The Importance of Beverage Recruiters and Finding Time for New Potential Employees

Welcome to Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST! 👏

My name is Jessie Ott, the Host of this Podcast which is all about Beverage Innovation. I talk with Innovation Pioneers from Agriculture to Glass.🥂 

📢I talk🎙️with Caitlyn Lubell Founder and Chief Connection Officer & Jennifer Meacham, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of Booze Biz LLC.  They are celebrating their 1 year anniversary! 👏🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏 🥂  😁

Booze Biz is a recruiting agency that specializes in the beverage alcohol industry. They provide staffing solutions for wine, spirits, beer, and sake companies, as well as non-alcoholic and CBD beverage brands.

Caitlyn & Jennifer discuss their journey in the business and how companies should embrace their services and the work they put in behind the scenes to get them their ideal candidate. They stress the importance of their clients making time to interview candidates and stay on track to eliminate losing their best potential employees.

Caitlyn started out bartending and worked her way up in the industry, while Jennifer began in nonprofits before transitioning to the wine industry.

They both found their way to recruiting and decided to start Booze Biz in July 2023. Caitlin had the idea and reached out to Jennifer, and they quickly realized how much they complemented each other, with Caitlin focusing on clients and Jennifer on recruiting.

They also discuss the difficulties of inconsistent job titles and the need for recruiters to understand the nuances of different roles. They touch on the issue of being pigeonholed in a specific role and the challenges of transitioning between different roles and industries in particular the impact of reorganizations on stagnant career growth.

They also talk about the importance of building relationships with clients and candidates and the benefits of long-term partnerships. Having clients long-term is a win win for both sides in that both understand the culture and needs almost before their client does. Both also hope to follow candidates throughout their careers and help place them as they grow their skillset.

They emphasize the need for companies to focus on the candidates themselves rather than short-term results. Most companies agree that employees are the #1 importance but then they must take the time to schedule interviews in a timely manner to not lose the right candidate.

They set out to get a new hire placed in 3 to 6 weeks, vs the 6 month norm I've been hearing about.

They also introduced their Brand Cultivator Program, which aims to match startup companies with independent contractors who can help them enter the market. They highlight the need for more affordable options for startups to access sales support and the benefits of cross-exposure in a portfolio of complementary products. 

Caitlyn and Jennifer, have extensive experience in the industry and are passionate about helping companies find the right talent. They offer services such as executive search, job board postings, and a brand cultivator program. Booze Biz is focused on building long-term partnerships with t

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Transcript

00:00:04:22 - 00:00:32:02
Jessie Ott
Welcome to Thursday, Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jessica. The host of this podcast, which is all about beverage innovation. I talk with innovation pioneers from agriculture to glass. Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to be notified of all new episodes. Welcome everybody to Thursday Thursdays. I have two amazing ladies here from Booz Beers, Caitlin Lubell and Jennifer Meacham.

00:00:32:03 - 00:00:33:15
Jessie Ott
Welcome, ladies.

00:00:33:17 - 00:00:35:01
Caitlyn Lubell
Thank you.

00:00:35:02 - 00:00:46:19
Jessie Ott
I am super excited to have you on. I think Caitlin and I talked over a year ago about having her on, and then we all got busy and then. Oh, you started a company?

00:00:46:21 - 00:00:49:05
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. we're.

00:00:49:06 - 00:01:06:06
Jessie Ott
Upon the year that you started your company, and I can't wait to dig into all the details of how all that went came together. But this is certainly an exciting time for you guys. And I'm glad we we waited to kind of talk about your new venture. Is everybody in the industry already knows you all are very popular.

00:01:06:06 - 00:01:28:19
Jessie Ott
I'm super excited for you guys and all your success. It's been pretty amazing to watch you all. for those of you that are listening or watching, they have a recruiting business, and etc. and I will let them get, that's a very simple answer to, what they're, all up to. And, we'll certainly dig into that, as soon as we can here.

00:01:28:19 - 00:01:31:23
Jessie Ott
So we're. Where are you ladies calling from?

00:01:32:01 - 00:01:39:02
Jennifer Meacham
So I'm based in Baltimore, Maryland, so I'm calling from my, garage converted into an office with my dog here. Nice summer.

00:01:39:06 - 00:01:43:09
Jessie Ott
Nice looks. It looks does not look like a garage.

00:01:43:10 - 00:01:48:01
Jennifer Meacham
It's a it's a she said she said yes, she.

00:01:48:01 - 00:01:49:16
Jessie Ott
Has a she should.

00:01:49:18 - 00:01:51:23
Jennifer Meacham
But like all great start that started here.

00:01:52:02 - 00:01:56:12
Jessie Ott
Yeah, that's exactly it. I just said those exact words yesterday.

00:01:56:14 - 00:01:57:23
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:01:58:01 - 00:02:06:18
Caitlyn Lubell
I am in Manhattan. I live in a flat iron area and live and work and breathe and all the things in Manhattan.

00:02:06:18 - 00:02:09:23
Jessie Ott
So nice. I know you from there.

00:02:10:01 - 00:02:27:01
Caitlyn Lubell
And I'm from West Chester, so it's about an hour and 20 minutes north, the city where my family is from, straight up the Hudson River. but, you know, Westchester girls dream is always to live in Manhattan. So finally, finally made the adventure and work my way down here. So I've been in the city about 20 years now.

00:02:27:02 - 00:02:28:02
Caitlyn Lubell
I think.

00:02:28:04 - 00:02:29:15
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, yeah.

00:02:29:16 - 00:02:34:12
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I was there 2001.

00:02:34:14 - 00:02:35:07
Jennifer Meacham


00:02:35:09 - 00:02:38:00
Jessie Ott
Actually right before the World Trade Center.

00:02:38:03 - 00:02:38:22
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, yeah.

00:02:39:12 - 00:02:52:23
Jessie Ott
yeah. My team watched that whole thing go down, but I had I had elected to stay, stay home for some reason that day to do some research, but, yeah, it's like 2003. And then I moved to Atlanta and then Miami and.

00:02:53:01 - 00:02:56:04
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, nice things I did. I don't think I realize.

00:02:56:04 - 00:03:00:10
Caitlyn Lubell
You're in Manhattan, too. Yeah. It's a it's a lifestyle, that's for sure.

00:03:00:12 - 00:03:01:10
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:03:01:12 - 00:03:10:20
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Nothing like riding the train in the morning with a bunch of dudes with onion breath breathing on you, and you're like a ten.

00:03:10:22 - 00:03:17:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Nothing like, pulling a line bag up and down the subway stops because there's no elevator. And through Times Square.

00:03:17:05 - 00:03:19:07
Jennifer Meacham
In the snow and all that.

00:03:19:07 - 00:03:22:06
Caitlyn Lubell
Thing. You see, it's, street sales in New York City.

00:03:22:06 - 00:03:25:11
Jennifer Meacham
Is, Yeah. Challenging. Yes.

00:03:25:13 - 00:03:28:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah, but I bet you're in the best shape ever.

00:03:28:07 - 00:03:28:21
Jennifer Meacham
I was.

00:03:28:21 - 00:03:32:01
Caitlyn Lubell
I was it was great.

00:03:32:03 - 00:03:38:21
Jennifer Meacham
I remember doing a work with there when I was covering the brand nationally, and I think we he had me like, hop on the back of his vest.

00:03:38:23 - 00:03:39:19
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, yeah.

00:03:39:21 - 00:03:42:09
Caitlyn Lubell
Oh, yeah, I know before I those are really fun.

00:03:42:11 - 00:03:45:19
Jennifer Meacham
Actually. That's the best fun.

00:03:45:21 - 00:03:51:03
Jessie Ott
That would be a great way to get around because you can kind of work anywhere.

00:03:51:05 - 00:03:53:07
Caitlyn Lubell
Oh exactly. Yeah.

00:03:53:09 - 00:03:58:19
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Oh. And that have to go in the subway. Yeah. Unless, you know that kind of.

00:03:58:21 - 00:04:13:06
Caitlyn Lubell
Online, the bus, you know, a few years in which is only three steps up and three steps down. So it's a lot easier when you have a very full line bag. So I took the bus a lot, and taxis when the back was not cooperating. Yeah.

00:04:13:08 - 00:04:13:19
Jennifer Meacham
They help you.

00:04:13:19 - 00:04:15:19
Caitlyn Lubell
Lift it and put it into the trunk.

00:04:15:19 - 00:04:17:09
Jennifer Meacham
So I said I could have.

00:04:17:09 - 00:04:23:21
Caitlyn Lubell
Lasted probably another ten years in sales if I work in a car territory, but, you know.

00:04:23:23 - 00:04:37:19
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a different way of life. And yeah, like you said, sales and transportation for sure. Yeah. For sure. So, Jennifer, where are you from originally?

00:04:37:21 - 00:05:02:08
Jennifer Meacham
So I'm from Baltimore originally. Yeah. And I'm like, just outside of it. So yeah, I started in the industry up in Boston. and that's where I started, became a Michelle. And, you know, I had a couple roles previous to that as well. And then I work my way back down to the Mid-Atlantic and was in the DC area, then out Annapolis and then made my way back to Baltimore, where my family still is nice.

