We were lucky to catch up with Courtney Wysinger recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Courtney thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Often times people see, as my friend says, ” Bar Magic’s owner and Celebrity Mixologist, Courtney Wysinger, is known to mix spirits all over the globe.” However, that is definitely not where me nor this company started. I started selling cups of my drinks in DeRidder, LA at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. I was a bartender that was laid off due to the rise in the pandemic. I went to stay with my mom and grandmother during the shut down. Restaurants and bars were closed but liquor stores were deemed essential. So if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, the Muhammad must go to the mountain. so i started bringing bar like drinks to peoples homes. As I was doing that, i was in tons of Zoom small business owners meetings, webinars and networking circles. My cousin, Brittany, passed away on August 23rd of that year at the age of 32. I realized that life was too short to not live in your full potential because Brittany did every step of her life. So hours after she passed I called and told my job I wasn’t coming back.
After the shelter in place, I came back to my home to Houston. I tried selling cups but that business model did not work for the area. I was stuck and didn’t know how to adjust. Right at the brink of “forget it! Go get a job”, I got a a message about being an alcohol vendor at one of my small business associates grand opening of their second location. There was a glimmer of hope. In moment I had to pivot from cups to jugs. This was my introduction in to the world of pop up markets.
Pop up markets became widely popular due to stores, restaurants and places for fun activities were still closed. In the span of 2 months I sold at about 20 pop up markets. With each market my brand and product gained my attention and the business grew gaining more customers and new opportunities. All that came to a screeching halt when I was involved in a horrible accident, leaving me unable to walk. I was certain that all I worked toward from selling cups to pop up markets was gone because it doesn’t take long for people to forget a small business if their face and product are gone. I wasn’t out in the public eye from January – April but I continued doing videos, posting recipes and tried to keep my social media presence alive. It clearly worked because market host continued to ask me to be a part of their market. So when I was able to walk again business continued like nothing happened.
2021, through the grace of God, we heavily broke into the private party. We started bartending at an array of parties event centers, corporate events and more. In 2022 we were invited to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to do a number of pop ups and private parties. All of this lead to being invited to be a bartender during Houston’s Black Restaurant Week.
All the growth from inception to now was nothing but a miracle, God’s grace covered and kept me and my business. With God and hard work ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Courtney Wysinger. I’m a creative. I’m an entrepreneur, musician, bartender, educator. I’ve been a singer and drummer my whole life. My sister and I never had dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer. We were dreamers and our mother supported us. She always said you can chasing your dreams but you have to be able to support yourself. I worked a lot of jobs in a lot of places while chasing my dreams. However, it seems like all my jobs involved customer service and engaging a crowd. So when I got into the food and beverage industry I honestly felt like I had hit rock bottom. I had a a master degree in business and I was a server at a restaurant. At the end of 2019 everything in my mind just clicked. My love of entertainment, love of food, and new found experience in the food and beverage industry lead me to create Bar Magic. I am still a passionate lover of music. I am still constantly sing, writing and playing the drums. i have just added a love of business, bartending and serving the people.
Bar Magic is a mobile bar catering service. We serve to bring magic and excitement to any occasion, not just through alcohol but through the full Bar Magic experience. My proudest moments seeing the smiling faces of happy clients. You may catch us singing, dancing, joking, laughing, entertaining all while pouring you a drink.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
When I physically had a near death experience I thought my business was going to die but it didn’t. Bar Magic’s near death experience happened the whole month of August 2021.. I learned some very tough lessons that month. It was after I healed from my personal accident and was back heavy in the pop up markets. I was receiving multiple invitations to markets and of course I would attempt to do my due diligence of checking out the market for the traffic and atmosphere of the market. I received an invitation from someone I met at a previous market that had started their own market. I agreed to doing the market. The market was way slower than I expected but I had fun and they were acquaintances of mine, so I decided to go back the next week. That cycle repeated the whole month. My business was broke and broken but for some reason I couldn’t see why. I wanted to shut the business down and go back to a regular job. My other business friends were trying to encourage me but I had given up. That’s when my CFO (that’s my mom) stepped in and said “It’s because you’ve made no money this month and you’ve only been to this one market. It’s not working there.” I was trying to be so supportive, loyal and helpful with their market and their business that I wasn’t being loyal to my business or brand. So I learned that month in business I can’t save you if i’m dying. When on a plane during the safety instructions they tell people before you help someone during an emergency to make sure you have your oxygen mask on first. Help yourself first. You have to be loyal and do what is best for your business. I’m not saying you shouldn’t help others. HOWEVER, if your business is suffering from helping them and you don’t see any upward movement then you need to shake the dust off your feet and move on. Every business has seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall). You have to learn your business’ seasons and not get discouraged when it’s your winter season. However, also recognize when it is just a cold front and it will warm up next week.
Any advice for managing a team?
Managing a team isn’t always the easiest. I’m in the place in my business to where everyone that is on my team is a friend or relative. So we have to tow that line of family, love and fun but also establishing that I am the boss. I like for everyone to feel like they are a part of the process. When I’m creating a new drink I like to have at least one staff member there. We can through brainstorm ideas, taste them and do it all together. I talk to staff members about different ideas and events to get their perspective and feelings. We may not always agree but I try to lead with love and be respectful. if I don’t agree with what they have to say I still want them to feel heard and appreciated.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alittlebarmagic.com
- Instagram: alittle_barmagic
- Facebook: BarMagic7