We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carli Terreault a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carli, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I remember constantly scrolling Pinterest just looking at random topics not even looking for a business idea and I happen to come across a horse trailer converted into a mobile bar and I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And then I kept seeing more of them so they just kind of lingered around my mind. Finally I just thought to myself I want one of those! I’m creative. I can definitely build that. I love to build things. I love working with my hands and doing physical labor and since I typically sit at a desk all day for my job, I really needed a hobby that could get me outside and moving around while also being able to stay home with my kids and spend time with them, instead of in the gym. So then I started looking at how much horse trailers actually cost, I found a couple of reasonably priced ones and started going to look at them. There was a few that just wasn’t what I was looking for, maybe the wrong style or price. But then I remember pulling up to this farm in the middle of January on the East Coast. It was absolutely frigid outside, you couldn’t feel your face. The crisp cold wind was blowing so hard that we could barely stand to be outside to even look at the trailer. So because of how cold it was, we kind of rushed the inspection of the trailer and decided to just take it because it seemed like a deal that was too good to be true. So we hooked her up to the truck and towed her home. There were no license plates on it, it wasn’t registered, and the tail lights barely worked. So we were definitely a little sketched out getting it home. But we made it! Over the next couple months, I started tearing everything out of the horse trailer and cleaning it up. I did end up getting help on some welding that I wanted done on the trailer to cut out bigger windows and weld pieces on but other than that, I did everything completely on my own, with a little muscle from my boyfriend when I needed it. I used Canva to draw up the design of what I wanted it to look like and then I just started going to work piece by piece. My kids were such a big help during this process too. They always wanted to get their hands dirty, and help clean up and build things. I built everything myself from the cabinets to the serving window to the bar top, as well as painted and did all the finishing touches myself. Finally, the summer of that same year I had my official launch party for all of my friends and neighbors in my backyard! It was such a blast, seeing everybody’s faces as they walked into my backyard and saw this beautiful luxurious mobile bar serving drinks at the party they were at. It made me so excited to see that all of my hard work had paid off, and that people loved the idea!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an Air Force veteran who used to work on aircrafts which was a very physically demanding job. After I started having kids, I realized that I needed a more flexible job that allowed me to be home more so I started working for a top Fortune 50 company after I graduated with my Bachelors in Business Management and Marketing. This new job required me to be in front of a screen basically all day long sitting at a desk, so going from one extreme to the other in a career was really tough and I needed something physical as a hobby to keep me moving. That’s when I started my new venture for my mobile bar business. While I love my business and the clients that I get to meet, I think my favorite part about the whole experience was the build of the bar. Tearing it apart and rebuilding it from scratch and seeing my vision come to life was one of my proudest accomplishments and I still to this day keep making upgrades to the bar during down time so I can better cater to my clients needs.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

As a small business owner whose business is very location specific, you have to realize that the best way you are going to build your clientele is in your own community. So in order for me to build my clientele, I had to really put my brand out there and just get noticed in person, not go viral on social media. So when I first launched my business, I invited everyone in the neighborhood to my backyard event for free, as well as volunteered my time and business to local community events that I knew would get a lot of eyes on it. So for instance, my neighbor who owns a local brick and mortar business on Main Street was having an event with a couple of other local businesses so I offered to serve champagne to all of the guests out of the bar as they entered the event. Because this event was held on our very busy main street, I knew there was going to be a lot of traction. So for me it was a no-brainer to be able to park my mobile bar on Main Street with tons of traffic as well as all of the guests entering the event. I had so many people passing by stop and ask what my business was, what was going on, and even a few of them asked if they could get a drink too! I met so many new people and made so many new connections which ultimately led to more leads and bookings for me in the long run. Not only was this a local event for me so it didn’t cost me a lot in terms of travel and time, but it also helped me build my reputation in my community and it’s something that I still continue to do to this day.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Of course, any good business has an email list! I get these from doing wedding shows, vendor fairs, and direct online traffic to my website through social media. While I try not to bombard people with weekly emails, I try to stay top of mind during peak seasons with a friendly email reminder. I also try to stay active on my social media platforms and I love doing raffles and giveaways there to encourage engagement and foster brand loyalty. I also make sure to carry business cards with me everywhere I go so anytime there is a community bulletin board, I always stick my cards up there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lazeandsoiree.com
• Instagram: @lazeandsoiree
• Facebook: Laze and Soiree
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/carli-terreault-30171b187