00:05:02:08 - 00:05:08:10
Jessie Ott
I had the opportunity to live out there first semester in college and, beautiful area.

00:05:09:01 - 00:05:10:01
Jennifer Meacham
yeah.

00:05:10:03 - 00:05:13:13
Jessie Ott
Where were you? Foggy Bottom, actually.

00:05:13:15 - 00:05:15:13
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, nice. Yeah. We are. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

00:05:15:15 - 00:05:34:03
Jessie Ott
It was, it was like, I interned it was an internship for the Hill, and I didn't really want to work on the Hill because I just not. I mean, I was at the time, but I'm just not anymore. But I ended up working at the the, Department of Defense, which is really cool. No, sorry. Department of Commerce.

00:05:34:20 - 00:05:46:10
Jessie Ott
Bill Clinton was the president, so I saw stuff come through and they were there. Listen to this. They were doing Lotus one, two, three back then. And I was organizing the. Oh, yeah. So exciting things.

00:05:46:12 - 00:05:51:02
Jennifer Meacham
That I notice. Yeah.

00:05:51:04 - 00:06:02:22
Jennifer Meacham
I spent some time on the hill I worked for, like a nonprofit where we were up there like twice, twice a week, probably. And, I loved DC. It was it was a really fun market to work to from usher from.

00:06:03:05 - 00:06:10:08
Jessie Ott
yeah. The, most per capita restaurants per people. Yeah.

00:06:10:10 - 00:06:18:03
Jennifer Meacham
Makes sense. Yeah. And it just has all channels and not a lot of regulation around them. And you can make a lot of things happen there, which is.

00:06:18:04 - 00:06:33:01
Jessie Ott
Yeah, what I miss about New York and in DC is wherever you went, you would run into somebody from another culture and just start talking, you know, you got you get to where you can understand if you hear someone talking, you know, what country they're from.

00:06:33:03 - 00:06:33:12
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah.

00:06:33:12 - 00:06:37:08
Jessie Ott
You know, and I really do.

00:06:37:10 - 00:06:42:12
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah. I live right by Eataly. So there's a lot of Italians coming and going around here, which I.

00:06:42:12 - 00:06:43:06
Jennifer Meacham
Love.

00:06:43:06 - 00:06:46:16
Caitlyn Lubell
Because I love Italy. So nice. I always like.

00:06:46:18 - 00:06:49:07
Jennifer Meacham
Canyons. Yeah, I, I.

00:06:49:08 - 00:06:52:04
Jessie Ott
Wouldn't have any money if I live next door.

00:06:52:06 - 00:06:54:08
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

00:06:54:08 - 00:07:00:19
Caitlyn Lubell
I ate a lot about, I'm on a break right now.

00:07:00:21 - 00:07:05:04
Jessie Ott
All right, so who wants to start the journey first?

00:07:05:06 - 00:07:35:01
Caitlyn Lubell
So I'll start, so the journey of boobies. So, let's let's sum it up really quick. we, we're both we're lifers in the industry. So, I'll tell my story about Joan. Tell hers. But I started bartending at 18 years old and didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and fell in love with bar right away and quickly worked my way up in the booze industry behind the bar, and then managing restaurants and things like that.

00:07:35:01 - 00:07:43:01
Caitlyn Lubell
And then I was a buyer and my, my, sales reps were smiling and had weekends off.

00:07:43:03 - 00:07:44:06
Jennifer Meacham
And say, I.

00:07:44:06 - 00:08:04:23
Caitlyn Lubell
Have a nice car, that I'm not money driven, but I was like, I want to do what you do. And, so at 30 years old, I ended up getting into a small distributor, and then working in, just for a year and a half as a sales rep up in the burbs in Westchester. And then southern came and the market gobbled.

00:08:04:23 - 00:08:06:13
Jennifer Meacham
I remember that.

00:08:06:14 - 00:08:31:17
Caitlyn Lubell
And, yeah, got into, got into southern. They found an American Express card in my face. They'd be like, support layer manager, had five roles in five years. It's southern, which is pretty common if you're not a salesperson. they move you around a lot, and, I come from entrepreneur family, so I always knew there was something I wanted to do.

00:08:31:17 - 00:08:51:11
Caitlyn Lubell
Entrepreneurial. I used to want to open a restaurant and then a wine shop. And the more I got into the industry, the more I was realized. All those things are very challenging. And I ended up going to Commercial Wine Estates. Matt John and you and we are, Jen and I just kind of hit it off and became buddies.

00:08:51:13 - 00:09:12:22
Caitlyn Lubell
And then, we, I was there ten years and you were there eight here. but we always sat together at meetings and we just always allowed. And she started recruiting before me and a recruiter had called me, and I said, typical New Yorker. Who are you? What do you want from them?

00:09:13:00 - 00:09:15:07
Jennifer Meacham
And it was like, no, I'll try to get you a job.

00:09:15:07 - 00:09:37:21
Caitlyn Lubell
But I didn't even know what a recruiter was at the time. and yeah, me. Yeah, yeah. Ended up having me interview and then I became a source for him. So whenever he had a job, he was Gary Archerd. He's like legend. Everybody knows Gary. And I just kept looking going on to do what he does. And, ended up very tangled.

00:09:37:21 - 00:09:48:13
Caitlyn Lubell
Brad, by getting into recruiting during the pandemic, started in restaurant recruiting through the pandemic. That was insane. Restaurants opening, closing, opening, closing.

00:09:48:13 - 00:09:49:14
Jennifer Meacham
Oh yeah.

00:09:49:14 - 00:09:52:00
Jessie Ott
And trying to get someone to want to work in a restaurant. At that.

00:09:52:00 - 00:09:52:10
Jennifer Meacham
Point.

00:09:52:11 - 00:10:14:18
Caitlyn Lubell
Nobody wanted to work. It was really hard, but it was trial by fire. I, you know, I learned how to be a good, and then another company kind of sold me and said, do you want to be a national recruiter for the booze side of the industry? And that was my dream job. So I said yes. And very quickly I learned and I'm watching Jen and she's recruiting.

00:10:14:23 - 00:10:15:09
Caitlyn Lubell
And I kept.

00:10:15:09 - 00:10:16:02
Jennifer Meacham
Going, we have to.

00:10:16:02 - 00:10:40:01
Caitlyn Lubell
Talk. We have to talk. And she would say, does for me, we just did that. So I decided that I like now they're down. My day was like, what about recruiting? Let's talk about this. And we talked about it. And Blue Phase was born. And it relaunched in July of 2023, and it's been nonstop ever since.

00:10:40:03 - 00:11:01:16
Caitlyn Lubell
So, we decided that we wanted to create a recruiting company for the booze industry. That was in, you know, probably medium to large size company, point and, help help the industry fix some of the things that were broken and things like that. So sorry. That was a long winded, but.

00:11:01:16 - 00:11:04:03
Jennifer Meacham
That's very short. Okay.

00:11:04:05 - 00:11:06:16
Jessie Ott
So you give us like three minutes.

00:11:06:18 - 00:11:09:00
Jennifer Meacham
Hospitality to distribute.

00:11:09:01 - 00:11:32:19
Caitlyn Lubell
The fire. I just kept going. I just kept so but I knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. All my grandfathers are entrepreneurs so I just I it was always in my blood. I took some entrepreneurial courses when I was younger. and then I read The Tipping Point one day and which I don't read books at all, but a sales person was like, you got to read The Tipping point, you got to read the tipping points.

00:11:32:19 - 00:11:46:03
Caitlyn Lubell
But I was trying to create my own spirit. And it I realized I was a connector and that was it. I was like, I'm a connector. This guy Gary's calling me, I want to do that. And.

00:11:46:21 - 00:11:53:17
Jennifer Meacham
yeah, interesting as the tipping point by evolution.

00:11:53:19 - 00:12:13:23
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Mine it it's different, but we end up in the same spot. And it is kind of amazing that we both very individually found our way to recruiting, even though we met, you know, doing the same thing, I think. Michel, but I, I got started in the industry working in a wine store, best sellers, which there was two in New York, two in DC, two in Boston.

00:12:13:23 - 00:12:28:05
Jennifer Meacham
I was up in Boston that and I was I was working in nonprofits. I went, you know, out of college. I went to Colgate University and then out of school wanted to, like, change the world and be a nonprofit. I love that, you know, after when. Yeah, yeah.

00:12:28:07 - 00:12:31:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah, but it's hard.

00:12:31:06 - 00:12:32:19
Caitlyn Lubell
When you're changing the world one.

00:12:32:19 - 00:12:33:19
Jennifer Meacham
Person at a time.

00:12:33:19 - 00:12:36:05
Jessie Ott
That's right. Making it a better place role.

00:12:36:06 - 00:13:03:06
Jennifer Meacham
But, yeah, I started I was actually a big sister association of Greater Boston, like the, you know, part a big brother, big sister. But I was doing, like, administrative work, and I just I just couldn't stand, like, administrative work and being in an office. And I felt super like, and so I on the side, like, in the evenings and weekends, started working at the wine store bestsellers, which was a really great, like feeding ground for a lot of young, hungry, driven people in the industry.

