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Say Cheers! This First-Time Entrepreneur Turned a Hobby Into a Profitable Venture
An entrepreneurial success story? We’ll drink to that! On this episode of She Turned Entrepreneur we learn how wine expert Nia Ruth traded in a job that was fine for a venture that lit her up inside. What started out as a hobby turned into something more as Nia built her knowledge base with college-level courses and traveled the world, exploring vineyards of all kinds. She also became a columnist on the subject for San Diego Magazine, offered advice via social media and, well, before long she had de facto started a wine consulting business!
Nia Ruth Wine, an experiential wine club, was born of pure exhilaration. Featuring premium boutique wines that you won’t find at any grocery store, Nia revels in selecting a range of unique varietals from small producers to be delivered right to her members’ doorsteps each month. Virtual monthly tastings provide a platform for enthusiasts to come together, get acquainted and learn the stories behind each of the featured wines.
It’s a win-win-win! Not only do members discover a whole new frontier, the winemakers welcome the exposure to customers who might otherwise never have known about them. To make the trifecta complete, Nia incorporates her PhD studies and previous career as a social welfare consultant in an incredibly positive way: Each month $1 per membership goes to the featured winemakers, who are then free to donate proceeds to the nonprofit of their choice.
Nia of course has had her share of challenges along the way, but she shares with us some great tips (for instance, podcasts can be a great source of educational information and how-to tricks for learning startup tools). She’s encouraging us to trust what feels good and skip what doesn’t. Says Nia: Just try! If you fail, fail quickly. Then get back up again!
Click here to join Nia’s wine club and expand your knowledge base, refine your palate, meet small producers and discover your favorite wines!
Click here to listen to, rate and review this or previous She Turned Entrepreneur episodes.
Here are key takeaways from the conversation:
• Even if you’ve got a PhD and career in progress, it’s possible to make an about-face.
• Finding a niche and then filling it is a fantastic entrepreneurial formula.
• That “little” hobby of yours? Could it be a business? Time to think creatively!
• Trying to figure out how to market? Podcasts are a great learning resource!
• If you’ve got an idea, don’t be afraid. Give it a try. Make a modest investment.
Here’s a quick look into the episode:
• Starting out on a pre-determined, academic path that led to a PhD and consulting in the social work space, Nia’s growing interest in wine over time organically evolved from a hobby into a passion into a venture she couldn’t resist.
• Nia explains how she got the idea for her unique and experiential wine club.
• An entrepreneurial venture made sense on a number of levels:
o As a way to leverage the deep wine expertise she had acquired.
o As an opportunity to introduce people to wines they would otherwise never find.
o For the flexibility and freedom with lifestyle choices it would afford.
• A Day in the Life:
o Danielle starts first thing by responding to email, refreshing social media and generating content for postings.
o After that? It’s often wine tastings and outreach to wineries.
• About how Nia’s wine club works:
o Each month members receive three bottles of wine, specially chosen to represent a variety of grapes, regions and styles.
o Wines are delivered right to your door.
o The wines come from boutique vineyards with which Nia has a relationship (nothing you could find at the grocery store).
o The club includes a live online forum through which members can get to know each other and the featured vintners, who share the stories behind their wines.
o Nia provides materials to help members get comfortable with the language around wine, which emboldens them to share their opinions!
• A big part of Nia’s mission is to support small wineries by introducing them to people all around the country who would otherwise never be exposed.
• Nia has built her background in social welfare into her business model by setting aside $1 per member each month for the featured winery to donate to a favorite nonprofit.
• About Bumps in the Road. Nia’s biggest challenges have been:
o No marketing background, which put her on a steep learning curve.
o No roadmap as to what comes next as the business evolves and develops.
• Advice for entrepreneurs starting out:
o If you have an idea, don’t be afraid. Just give it a try!
o Trust your gut and do what feels right, even if it means saying no.
• Recommended Resources:
o Podcast: Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. Great practical tips.
o Podcast: Entrepreneurs on Fire. Inspirational stories!
o Podcast: Nia is a fan of Dori and She Turned Entrepreneur.
About Nia:
Nia is a wine-loving psychologist turned Wine Expert and Wine Club Founder. While completing her PhD in psychology research at NYU and working for several years consulting in the social welfare space, she fell completely in love with wine. She took her first introductory wine course at San Diego State University in 2018, and has since completed her WSET levels 2 and 3, started blogging about wine, become the wine columnist at San Diego Magazine and traveled far and wide visiting vineyards throughout Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, South Africa, Morocco, Croatia, Israel, Mexico and across the U.S.
Connect with Nia!
Website | Instagram | Blog
Zencastr is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how. It records each guest locally, then uploads the crystal clear audio and video right into the suite so you have high-quality raw materials to work with.
Visit https://zen.ai/sheturnedentrepreneur and use Promo Code: sheturnedentrepreneur to receive 30% off a Zencastr Professional account.
