Welcome to the second season of our podcast. Help- I started a business, now what? At the beginning, there are so many decisions to make and so many things to do. It can feel like everyone else has their business figured out. It’s also really easy to compare your brand new starter business to others that are well established. In this podcast, we will talk about all those hairy first big steps that come with starting a business. Our second season will focus mostly on artisan interviews. Our first guest for this season is Elaine Kinney from White Pine Bath Brew sharing how she creates her marketing strategy through brand collaborations.
Find Elaine here on Instagram. Check out the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or read the transcript below. We’ve even included timestamps in case you want to zero in on one part of the show.
Our show sponsor this season is goimagine! They are a great partner and sponsor, so make sure to check them out!
Episode Transcription
00:00.10
Amber Christian
Hello and welcome to the first episode of the new season of the now what show. I’m your host Amber Christian. Today I am happy to welcome Elaine Kinney to the show. We’ll get to Elaine’s introduction and she’ll tell you more about herself in just a minute.
But before we jump in I have a couple of really exciting announcements for this season so in season 2 we’ve heard you. We’ve seen how much you’re watching the artisan interviews and so this year we’re going to or should say for this season we’re going to go ahead and do a lot more artisan interviews. We will have a deep dive on those artisan questions. It’s been pretty clear from the feedback we’re getting that you love those particular questions!
The second thing I want to announce for season 2 is we have a sponsor this season. So I’m pleased to share that goimagine has chosen to sponsor our podcast for this season. We love this company. We’ve talked about them in multiple articles that you can find on our website and so they are sponsoring the whole season for us and they’ll have their own dedicated episode as we go further on in the season.
So now just to share a little bit more about who goimagine is. Goimagine is focused on building the maker community through a handmade marketplace, maker business education, custom websites, and a social app designed for artists called maker circle. The goimagine community includes thousands of handmade business owners throughout the United States. These business owners are passionate about growing a handmade platform dedicated to quality handmade items while also focusing on social good that’s helping children in need. Check them out at goamagine.com
And now let’s introduce Elaine Kinney. Elaine, can you share a little bit more about yourself and your business?
01:52.67
Elaine Kinney
Hi I’m Elaine Kinney- I have a soap business in Portland Maine up here in New England. I make soap out of the local craft beers. Portland is known for its craft beer community. There’s over 165 different breweries in our state alone. So I have niched down with my soap by turning their beer into soap.
02:16.76
Amber Christian
So when I came across Elaine initially I thought- huh, soap out of beer. So tell us a little bit more about this journey of starting to make soap From beer as I feel like that’s something unique and something I haven’t seen a lot.
02:36.15
Elaine Kinney
Right? So when I started making soap. It was back in 2018 or 2019 I think and I have always used beer to make it so I’m always surprised that more people don’t, but I’m not the first one to come up with it. And I was learning from a friend. She had started a business as sort of a hobby but was looking to move on to the next thing. And I was in social services for like 7 years before that and was looking to get out of that and try to work for myself as an entrepreneur. So we collaborated and she taught me how to make soap from beer and I kind of dove in from there.
03:14.49
Amber Christian
Oh that sounds super interesting now. The other thing I think that’s very unique about your story is how you have grown into these collaborations with breweries. I feel like that’s a really unique thing as well because you’re focused on the whole Maine brewery industry. So can you tell us how that first started and then how it’s starting to evolve.
03:38.80
Elaine Kinney
So when I first started making soap with beer I was just buying it off the grocery store shelves and it was a great thing marketing wise to be able to tout that I’m using these other small businesses these breweries in my soap. But when it really started to change somewhere along the line. I realized that I could be using brewery waste specifically to make my soaps as opposed to just buying directly. That became a new more sustainable way to support other small businesses and boost my own small business’s sustainability. It started back- I think it was Lone Pine brewing that first reached out to me. There was a gentleman that was working there and he had 3 cases of past code beer. It is essentially just beer that is- There’s nothing really gone wrong with it because it’s still has it’s sealed and its has alcohol in it. So It’s not going to go bad but the flavors – It’s more of an overstock. The flavors have just passed their fresh point. They don’t really want to sell it anymore because it’s just not quite as good to drink but also don’t want to dump it down the drain. So this gentleman had reached out to me with these cases of beer and said you use beer in your soap. Can you use these and I did. I was like I have to- I have to jump on this opportunity. So I was using this passcode beer for a little bit. I didn’t even realize what an opportunity I was sitting on at the time. I didn’t realize how common this production excess was. But since then I’ve decided to try to shift all of the beer that I use for soap to be sourced from this production excess specifically.
05:25.15
Amber Christian
So now when when we think about and kind of talk about how do you start to source and do those collaborations with the breweries starting to provide the product. Do you wait for them to reach out to you? Do you reach out to them? How has that process evolved for you from that first time you did it into something that you’re more regularly doing.
05:47.43
Elaine Kinney
Yeah, yeah, it’s it’s a little bit of like a stumbling process as you learn these sorts of things right? Especially as a small business owner when you go into things and you’re like I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m going to just get out there and try it. So like I said this first opportunity they approached me- it was I think a dm on my Instagram so it can be as informal a setting as that and just following that through. Since then I usually approach with an email- I will go on the website and usually I have like something specific in mind I want to make. For example, I have a lemongrass shea and IPA soap. So I specifically need an IPA for that one because it fits the name so I usually go online and find either a brewery that’s a favorite of mine, or just one I’ve been looking forward to trying, or one I’m excited to work with, or a customer has requested and I will reach out to them just via email and say hey this is my business. This is what I do. You give them your little elevator pitch and an email and say I would love to work with you. Do you have anything that fits these Parameters and do you have any short fills or do you have these pass code beers that are overstocked that you need to get rid of anyway? I would love to work with you and usually it’s as simple as that. That’s really how I approach it. I’ve had a couple breweries approach me like I said first but it’s kind of a finding each other thing and sometimes you know sometimes it doesn’t fit. Maybe they don’t do a vegan beer. I have a vegan business so it has to be within that parameter. So maybe the beers they make aren’t vegan and I find that out so I move on to the next one sometimes you get ghosted everyone in small business knows it and Business knows you can send out emails and never hear back. So it’s really a mixture of those interactions and just keep pushing out and reaching out to people and pursuing sometimes. I walk right into the brewery which is always a little scary and just approach whoever’s behind the bar and say hey. This is my shtick like can I talk to whoever’s in charge of this I would love to work with you. But I think what’s really motivating to me is that we’re all members of this small business community right? So I really want to be interacting and building those relationships.
07:58.96
Amber Christian
Yes, that’s got to be fun every once in a while seeing the look on the face of the person behind the bar when you’ve cold walked in and said hey I am really interested in making soap out of your beer can I talk to someone?
08:07.47
Elaine Kinney
They never expect it. Never expect it. Yeah, absolutely.
08:14.10
Amber Christian
Like well that was not on my bingo card but yet absolutely memorable and cool that you show up to collaborate with them because they they get human side of it too. For brands is sometimes we can say oh well we shouldn’t approach them. Sometimes it’s a huge blessing for you to approach them and they’re actually really open to it. They just never thought about it before and so it can be a really beautiful thing to approach them to collaborate with it now.
08:30.67
Elaine Kinney
Um, yeah. Absolutely.
08:42.57
Amber Christian
Do you get tours or get to go behind the scenes sometimes with some of these brands? Tell me more about what that ends up looking like since now you’re collaborating with them.
08:45.68
Elaine Kinney
Yeah, yeah, so it’s neat. So I usually go and pick up the beer. We. We schedule a time to meet and I know they’re they’re busy and their businesses are probably bigger than mine. So I usually show up. And I just go and say like what have you got for me and usually I have no idea how much it’s going to be or sometimes they’ll say we’ve got 2 to 3 cases for you and I show up and they’ve got 6 cases for me and so I’m good for like a while. But you never quite know what you’re going to walk into right? So when I show up to these breweries I often get ushered into this back brewing room where there’s all these huge tanks and things are very much actively happening and so it’s cool because you get to sort of see the behind the scenes and usually breweries are pretty open to like let people have tours or walk back there anyway. It’s very very common to get brewery tours even as just a customer and like during an event or something like that.
But it’s cool because a lot of times as you’re helping them just carry things out to the car. They’re just like oh come on back and you get to see their huge walk in freezer. You do get to walk back behind the scenes and see it and sometimes when I’m just approaching breweries It’s at events. I recently went to an event at orange bike brewing which is Portland’s first dedicated gluten free brewery which was very exciting.
And they were hosting an event where they had a speaker come and talk in their brewery room with all of their their kettles and it was cool because you’re just sitting there amongst bags of malt and you really do get to see that behind the scenes which is cool.
10:26.12
Amber Christian
That’s got to provide you with endless opportunities for social media related to product development, and your production process. It strikes me that this collaboration is really beneficial in a lot of areas of your business because then If you’re doing simple things like documenting as you go. As you pick up the beer, as you use the beer, and making something what the finished product looks like. There’s all of these different things that it’s like okay I can almost create a little bit of a formula for my social media as I go to do a collaboration thus really simplifying a lot of other things for your business.