00:13:03:06 - 00:13:35:06
Jennifer Meacham
Like so many people that I met there a million years ago. I now see, you know, doing big like, like or higher level suppliers and things like that, or the distributors that came in to sell to me. so I started there and I just fell in love with wine. And then I started doing all the coursework as well, like in Boston, and worked my way up through like, level three and then work my way up in bestsellers and started managing, you know, the stores and then managing the territory all along, meeting with the distributors and, and meeting with the suppliers and thinking like, okay, what's the path?

00:13:35:06 - 00:13:55:02
Jennifer Meacham
How do I want to do this? So then I moved over to a small distributor called Bay State Wine Company. I was only there for about like a year and I loved it. They were just getting, getting going in Boston. And I was, you know, I was like in Southie and in the South Shore and in downtown Boston, just all over the place, on and off and kind of whatever you could get is yours.

00:13:55:04 - 00:14:13:18
Jennifer Meacham
And then through a contact, I got an opportunity with Chateau de Sancerre, which is, small town there. Brand. It just had I just represented three SKUs. but it was a part of my annual Apple Store. So I got this opportunity to kind of see how the larger companies function. So it was a part of our style.

00:14:13:18 - 00:14:37:17
Jennifer Meacham
Hostile. That was a part of Moet Hennessy. So through them, I got a really good landscape of like the supplier level. And I was just the brand ambassador for Chateau de Sancerre and I it was a contract role. There's supposed to be six months, and I ended up being almost a year, and I just, I traveled the whole country, presenting and doing wine dinners and, you know, occasionally the winemaker, the for the principals of Chateau de sunset came over, but mostly was just me.

00:14:38:15 - 00:14:57:20
Jennifer Meacham
and it was so fun because it was a great opportunity to, like, travel within your own country. I mean, I traveled throughout Europe, but I'd never thought to see our country. And, you know, I got to do, like, in-depth in New Orleans and like, I'd be in Tulsa and, and Tacoma and, you know, obviously like the bigger markets as well, Portland.

00:14:57:20 - 00:15:18:20
Jennifer Meacham
And it was really fun. and I loved it. And then that that finished up and I pretty soon thereafter was hired by Saint Michel as a business development manager in Boston. and I loved that. And I did it for about two years. And then I was relocating to the Mid-Atlantic for personal reasons. and I was begging Saint Michel, like, do you have anything I can do down there?

00:15:18:20 - 00:15:35:21
Jennifer Meacham
And they're like, we don't, you know, we don't have anything. We were sorry. We have nothing. We'd love to, you know, move you along, but there's nothing there. And then my last day, the the, like, district manager, the kind of one level above what I was, put in the of, of the Mid-Atlantic, put in our notice.

00:15:35:23 - 00:15:42:19
Jennifer Meacham
So it was, like, so serendipitous. But it was, it was too short for me to. I did have to leave the company. I technically.

00:15:42:19 - 00:15:45:16
Jennifer Meacham
And then I know I remember that one. So weird.

00:15:45:18 - 00:15:49:22
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And I was like, going back through all the paperwork and was like, oh my God, Ravel just hired me.

00:15:49:22 - 00:15:51:04
Jennifer Meacham
I had to.

00:15:51:06 - 00:15:52:10
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, processes.

00:15:52:10 - 00:15:53:07
Jessie Ott
In place.

00:15:53:09 - 00:15:54:12
Jennifer Meacham
Well, yeah.

00:15:54:14 - 00:16:12:10
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And, Helen pushed me through. And so I got in there and I, I took over the Mid-Atlantic or the just the DC at Maryland. and then from there I moved into the district manager role. So I was the state manager and then moved to the district manager role. And stayed there for, for many years and learned so much.

00:16:12:10 - 00:16:15:06
Jennifer Meacham
And it was wonderful. And then the good old days did leave, say.

00:16:15:06 - 00:16:18:05
Jennifer Meacham
Michelle had a good all day and all day.

00:16:18:07 - 00:16:22:19
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And you were. Yeah. Well, I when I was in Boston you were creating my. Oh yes. Yeah I.

00:16:22:19 - 00:16:26:05
Jennifer Meacham
Did. Y'all love me.

00:16:26:07 - 00:16:30:14
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I think so. I would call you directly and be like this.

00:16:30:16 - 00:16:57:23
Jessie Ott
It was a good idea. And we're talking about, I created, with, well, Ben Salisbury, it was his brainchild, and I was this operator, processor. but what we would do is create a list of accounts based on volume, prestige throughout the city and also the like optimizing the the drive times. And so what that did is eliminated you all from wine dinners that you would want to do or all kinds of other things that kind of got sticky.

00:16:57:23 - 00:17:15:09
Jessie Ott
So in theory, I think it was really good, but I, I understand that, you know, when you're in marketing becomes a little bit more of a challenge, but hopefully it opened your eyes to some other options or some something in addition to, you know, hopefully. Yeah.

00:17:15:11 - 00:17:17:20
Jennifer Meacham
I learned from having.

00:17:17:22 - 00:17:40:07
Jennifer Meacham
I loved seeing exactly how I was doing and how it was going, and that's probably why I was the one calling you to tweak tiny numbers that no one else was looking at. But, yeah, I think it did have a lot of a lot of benefit, but also some challenges. But, yeah, but so I then I left that Michelle that just kind of saw not a lot of room for growth after like nine years and was ready for a change.

00:17:40:09 - 00:18:00:16
Jennifer Meacham
And I moved to tell my family selections for one year, which I loved. But by then I was really ready. I was sort of at this crossroads where, you know, as I had moved up, you get further away from the accounts, further away from the market, more spreadsheets and time behind the desk, which, I just, I just maxed out on, like, pricing, right.

00:18:00:18 - 00:18:17:04
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, my gosh, you are with people. Yeah. I mean, I wanted to work with people again, but I also couldn't be out. I had kids by then. I couldn't be out in restaurants until 11 p.m.. And so I was just like, what's an opportunity where you're really working with people and you're connecting with people, but you can work the schedule that works for you.

00:18:17:04 - 00:18:36:02
Jennifer Meacham
And I was talking with a friend who was a recruiter, and I had used a recruiter when I left Saint-Michel to go to town, family selections. And he was like, look, he was at Robert half, and he was like, you just be man, that you'd be perfect for recruiting. This is totally not what you've done being in like, accounting and finance, but but like, you should give it a shot.

00:18:36:15 - 00:18:53:23
Jennifer Meacham
so I did, and I found that I absolutely loved recruiting. I didn't love accounting. Recruiting specifically. and so I cut my teeth and got like, you know, just amazing training at Robert Half they, they definitely have, like, it's like boot camp recruiting boot camp 101.

00:18:54:03 - 00:18:55:02
Jessie Ott
It's like the gallo of.

00:18:55:02 - 00:18:57:16
Jennifer Meacham
Ours loving it.

00:18:57:18 - 00:18:58:15
Jennifer Meacham
It is it's.

00:18:58:15 - 00:19:01:22
Jennifer Meacham
The gallo of our of. Yeah. It's the gallo of the recruiting is. Yeah for.

00:19:01:22 - 00:19:02:19
Jennifer Meacham
Sure. Definitely.

00:19:04:15 - 00:19:21:17
Jennifer Meacham
yeah. And it was amazing. But then Covid hit and they laid off like over 50% of their employees. and by then I was actually already in conversations with a smaller boutique recruiting company that focused on sales and marketing outside of still not within the wine and spirits industry, but like sales and marketing. And I love that.

00:19:21:17 - 00:19:36:18
Jennifer Meacham
And I had, you know, really great, like two and a half years there. I was just starting to poke around. I also have a very entrepreneurial spirit, and I tend to sort of always think I can do it better than how it's being done, which is not always a great trade lends itself to being in.

00:19:36:21 - 00:19:37:19
Jessie Ott
turns on your boss.

00:19:38:01 - 00:19:39:15
Jennifer Meacham
So,

00:19:39:17 - 00:19:47:19
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So Caitlin was kind of reaching out, reaching out, reaching out. And I was just didn't have time to get back to her.

00:19:47:19 - 00:19:55:00
Jennifer Meacham
And I was getting married. We were friends. I know talking.

00:19:55:02 - 00:20:03:04
Caitlyn Lubell
And all. She's mom and two little girls and trying to be a recruiter, which I now know is the craziest, you know, job ever.

00:20:03:04 - 00:20:05:05
Jennifer Meacham
So, yeah, it's like, yeah.

00:20:05:08 - 00:20:19:07
Jennifer Meacham
First off. And so finally we found like a solid hour. I was on a car. I was in a car ride. That's not always well, like talk for a long time. And, Caitlin told me her whole concept and what she wanted to do, and, and I was like, I don't know. You know, I've been.

00:20:19:07 - 00:20:26:14
Jennifer Meacham
Out of the NAACP, you know, at first. Yeah, I get it. You know, the industry. But for years.

00:20:26:16 - 00:20:29:12
Jennifer Meacham
I was like, oh. And then I thought about it for a couple weeks.

00:20:29:12 - 00:20:30:02
Jennifer Meacham
And no.

00:20:30:02 - 00:20:30:20
Jennifer Meacham
I really I wanted.

