12 Questions You Should Ask to *Really* Nail Down Your Life Mission

Photo: Create & Cultivate

"What’s your overall goal?”

It's the first question I ask any entrepreneur, client, friend, (just about anyone) who is in the midst of a career transition or looking to start or grow a venture. I follow it up with, “Where do you see yourself in five years? 10 years? Life-wise.” The question is basic and BIG.

But answering that question, or at the very least attempting to answer that question, creates clarity; crystal clear or not, it's an important step in the right direction to figuring out Life with a capital "L." And guess what? Your business is part of that Life. So before nailing down a business mission, start with your life goals.  

You don’t have to have the destination 100% set (if you do, awesome) but you do need a map so that when you get lost or head down a path less traveled and find yourself in parts unknown (which, is inevitable and healthy) you have a map to consult—to help you redirect and continue on. 

Answer these 12 big life questions and you'll find that in the process you'll get further clarity on your business mission as well:

1. Visualize yourself in 10 years. What do you see for yourself? What/who do you see yourself surrounded with? What do you see yourself doing? 

2. What do you feel the most fearful of right now?

3. What are you willing to sacrifice to stay true to you? What are you okay saying “no” to?

4. What areas of your life are humming?

5. What areas of your life do you want to make changes in?

6. What do you wish you were doing more of that makes you happy?

7. What kinds of problems do you enjoy solving the most?

8. What about you makes you uniquely you?

9. What are your values?

10. Who are some other people in your life that you admire? Why? 

11. What are some commonalities in the people that you are drawn to?

12. What aspects of who you are do people find energizing?

Alison Gilbert is a business coach and consultant. She’s helped over a dozen owners and entrepreneurs grow profitable businesses quickly and efficiently, including such companies as Well+Good, Levo League, Maiyet, and Plum Alley. Prior to building her consultancy, she was hire number four and COO of food media company Tasting Table where she grew it into a forty person team reaching a readership of millions.  Visit her site and schedule a free consultation. 

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This story was originally published on April 22, 2019, and has since been updated.

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This Kombucha Company Can't Stop Expanding

Making kombucha is a logistical masterpiece. At least for the Health-Ade team, who are currently producing about 80,000 cases a week out of their newest brewery location. That space is 50k square feet, but talk to the team and they’ll admit they’re already running out of space and looking to build their next brewery.

For a company that began in a kitchen, with the three founders using glass bottles purchased from Bed, Bath & Beyond, it’s not a bad problem to have.

“I had a steady job, where I was moving up and getting awards, to start a kombucha company in the farmer’s market,” co-founder and CEO Daina Trout shares.

For about four months over the summer of 2012 the co-founders tried working the farmer's market circuit on nights and weekends while keeping on with their day jobs. “I was completely driving myself into a brick wall," Trout says. "I was starting to lose my mind."

Right around November 2012 is when the trio knew they couldn’t continue at this pace, nor were they doing a good job at either. They weren't going to expand,“certainly not into Whole Foods,” Trout says, if they didn't commit. So in December they shook hands, made a pact, and as of January 1, 2013 they were full time Health-Ade.

In their first year they sold around 20k cases. This year they are shooting to sell 3 million. “It’s been crazy fast growth since the beginning—we tripled last year and are projected to double again this year and next,” explains Trout.

If, the precisely run operations at their new factory location is any indication of them meeting that goal, consider it a done deal.

There are rows and rows of 2.5 gallon glass jars with their individual fermenting SCOBYs (the key ingredient of kombucha making). It looks like something out of Prometheus. (Except it’s delicious and isn’t out to kill off the human race.) There are massive vats of tea brewing, waiting to get poured into said glass jars to ferment. Tubes and filtration systems, including the first step of the process: a special water filtration system. (And some other proprietary info we can’t share.) It’s impressive. Beyond impressive. And since every case of kombucha takes four weeks to finish, and every flavor takes a different amount of time to ferment, that’s where you’ve got “the logistical masterpiece.” It’s something that every one of Health-Ade’s 120 employees knows all about.

Read more from Daina below about Health-Ade’s expansion, why she found herself in tears the other day, and how seeing people drink it on the street is still “the coolest thing ever.”

When you look at how much Health-Ade has grown, what are your thoughts?

When I take the time to look back and reminisce I am reminded we don’t do it enough. The other day I drove past the apartment in LA where it all started—brewing in the kitchen, fermenting in the apartment’s entry closet, and selling in farmers’ markets across LA in 2012. I wasn’t even planning to go there—I was bopping around from one important meeting to another, and I saw the street. I immediately took a detour to stop by. I have been SO go-go-go for the last 5 years, I haven’t ever gone back there. Not surprisingly, I broke down into tears when I saw it. I quickly recounted the days when the apartment was a full on brewery. I remember packing out the cars for the farmer’s markets at 4am every Sunday. I remember the work, the sweat and all the passion that went into getting it off the ground. Being there made me realize how far we have come. From a closet to a full on legitimate brewery, fastest growing kombucha in the world. It’s pretty cool. I’m overcome with emotion, really when I allow myself to think about it. Mostly pride, but also a lot of nostalgia joy and sadness (because it was mother-fucking hard as fuck). Health-Ade is a representation of our hard work. It’s one of the coolest things ever to see others drinking it on the street, still.

Are there fears associated with expanding?

I don’t really operate with a lot of fears. The biggest fear I have is dying without feeling like I gave it my best shot. I’m not afraid of expanding. I know we will make the right call, and that at each stage a new set of circumstances and opportunities will come about. Everyone told us we wouldn’t make it more than a year still brewing in glass jars, and they were wrong. So I really just don’t think you have to compromise on the things you care about.

"I don’t think you have to compromise on the things you care about."

Why the dedication to glass bottles?

Glass bottles are pretty much used by everyone in the category, so that doesn’t’ make us special. What makes us special is that we FERMENT in glass. Remember, it takes 4+ weeks sometimes to make 1 bottle of Health-Ade so what it’s sitting in is super important. Kombucha develops strong acids when it is fermenting and the pH gets as low as lemon juice, which can corrode stainless steel and plastic. It sits fermenting for a long time in these vessels, so we believe to be the highest quality you have to do this in glass (because you just don’t want metal or plastic leaching). That’s how the best balsamic vinegars are fermented in Modena, for example, 100% in glass! We’re proud to be the only kombucha we know of that does this all in glass. That’s why we’re not afraid to take you through the brewery and show you around!

How do you see the business growing over the next year?

We will be growing on every front, and those aren’t always the ones consumers see. It’s important each aspect of the business grows, not just the sales. This year, we will be saturating channels we hadn’t’ been in before as much, like convenience and club for example—but we’re also elevating our company in many other ways. Our marketing is doing some innovative things in creative to try to speak to a consumer that has never heard of kombucha before, and this involves getting to know PEOPLE, and what makes them tick. Our manufacturing is always upping the game by finding ways to do things better and faster without ever compromising (and only making better) the kombucha. Our operation is focused on sophistication as well—we’re focused on building an awesome company for employees: strong leadership, fun environment…a place you’d like to work, and you can grow by working there.

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Dream Big, But Abandon These 4 Dangerous Expectations

image credit: Jenna Peffley 

There's nothing wrong with holding onto your dreams and doing your damnedest to make them a reality, but expectations are the root of all failure. Mainly because there is no way for reality to hold up against them. Reality is messier. Reality is murkier. Reality keeps you real. 

This year, we want you to dream big.  But we want you to ditch these expectations that only lead you down the rabbit hole.  

1.  THAT YOU'RE OWED SOMETHING 

You're not "owed" anything. 

It's tough to accept that simply because you work hard, hard work doesn't always pay off-- at least in the immediate. But it's true. 

There are plenty of other busy bees working equally if not harder than you. It's why every creative or successful entrepreneur we speak to tells us the same thing: work, work harder, and then by golly! work some more. 

You're not owed a raise, a promotion, or a job. It's hard to argue with hard numbers. But in order to get a raise or advance your standing, you need proven metrics. You need case studies. You need to be able to not only show but prove your worth. Don't work for the congratulations, but because you enjoy it. 

2.  NEEDING TO "WIN"

Never take a deal you can't afford to lose. If you're expecting that your career or business rests entirely on closing ONE deal or making ONE sale, it is a one-way ticket to failure. Why? The energy you bring to the table will likely not be one of composure or clear-headedness, but they'll be able to smell that insecurity on you. People don't like insecurity because it makes them question not just you, but themselves as well. 

"Never take a deal you can't afford to lose."

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More so, an obsession with winning can prevent you from doing so. You become so focused on advancing that you don't pay attention to what's in front of you: the small, over-looked details that will trip you up and allow others to get ahead. And when you do get tripped up... it's time to ditch this next expectation. 

3.  THAT YOU ARE THE SMARTEST 

Self doesn't always know best. And most successful people will tell you to surround yourself with people smarter than you are. There is always something to learn, and if you think that you're the smartest person in the room, either look harder or find another room. 

The expectation that you will be the smartest, the fastest, the [insert any est here], can actually be more detrimental than beneficial to your well-being. This article on women who regained their confidence after graduating to Harvard speaks to this. The three women describe the daily difficulties and high expectations as such: “Succeeding was the baseline. There were fewer opportunities to excel and do something praiseworthy.” It gave each of them a complex to get over, before they were able to get ahead. 

4. THAT YOU NEED TO WRITE A "WAY WAY TOO LONG" GOAL LIST 

Tina Wells, CEO and founder of Buzz Marketing Group says, "Know what you're going to do," and that "goals are important and you need to set targets that also have deadlines associated with them."

However, the marketing guru warns, "You should not have more than three goals." The why of these goals are equally as important. "For every goal you set, you should have a reason for why you want to accomplish that goal," say Tina. "If you don’t have a reason, then it shouldn’t be one of your goals!"

If we set too many goals, we have the expectation that we will and can achieve all of them. But overreaching is the first step in over expecting. You don't have to aim low, but aim just slightly about where you want to go. That way, if you fall slightly below your expectation, which is common, it doesn't feel like a failure that stops you from moving forward. 

You can land on your feet and your dreams stay alive. 

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