We were lucky to catch up with Brenna Kelley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brenna, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

When we started Lively Up Kombucha Zack and I were both only 21 years old at the time. Personally, I was a high school drop out with no diploma in hand and Zack was a high school graduate with no college experience. We really had no foundation to start a sustainable business with. So, we just went for it, and let fate decide the rest. Somehow from this, we are a success story, but it hasn’t been easy to say the least. Looking back, if we would have had some formal education in regards to business I believe we would have had a much greater advantage in the long run, but that wasn’t how our story was supposed to go I guess! In some ways I believe we started when we were meant too, because we did have the advantage of our youth by our side. We didn’t have much for bills, and we were able to live with his parents until we got the business off the ground. But on the other hand, it has also been hard for us since we are younger (now 27) and we have had to grow up so much faster than our friends around us. We deal with stressors that our friends can’t comprehend, and that has its own challenges.

I think everyone’s story and circumstances are unique, so it is really hard to say when the best time to start anything would be. I think regardless there is going to be a certain amount of risk, so it is up to you to determine if that risk is worth pursuing!

Brenna, 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?

I first became acquainted with kombucha around 2014, while I was traveling the country in the search of something deeper within myself. I found kombucha to be very interesting, and started brewing batches for fun. Zack found kombucha on the shelf of our local grocery store, and bought it in an attempt turn his health around. So we both kind of became introduced to kombucha in different ways. Eventually, we started brewing kombucha together, and before long we gave our brewing supplies to his mom and decided to spend some time in Hawaii to learn more about permaculture. While living within the aloha spirit of Hawaii we discovered that there was a culture surrounding kombucha that was very special. There were kombucha bars that provided a sober option for people to go out and still have fun. There were kombucha vendors at the local farmers markets and at every event there seemed to be kombucha. We found it to be incredible how one beverage could create such a strong culture within a community. Eventually, we decided it. was time go to home, not knowing what the next step in life was going to be for us.
While we were gone, Zack’s mom continued brewing kombucha to help keep the live cultures active. We had no idea she was doing this until we returned home almost a year later to see the kitchen scattered with 32oz mason jars filled with kombucha and SCOBYs!
So, as a family tradition, we all started brewing kombucha together every Sunday. At the time Zack and I were looking for work and thought about the idea of selling kombucha at the local farmers market. We entertained it for a moment, and then decided spontaneously to dive right in. We slowly went from brewing in 32oz mason jars, to 5 gallon buckets, to now 6 years later using 325 gallon IBC containers for our kombucha.
Currently we have 5 flavors of traditional kombucha, and 2 flavors of Jun- a beverage similar to kombucha that uses raw honey instead of cane sugar.
We use 100% fresh organic ingredients, and we always strive to shop locally for our produce whenever possible,
I think what we are most proud of is the fact that we have done this 100% on our own. We have no investors, no big business practices or gimmicks. We somehow managed to build the largest kombucha brewery in the state through hard work and much sacrifice. Though it is nice to look back in amazement, we aren’t done and still have so much we wish to accomplish.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Honestly, what we have found that works best for us is just genuine social media connection. We have grown a following by simply being ourselves on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. We don’t have any high end marketing team, or immaculate photography- we are just ourselves. I believe people are craving authenticity and wish to not be sold goods over social media all day. Our approach with marketing and customer outreach is to more or less document our journey as a brewery and allow the consumer to decide if they want to purchase our products or not!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Though it took a few years, both myself and Zack are now officially self employed! Oftentimes people think making a sustainable income is something that will happen overnight when opening a business, and that couldn’t be any further from the truth. Starting out it is very crucial to reinvest your money back into the business as much as possible. Sometimes it’s tempting to keep some of the profits, especially when you have been working so hard and seeing little of it within your own paycheck.
When we started Lively Up I was working two different jobs, and Zack was working at Lively Up during the day, then he would head to work at a pub where he would serve food in their kitchen until 1am. There are still times during our slower season in the winter that I have to find a second job, and that’s just the reality of being a small business owner. That is the way business ebbs and flows and the sooner it is understood, the more resilient one may become as an entrepreneur. Though we don’t profit much money ourselves as we are still constantly reinvesting, we still find it a major accomplishment that our bills are paid at the end of the month. That to us is a huge milestone and it’s the very core freedom an entrepreneur craves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.livelyupkombucha.com
• Instagram: @livelyupkombucha
• Facebook: Lively Up Kombucha

Image Credits
Photos by Zack Smith of Lively Up Kombucha