Entrepreneurship with Oregon Chai founder Lori Spencer - Ep 45

Ellen and Tish talk about entrepreneurship this week with Portland, Oregon-based entrepreneur Lori Spencer.  Lori created and founded a national beverage brand and helped bring a wave of awareness of chai to the US when she co-founded Oregon Chai; she took the company from a recipe in her co-founder's kitchen all the way to the sale of a national brand while in her 20s.
 
Learn how Lori parlayed that experience into a career in advising many female business founders and who she credits with her strength and grit (as an 8th-generation Oregonian you may have a good guess). Lori shares how she uses her superpowers of community, innovation, and creativity for success and how she pivoted during Covid to reinvent her career in midlife. 

Things we talked about in this episode: chai tea, founders, Oregon Chai, Oregon, women entrepreneurs, Portland, Girls, Inc., XXcelerate, boards, Justin's nut butter, coffee shops, One Stripe Chai, Freelance Spirits, fractional work, Groundup nut butter, Howard Shultz, Starbucks, entrepreneurs, Covid pivots, and building community.

Find out more about Lori on her website here.

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Transcript

Tish Woods: 0:21

We would like to work welcome Lori Spencer to our podcast. She is the business founder of Oregon Chai. And she is founded that company in her 20s. She is also a mentor, coach, a board member, and the mom of three children. These are just a few of her monikers Lori is also an advocate for women entrepreneurs everywhere. I have to say

Ellen Gustafson: 0:48

that you know, Lori and I went to college together here in Marin County back in the day Laurie. I was in grad school, and Laurie was an undergraduate and we were just saying it was one of our best living experiences. And she was a total Dynamo back then, too. So I've watched Lori grow from afar since that time.

Tish Woods: 1:11

Well, welcome. Lori can you share a little bit with us about what your background is?

Lori Spencer: 1:17

Thank you, Ellen. And Tish for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Let's see. I am Lori Spencer. And I have my own boutique independent consulting firm Lori Spencer consulting. It's very, very original name.

Ellen Gustafson: 1:34

We'd love it.

Lori Spencer: 1:36

And I am based out of Portland, Oregon. I'm actually a eighth generation Oregonian and have have a lot of deep roots in in Oregon. I'm actually up at our Mount Hood. My mom was a Palmer and there's the Palmer snowfield up it up at Mount Hood. So that's that's a pretty cool fact. But I yeah, as you mentioned, I, you know, well, I actually started, I went to school with Ellen, she said down in the Bay Area. And I lived after I graduated I moved abroad. My path was I wanted to be a creative director and on my own agency and graduated in design. I actually got a job in Switzerland teaching design and moved there and live there for several years. And, you know, early 20s ski pass, beautiful Swiss men design, you know, teaching design, it was pretty great. And then I moved back and I started my career actually in the agency, advertising agency world and learn that business model. And it was there that I fell in love with the business side of and decided not to pursue the creative side. And so Subway was my first account. And it was really there that I started. got really excited about food and beverage and quick service obviously with subway and so from there you know, from there, I my high school friend that I grew up with, had gone to India, and she got hooked on Chai there. She she did, you know, came back and we wanted to Americanize it. And so we we started Oregon chai and I brought brought us in as a client to the agency to do all of our packaging. And one thing led to the next and we started Oregon chai and have that for 10 years. Fast forward. All

Ellen Gustafson: 3:35

right. Laurie, can I just asked at that point, no one knew about Chai, right? I mean, this was in America, in America, it was really let me take, you know, say that in America. So this was really innovative. That, you

Lori Spencer: 3:51

know, we, we, we didn't really know what we were stumbling across until we realized that we we had a home run of a recipe and everybody couldn't we couldn't get it to people's mouths faster. But also the demand for it just became so. So yes, we were introducing the birth of this brand new beverage category. But also, we had an outstanding product and people wanted it. No. Yeah, no,

Tish Woods: 4:20

Lori, the the food and beverage market is so extremely competitive to break into. So did you have any experience in that industry? And was that a pro or con? We had