00:20:30:20 - 00:20:31:11
Jennifer Meacham
More money.

00:20:31:14 - 00:20:33:10
Caitlyn Lubell
Than four days because. Right.

00:20:33:12 - 00:20:35:02
Jennifer Meacham
Because I said, you.

00:20:35:04 - 00:20:43:16
Caitlyn Lubell
Take a week, think about it and get back to me. And four days later I get a text going like, wait, what am I thinking? Like, let's talk about this.

00:20:43:18 - 00:20:46:12
Jennifer Meacham
You. And I was like, yeah.

00:20:46:14 - 00:20:49:19
Caitlyn Lubell
She's you. I mean, it is perfect.

00:20:49:21 - 00:21:00:15
Jennifer Meacham
I was I still I'll never forget before I ever thought of recruiting. I remember one of the sales meetings for Saint Michel by the States. We were in Florida, but of course we were frigid. Because the room.

00:21:00:17 - 00:21:01:15
Jessie Ott
Yes.

00:21:01:17 - 00:21:12:05
Jennifer Meacham
You know, like freezers and so. Yeah. Yes. So I went outside. It was I think it was like a Fort Lauderdale sales meeting, and it was one of our breaks. And Caleb was going out to have a cigaret, but.

00:21:12:05 - 00:21:16:14
Jennifer Meacham
He I don't smoking. But I did.

00:21:16:15 - 00:21:31:22
Jennifer Meacham
But I remember I was just keeping our company and like thawing out. And she was like, I want to be a recruiter. And I was like, what? Like. And I just it had never occurred to me. I was like, what is that? Even who does that? You know, I I'm just sort of thinking like, okay, well, that sounds strange, but like, whatever.

00:21:31:22 - 00:21:46:19
Jennifer Meacham
But I never forgot that conversation and I just like I always but when I was I started moving in recruiting. I always remember, like that little snapshot like snippet of us, sort of. Yeah. Talking about it. so it's just one of those things that always occurs to me now that we're doing this. Yeah.

00:21:47:01 - 00:21:47:19
Jennifer Meacham
So.

00:21:47:21 - 00:21:54:16
Jessie Ott
So what was that moment like when you decided to call Caitlin back and start talking about, like, how to move forward?

00:21:54:21 - 00:22:09:01
Caitlyn Lubell
because I had answers for every one of our questions. She was like, well, we have to do this. And I'm like, I already had that. Like, exactly. You know, but you saying the other word that she said you had, you had two answers for every single, like, everything. I was like, I got it, I got it, I got.

00:22:09:01 - 00:22:11:05
Jennifer Meacham
This like, come on the boat.

00:22:11:05 - 00:22:13:22
Caitlyn Lubell
I swear it's going to be good.

00:22:14:00 - 00:22:14:10
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, well.

00:22:14:15 - 00:22:35:18
Jennifer Meacham
I mean, I was like, I know that I can recruit like that. I know I can do and you know, I can find anybody for anything in any industry like that. I'm 100% certain of it. Like, you know, it's that it just it triggers that like sales like go after it mentality of like, no, like the heart of the role, the sort of more motivated I am to find that person.

00:22:35:18 - 00:22:53:16
Jennifer Meacham
You know, it's the same as like give me the weirdest account where, you know, they told me, like I had a buyer, told me he wouldn't wash his feet. So he agreed us triumph to ultimately not take Michel for that. But, you know, to ultimately get into that account so it triggers that same kind of like, energy and drive in me.

00:22:53:16 - 00:23:06:14
Jennifer Meacham
So I knew I could recruit. So I was like, Caitlin, I've got the recruiting side for sure, but it's, it's it's clients. Like it's always the hardest to make sure you get a lot of clients. And so that was my thing. I was like, I've been out of the industry, like, I'm not going to bring any clients to us right away.

00:23:06:14 - 00:23:27:00
Jennifer Meacham
And she was like, that's what I have covered. You know, like, I'm here in New York. I've been in New York for 20 years. You know, everybody. I've, you know, it's she's at the epicenter of all of the top accounts and clients that we're looking for. and I was like, yeah, that's true. And then the other thing is I was recruiting kind of all over the place, which which is sort of fun because you learn all these different roles and, and industries.

00:23:27:00 - 00:23:29:10
Jennifer Meacham
But it's also you're sort of starting at square.

00:23:29:10 - 00:23:31:22
Jessie Ott
One all the time. Yeah.

00:23:32:00 - 00:23:49:17
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Like you don't, you can't really build a pipeline if there's no consistency. And so the idea of recruiting, you know, obviously within the same vertical and really building that pipeline and then also within an industry that, you know, inside and out, like you, it's hard to be a great recruiter if you don't know the right questions to ask.

00:23:50:06 - 00:24:07:04
Jennifer Meacham
and especially in our industry that's so nuanced and has such a specific language. And it's so it's like, if you're not in this industry, you don't understand it at all. Whereas I feel like other industries, like you kind of know what a lawyer does and you know what this person does. But for some, some reason, like about the beverage industry, like most people just they have no.

00:24:07:04 - 00:24:08:05
Jennifer Meacham
Clue how you.

00:24:08:05 - 00:24:28:06
Caitlyn Lubell
Can fit in. Titles don't help matters any. Right? It's like a state manager at three different companies could be three different things. And so you have to understand that in order to really you know, have success and putting the right person in the right position, you can't just look and be like city manager or regional manager or whatever.

00:24:28:06 - 00:24:40:01
Caitlyn Lubell
There's so much nuance to that. Right? And so, yeah, I think that that makes it that much more challenging for an outsider to come in and recruit for it. Right?

00:24:40:03 - 00:25:04:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Well, it's no different than what you see out here with all these people that create brands. And then they realize, oh, what did I get myself into? Because I think about this before. It's like anybody in the industry, we're not creating anything new. That's that's just crazy because we know the money, we know the time, we know the energy, we know what it takes.

00:25:04:07 - 00:25:19:11
Jessie Ott
But I guess it's I guess that's good that they don't know, because we would have all these fine products in them for the most part, you know, for some of these startup companies. So, they're, they're they get too far into it before they can say no or turn back.

00:25:19:12 - 00:25:21:18
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Yeah. yeah.

00:25:21:18 - 00:25:26:22
Caitlyn Lubell
In the pipeline like that is nice because we could work with the same candidate for.

00:25:27:00 - 00:25:28:04
Jennifer Meacham
Their whole career.

00:25:28:08 - 00:25:49:18
Caitlyn Lubell
When you're so niche like that. First of all, it's nice to kind of see that bigger fish in a smaller pond rather than a lot of recruiting agencies are kind of like all over the place. And and that may work for them. But to have one candidate who you could maybe place a few times in their career and then they turn them into a hiring manager and they're calling you back.

00:25:49:20 - 00:26:06:01
Caitlyn Lubell
And that's the really fun part is, yeah, you know, really getting to build these relationships with people, and continue it. So, yeah, we have long term relationships. We're going to keep one that's going to continue to grow as we grow.

00:26:06:02 - 00:26:28:20
Jessie Ott
So question for you, something that I've, I've faced in my career is if you stay too long in one place, you get pigeonholed. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that, I was in field marketing, which is marketing. Then I went into analytics, which is kind of on the other side, and then I got into the military for for eight years, and I got completely pigeonholed.

00:26:29:01 - 00:26:49:18
Jessie Ott
And by the time I was trying to look for, you know, similar roles outside the gate, you know, as what we call it, or, you know, in the general market, they wouldn't even talk to me unless I had experience talking to whatever buyer they were recruiting for. I mean, they're specifically hiring, just so you to know that person.

00:26:49:20 - 00:27:05:20
Jessie Ott
And my opinion is I know how to do the job. You should be introducing me to that person. I'll build that relationship. But that's not the mentality. That's not how it works. And when I would reach out to people in the industry and I'm like, well, what am I supposed to do? And they're like, no idea. And I'm like, people.

00:27:05:23 - 00:27:14:21
Jessie Ott
And so people can get crossed over all the time and promoted and moved and they get to experience all these different things. That just wasn't my experience.

00:27:14:22 - 00:27:41:20
Caitlyn Lubell
I think I really depends if it's the client market or a candidate market. I think we're dealing with it right now. People are hiring, you know, they want 11 out of the ten boxes checked, where sometimes it's a very heavy client market, where sometimes when it's a candidate market, we can get away with checking 6 to 7 out of that ten boxes, something that we talk about a lot and it's a challenge.

00:27:42:01 - 00:27:52:21
Caitlyn Lubell
But yeah, most people don't want to move laterally. But most companies want to hire that exact person for that, right? Yeah, we deal with it constantly.

00:27:54:13 - 00:27:55:13
Jennifer Meacham
I and.

00:27:55:15 - 00:28:15:12
Jennifer Meacham
We do we deal with that like asking for or looking for candidates with those contacts versus not necessarily versus, because one can have both the context and the right skill set. But rather than focusing on that skill set and that ability to build those relationships, and we always caution our clients away from that because buyers are gone, you know what I mean?

00:28:15:12 - 00:28:27:13
Jennifer Meacham
You hire somebody for all their buyers and within six months, hiring a person, all the buyers. Exactly. And like you, salespeople know how to build that relationship. Regardless, you can be a great salesperson in a new territory.

