Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to James Thomas . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

James , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission behind Brain Freeze is that I wanted to make sure that anyone and everyone who may be going through a tough time in life or just a bad day, can come to my setup and get a taste of happiness that escapes them to their happy place. Brain Freeze was conceptualized during the covid lockdowns where everyone was separated and depressed and lonely but I wanted to change that to bring people together to bring happiness and a smile to peoples faces. Covid was hard enough being divided from the people you love the most, why not bring people together over something they love and create new relationships. I want people to escape their daily stresses and hurdles they may be facing and to go to a warm paradise that brought them joy and bliss while just being minutes from home.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am born and raised from Kansas City where people are just now learning about how special and unique this city is. I have always traveled a lot to the south to places such as Texas and Louisiana and one of the first places I always stopped at was the daiquiri bar. It was always a space of good vibes, great energy, and of course yummy flavors that helped me push through the night. I always felt that Kansas City deserved to have a space like this that helped give the city a little spice that It is needing that people can remember and embrace. I came up with the mobile concept during the global lockdown as I felt that it was the perfect time to launch my concept. At that time, the state’s legislation made it legal to sell to go alcohol to customers and I had to jump in and take advantage of the chance while I had it. We are a mobile daiquiri bar that serves frozen cocktails and mocktails of various assortments straight to you. Whether the occasion may be a birthday or a corporate event, we bring the chill right to your doorstep or place of work. We are licensed in both the state of Kansas and Missouri as Kansas City is located in both states to make sure everyone has the chance to embrace the delicious flavors. Our menu has over 20 different flavors that range from daiquiris, margaritas, sangrias, wine slushies; and now we are entering into the ice cream market. I have only been in business for just over 1 year but the love and adoration I have received from the public has been outstanding! We have been featured in local news publications, the local tv news, a commercial, and even hosted celebrity attended events. The empire is just starting and there is a lot of magic going on behind the scenes to elevate my business into a enterprise. The first phase is get gain multiple trucks to do multiple events across the metro without having to skip any events, having the cities actual first drive thru daiquiri shop, and also franchise my business into other markets across the country.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I always tell people that I picked the hardest and most technical industry to get into lol. There are so many legal structures and procedures that goes on behind the scenes compared to other industries that people do not understand. When I started out I just thought that I just needed to sign up and ask the state for a liquor license and that it would be issued with little resistance, WRONG! There are sooo many legal documents and information that you must present that the process just makes you want to throw all your documents into the air and pick a different industry to go into. The fact that I had to get licensed in not one but 2 states at the same time without losing it showed that I really wanted to go through with my mission no matter what the cost. On top of that, Kansas City is spread out across 7 different counties and with me marketing to all areas of the metro that meant I had to get licensing in all of those counties as well. Talk about a head banging experience and a fortune to make Brain Freeze Mobile a reality. However, me working so hard and spending money above the budget just made me work 10x harder and force myself to succeed and not fail as it would have been valuable money wasted if I just gave up. It is in times like this that I realize that if I give up every time I hit a roadblock that I will never realize my full potential by quitting. Challenges only push yourself to be more creative and to think outside the box which is exactly what a entrepreneur needs to do in business by not sticking to the routine. When you become stagnant is when you lose the battle.

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

One of the things that I have been told countless times before starting this journey is that its not who you know its what you know. For example, going to college and being steadfast; not true at all. I have learned very quickly that its always who you know in this game and not what you know. I may posses the intelligence of how to make my numbers work and how to market but its the relationships that I build that is what makes me successful. There are many people that have the missing lottery ticket numbers and keys that you need that you may not understand until you meet them. As I have networked to build my brand, I have come across people that had the key to the doors that I could not get into without them. Fostering relationships and making sure that you nurture them is essential to my growth. if I choose not to network with the people that I have come across and made the connections that I have, I have no idea what position I would be in currently. From my steps of networking and making connections I have built relationships to help me sustain business in the slow season during the winter months when there aren’t any outdoor festivals and events going on. Furthermore, I have made relationships some a few popular establishments that let me team up with them to help partner with their events which introduces me to their clients and my clients and creates a joint clientele venture.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brainfreezedaq.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brainfreeze_daiquiri
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Brainfreeze Lawrence

Image Credits
James Thomas