We caught up with the brilliant and insightful AJ Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
AJ, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?
I was fortunate to spend 25 years in corporate America sharpening my business skills. I finished my career as the Vice President of Information Technology for a Aerospace and Defense company. I worked in a high tech business environment that required really good staff to accomplish your goals. As a leader, I quickly learned that no matter how great your ideas, skills, work ethic, or experience, you are only as good as your team. I realized that you have to surround yourself with great staff who share your passion for the vision and want to be a part of that vision. I’ve been able to carry that lesson with me into entrepreneurship. By focusing on building a good team, the business has not only been able to survive some tough times with COVID, but also thrive.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve been a resident of San Diego for over 30 years, but I was born in New Orleans, LA. I attended San Diego State for both my undergraduate and graduate studies. I live in Spring Valley with my wife and 3 daughters. While I spent 25 years working in corporate America, I’ve always had a desire to be an entrepreneur. I also grew up with a passion/addiction to ice cream. As a kid my mom would make ice cream from scratch and let me watch. My job would be to turn the crank on the old manual ice cream maker with the rock salt and ice. My reward would be getting to lick the inside of the container when the ice cream was done. So when the opportunity became available for me to purchase Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream in 2019, I had to do it. It was my time to become a business owner. I was attracted to Hammond’s because it was a unique Ice Cream shop that I was a huge fan of. We offer 32 unique flavors in each of our ice cream shops. To help customers with experiencing all the fun and interesting flavors we scoop, we offer ice cream flights that allow customers to pick and choose different flavors in a sampling flight. Our flights became so popular, that we became known as the “Home of the Original Ice Cream Flight”. Our flagship product is our “Flight of 32”, which allows you and others to sample all 32 of our flavors in a flight in one sitting.
We believe that there are 3 distinct things that make us stand out above our competitors. 1) The quality/depth of our ice cream is truly gourmet in terms of the richness and intensity of flavor. 2) Our breath and uniqueness of flavors is second to none. We rotate over 300 flavors of ice cream and sorbets throughout the year ranging from Black Sesame, Ube with Toasted Coconut, Lychee Cream, Vanilla Rose to Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie, Strawberries and Cream, and Cookie Monster. 3) We serve our ice cream and sorbets in our famous flights that are a huge hit with our customers.
After I purchased Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream from the original owners in Oct 2019. 5 months later, COVID hit. Talk about scary times for a new small business owner. I’m proud of having navigated my business and my staff through COVID. It has been an extremely challenging experience that isn’t over. But, we have been able to stay in business and continue providing “Happiness on a Cone” to our customers. I’m most proud because it required me to stay positive and hopeful at a time when it didn’t seem like much hope was available.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
I bought Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream from the original owners in 2019. I was already a fan of the business before I bought it. The opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it. It wasn’t my first business acquisition, as I had previously bought a laundromat, but it was definitely the biggest and most complicated, as there were three locations involved. Fortunately for me, I had some experience in acquisitions from my corporate days. I had participated on teams in the acquisition of large corporate businesses. So, I was familiar with many of the mechanics of making an acquisition, such as legal, contracts, due diligence, financing, etc. I had done it many times before, so I felt somewhat comfortable with the process. But, it is still much different when it is all your investment and you have to make all the decisions. It can be a little nerve racking. And, there still was a steep learning curve, even with the experience I had. The key lesson that I would tell anyone looking to start a business is to not be afraid to learn on someone else’s dime. In other words, don’t look down on getting a 9 to 5 job in the industry that you would like to eventually start your own business. You can gain a great deal of knowledge about the industry, processes, operations, product, etc., all while getting paid. It gives you such a great head start in launching your business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I had worked in corporate America for 25 years. It was all I knew. I had never done anything else my whole life, so it sort of became comfortable and dependable. However, in 2019, the company I was working for decided to sell the business. This presented changes for everyone in the company, and now things were moving in a direction that I didn’t have control of. As the company made changes to staffing and its strategy, I used the closing of one door as an opportunity to open another. While working through my 25 year corporate career, I would find myself day dreaming about being an entrepreneur. I loved the idea of managing my own business using the skills I had acquired over the years. So, when I made the pivot to become a full time entrepreneur, it was a dream come true. But, it was also very scary. I had planned well over the years, saved up money, and prepared as much as I could. However, nothing can prepare you for being out on your own. It is exhilarating and terrifying all at once. But, now that it is done, and I’m going on 3 years as a full time entrepreneur, I would recommend it for everyone. Everyone should pivot in their life from having one career to another. It helps to grow and develop you as a person. You see capabilities in yourself that you otherwise might not realize if you did the same thing for a lifetime.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hammondsgourmet.com
- Instagram: @hammondsicecream
- Facebook: @hammondsgourmeticecream
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hammonds-gourmet-ice-cream-san-diego?osq=ice+cream