Owners Connect-Up, just all these pockets of resources that you can get involved in. They do a lot of downtown events - being part of the Downtown Thursdays, being part of the holiday parade, even the homecoming parade, it was a huge day for us because it came right by our location. During the summer months, with the farmer’s market, and people just milling around downtown. I love being downtown and part of the downtown renovation, and I only see upside to that - there's going to be more and more that happened downtown. And partnering with the hotel - I've had some great conversations with the hotel, and I get a lot of hotel guests that, you know, they've had a long work day, and they don't want to have a big, heavy dinner, so they'll swing in here and just relax with a glass of wine and get a small plate. The hotel has done some advertising for me, and we kind of co-advertise together and send people each other's way and they see the town a little bit more - it's walkable. With Torey’s and Roma's, the three of us have all collaborated. The six of us downtown businesses did the Downtown Passport - just working together with other businesses and being downtown - everybody wants everybody to succeed. I think that is a really unique factor in Owatonna - everybody wants to help, everybody wants to get involved, everybody wants to collaborate. Yeah, so it's a fun atmosphere.
Last question is: What's next? What are you looking forward to? What are you excited about, for what you guys have going on?
We're only four months in, so I still feel like we have a million things to learn - getting through every season and just seeing how different it is. When we opened in the summer, there was a lot of foot traffic. People loved the outdoor seating and being able to come in the garage door. Now it's winter, and they want more of the cozy, hot drink vibe, and so I'm going to learn more - learning more about the business and being able to meet customer needs.
I think the one thing that surprised me is all the requests I'm getting for private events. I didn't realize there was such a need in Owatonna for a place to have a smaller group gathering. We have great big party venues, but for that twenty-to-fifty-person event, I'm getting a lot of requests for bridal showers, engagement parties, little corporate events or corporate happy hours.
One of my goals was, because wine is such a journey, I'm changing the menu every three months. I've done one menu change since I opened - that's been funny. The reaction right away was, “I'm very nervous. I have found wines I love, and now you take them away.” I completely flipped the menu November first, and now I will completely change the menu of February first. The nervousness that happened before the second menu has now turned into excitement – “When's the new menu?” People have quickly learned that I'm only going to replace good wines with good or even better wines. For me, it's really important to have the region diversity in my list. A lot of my flights this round coming up in February are going to be a California wine, an Italian wine, and a Spanish wine. My customers have really loved our Spanish wine offerings.
Everybody loves French and Italian wines so we'll always have those too, but I think that's been exciting for our customers, always something new. One thing we did for the holiday lighting parade was I offered mulled wine. I advertised on our social platforms that I was doing mulled wine, and right away I was like oh I'll probably do like three bottles of wine - I ended up doing six bottles. We ran out before the parade. I was “Wow. People were so excited.” So we're bringing mulled wine back during Bold and Cold.
I kind of thrive on change. I need something different, and that's part of the way we choose our wines. I have this really wonderful distribution network that I work with, and I've gotten to know the distributors really well, so they really understand me and what I'm looking for, and I give them advice on what I'm looking for when I change the menu and they bring in lots of different options. We taste it. My staff has gotten really involved in choosing the wines, which I love, so they're very connected to the ones we pick. We're not only looking for good tasting wines. We're looking for a wine with a great story, or a wine that means something to us. So for one thing, for the February/March/April menu, we're trying to focus on women-owned wineries. March is Women in Wine Month. So you'll see a lot of women winemakers on this next menu.
You can learn more about Grapeful Wine Bar at GrapefulWineBar.com, or follow them on Facebook or Instagram. This interview was edited for length and clarity.