00:28:27:13 - 00:28:29:20
Jennifer Meacham
And I think that what I just said in my head.

00:28:29:22 - 00:28:51:19
Jennifer Meacham
They're doing that. Yeah. And it's I mean, I think it's just goes back to like my sort of soapbox is that clients, regardless of the industry, anybody looking to hire needs to approach it from like a strategic planning standpoint, the way they would any other element of their business rather than happenstance. And it should be like, what are the core values that we want for this company?

00:28:51:19 - 00:29:13:23
Jennifer Meacham
What are the core skill sets that we need for these certain roles versus these certain roles? And stick to that, like create an actual strategic framework for your hiring approach and for your for the people you want in your company. And stick with that rather than chasing the closest next deal, you know, and, and same goes with the hiring process, which is a whole nother thing that I could go on about forever.

00:29:13:23 - 00:29:35:10
Jennifer Meacham
But, yeah, it's frustrating. And I definitely think the market conditions certainly affect it. Yeah. but I think that like the savvier the hiring manager or the company, the more they recognize that they should really focus on the candidate themselves rather than like what's going to be their first deal within their first month, because that means nothing for what they'll bring to the company within a year.

00:29:35:10 - 00:29:35:19
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:29:36:01 - 00:29:40:03
Jessie Ott
So like more of an investment long term or mid-term than right now?

00:29:40:06 - 00:30:06:20
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And more and more and more also like no one's hiring. I mean, no one's buying based on my best friend's friend anymore. People are using data and IRA and Nielsen and they're it's just becoming so much more analytical of an industry that that just doesn't it just doesn't work anymore. So it really doesn't matter. You can be best friends with the buyer, but they can say, look, we do not have a slot in that category, or we see that your product is not tracking well and they can't help you out, you know?

00:30:06:22 - 00:30:10:16
Jennifer Meacham
So I think it's part of kind of helping the whole industry grow up a little.

00:30:10:16 - 00:30:26:14
Caitlyn Lubell
But I think just to your point to, we, I do tend to advise people, let's say they're in sales. They really want to get into marketing. The best way to do that, unfortunately, is to move over within the company that your currently in.

00:30:26:14 - 00:30:32:12
Jessie Ott
Yeah. And that's where I've seen people move around the most or at least heard it.

00:30:32:14 - 00:30:58:03
Caitlyn Lubell
It's the best way to get the experience under your belt. And then and then you can say, okay, now I finally got into marketing, now I can move along to a different company. But, you know, all of it's changing for you because, you know, nobody's work. And I was ten years of Saint-Michel Wine Estates. It was amazing. I was very proud and happy in my career there and met the best people in the world, including my business partner.

00:30:58:05 - 00:31:16:23
Caitlyn Lubell
But at the end of the day, ten years in the same company of the same role doesn't really look good on paper. I look back at my resume now and say, like I would say like, how come you didn't move up? Well, I didn't want to sit around and do pricing and programing and beating up other and and tubers like, I just didn't want that.

00:31:16:23 - 00:31:33:18
Caitlyn Lubell
I my path was to try and get into global accounts. and we were working towards that, but it wasn't happening fast enough and I was tired. But nobody's saying ten years at a company anymore. It's just people have shorter attention spans now and and that's okay.

00:31:33:20 - 00:31:34:01
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:31:34:01 - 00:32:00:02
Caitlyn Lubell
It brings different skill sets to the table. You learn from three, 4 or 5 different companies. And, you know, we're trying to teach clients that like, that's okay. They're more well-rounded. They're learning more by doing that. So spotty tenure track is a curse, but also can be a blessing because they learn how to learn from so many different people and different systems.

00:32:00:02 - 00:32:01:20
Caitlyn Lubell
Right.

00:32:01:22 - 00:32:26:00
Jessie Ott
What are you seeing in terms of the, how how companies are promoting people, or are they are they is there is have you seen changes over the last ten years or for a few years that you all have been recruited in the industry about how they look at internal candidates and how they look at external candidates and what jobs are actually hiring for?

00:32:26:02 - 00:32:37:09
Jessie Ott
In other words, are they are they hiring within more now or less now, or is it not really unchanged? Isn't it my clear on what I've tried?

00:32:37:10 - 00:32:38:20
Jennifer Meacham
And no, it's a good question.

00:32:38:20 - 00:32:46:09
Caitlyn Lubell
They're both kind of stopped because it's I think it's different in large companies, in the small companies. Right. And it's like, yeah.

00:32:46:11 - 00:33:11:08
Jennifer Meacham
I also I think it's been such a tumultuous market. It's just been so crazy with just I feel like every large company has been rewarding on repeat for the last four years, really since the pandemic. and so it's created a lot of moving around within a company, but not necessarily. Yeah. Like we'll talk to a lot of candidates that are like, well, I my rules change and now I have more states.

00:33:11:08 - 00:33:26:17
Jennifer Meacham
And then I stopped continuing this part of the book. But now I'm handling this part of the book. But at the end of the day, like my title in my comp is the same and it's been for several years, even though it looks on my resume like I've had these. Yeah. You know, so I think we just still need it to settle a little bit.

00:33:27:04 - 00:33:46:17
Jennifer Meacham
and then people can kind of get back on those more, you know, up upward growth trajectories. And I do think that's a part of why we see a lot of people looking for work, one rewards or laying people off, but two, they're frustrated with having been moved around and, you know, done this and then done that, but still not getting kind of where they feel like they're moving forward.

00:33:46:21 - 00:34:10:15
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah. And it's interesting, I think the word stability, a lot of candidates say to me, like I'm looking for stability and I'm like, you know, I want to be in company for stability. And I'm like, I could list to five major companies that just either did reorg or layoff in the last few months, and some of the scrappy start of wall boom and.

00:34:10:17 - 00:34:11:12
Jennifer Meacham
Some of the.

00:34:11:14 - 00:34:41:18
Caitlyn Lubell
Large companies will do that. National layoffs. So that, you know, we kind of really our sweet spot is that mid-sized company because they have money. They want to be growing. They are they have some systems in place, but then they still also under family vibe, which I know can be a touchy word, but, you know, they treat you with compassion and, you know, they have volunteer days and celebrate your birthday and things like that.

00:34:41:20 - 00:34:58:22
Caitlyn Lubell
But it's, yeah, the market's interesting. Just you've been doing a lot of podcast about it. I just I just listened to one a year in December that was like I just sat there the whole time going, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's like we're all saying the same things.

00:34:58:22 - 00:34:59:02
Jennifer Meacham
In the.

00:34:59:02 - 00:35:14:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Industry. And you know, long story short, there used to be three times the amount of distributors that there are now. And now there's three times the amount of brands and a third of the distributors and things that are funky right now.

00:35:14:07 - 00:35:16:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:35:16:08 - 00:35:40:02
Jessie Ott
It's like, you know, jam and jam and I'm in. How do we get in there? You know, and I yeah, I think you know what, Cheryl has done with Lib Dem is certainly, helped with the, that, that jamming process because you can take control and you can do it on your own. although it can be costly, you know, because you do have to ship yourself and then, you know, those types of things.

00:35:40:02 - 00:35:57:07
Jessie Ott
So I think, yeah, I've heard I've heard it. It works. great. And then also that, well, we just know that it's too costly for us to, to use it, but at least it's, it's another option of people thinking outside the box. And how do what's our solve for this? How are we going to get there. Yeah. I think that's an exciting time.

00:35:57:07 - 00:36:27:15
Jessie Ott
I mean, you have all kinds of online, applications where people can sell direct to consumer. So there's a lot of that going on, which I think is also, been pretty successful for a lot of companies. but going back to your, your what you guys do on a daily basis when you are talking to someone that's recruiting a job from a bigger company, more established company versus these startups, are the conversations that you're having with them, completely different?

00:36:27:15 - 00:36:39:21
Jessie Ott
Like, does one respond better than the other, or is, you know, is one, you know, asking different questions and the other that that kind of stand out to you all.

00:36:39:23 - 00:37:02:09
Jennifer Meacham
Well, there's always, you know, if you're if you're recruiting for a startup versus a large company, there's always the like, are they comfortable? They want both things they want sometimes they really want them to have that big company experience so that they come in with some good ideas and policies and procedures and, but they also have to be ready to dive in like it's not as siloed.

00:37:02:10 - 00:37:19:09
Jennifer Meacham
You got to be able you got to be ready for some, you know, a little bit of chaos, organized chaos, and to be super flexible and to know that you're not the rules, not just this, this and this, this and this and this. And so can you roll with those punches? some people are craving that coming from a large company.

00:37:19:09 - 00:37:40:10
Jennifer Meacham
I feel like I kind of was, and some, some are overwhelmed by it. And so it's just making sure to have those really clear conversations upfront. I mean, it is always a really good opportunity to kind of get that step up. If you're going from a large company where you have been had a very focused role and you want to take on more, it's a good opportunity to kind of move up.