Lori Spencer: 4:34

zero experience in the in the beverage. I mean, I was exposed to it on the agency side a little bit on the claim with my clients. But we it was a it was a pro and a con i would say the beauty out of it was nobody was doing alternative beverages and then in the early 90s. And so, you know, let alone women owned businesses at that time. And so we sort of were this, you know, new shiny sparkle that people wanted to gravitate to, like, wow, what do you have here? But but at the same time, I think nobody knew what Chai was and so we have the challenge of educating and, you know, educating and bringing people along and you You know, that took a long time. So, so yes, I think it was easy in some ways to break into beverage just because alternative beverages, but we still we still had to go through the process of getting, you know, beverage approval and things like that.

Ellen Gustafson: 5:35

I like to say that you started it in your parents basement garage. How did you really start it?

Lori Spencer: 5:41

Actually, yeah, we started it in Heather. So Heather is my high school friend who I started with. And we, her mom is actually a recipe guru from I mean, the woman is an amazing cook. And, and it's constantly like in the kitchen coming up with new recipes and things like that. And she, you know, Heather, Heather and I really researched you know, literally back then in the library of how to how to how to concoct this recipe. And then really Teddy, the her mom developed the, you know, helped us get to a good recipe. And then we were brewing it on the stovetop in Teddy's house, and then, and then across the street. We started producing in the basement of a church. And yeah, that's that's really what a lot of it happened in the early days distributing out of our cars to coffee shops, and scribbling on pieces of paper for receipts and it was nuts.

Tish Woods: 6:44

You just knew you just knew you had something special.

Lori Spencer: 6:48

We definitely knew we had something special, and I gotta say, gut played a lot of that, yes, early 20s. I didn't have the responsibilities of kids and, you know, family and that kind of thing. But I did move home and was almost at the point of selling my car, because I believed in it so much. And, you know, our parents are like, my parents were like, chi che, you know, what is this but, you know, we got really lucky in the early days, we had great resources, my father at the time, you know, he was practicing law. So he, he helped us on the legal side. And then we had a friend that was an accountant, and one of our partners, actually, she, she did a lot of books, and we all the right things kind of fell into place.

Ellen Gustafson: 7:34

It's really a great story, Lori, like a great origin story. Um, but you really kind of, you know, learned the ropes by doing and I love that part of it. And I love that it was all women, even though you were young women, were here women more in mid life, but maybe you can share a little bit about what happened next.

Lori Spencer: 7:59

In terms of the business or

Ellen Gustafson: 8:01

in terms of the business, I mean, I think you grew it to be a national brand.

Lori Spencer: 8:05

I mean, it you know, honestly, it was it was tough in the early days of it was 24/7 days a week, early on, and just blood sweat and tears. I mean, we put everything into it. We were sampling, you know, on the weekends, anywhere we could, we out of out of just pure accidental we we develop these Chai raves that we were doing at coffee shops, we had a girlfriend that owned a coffee shop, and she hosted these events. And so we, you know, we're trying to build this brand, right. And it was not until we got our first retail account that we we kind of quit our jobs and made it official. And you know, I won't forget that retail meeting because we literally I we jumped in the buyers arms like thank you for taking me there was our first retail account and because we built the business on coffee shops, and we developed this 1.5 bag in the box like a wine in the box that with a spout the serve the product out of and we put it on the counter, and we could advertise that way. And it was really cool. But it was tough. Being a full time, you know, I I never stayed home and my maternity leaves were were pretty short. And I didn't mind it. You know, I really I really enjoyed here we are building this brand and in a way living the American dream because we were, you know, it was the phenomenon of a new beverage category. And people were excited about it. And we were fun about it. We had a lot of fun. And I think people love that. You know?

