In March of 2020 we awoke to a new world, in which it became abundantly clear the COVID-19 pandemic was serious business, despite the assurances of the fool in the White House.
Our main stream of income, Twin Cities Wine Education, was doomed. That business model was 100% based on in-person wine classes, sommelier training, and private events. Not only was it fully based on in-person events, but we had sold tickets for over 25 upcoming events for the next eight week period.
We had to pivot on a dime. I had never worked so hard before in my life, building a new business from nothing to revenue in 96 hours. Name, logo, branding, messaging, website, the whole thing.
The Wine Workshop is all about online wine learning, with live webinars, pre-recorded content, and a spirit of independence rarely found in the liquor industry.
It has quickly evolved to be my favorite small business we have built, maybe tied with the early days of Dreamcatchers Photography. The energy of building something new, the urgency that the pandemic brought, and the support of our dear customers, made it an instant success.
As I write this, it is late summer 2020 and we don't know what the future holds. We'll never know less than we know now, as our friend Joe told us. But we are going forward with The Wine Workshop as our main driver, for unlike many (all) of our other ventures, this is fully scalable and portable.
I'm extremely excited about this one!
