We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jarret Mcbride Sr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jarret, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?
In my humble opinion, you have to be driven to successully. You have to the ability to overcome adversity and stay focused on your goals. being a retired military person. I have learn to overcome adversity and keep moving forward with my goals/plans. For example.: I had a contractor take a large sum of money from me which was a major set back. I reached to a fraternity brother that had a construction company to complete the project. This allow me to solve my dilema and stay focus on my goal to open my italian ice store. Things will alway happen unexpectedly and you havt to have the ability to fight through those obstacles. Success is the ability to see it, plan it, execute it the plan.
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 naive of St Louis Mo. I was educator for 8 years then I transisition to the military for a 22 year career. I am now entrepenuerand owner of Louie’s Italian Ice, LLC. I came into the frozen dessert industry from time Iraq. It was a bad tour and I wanted to get out of the military. My boss talked me out of getting out of the military but I did consultant with business company that work with military personnel looking to transition out. The company ran an analysis on and discover that I like to build things from the ground up. I am not sure that is actual true. The company recommended a franchise that was in the italian ice industry. I like the franchisor and the product but I did not received much assistantance for growing my franchise in the St Louis market so I broke on my own and been in the italian ice industry ever since.
I am most proud of growing my business from a trailer/mobile truck to a brick and mortar. It has been struggle to open the doors but I perserved and we have been open for 7 months. I am learning the difference from traier to a brick and mortar and being a year round retail instead of a seasonal business. The experience and growth is amazing and scary at the same time. i look forward to my first year and what it will bring with new customers and brand awareness.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Social media has been the best strategy for me to build my brand. Louie has an Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok pages to get the word out about us. Most of my customers are from social media. I have to admit I do not like to post but for me to grow my brand and business I have to continue to get the word out about Louie.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have talked about perservance and staying with your plan even when it goes awry. I had a contractor steal several thousands of dollars from and this was a major set back. I had to work odd jobs to make enough money to get my doors open. I was 6 months behind schedule and the pressure was serious to get the doors open and start making some money!!! I am still working off some of that debt but with my plan and staying the course my second year in business should be very prosperous. I am steadying building my brand and customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://louieitalianice.com
- Instagram: louiesitalianice
- Facebook: Louie’s Italian Ice