Tish Woods: 9:47

So you are really a female entrepreneur, like really groundbreaking at a groundbreaking time I think for women in business. What do you love most about being an entrepreneur and what are some of the biggest challenges that you faced? Yeah, great

Lori Spencer: 10:02

question. I would say what was what is still like definitely I definitely still have a lot of entrepreneurial energy and but you know, every day is a new day. It's it's you're waking up and it's a different challenge every day and you're wearing multiple hats. You're problem solving, all the time. Decision Making. Definitely. What I loved about it is we make quick decisions fast and we move fast. And, you know, it's just a whole different than than your, your, your typical office, you know, job. You learn all aspects of the business, I would say early on, when we didn't have any support. We all filled in, I drove a forklift, I, you know, took things to FedEx, I answered the phone one day, I'm out doing sales and other day. And then it's not until you Brent can bring in the right support to do the right things that you can start to define where your where your roles are. But early on, you're wearing it all and I love the scrappy in the weeds day to day and, you know, also being strategic and forecasting and planning. And so you get to really, you get to really experience both both ends there. Yeah,

Ellen Gustafson: 11:23

I love that scrappy and in the weeds. And you know what you're describing, Lori? I think so many people dream of right. This is really, yes, yes. starting your own company, developing a brand bringing together so many different disciplines. I mean, you were so young at this point to me, right, like now with a little mileage between all of us. And did the business success surprise you? Did it surprise your parents? Did it surprise the beverage world?

Lori Spencer: 11:53

Yeah, great question. So we, I think what surprised me most was the demand for it early on. So fast. We were growing at 350%, our first year. So it was, it was nuts. And part and I have to say you guys it was once you get it to people's mouths, it's homerun. And, you know, it's just, it's just an outstanding tasting product, both hot and cold. And people loved it and gravitated to it and had to have it. I mean, we had serious addicts, that Chai addicts that just, you know, and we weren't, we weren't distributing at that time. We were sending it to people's houses because they were, you know, they wanted it so bad. I think as we grew, we became more and more structured. And, you know, I don't like to use the word corporate. But when you get private equity behind you, and you have a bottom line to fulfill, you know, you've got numbers to hit, it became very much of a multimillion dollar business that we had to, you know, we had to account for so we all had to become accountable. We all had to you know, so Did it surprise everyone. Not so much. I think what surprised people is probably the growth so fast. I mean, when I look back on it, it took us, you know, a decade to to start scale. And sell a business, right. That's, at the time, it felt like, it felt like forever, but when I look back on it, you know, that's, that's not long. I mean, right now, acquisitions and food and beverage take a long time. You know, you know, it's definitely a different playing field now. But, you know, we definitely went through the what you would call the traditional route of taking a consumer brand new market, and it took, you know, took a long time, but definitely experience everything, you name it. Hiring recalls, 15 trade shows a year, you know, living out of a suitcase, you know, all that. So, I think I think sometimes it looks very glamorous from the outside. But it's it's it's a lot of hard work and perseverance when you're doing it.

Ellen Gustafson: 14:10

Yeah, you know,

Tish Woods: 14:12

I love that you said it's 24/7 when you have your own business, and you want it to be successful, it truly is 24/7. You don't put it to bed

Lori Spencer: 14:23

it is and I'm constantly advising and coaching to that because I think there's this perception that you can, you can start a product and have the flexibility of not having a full time job. And it's like it's a full time job plus

Ellen Gustafson: 14:37

was last plus plus. I I agree. I think just to go back to the chai for one minute. It's like when I think about my kids, this is such a beverage that they've known their whole lives now. Right. So you created this. I do remember my first Chai, and it was at Starbucks, you know, that someone convinced me to have so I mean within our lifetime. This has become a mainstream beverage from something you started I just had to point that out. It's like I can remember my first Chai.