00:37:41:02 - 00:37:58:20
Jennifer Meacham
maybe in a large company, you're managing a region well, now, maybe you're ready for a VP of sales for a startup company, if they can support that. so I think that's that's kind of how we see it, mostly. in the reverse, I think it's less common in the reverse, more we're bringing people probably from a big company.

00:37:58:22 - 00:38:01:09
Jennifer Meacham
Well, yeah. And as far as our.

00:38:01:09 - 00:38:22:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Clients, I just think that the scrappy start ups, hey, they're tend to be focused on sales roles. And they ask us a lot of questions. So you need a lot of guidance, especially if they're not coming from the industry where our midsize companies, you know, we get all sorts of fun roles. We get logistics roles, and we get, you know, operations and H.R.

00:38:22:17 - 00:38:42:16
Caitlyn Lubell
And, finance roles and all sorts of marketing roles and fun things like that. and they kind of they know what they're doing and they, you know, we get a lot more, maybe mid-level roles. And to say it's I think it's a very different conversation, for sure, of the established company.

00:38:42:18 - 00:38:44:14
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And, and.

00:38:44:15 - 00:38:56:14
Caitlyn Lubell
Isn't it always they're saying it's like the, the, the scrappy startups, they're definitely just the ones that need more guidance from us. They ask our professional advice a lot. And so, you know.

00:38:56:16 - 00:39:09:14
Jennifer Meacham
And I'm yeah the yeah the big the mid to big companies are much more like traditional recruiting. They're like here's the role in hiring for here's the job description. Here's a compensation. Find me a person and the scrappy startups are like what do we need and how much should we pay.

00:39:09:19 - 00:39:14:02
Jennifer Meacham
and they got the first and, yeah.

00:39:14:03 - 00:39:39:05
Jessie Ott
Perplexity for perplexity. Man job descriptions. Great. Yeah. I don't know if you've heard of it, but, it's like a it's, it's ChatGPT on steroids and it's really fast and it's become, something I use on a daily basis. my wife started doing using ChatGPT. At first she thought she was cheating, and we're like, no, it's just you're getting better quality faster.

00:39:39:07 - 00:39:39:21
Jennifer Meacham
It's.

00:39:40:09 - 00:39:42:18
Jessie Ott
So perplexity is something I would perplexity.

00:39:42:19 - 00:39:44:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Well, definitely check it out, I.

00:39:44:06 - 00:39:50:19
Jessie Ott
Recommend it's, it's it's really, really amazing. Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

00:39:50:21 - 00:39:51:14
Jennifer Meacham
No. That's cool.

00:39:51:14 - 00:39:53:20
Jennifer Meacham
I'll have to check it out.

00:39:53:22 - 00:40:05:13
Jessie Ott
So, Congratulations, ladies. one year of diving into being an entrepreneur, you're you're growing. You've hired person, right? So that's. I had.

00:40:05:13 - 00:40:06:09
Caitlyn Lubell
Three people.

00:40:06:14 - 00:40:10:06
Jennifer Meacham
Three people. I had two recruiters.

00:40:10:17 - 00:40:37:16
Caitlyn Lubell
contracting with us, and we have a, marketing and operations coordinator who is our backbone. And, I tend to focus on more of the business development side. And Jen is, managing our clients. Really, man. And so recruiting, which I do some recruiting too, but, yeah, we're definitely growing and I hope to continue to do so.

00:40:37:18 - 00:40:38:11
Jennifer Meacham
Well.

00:40:38:23 - 00:41:00:02
Jessie Ott
you know, y'all have a lot of support out there in the industry. People love you. People want to see you succeed. You can tell by the love that is on the socials of you posts and whatnot. And so it's always good to see that, you know, as a as an entrepreneur myself, all the support, you know, within the industry is so important.

00:41:00:04 - 00:41:12:14
Jessie Ott
And, you know, it does help if someone like a smaller, company is coming in or a startup and they want to see, you know, a little bit more about what you all are about, you can go on your LinkedIn or Facebook and.

00:41:12:19 - 00:41:15:03
Jennifer Meacham
And I like to I that's great.

00:41:15:05 - 00:41:26:21
Jessie Ott
Y'all have you know, good interaction and and you know, a lot of respect out there. So for that I'm, I'm super excited for y'all. It's really yeah it's exciting.

00:41:27:00 - 00:41:37:09
Caitlyn Lubell
And you know, we've also partnered we've you know decided to do a lot of partnerships. We have this suggested pairings where we're like really just want to recruit.

00:41:37:11 - 00:41:41:11
Jennifer Meacham
And but they're asking us to do better things like.

00:41:41:12 - 00:41:43:15
Caitlyn Lubell
We, we don't do PR.

00:41:43:16 - 00:41:46:06
Jennifer Meacham
Firms, guys.

00:41:46:08 - 00:42:09:16
Caitlyn Lubell
And so we've partnered with a lot of incredible people like you. And, they have been companies and individuals, that have been, you know, sending people our way, referring us, and we refer our clients to them. And that's been super fun, too. That just kind of like, helps all tides rise together. And that's. Yeah, it's awesome.

00:42:09:16 - 00:42:32:17
Caitlyn Lubell
So that's how I suggested pairings. And then we just launched a new whole new program that we're doing, the Brand Cultivator program, which is and fairly it's something we've been talking about for a long time, which is a huge need in the industry with the evolution of the three tier system and the oversaturation. And so that's been super exciting, too.

00:42:32:17 - 00:42:41:19
Caitlyn Lubell
And that's already booming. And we really just rolled it out. So, within the last few months. So that's been super exciting.

00:42:41:19 - 00:42:45:07
Jessie Ott
So that is exciting. Do you want to expand on that or do you want.

00:42:45:07 - 00:42:47:20
Jennifer Meacham
To go ahead and expand on that?

00:42:47:22 - 00:43:06:21
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, we're super excited about it. You you know, you mentioned it earlier with Cheryl and Lip Deb and some of these companies that are coming along to really help kind of bypass, the stagnation and the bottleneck that's happening at the distributor level. And, you know, I just nothing against big distributors. I've worked with many wonderful ones. I have any friends from them.

00:43:06:21 - 00:43:28:02
Jennifer Meacham
And we know that it's not any fault of their own. It's the nature of the industry right now. But I just believe at my core that consumers should be dictating what makes it to market, not companies that like a couple people in a room deciding what's allowed to get to the get to the market. but so many of these great start startup brands or even midsize brands can't get in with a distributor.

00:43:28:02 - 00:43:47:06
Jennifer Meacham
And then they they can't get out to market. And so I really love these different avenues that are, you know, popping up to help to help sort of bypass that and get into market. but then you, of course, you lose the support of the sales team at the distributor, which is really just, you know, it's just a fantasy anyway, right?

00:43:47:06 - 00:43:56:19
Jennifer Meacham
It doesn't it doesn't exist. Distributors no longer have the capability to be out selling, particularly for any brands that aren't in those top ten, you know, top ten largest companies.

00:43:56:19 - 00:44:01:15
Jennifer Meacham
It's not their fault. so operation know what it is.

00:44:01:15 - 00:44:05:00
Jessie Ott
It's it's the market is dictating that.

00:44:05:02 - 00:44:06:00
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah.

00:44:06:02 - 00:44:27:14
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. So so we really we've met with so many incredible startup companies that have great products, great ideas. They've got a lot of pieces in place, but they can't get into a distributor and they can't, you know, for a full time salesperson for market, which is, you know, at least 100 CVS plus a 25% bonus, plus all the T&E, you know, plus they want health insurance is really expensive as you get started.

00:44:27:14 - 00:44:48:12
Jennifer Meacham
So we just we kept running into this. And then simultaneously, we're talking to amazing candidates who are tired of working for large corporations and who want some autonomy, who want to stay fit on the street. They don't want to move up and get behind a desk, or they don't want to just be an order taker. And so we thought like, there's an opportunity here to put these two together in a way that works for everybody.

00:44:49:03 - 00:44:59:18
Jennifer Meacham
and so we created the Brain Cultivator program to serve as basically a fractional sales, fractional market manager for these startup companies. And so obviously.

00:44:59:18 - 00:45:04:03
Jennifer Meacham
There's probably some interesting parts to but not a new empire.

00:45:04:03 - 00:45:09:07
Caitlyn Lubell
It's also like so yeah. Yeah new to the U.S. So maybe maybe they're.

00:45:09:07 - 00:45:10:02
Jennifer Meacham
Not necessarily.

00:45:10:02 - 00:45:13:00
Caitlyn Lubell
Startup in their country but they're new, you know coming to the U.

00:45:13:01 - 00:45:14:01
Jennifer Meacham
That are. Yeah.

00:45:14:03 - 00:45:35:20
Jennifer Meacham
Right now they're just all of us are just getting started. and so there are some brokers doing this, but we're not a broker. We like to make that clear. We think that's a part of what sets our program apart. We're just a matchmaker, so we're helping them find people who have the key experience that they need that have, you know, proven success and relationships within their territory.

00:45:35:20 - 00:45:52:03
Jennifer Meacham
They know their territory. They've done this, and now they're looking to build their own little mini portfolio. And we're going to help match them up. Right. So maybe there's an incredible sales rep who's representing a rum and a whiskey and an RTD and a wine, and they need a new, I don't know, gin, whatever it is. and we help.