View all episodes
By Dori StewartAn entrepreneurial success story? We’ll drink to that! On this episode of She Turned Entrepreneur we learn how wine expert Nia Ruth traded in a job that was fine for a venture that lit her up inside. What started out as a hobby turned into something more as Nia built her knowledge base with college-level courses and traveled the world, exploring vineyards of all kinds. She also became a columnist on the subject for San Diego Magazine, offered advice via social media and, well, before long she had de facto started a wine consulting business!
Nia Ruth Wine, an experiential wine club, was born of pure exhilaration. Featuring premium boutique wines that you won’t find at any grocery store, Nia revels in selecting a range of unique varietals from small producers to be delivered right to her members’ doorsteps each month. Virtual monthly tastings provide a platform for enthusiasts to come together, get acquainted and learn the stories behind each of the featured wines.
It’s a win-win-win! Not only do members discover a whole new frontier, the winemakers welcome the exposure to customers who might otherwise never have known about them. To make the trifecta complete, Nia incorporates her PhD studies and previous career as a social welfare consultant in an incredibly positive way: Each month $1 per membership goes to the featured winemakers, who are then free to donate proceeds to the nonprofit of their choice.
Nia of course has had her share of challenges along the way, but she shares with us some great tips (for instance, podcasts can be a great source of educational information and how-to tricks for learning startup tools). She’s encouraging us to trust what feels good and skip what doesn’t. Says Nia: Just try! If you fail, fail quickly. Then get back up again!
Click here to join Nia’s wine club and expand your knowledge base, refine your palate, meet small producers and discover your favorite wines!
Click here to listen to, rate and review this or previous She Turned Entrepreneur episodes.
Here are key takeaways from the conversation:
• Even if you’ve got a PhD and career in progress, it’s possible to make an about-face.
• Finding a niche and then filling it is a fantastic entrepreneurial formula.
• That “little” hobby of yours? Could it be a business? Time to think creatively!
• Trying to figure out how to market? Podcasts are a great learning resource!
• If you’ve got an idea, don’t be afraid. Give it a try. Make a modest investment.
Here’s a quick look into the episode:
• Starting out on a pre-determined, academic path that led to a PhD and consulting in the social work space, Nia’s growing interest in wine over time organically evolved from a hobby into a passion into a venture she couldn’t resist.
• Nia explains how she got the idea for her unique and experiential wine club.
• An entrepreneurial venture made sense on a number of levels:
o As a way to leverage the deep wine expertise she had acquired.
o As an opportunity to introduce people to wines they would otherwise never find.
o For the flexibility and freedom with lifestyle choices it would afford.
• A Day in the Life:
o Danielle starts first thing by responding to email, refreshing social media and generating content for postings.
o After that? It’s often wine tastings and outreach to wineries.
• About how Nia’s wine club works:
o Each month members receive three bottles of wine, specially chosen to represent a variety of grapes, regions and styles.
o Wines are delivered right to your door.
o The wines come from boutique vineyards with which Nia has a relationship (nothing you could find at the grocery store).
o The club includes a live online forum through which members can get to know each other and the featured vintners, who share the stories behind their wines.
o Nia provides materials to help members get comfortable with the language around wine, which emboldens them to share their opinions!
• A big part of Nia’s mission is to support small wineries by introducing them to people all around the country who would otherwise never be exposed.
• Nia has built her background in social welfare into her business model by setting aside $1 per member each month for the featured winery to donate to a favorite nonprofit.
• About Bumps in the Road. Nia’s biggest challenges have been:
o No marketing background, which put her on a steep learning curve.
o No roadmap as to what comes next as the business evolves and develops.
• Advice for entrepreneurs starting out:
o If you have an idea, don’t be afraid. Just give it a try!
o Trust your gut and do what feels right, even if it means saying no.
• Recommended Resources:
o Podcast: Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. Great practical tips.
o Podcast: Entrepreneurs on Fire. Inspirational stories!
o Podcast: Nia is a fan of Dori and She Turned Entrepreneur.
About Nia:
Nia is a wine-loving psychologist turned Wine Expert and Wine Club Founder. While completing her PhD in psychology research at NYU and working for several years consulting in the social welfare space, she fell completely in love with wine. She took her first introductory wine course at San Diego State University in 2018, and has since completed her WSET levels 2 and 3, started blogging about wine, become the wine columnist at San Diego Magazine and traveled far and wide visiting vineyards throughout Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, South Africa, Morocco, Croatia, Israel, Mexico and across the U.S.
Connect with Nia!
Website | Instagram | Blog
Zencastr is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how. It records each guest locally, then uploads the crystal clear audio and video right into the suite so you have high-quality raw materials to work with.
Visit https://zen.ai/sheturnedentrepreneur and use Promo Code: sheturnedentrepreneur to receive 30% off a Zencastr Professional account.