Lori Spencer: 15:10

Yeah, Elon, no, I'm, I'm glad you're actually bringing this up. Because what a lot of people don't know is you are correct. We brought Chai to America, and we had to educate people on Chai. And then we had to educate people on Oregon Chai. And so, you know, we wanted people and everybody was experimenting early on and trying quite a few, there was a lot of MAs and Paws. But there were about three of us that were going nationwide with it. And we'd see each other at the trade shows and things like that. But honestly, when I look back on it, I'm so glad that was the three of us, because we were building this category together. And we were justifying, I would try to I would talk to the press, and they'd be like, yeah, we're just gonna put you in with tea, or we're gonna put you on coffee. And it's like, no, we're Chai not to a sports team, we're so it took the dog is playing with the dog toy. But I, you know, I, I look back, and we were educating people on, on on the on the category on a whole, I think we even had a campaign early on, on, you know, how to how to pronounce Chai. And so what happened is, the category kind of plateaued. And that's when we were selling the business. And then five years later, it all came back. And to your point, Ellen, my kids, of course, at the time were so young, they wouldn't have known when I was when I was doing this business. But it's so funny, because now you know, fast forward, they see it on the shelf. And they're, they're like, you know, there's there's the separation time of when, you know, nobody, nobody really was interested in it anymore. And then Oprah brought it back to Starbucks. And then people started putting it on menu boards, and then all of a sudden, people are making chopsticks and cocktails and, you know, all pancake mix. I mean, it's, it's, it's interesting, how many, how many, you know, different categories China has taken on? It

Ellen Gustafson: 17:17

is it is it's, it's pretty crazy, right? To think about that. And I know that you sold the company, and you moved in Laurie to to consulting, excuse me consulting, to mentoring, and you've do so much coaching with people who are young, in their business trajectory. So share with us a little bit about that experience.

Lori Spencer: 17:41

Yeah. So, you know, I come I come from a long line of really strong women, strong, bold and smart women, my, my aunt, my mom, and then having a daughter. And so women, women leadership, and women founders have always been kind of, in my DNA, I've always been a part of boards that, you know, some of my board work is associated around that. And I was on the board of Girls Inc, for, you know, many, many years and, and so coaching and, you know, coaching and advising, and has always been sort of a side hustle for me, but, you know, one day when I retire, it may become a full time thing, but I really enjoy and just get so excited and about about helping women and furthering their business. And so some of my coaching work, I've, I've found some great coaching outlets that have where I can help entrepreneurs and, and women founders, and I've really enjoyed that.

Tish Woods: 18:46

What do you what do you think is the biggest advantage because I know you do virtual cmo work with startups is one of your path. So what do you think is the biggest advantage to starting to using a coach during this process when you are building a startup?

Lori Spencer: 19:07

Yeah, well, having been a founder, you know, been on that being on that founder journey. It's definitely a different one. And I think what I've been able to bring some of these, some of these leaders and founders is having that hat with understanding how the process and how to go about, you know, starting and scaling a business and so sort of that corporate mindset with that founder. You know, I think it's, it's helped a lot to have that perspective and have that insight to what you know, I wish I wish I would have known what I knew then now kind of thing and so whatever I can do to pay it forward and you know, help them not make those same mistakes or, or, you know, if they come up against something so it's been kind of fun to relive the past a little bit through my coaching work, but at the same time really making a difference and helping and bring bringing impact to these these founders is it's been that's that's really rewarding. You know,

Tish Woods: 20:09

when does the business know when they're ready to make that type of financial commitment? Is it really at the start the very start or should They get a kind of a little of experience going first and then bring in a coach. What do you see that?

Lori Spencer: 20:25

Yeah, I think it's, I think it's both I think more and more people are bringing in coaches early on, so that they can help them plan and plan for that. You know, that growth? And honestly, I think the the ones that are really doing it right and Well, what I mean by that is they're there's, they're approaching their business in a very smart way. And they're bringing in the right people to help them get to where they need to get to, and they're recognizing that early on, as opposed to much later when not necessarily it's too late. But, you know, you're you're trying to catch up and catch your breath. And at the same time, you're, you're learning these things that you should have probably had in place a lot earlier. So I try to actually recommend to some of these people to bring in those right resources early on, to get yourself up to speed and get your arms around it early. So that you understand as you're, as you're continuing on that, you know, you know, you know what you're up against.

Ellen Gustafson: 21:28

Maybe less hard lessons, maybe less organic growth and maybe a little bit more planning and foresight upfront.

Lori Spencer: 21:36

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Ellen Gustafson: 21:39

I think they probably all, or I'm sure they all appreciate your experience. Laurie, doing it the way you did it with Oregon Chai right, and having just maybe a little bit of a different perspective as as somebody who's been in the industry for years, kind of in midlife. So do you have any any changes to your approach or perspective, from being in midlife?

