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

Mary , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job

The most important lesson I learned at my job as a restaurant bartender was to abc, always be closing. From the start of my shift, I would gather all items needed to close the bar. Throughout the night, I would complete different parts of my closing side work until at 10 pm actual closing time, I would be completely done. This was done using abc & planning for my close. Planning ahead for the close, helped keep me more organized through the night & really able to get all of my work done during my shift, instead of letting it pile up to do at the end of the shift. It’s definitely a science that goes to it, but I mastered it working in a restaurant and applied it in my Mobile Bartending Buisness, Udrinkimake. I use this quick rule of thumb in many aspects of my business. From the phone calls, messages & email inquiries, abc. When I’m physically bartending events, I’m staying organized and still using abc. If you think of the end result; the closing, all task will seem doable. Every task has a start and end anyway, but if you never lose sight of the ending and instead always prepare for it, you are really staying ahead.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am a Wife, Mother & Entrepreneur from Detroit, Michigan. I am the Proprietor of Udrinkimake, Celebrity Mobile Bartending Service and CEO of Ucareimake, Self-care line of flavored sugar scrubs and flavored body oils. I began my Entrepreneurial journey by starting Udrinkimake in 2016. We service events from Weddings to Baby Showers, Prom Send Offs, Corporate Events and more just go name a few. Our first event was actually a children’s Easter Event. We service events with alcoholic beverages when establishments are licensed to allow alcohol service, but we also offer a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. That love for the non-alcohol (mock-tail) community, as well as my daughter wanting to get involved with my business, together created Cupcake Rainbow. Cupcake Rainbow makes children’s beverages for children, by children! My daughter, Mariah Harvin, age 10, is the President of Cupcake Rainbow and the Vice-President is her sister, Milan Harvin, age 7. When Cupcake Rainbow does an event, they make children friendly beverages that look amazing! They learned it all from me. After all of this fun with drinks, I decided to take my old love of Chemistry and mix it with the drinks. In that space, Ucareimake was born. The flavored sugar scrubs and flavored body oils are inspired and taste like drinks. Some of the flavors are Strawberry Daiquiri, Lemon Drop, Hummer & Mojito. Creating the flavors and getting the right blend for each scrub and oil was so much fun. The Ucareimake line will be going on sale very soon this Fall. Ucareimake is already voluntarily registered with the FDA.

I have both of my businesses and my daughter’s business off to great beginnings and plenty of room for future successes. Udrinkimake, has not been bad at all so far. We are heading into our seventh year in business. We had a slow past two years due to COVID-19, however our projections for the end of this year and 2023 are looking very impressive. UcareImake has not had an official drop, but the momentum is consistently building. For the launch, I will be doing a Meet & Greet Sip & Shop so everyone can try the flavors and meet me so we can discuss any concerns and celebrate the Ucareimake launch. Of course, Udrinkimake will be on the drinks!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn not charging my worth. The skills that I have gained in the field, hands-on bartending, I learned is a skill that can’t be taught. Experience can be mimicked, but the only way to throughly know somethings is through actually doing it. There is definite truth on practice makes perfect. I have worked the repeated shifts, opening bartender, night time bartender, nightclub bartender, and bartender trainer. All of the jobs prepared me for successfully running a Celebrity Mobile Bartending Service. The know your worth part comes in because I see bartenders without any experience starting Mobile Bartending Services. Our edge, is the 16+ years I have been bartending partnered with the 21+ years I’ve been in hospitality. My expertise has a cost and a worth. So as the years have went by, our services has increased and we created a concentration with Celebrity Events. Really, any event that we service, our clients receive the “Star Treatment” and all feel like a Celebrity, especially after our Social Media Experience! Our Social Media Experience is where we go live, create Reels & TikToks before, during and after events. This ties our bartending services in with social media and creates a Celebrity Experience! We are where Signature Beverages, Social Media and Mobility Collide!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

The initial capital to start my business came from my tax refund. I took $500 and got a website built for bartender for hire. I then filed for an EIN, LLC, created a business plan, got the bank accounts, and proceeded with getting my first event. Before the website was complete, I had my first event, which was a children’s Easter Event. The event was a success and I ended up doing many events at that event spaces and the news spread leading to more business friendships with other venues that continues to grow even now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Udrinkimake.com www.Ucareimake.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/udrinkimake www.Instagram.com/ucareimake
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/udrinkimake www.Facebook.com/ucareimake
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC0oVCgKYak5JiBTkBl08RQA
• Other: Expertise

Image Credits

Photos: Raw & Refined Model: Brianna
Creative Director: Natasha Lee of That Girl