00:45:52:03 - 00:46:01:23
Jennifer Meacham
So we help. We have the company and we help find a salesperson for them and kind of match them to their portfolio, with other brands that are, you know, complementary to what?

00:46:02:02 - 00:46:07:06
Jessie Ott
So these are just individuals that that know their own market. They're not working for anyone.

00:46:07:08 - 00:46:08:13
Jennifer Meacham
Exactly.

00:46:08:15 - 00:46:32:23
Jennifer Meacham
They've no, they're they're just building their own little independent contractors, and they're just building their own little, little portfolio based on, you know, what they love and what they know will sell and what works with their other products. And this allows the company that's paired with them to, to manage them directly. Right. We're not another tier that's coming in to say, oh yeah, we'll take your margin and we'll tell our sales reps what to sell.

00:46:33:04 - 00:46:51:12
Jennifer Meacham
It's giving them a person directly to work with them. yes. They are supporting other products, but we think that actually helps because that cross exposure is beneficial. Right. Because if a buyer calls and is like, hey, I really need a new rum and your product is a gin, they go in and they show the rum, but while they're there, they show the gin, right?

00:46:51:12 - 00:47:05:14
Jennifer Meacham
And so it actually gets you more opportunities and more, you know, feet in the door. so we've created a much more affordable model, both in our fees as well as, you know, with the ultimate the compensation for the for the higher.

00:47:05:16 - 00:47:12:11
Caitlyn Lubell
There's been a lot of talk around the industry. Just you've been talking about it as well. And, you know, we're not the only ones talking about it, but.

00:47:12:13 - 00:47:15:01
Jennifer Meacham
It's a need. And we have the we have the.

00:47:15:01 - 00:47:18:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Brands and we have the candidates. So why not put them together?

00:47:18:17 - 00:47:19:00
Jennifer Meacham
I mean.

00:47:19:00 - 00:47:22:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah, it's not different from what you're doing. Right?

00:47:22:09 - 00:47:24:21
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Yeah. No it's the same thing.

00:47:24:23 - 00:47:33:13
Jessie Ott
How many markets, would you say you probably have covered at this point? You're you're mean. You're brand new at it. If it's just a couple of months.

00:47:33:15 - 00:47:34:07
Jennifer Meacham
Hey.

00:47:34:09 - 00:47:35:10
Jennifer Meacham
As far as.

00:47:35:12 - 00:47:36:11
Jennifer Meacham
Them.

00:47:36:13 - 00:48:01:06
Caitlyn Lubell
I mean, we cover the whole U.S, so and actually we even had some chats about Canada as well. one of our recruiters, all of our team is from the industry as well. Not sure if I said that, but and one of our recruiters actually got to work for, in Canada in the industry. So when she came in, she said, can we do Canada out there?

00:48:01:08 - 00:48:02:19
Jennifer Meacham
Oh that's good, that's great. I mean.

00:48:02:21 - 00:48:27:02
Caitlyn Lubell
We've had some clients to us as well. But right now we're, we're we're in the US. And for the brand cultivators, they're, they tend to be focused in the major markets. but honestly we, we have a lot in the system, but we could always use more. So if anybody's already doing it. and we just don't know about you because nobody's calling themselves a brand cultivator.

00:48:27:02 - 00:48:51:15
Caitlyn Lubell
It's kind of our program, you know, feel free to go to our website and fill out your bio and let us know. We have a we have our website where you can go on and join our network and fill out a bio and, and put you right into the system and flags, when when you go into our system, it's a great way for candidates to like rather than waiting for us because we're only you can only talk to so many people on a day.

00:48:51:15 - 00:49:11:08
Caitlyn Lubell
So, but we're always open to more brand cultivators because these fractional share sales people, they're not posting that they're doing that necessarily. again or something. So, so the program is Starfleet growing quickly? I want to say that,

00:49:11:10 - 00:49:14:03
Jennifer Meacham
One of the more.

00:49:14:05 - 00:49:24:09
Jennifer Meacham
As far as candidates, we have candidates like probably existing in our in our system, I'd say in 50% of the states right now. But we we are super confident. We can find them in any state.

00:49:24:11 - 00:49:25:13
Jennifer Meacham
For the team.

00:49:25:14 - 00:49:51:04
Jennifer Meacham
So we have a lot of good tools and, you know, skills and ways that we we find people. That's great. So, yeah. And like Caitlin said, like a lot of them, especially the brands that are coming to us with their first sales hire, they're looking for the key markets like New York, Florida, California, Texas. But we it's also a really great opportunity for brands that maybe they have full time people in those, but they want to start to get into some of the B and C markets, but they can't afford a full time person.

00:49:51:05 - 00:49:59:11
Jennifer Meacham
You know, it can be a hybrid of them having some full time people and some brand cultivators in markets just growing in their developing market.

00:49:59:13 - 00:50:08:13
Jessie Ott
So I would say the one state that I'm hearing, the most that really needs a lot of help is Texas.

00:50:08:15 - 00:50:27:10
Caitlyn Lubell
We have we have a job live right now for a brand cultivator based in Dallas. and we, we have a few in Florida as well. And Florida and Texas are definitely part of the challenge. Florida's got a lot of crazy rules and laws for spirits. So Florida's.

00:50:27:12 - 00:50:29:03
Jessie Ott
Used to.

00:50:29:05 - 00:50:29:09
Jennifer Meacham
Be.

00:50:29:09 - 00:50:33:03
Caitlyn Lubell
Very scared of it, that's for sure. So they need experts in the market?

00:50:33:15 - 00:50:34:14
Jennifer Meacham
I didn't know that.

00:50:34:16 - 00:50:41:04
Jessie Ott
I didn't know that. Because when I was here, you could do anything you wanted to. Basically. I guess I got in trouble.

00:50:41:06 - 00:50:56:07
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, honestly, I don't. I haven't worked the market, but I know that there it's very complicated. It's like certain states, like Michigan and, you know, the Carolinas, like, certain states are just super complicated.

00:50:56:09 - 00:50:57:00
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

00:50:57:02 - 00:51:06:01
Jennifer Meacham
Us being and all of that. I mean, yeah, it's, I think a lot of people want to launch in Florida also, just because it does have all channels and such a robust.

00:51:06:03 - 00:51:07:00
Jennifer Meacham
Way.

00:51:07:02 - 00:51:25:22
Jennifer Meacham
Being, you know, you can do some good volume in the chains and then you also have a moving on premise between the different buckets. So but we're seeing it, you know, we're seeing it's so brand specific. You know, maybe they have a tie to Michigan or they have a tie to Memphis, different things than they need somebody focus there.

00:51:25:22 - 00:51:46:08
Jennifer Meacham
Even though that wouldn't be a first pick for other for other events. And we always really advocate I mean, it's so important to, to, you know, take care of your own backyard. So if you are from XYZ, you need to really focus there. You know, because if someone says, oh, I love this whiskey from Memphis, have you heard of it to somebody from Memphis, you want them to say yes, absolutely.

00:51:46:08 - 00:51:52:07
Jennifer Meacham
You know, I know, I know that, I know that brand. That's what I love, that brand. That's where I'm from, you know? You want them to have that.

00:51:52:07 - 00:51:54:09
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Yeah.

00:51:54:10 - 00:52:04:12
Jessie Ott
Well, is there anything else that, you want to mention on booze? Booze? Because I'd like to get back to you ladies and ask you a few more questions about our journey.

00:52:04:14 - 00:52:28:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Just just to make sure that people are following, like our LinkedIn, our business, LinkedIn. You know, LinkedIn is not just a tool. If you're job hunting, there's really valuable information. We try and post like important content that's helpful. And not just us. Everybody does. So just following us on LinkedIn and following us, going to our website because there's a ton of information there for clients and candidates.

00:52:28:17 - 00:52:50:09
Caitlyn Lubell
So, I would just suggest that especially, you know, we get a lot of candidates looking for opportunities. So the best way to get them in the system is, just go to our website. It's not a black hole. We definitely pay attention to everyone that's coming in. And as soon as we have opportunities, we pay you. So we do a lot of sourcing.

00:52:50:09 - 00:53:02:16
Caitlyn Lubell
We don't necessarily post our job where we're going and finding the people. So DNR, all of that so we can find you when we get that opportunity. I would say.

00:53:02:18 - 00:53:18:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. And I would say when you do reach out, if it is for a specific role, let us know, you know, make sure to kind of really highlight that, and we do post specific roles like we will give you a sense of sort of what we're looking for or what we're what we're seeing a lot of in the market on our LinkedIn.

00:53:18:06 - 00:53:21:23
Jennifer Meacham
So it's a really good place to follow along and stay up to speed on that.

00:53:21:23 - 00:53:24:23
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Awesome.

00:53:25:01 - 00:53:37:19
Jessie Ott
Again, congratulations, ladies. see you soon. You. One year in, you're growing. It's all good stuff. Really, really awesome. you have a great book to write one day.

00:53:37:21 - 00:53:40:11
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I kind of inside.

00:53:40:11 - 00:53:42:06
Caitlyn Lubell
Out the other day. Like, you know, I read a book.

00:53:42:09 - 00:53:42:18
Jennifer Meacham
Like that.