Lori Spencer: 22:06

Yes, I would say early, early on in my career, I was very concerned with title and ranking and, you know, oh, I want that bonus and, you know, very concerned about performance. And, you know, being perfect. And I've always been kind of a perfectionist my whole life, I'm you know, and definitely I have learned and it's a skill. I've not only learned to slow down and take a deep breath and, but but to sort of step back and pause. And in my later career, I've learned how to ask the right questions. I've learned how to be a good listener, I've learned how to, you know, not take everything so seriously. And that, you know, mistakes, mistakes are actually a blessing and meant to happen. And accidents are accidents are beautiful, they open up a whole new, they can they can potentially open up a whole new chapter in some ways. But so, yeah, I think I think I've definitely become much more mellow you know, I tend to be high, strong and very excited and lots of lots of passion and lots of drive and lots of leaning in and, and so I think that's definitely calmed a little bit in my, in my later, later years.

Ellen Gustafson: 23:33

Amazing. I know, our listeners would love to hear about I don't know, if I want to say a success story, or just a great perspective with a female entrepreneur, you can name them or not name them, just give us an example of some of the work you've done.

Lori Spencer: 23:50

Yeah, so I'm, I was on the board of an organization here called Accelerate. And I've always coached through it for the last, you know, five years off and on, I actually did a lot of it through COVID. and accelerate has a cohort and they do different cohorts of female founders. And I was in charge of the food and beverage vertical and I had you know, it's really hard for me to single out one female founder just because I have been around so many and and some of whom are are successful right now to this day, and it's so fun to see them thriving and you know, really, really, really shining right now when I saw them very early on in their careers. And so this particular cohort stood out to me because I had been a long time since I've seen a group of four to five women who I know we're gonna all be successful usually you can I've gotten really good at spotting you know, kind of the ones that I know that are gonna really take it seriously and do well. And this particular group was on fire. I mean, these women were all so passionate and so excited about their career, their their businesses, and doing all the right things to get everything in place. And so I would definitely you know, and I still to this day, try to give them a shout out because They're just thriving in their businesses. So one is actually a chai business, believe it or not, wow. One stripe Chai. And she cute story. I mean, I met her because she was making a delivery to a coffee shop that I happened to be in. And I helped her with her boxes to the counter. And I was like, wow, it's a chai and, and then I told her, and she absolutely almost fell over, because she's like, I want your autograpgh. So that was a beautiful moment. But watching her watching her grow. And then spirits is really popular up here. And a lot of women are starting distilleries, and one of them freelance spirits is the name of the brand. And she is just doing phenomenal. She's opening up new tasting rooms, she's extending on our product line. And at the time, you know, she was just trying to get her bottle and her first product going and so, so fine, she's got a big team now. And so those those are, there's also another gal in there that was doing whiskey and, and, you know, a spirits company as well. And then the group have you guys heard about the whole almond butter thing, you know, Justin's, there, ground up is the name of the brand. And it's two gals that are doing it. And they, they are also doing phenomenal work, they hire women who've been, you know, through really stressful times, as you know, as as employees and really building a really cool mission and values around their business. So I'd love to really highlight that group of women that, you know, I felt just, you know, every time I left them, I was like, Oh, my God, you guys are gonna, like, conquer the world.

Ellen Gustafson: 27:06

I love it. We'll definitely put links in our show notes to all of those companies, Lori, and get them from you.

Tish Woods: 27:15

Now Lori, you had said something that really kind of struck me, you said you can spot something that you know that somebody's really going out there has potential, what do you see, when you look at someone and say they have potential as an entrepreneur? Yeah.

