High Five
HIGH FIVE
The business lessons I’ve learned during my 5 years at the helm of Young Spirits
by Alex Harrison
Anyone who starts their own business knows that the early years don’t leave much time for reflection. The focus is always on the here and now…and ‘what’s next’! But as Young Spirits celebrates its fifth birthday this month, I’ve been thinking about our answer to the question we’re often asked: ‘How did you get here?’
“We grew quickly, and there have been some big lessons, decisions and challenges along the way”
Looking back, we had a great business idea and a solid plan to bring it to life. We grew quickly, and there have been some big lessons, decisions and challenges along the way – all of which has played a part in building the thriving business Young Spirits is today. So, to anyone who’s just about to start their entrepreneurial journey, here’s our top five insights for success:
1. It’s all about your customers
In a previous life I was a customer looking for a modern bottling service and couldn’t find it – and spotted that golden ‘gap in the market’. Today, meeting customer needs, providing brilliant customer service and anticipating and exceeding their needs – is our guiding principle. Alongside it is innovation, and ensuring we never stop evolving our service to add even greater value to our clients’ businesses, whether that’s NPD, sustainability, technology or staying ahead of new trends. It’s this approach that has helped propel us from one client on day one to the busy stable of over 250 global brands and businesses we work with today.
2. When it comes to people, invest in the best
After starting with just me and John in a garage, our growing team of over 40 amazing people is a big source of pride for us both. No one person has the skills – or the time - to do everything, and it’s one of the first big lessons we learned. Hire talented, enthusiastic people with a wide mix of skills and experience - and let them get on with the job! We’ve also tried to build a strong, positive culture at work, and we celebrate our community - whether that’s informal gatherings at our quirky bar in our head office or bigger celebrations like this month’s birthday BBQ.
3. Be the experts
Over the past five years we’ve become known for our expertise – in bottling, in luxury products requiring fine detail and white glove treatment, for our deep knowledge of grain, spirits, casks and maturation, and our ambition to lead the industry when it comes to innovation, sustainability and NPD. This is what we do, and we have invested in being the absolute best in the category to deliver on behalf of our clients. It helps that we also all love the spirits world and are endlessly fascinated by the details.
4. Do things differently
When it came to launching our own brand of whisky, John and I both wanted to bring the knowledge we had building Young Spirits to the fore and to do something truly different in the industry. Ferg & Harris is a super-premium single malt Scotch whisky range – a mix of a core expression and single cask bottlings which we source and then finish in casks that we think will make these exceptional whiskies taste even better. It’s a different approach and doesn’t fall in line with any trends or traditions, but this is exactly the sort of whisky we like drinking. We’re very proud to have our names on the bottle and to see how positive the whisky community has been to our range.
5. Give back
It sounds like a cliché, but running a business gives you the opportunity to shape your own future and make a difference to the community around you and causes you care about. We put sustainability at the core of everything we did from the start, without compromise, since we both care passionately about environmental issues. John’s love of Africa and wildlife conservation also sparked the creation of our other brand, Uhuru Spirits, with 10% of net sales of every bottle of rum or whisky sold supporting the cause. As well as being the right thing to do, it helps to build purpose and a positive culture amongst the team.