"Finding the right partners has always been the biggest struggle" with Holly Berrigan
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Holly Berrigan, a female entrepreneur, environmentalist, and sales executive who speaks French, Italian, and Spanish, originally planned to be a diplomat, working in several embassies and NGOs abroad. After moving back to the U.S., she landed at a sales and marketing consulting firm, but quickly realized that was not the right career path. She started wine education courses, obtaining a level three certification from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and first launched Through The Grapevine, a wine importing company, which evolved into MYSA Natural Wine in early 2020.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I had always planned to be a diplomat. I worked in several embassies and NGOs and was even accepted by Cambridge to get a Ph.D. in international relations. During that time, I took a position at a Brazilian media firm writing country profiles on Korea, Germany, and Switzerland and selling advertising for its economics magazine. I tried that for a little while with a plan to go back to school eventually, but instead, I stayed in the business world and started a job at a sales and marketing consulting firm working with international clients, and was eventually promoted to Managing Director of sales. This wasn’t the right fit for me, though, and I knew I wanted to go abroad again. I started wine education courses, began traveling to find wines, and after finding a business partner officially launched my wine importing company.
Where is your business based?
The company is based out of Washington, DC, but my partner and I currently live in Barcelona, Spain, so we can better source new natural wines from small growers who do not yet have representation in the US.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
The first steps I took were taking WSET wine courses to see how much I really enjoyed the wine business. Once I was hooked, I bought books on wine importing, importing in general, and how to start a company.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
My partner is an expert in paid digital media, so we launched with some strong campaigns that gave us customers right away. We also spent over a year building a social media following before we launched our wine club.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Finding the right partners has always been the biggest struggle. The company did not have any legs until I met Niclas Jansson, then together we found winemaker and distribution partners. The whole process took almost two years.
How do you stay focused?
It was hard initially because we both had other jobs that took all our time. Luckily, wine is fun and my passion, so after work and dinner, we would slowly put our plans together over a bottle of wine.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
We operate in a small niche with natural wines and strive to have a personal relationship with each producer. We are deeply passionate about two causes. The first is environmental stewardship. We partner with one percent for the Planet to give one percent of our revenue to environmental organizations like the Carbon Fund, which offsets the carbon footprint of our shipping. We are also passionate about women in wine and work with organizations like Wonder Women in Wine to highlight women-owned wineries as well as partner with many other women-owned wine companies.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Paid digital was crucial for us in the beginning. We now have a strong organic and social presence and the source of our customers is balanced amongst all the channels. That has been our goal since day one, as we never wanted to be dependent on only one source for new revenue.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Make sure you REALLY love what you are doing before you pursue it full time. There are so many hurdles along the way, financial pitfalls, feelings that it will never work out. If you don't absolutely love it, it will be too easy to give up before you reach your peak.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite book I read before starting my company was the E-Myth. It breaks down how businesses should work and helped align so many of my processes and ideas around how to build our distribution.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
I was lucky to be a part of Vistage (an international peer-mentoring membership organization for CEOs, business owners, and executives of small- to mid-size businesses) from my previous company which gave me an incredible overview of subjects all C-suite executives should know but are also crucial for small and medium business founders. I learned everything, from how to buy-out a partner to running your books to dealing with HR issues, from that wonderful group of people.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Jenny Lefcourt. She was a pioneer in opening the world of natural wine to the US and is incredibly smart and well-respected within the industry. We’re lucky in natural wine that, unlike the rest of the wine world, there are so many female-run organizations and the gender disparity is much smaller.
What is your beauty routine? What are some of your favorite products?
My friends would laugh knowing I was asked this question as I don't really have one or wear makeup. That said, I do love Sara Panton’s Essential Well Being book and have started making some of my own creams, balms, etc. from it!
How do you balance work and life?
This is incredibly difficult since my partner is both my life AND business partner and we work from home. We try to keep it quite separated by segmenting out times of the day when we don’t talk about work – specifically meals and other activities like watching a show, hiking, playing with the dog, etc. We also have our own hobbies (yoga for me, soccer for him) where we go and do our own things and remind ourselves that there is more to life than just our company.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Living in Barcelona with such wonderful sun all the time, I like to take the dog to the park. I sit in the sun on a bench and meditate or read.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
It is quite up in the air with this virus, but we plan to continue sourcing new wines and adding to our portfolio. Especially now that so many people are buying wine online, we need new wines more than ever!
How can our readers connect with you?
https://www.hollyberrigan.com/
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