Lori Spencer: 27:35

I can tell when someone shows up to the table and has they've done some type of research in some way, they've got something to show for it, whether it's, they've done a sampling, or they've done a focus group, or they've really looked at the market online or, you know, whether it's whether it's scrappy, or whether it's official, you know, they've done that due diligence. They've, they've seeked out some type of mentors or advisors to get, you know, some input, whether that's financial, or whether that's from a sales perspective, or, you know, and they've really, they've sort of done this, you know, what I call due diligence period, and then they've got a great product that in some way is going to different, differentiate or disrupt the market in some way. I think the brands that are doing really well, right now are ones that are disrupting an existing category. So in other words, they're doing something different within a well known category, the ones that are developing brand new categories are really up against a tough, you know, a tough challenge. And so, you know, I look at ice cream, I look at tea, I look at all the categories that, you know, I'm familiar with, and the ones that really are doing it in some type of different way, I think are are doing well. And you've got to have, you got to have a lot of, you know, passion and drive to really take a take a product to market today. And so the entrepreneurs that show up that, you know, are ready and up for it, the ones that are that are working a full time job, in addition to doing this at night. I mean, that's tough. And you know, honestly, I think at some point, you do have to commit to the business. I know financially it's a struggle for some but, you know, that's really what it takes.

Tish Woods: 29:37

So COVID Hit the world, like so unseen, right? And it's it had a incredible rippling effect some things positive some things not. But how does this impact or hey, how do you see it impacting business strategies at this point?

Lori Spencer: 29:55

COVID Yeah, I mean, I call it in the industry. I definitely call it post COVID The food and beverage industry on a whole was already prior to COVID You know, a lot of people were looking at the E COMM And looking at the direct to consumer and that was that was becoming well I'm definitely a part of the discussions and people And people's planning and all of a sudden, that there was no choice but to if you were going to scale or grow a business, that you had to look at that channel. And so that that was definitely a necessity. And I think, where people are, where there's, there's a lot of setbacks. Now in the, in the industry, decision making takes a lot longer getting a meeting or getting people's attention. There's a lot of there's, there's, there's a few, there's a few select distributors that basically own the market share in the country, you have to work with them, if you want to scale a national brand. And it's really hard and really tough to get into them today and get approvals. Approved, what used to be a 90 day approval is now you know, eight to 12 months. So you you have to be able to sit sit on that inventory, or have the financial to be able to do that. So it's it's really unfortunate. The industry has definitely changed a lot. As far as that goes.

Ellen Gustafson: 31:26

Yeah, it sounds like it's still it's kind of finding its footing. post COVID, as you say, but Laurie, you had a big shift in your business from the onset of COVID. I'd love for you to share that with our listeners. Well, yeah,

Lori Spencer: 31:43

I mean, a lot of it was out of necessity. I you know, instead of instead of, you know, having more full time model and resources, it became I had to switch gears and become more agile, become more agile, and which turned into more advisory, which turned into more contract fractional work. And, you know, part of that is just, you know, as you guys remember, when we shut down, he was very drastic, and very abrupt, and you know, not to work use the word disruptive again, but it really was. And so, here in Portland, a lot of businesses were impacted. And I went into help mode and outreach mode to really help some of these businesses shift gears and, you know, pivot in a new direction. And so, my work my contract, fractional work came out of really helping some businesses, change gears and, you know, move in a different direction. And so, I went from, you know, full time, one company to, you know, three companies, multiple hat working from home, and what a change, you know, I never worked at home, let alone, you know, everybody's zooming all over the place. And, you know, it was just, it wasn't really, but honestly, I, I definitely got a taste of what it's like to be, you know, a contractor with multiple clients, and what that what that looks like, right? Yeah, it's very, it's been a lot of diverse and variety of work, which I've really enjoyed. And, you know, different types of companies, different categories, I've always worked in one category, and now I'm working in multiple categories. So it's, it's also I've worked cross functionally, in many areas. Now, I used to be very much the marketing, marketing hat with also with, you know, bit general business, you know, leadership executive hat. And now I'm definitely business development, sales, operations and marketing. And so, it's been, it's been very much of a, you know, versatile hat role.

Ellen Gustafson: 34:02

And do you like that?

Lori Spencer: 34:04

I do. I like it a lot. I've been able to work with a variety of different teams and projects, and if anything, sharpen my pencil a little bit more in that, ultimately, you know, I'd like to maybe pursue that, that that GM or CEO, role and so this, I feel like this has set me up for some, you know, maybe some, some work in that.