10:55.51
Elaine Kinney
Yeah. Absolutely and it’s so hard. Social media strategy. But I think just and I’m terrible at this but 1 of those things where you’re just remembering just turn on your camera things are happening in your business. Just turn on your camera, just take footage of it and you’ve got something for later.
11:15.00
Amber Christian
Absolutely and and you can even really create almost a formula as you go to do a collaboration and and you just start to learn it becomes ingrained part of your process because the thing that strikes me as as challenging as you were wearing so many hats we have to do so many different things all of the time.
And sometimes the last thing we can do is feel really inspired around the social media side of it and the communication with our customers which is the most important part. Absolutely and then this whole collaboration strategy of just being able to capture it.
11:39.17
Elaine Kinney
That is so true. Yeah, that front facing side you have to have something to present. Yeah, absolutely.
11:53.94
Amber Christian
It could be as simple as sending things out on your newsletter of hey here’s the latest sneak peek behind the scenes when I was picking up beer from blah blah blah that I’m working on. And everyone’s like I have the inside scoop and you didn’t really have to tell them all that much thus making it a lot more simpler to communicate.
Part of what I thought is so intriguing about this collaboration with breweries being kind of the main way that you’re doing your business is it can simplify a lot of other aspects of the business so that you stay sane.
12:18.41
Elaine Kinney
Yeah I love anything that I can turn into content. You know so and I think that’s it’s such a hard thing to stay on top of especially like you said when you’re wearing so many hats when your mind is pulled to a thousand different places between your website and your marketing and your You know product design. And your own mental health and like just staying on top of everything if you can streamline it if you can just take footage of everything you’ve got. It’s fantastic.
12:46.50
Amber Christian
Ah, wonderful. Well, do you have any other final thoughts you would like to share with people before we tell them how to find you and or encouragement you’d like to share about pursuing collaborations for someone who might feel a little trepidation? What would you share with them?
12:59.57
Elaine Kinney
Yeah I mean just the biggest thing I’ve learned as a small business owner in general and it applies to collaborations. But it applies to everything else too. It’s just like get out there and do it because I think we all fight imposter syndrome in such a major way. And the reality is that we’re all going to make mistakes. You’re never good at something the first time and if you are like tell me how you did that? Um, you’re going to make mistakes right? So the point isn’t avoiding the mistakes or like getting everything perfect or making sure your pitch is just so before you ever try because you can analysis paralysis and then just. Stop yourself from even hitting send right? But I think the most important thing is throwing yourself into something being willing to have some messes along the way as long as you’re learning from it like you’re going to make progress you’re going to improve and don’t let just like the unknown stop you from trying because there’s- it’s fine if like something doesn’t work out and you know you gave it your all but how much more frustrating is it to look back and have regrets because you know you didn’t even try you know? So I would just get out there. Whatever it is whether it’s a collaboration and you’re not sure how to reach out or whether it’s just starting your business at all like just. Dive into the complicated stuff. You’ll figure it out as you go I promise.
14:16.63
Amber Christian
Ah, right? Fantastic excellent advice. So now Elaine tell everyone where they can find you on the socials, your website. How do they find out more information about you and your company?
14:24.93
Elaine Kinney
Absolutely so there’s lots of little places you can find me obviously I have a website. It’s white pinebathbrew.com and I’m on Instagram. One of my main areas where I show up that’s white pine bath brew. And I also have a newsletter you can sign up for on my website where it just gives little updates on you know sales. I do a lot of pop-up events. Ah and I’m also starting a new blog in a matter of days. It will be launching and that is a little bit more of the behind the scenes 1 on 1 personal conversational look. You’re getting to see some little snippets of like some of those shots of beer getting handed off in the back of a brewery or you know some of the chemistry behind why soap works. You’re just getting a little bit more of like something you can sink your teeth into with that blog and the blog is called shower beer and beer showers.
15:15.34
Amber Christian
Well wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today Elaine and again, ah absolutely and a special. Thank you to goimagine our sponsor for this season. Thank you everyone and we’ll see you next time.
15:18.74
Elaine Kinney
Thank you for having me.
We hope you enjoyed this episode on getting ready for your first craft fair.
Want more of the Now What Show? Check out these previous episodes:
Episode 5: Getting Ready for your first craft fair with Nicole Stevenson
Episode 4: How my first wholesale order happened with Livvy Ramos of Fera Fox
Episode 3: Getting your first PR with Stephanie Blanchard
Episode 2: Establishing a web presence with Erica Martin
Episode 1: How I got my first large custom order with Lindy of apothecary 19
