We were lucky to catch up with Andrea Latimer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea , appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

I used to have a hard time stepping away, even if I did leave town, I’d still be available and attached in some way (via email or phone). But a few years ago I subscribed to the “Systems Sunday” Newsletter by Ben Meer and in one of the weekly emails I read this powerful quote “use rest to power your success”, something about that really clicked for me. My time away from the business hasn’t been the same since… it’s been better, more relaxing and, if you can believe it, guilt free.

Andrea , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Bitters Lab is a small cocktail bitters company with a focus on creating a product made with sustainably sourced ingredients, buying locally, reducing & reusing, and giving back to our community.

We feature local ingredients in our bitters and create unique flavor combinations unlike anything on the market.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

By practicing what we say, being a community partner with other local businesses, sticking with sustainable purchases (even when it costs more), composting and recycling (it isn’t always easy), and being a valuable member of our community. We also teach low cost and sometimes free education courses about bitters and how to use them.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Having trust in your employees and allowing them to be a part of a lot of decision-making processes. This has allowed us to not only have an incredible team who are just as passionate about what we do as I am, but It means they have stuck by us for years, we still employee the first people we hired. They are willing to jump in when needed, give great feedback and we really value their input. I treat them as a real valued part of the company, not just “some employee” who is there for a paycheck. Speaking of, I also pay my staff a livable wage and will routinely check in with them on that, and provide pay increases or bonuses when possible.
I think just treating your staff with respect and trust goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bitterslab.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitterslab/