- Floods have forced the closure of Krishon Rampuri's successful wine bar.
- After taking a break, she started a blog to keep the community informed about the wine scene.
- Lampley leveraged his audience and industry knowledge to launch his own wine brand.
- This article is part of the series “Small Business Strong,” which focuses on resilient efforts by small business leaders to overcome barriers and reach success.
This told essay is based on a conversation with Krishon Lamprey, 48, CEO and co-founder of a wine company. love corkscrew, about how she pivoted after a business crisis. Insider has documented the business's growth. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
When I decided to stop by a gallery and wine bar in Chicago on Christmas Day 2011, I was in high spirits. After years of making money for other people, I finally started making my own. During our two years in business, we have grown by leaps and bounds and were named “Best Wine List” by Chicago Magazine in 2009.
As soon as I opened the door and stepped into 2 inches of water, I could smell the stench of sewage. A pipe explosion flooded our entire room. It quickly became clear that insurance would not cover this flood.
It was a mess, both literally and figuratively. I watched something I had poured my heart, soul, and a lot of money into go down the drain. It was a dark place, but my heart was still beating and I still had purpose. And I knew I would end up creating something else.
I gave myself a break but didn't let the community forget me
I wasn't ready to build a new business right away. My wine bar was always a side hustle, but I took a full-time job in wine sales and distribution for financial stability. So I gave myself a break. I rolled around a little in bed. I reinvested in my health and hobbies, including attending weekly flag football games.
During this time, friends and customers have been contacting me and asking me questions that I often talk about at wine shops. “I'm going to this fancy restaurant, which wine should I order from the list?” “I'm going to a party, what bottle should I bring?”
So I started a blog called “Love Cork Screw” where I talk about wine and what's going on in the city. It was partly out of a selfish feeling that I wanted people to leave me alone while I dealt with this tragedy. I figured if I could give them the information they wanted, they would stop reaching out. But we also needed a way to stay connected to our customers even when we couldn't see them in the gallery.
I started promoting my blog casually, sharing it once a month when I wrote a new post on the Love Cork Screw Facebook page, and then cross-posting it to my own page, where I had built up a decent following since my days at the gallery. I posted it. From there, the blog grew organically. Seeing this helped me regain my confidence. If people listened to me and believed in me, what would that mean for my next step?
I realized what I brought to the table.
The process of stepping away from the day-to-day requirements of the business helped me learn more about myself and how I impact others. I was so obsessed with staying in business and staying out of the red that I didn't realize how strong my voice had become.
Through the break, I realized that this is one of my greatest strengths as a business owner. My customers enjoyed talking to me at the bar and trusted me by getting to know me. This understanding, combined with the fact that I was a terrible writer, led me to launch an online radio show called “Love Cork Screw.” The idea was to give customers the experience they were getting when they were sitting at the bar, and I covered wine and pop culture and the kinds of things I was talking about with customers.
Although we weren't looking for revenue at this point, the radio show further strengthened our brand and increased our audience.
I naturally followed the opportunity in front of me.
About three years after the flood, I felt ready to start my business again and took stock of what I had learned since then.
I knew my voice was a strength, and I was starting to build a brand and audience around my wine knowledge. I also knew I was good at sales, but I wanted to work on something more salable than art. I knew from my day job that there was a huge lack of diversity in the wine industry and that buyers were interested in supporting interesting, small-batch wines.
I had an aha moment when I was talking about this with a friend. Her love for Corkscrew is that she should launch her own wine line.
In December 2013, we began selling 6 varieties. He currently sells tens of thousands of bottles a quarter in 17 states, and his total sales regularly hit six figures. In the past 10 years, I've expanded my brand to include wine-scented candles, launched a homewares line that leverages my love of art, and started a wine and spirits festival to champion my platform. Did. Thanks to other underrepresented people in the industry, I was able to quit my job and focus fully on my business.
If they had changed direction after the flood and opened another brick-and-mortar store, I think they would have been successful. But Love Cork Screw was successful from a business perspective and allowed me to stay true to myself. This is something I would never have understood if I hadn't taken a step back, understood how I was impacting people, and considered new possibilities.