Ellen Gustafson: 34:32

Do you think that COVID really affected women greatly? I know, you're a mom of three, you were wearing that hat during COVID as well. Right?

Lori Spencer: 34:41

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And supporting them, right. I mean, it's like to say, I really felt my COVID later on in COVID, because I was too busy supporting so many people around me, you know, everything from family to, you know, to work to my clients to my dogs. I mean, you name it, my parents. And so I almost went into, you know, reactive support mode. And, yeah, I mean, it's a challenge, right. And you I do have to say when it comes to that with my career You're, it's finding the right resources. And I've been very resourceful over the years to find the right, right, you know, the right resources to help out. So I have an amazing partner, partner in crime, and then, you know, great family support. And also, you know, friends and family. It's been, it's been

Tish Woods: 35:41

great. You know, Laura, you mentioned on your website, that you realize that collaborating with a wide variety of people makes your dream team. So if somebody's considering entrepreneurship, right, can you elaborate how this can become a key ingredient in how you grew your multimillion dollar company, but how they could as well and the importance of it.

Lori Spencer: 36:08

So people, people are everything, people or people, or whether it's your team at work, you know, whether it's your local community, whether it's your friends, girlfriends, just people as stuff has definitely been everything to me. And so it's finding when it comes to when it comes to Oregon Chai it comes to any, any of the companies that I work with, you know, you do get to a place, it takes a while, it can take a long time to get to that place where you have the right synergies, personalities and skill set in place to really, you know, thrive in a business. And so using Oregon chai is an example. We it took us a while to get to that, that great. I like to call it Dream Team, you know that in every area. So we've got, you know, the right sales team in place, we've got the right warehouse and production team in place. And to get those areas really thriving and moving together takes a long time. You know, you go through and you go through staff that maybe don't want to stay or they have to go or you get the wrong skill set in there. And you know, I've experienced that a lot where you're moving, you're moving around people in different areas. And so it takes a while. And so I always say if you, you know, if that day comes when you have all the right people in the right seats, you know, make sure you cover, you know, keep that and cherish that and reward that, right. Absolutely.

Ellen Gustafson: 37:47

I think Tish, and I feel really lucky to have our little dream team here on our podcast. So we can definitely relate to that. Lori.

Tish Woods: 37:57

I always thought, Ellen, it's pairing yourself up with people who have strengths that you don't have, right? Not always the easiest thing to find.

Lori Spencer: 38:08

Yes. And that reminds me i. So I had the opportunity to meet the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, and I'll never forget early on in my career, his advice and Tish, it has to do with what you just said. He said, hire the right people to do the right things and surround yourself with people who are actually smarter than you. Who, who, who will bring out your strengths and make you successful. So don't try and own HR if you don't know how to hire people or onboard or train, and when you can afford the HR bring it in. And and it's only going to make you that much more successful. So I took that with me in my career. And there's there's a lot of, there's a lot of truth to that.

Ellen Gustafson: 38:58

I really liked that. That must have been a great, a really great interview or interaction with the CEO of Starbucks, I can imagine Lori, you know, where do you feel most people get hung up or overwhelmed in starting a business, if you could just, is there one specific part of the process that you found?

Lori Spencer: 39:25

Yes, I mean, I was gonna say it's, a lot of founders get hung up on, they get overwhelmed by I call it the pre checklist. It's pre launch. So pre launch post launch. So there's a lot you have to do before you get on the shelf as a product. And there's a checklist and a lot of founders that I work with, just get way overwhelmed by the list on a whole. So my whole thing is break it down. Take take it in, take it in chunks, and get it done. And you know, so you can you can get you can get overwhelmed as much as you want. But you know you've got the list right there. So I think a lot of founders are also struggling with and it's a real thing is fundraising right now. You know, getting money to be able to either get that machine that they need to produce or they need the packaging in order to, you know, get in get their product to the shelf to ship or, you know, so there's a lot of roadblocks and then you've got the fundraising piece. And so that is a very common problem right now, as you know, so founders are caught up in, you know, trying to trying to get everything ready to present to investors, or, you know, they're not there. It's really hard right now to get, you know, get a check signed. So you got to you got to work with that. But yeah, I think just you know, that the early days of taking your product to market and kind of getting caught up with you know, all the minutia that goes with that.

Tish Woods: 41:03

So you are involved in so many community projects like build Oregon, Oregon entrepreneur, network, accelerate fund. And these are amazing business growth groups that exist in Oregon, how do if I'm an entrepreneur somewhere else? How do I find these kinds of resources and business support in my own area? Or do we all need to move to Oregon, I

Lori Spencer: 41:31

was gonna say, Tish, we, we are very special here in in Oregon. And I will say Oregon, I, I corrected myself to not say Portland, but because all those companies you just named are in Portland, but we do have amazing support for the entrepreneurial community, here in Portland, but also in the outlying areas. So Eugene, Bend, Salem, you know, there we have, we have an amazing community of, you know, consumer products and leaders. And so, honestly, I think a lot of the resources have grown from that and grown outside of that, because it's been such a huge, you know, vast amount of people who are starting who are starting products. So, I do know that there's nationally, there are there are organizations that are that are that are supporting these types of things, and more and more are popping up. And so locally, I would suggest, depending on you know, what, what industry you're in, to really, you know, research and look at that, because there there are, there are several that are nationwide that are that are starting to pop up naturally Boulder naturally, you know, there's there's organizations within food and beverage that I know that are, that are nationwide, there's also a lot of female women. Organizations that are that are popping up to nationwide so that that offer that support.

Tish Woods: 43:14

I think I love that women are so supportive of other women building businesses and aren't feeling challenged by them or intimidated by Wait a minute, you know, that's my area, but they're like trying to bring other women up. And that's been so important. We've done shows about mentoring and the importance of it with specially within the female community.

Lori Spencer: 43:37

Yeah, I love that we're seeing we're absolutely seeing a, you know, a flip and a change in that. And it's it's time, right,

Ellen Gustafson: 43:47

definitely. You know, Lori, I, we always like to ask one piece of advice you would give to our listeners, and you know, I have a friend who's actually starting a business in her retirement, she has a little retirement business starting so women are starting businesses at every stage, and what piece of advice would you give them from your experience?

Lori Spencer: 44:13

Oh, boy. Well, there's, there's quite a bit of quite a bit that comes with that. But I guess if I had to, can I can I can I have a few?

Tish Woods: 44:25

We'll give you I say, we'll give you a pass on that. Give us a few.

Lori Spencer: 44:29

Okay, so I definitely and trust me, I've had to learn this one but be comfortable in the uncomfortable. So in other words, have those difficult conversations. It's okay. And, you know, you have to it especially as an entrepreneur, if you're growing a business, you've got to get uncomfortable, and it happens. And honestly, it's when I look back on it, it's some some of the more beautiful moments is when is when you know, we have to get down and dirty right? And the other one I would say, and I do I do tell my children my kids this as well probably every week is continue to learn and continue to learn and, and have a network or have a group of mentors at your table at all times, so whether that's an old professor or a coach or, you know, sports coach or, you know, a former boss or, you know, but networking is definitely a necessity, whether you're, whether you're working or not, it's good to have a network around you, to support you. And I'm always a big believer of continuing to learn no matter what we're never, we're never done learning, right? Never.

Tish Woods: 45:49

Yeah, Lori. I've got to say, thank you so much for sharing your journey with us today. It has been amazing.Inspiring. You know, you really kind of made us think about a lot of different things. And anyone who's thinking about being an entrepreneur right now, this is the time you know, we always talk about these side hustles and whatnot. But this is the time and and, you know, do the work. Find your mentors. Keep your inspiration. Find the organizations that can help you and take a chance, right.

Lori Spencer: 46:33

Take a chance. I love it. Thank you for having me.

Ellen Gustafson: 46:37

Thank you, Laurie.

Tish Woods: 46:40

So to our listeners, please see us on our website, www,positivelymidlifepodcast.com You'll see a lot of links in our show notes to things that we mentioned here today. And until next week.

Ellen Gustafson: 46:57

Until next week,