00:53:42:18 - 00:53:59:03
Caitlyn Lubell
Because it's about my story. He's like. He's like, you didn't go to college, you're a female on, non female dominated industry. And, and you're an entrepreneur and, you know, you and your business partner and team are crushing. I'm like, nobody goes on my story.

00:53:59:03 - 00:54:04:08
Jessie Ott
But yes, they do. You'll find out.

00:54:04:10 - 00:54:05:02
Jennifer Meacham
But.

00:54:05:10 - 00:54:29:06
Jessie Ott
Jennifer, let's jump over to you since you gotta kind of scoot out a little bit early, if that's okay. yeah. Talk about any of the mentors that you've had over your career that, have really kind of affected you in a positive way? We want to talk about the negative ones. And, you know, any kind of roles that they kind of encourage you to take or any, any kind of mention of, anybody.

00:54:29:06 - 00:54:52:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had one very specific one at Saint Michel Wine Estates, who was my manager for for many years, and she's since retired from the industry. But, she was, you know, her and one other woman in that organization were, like, just complete trailblazers for female of in the industry, you know, and they were so tough.

00:54:52:08 - 00:55:10:03
Jennifer Meacham
Specifically, the one I worked for was so tough distributor. And initially I was like, wow, like, you get down a notch, you know? And I just sort of thought, like, you should try and buddy up to the distributors more. And then as I got in there and was working, you know, more closely with the distributors and needing to lead, you know, large meetings of all men.

00:55:10:03 - 00:55:39:06
Jennifer Meacham
And I was the youngest and the girl, the only woman, like always running all these meetings. And it was I just realized, like why she had become so tough as nails. and you just you just had to be. I not didn't necessarily, you know, follow that. Exactly. But, I realized sort of what she had, like, been through and what she had, you know, had to kind of face, and, and she had a total respect in the way that she handled it.

00:55:39:20 - 00:55:47:21
Jennifer Meacham
so I definitely learned she always told me I needed to be like distributors. And, you know, I and it's also, as you get older, you care less like what people think. Yeah. Right.

00:55:48:01 - 00:55:49:07
Jessie Ott
So you get your skin.

00:55:49:11 - 00:55:49:19
Jennifer Meacham
It's like.

00:55:49:19 - 00:55:50:18
Jessie Ott
Get comfortable.

00:55:50:20 - 00:55:51:21
Jennifer Meacham
Shoes go right and your.

00:55:51:21 - 00:55:52:10
Jessie Ott
Respect.

00:55:52:10 - 00:56:11:12
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. You're like, I got to be cool. And more like, I'm just trying to do my job. So it was Helen Hines, her. Yeah from Saint Michel. So and she was also just incredibly good. well and the other woman I was mentioning was with Mamie Jim Marino up. Oh, yeah, I remember that work.

00:56:11:12 - 00:56:12:03
Jennifer Meacham
Okay.

00:56:12:05 - 00:56:33:12
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. So it was Helen and Mimi. But Helen, who I worked for most directly for a longer period of time. but Helen was also amazing at spotting the strengths of her team and really, like, letting you know about it. and, you know, with me, she was always like, you're an amazing writer, and you need to lean into this like you, you really you can put things very concisely.

00:56:33:12 - 00:56:33:22
Jennifer Meacham
And you.

00:56:34:04 - 00:56:34:17
Jessie Ott
You know, something?

00:56:34:17 - 00:56:52:22
Jennifer Meacham
I was like, I don't know, I really like through the notes. It's like, not okay. But she was like, no, you you're really good at this. And you need, you know, she definitely saw and I really I gravitated towards the more sort of like creative programing elements. Like, I always love working with trade marketing to come up with, like a really unique program in my market.

00:56:52:22 - 00:57:00:17
Jennifer Meacham
And, and she really pushed me to lean in that direction. And, you know, you could do it to a certain degree within the roles that I had.

00:57:01:00 - 00:57:03:20
Jessie Ott
yeah. But you're limited, you know?

00:57:03:22 - 00:57:25:00
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. I wish in retrospect, it's like we were talking about before. I wish in retrospect that I had focused more on opportunities to move more directly into that within our company. That was not always within our company. But, that's one thing that I wish I had sort of, at a younger age, taken advantage of. was moving around, you know, outside of sales, not just getting sort of siloed.

00:57:25:20 - 00:57:30:11
Jennifer Meacham
but she did an amazing job, like I said, picking up on people's strengths and kind of encouraging them to lean in that direction.

00:57:30:11 - 00:57:31:00
Jennifer Meacham
Yes.

00:57:31:02 - 00:57:33:16
Jessie Ott
It's good to have a female role model like that.

00:57:33:18 - 00:57:35:06
Jennifer Meacham
It's incredible. Yeah, yeah.

00:57:35:08 - 00:57:45:08
Jessie Ott
Do you have, any resources or books or podcasts that you read or listen to that have kind of helped you along the way?

00:57:45:10 - 00:58:07:19
Jennifer Meacham
So now I listen to a lot of podcasts, just to understand sort of what's going on in the industry and stay up to date on current trends. So business of drinks is a big one. I love their podcast. I'll listen to cheers from our in DC sometimes, especially if I'm working on a specific sort of DC and I want to understand more about the brands they represent.

00:58:09:12 - 00:58:31:02
Jennifer Meacham
the Park Street podcast is a good one that I listen to as well. like that one? yeah. Those are very business focused from like sort of a work life balance and managing all of that. I love, The Happiness Podcast with Gretchen Rubin for happier. I can't remember the exact name, but it's Gretchen Rubin and she writes all the she has.

00:58:31:04 - 00:58:40:12
Jennifer Meacham
Her content's all about like, what motivates you and figuring out how to kind of, you know, how to be as effective as you can be while maintaining work life balance and things.

00:58:40:12 - 00:58:41:14
Jessie Ott
Yeah, those are good.

00:58:42:16 - 00:58:50:04
Jennifer Meacham
really good work for sure. Yeah. anything else?

00:58:50:06 - 00:59:02:23
Jennifer Meacham
No, I think, yeah. I mean, I know one question you had, you had mentioned was just like roles that you sort of wished or thought you would have taken. And I think it just goes back to that encouraging people to early in their career, try out different things because it gets.

00:59:03:02 - 00:59:03:16
Jessie Ott
Does get more as.

00:59:03:16 - 00:59:15:17
Jennifer Meacham
You get older and you have more. Yeah. When you start making more and it's hard to step back and you probably have more financial responsibilities. And I just think, you know, I wish that our industry, a lot of other industries will do,

00:59:15:19 - 00:59:16:16
Jennifer Meacham
Cross-Training.

00:59:16:16 - 00:59:44:09
Jennifer Meacham
I can't remember what. But yeah, they'll do like we're the only that they'll bring in, like young people with a lot of potential, and they'll do three months each, three months. Mark, you mentioned stuff. I wish our industry did that more. And I think it could have really benefited me. And I'm sure a lot of young people. So like maybe try to do that on your own if you can't find a company that will support it, because I think it's really important to learn all aspects of the business and whatever you choose, and it'll help you to know all the different angles.

00:59:45:06 - 00:59:49:06
Jennifer Meacham
but it also helps you to figure out kind of where you're the best, where they're the best fit.

00:59:49:08 - 01:00:09:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah, absolutely. yeah. That's not that doesn't happen very often. And so if you know, you know, right out of college, you're not really sure what you want to do anyway anyway. So to get that exposure to that, you know, well, I definitely don't want customer service. Well market he's got a phone. I mean, you know, you get that kind of early.

01:00:09:07 - 01:00:10:02
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

01:00:10:04 - 01:00:24:21
Jennifer Meacham
Well in sales is a really easy one to gravitate to when you're young, especially in our industry. Like you get to be out, you get to eat and all these amazing restaurants and, you know, you get to have a little bit of a flexible schedule and like, yes, it's it's super hard and you have to work really hard.

01:00:25:07 - 01:00:34:23
Jennifer Meacham
but there's a lot of things that work really well for like a recent grad, but it may not necessarily be what you want to do long term. So I was just question.

01:00:35:01 - 01:00:53:03
Jessie Ott
So that's great advice. what about any pain points? I know we've kind of talked a little bit about some. Is there anything in particular that you're seeing in the industry outside of, you know, too many brands that have, you know, distributors that we've kind of kind of already discussed?

01:00:53:05 - 01:01:17:07
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I think my biggest pain point, just as a recruiter, and this is pretty agnostic to any like to the industry, but definitely, you know, definitely applies to our industry is just like I said before, like really making a strategic focus around you're hiring like people. If you ask somebody, a CEO or, you know, any kind of executive leadership of what's one of the most important things in your organization?

01:01:17:07 - 01:01:34:16
Jennifer Meacham
So almost always say the employees. Yet when it comes to procuring employees, it's like an afterthought. You know, it's like the email somebody sends at 5:30 p.m. or they squeeze in the interview when they can, but they never can because of all their meetings and what's, you know, so what's your hiring process? Well, I don't know. I'm going to have to ask.

01:01:34:16 - 01:02:00:09
Jennifer Meacham
It's different for every role. Okay. If you've just said that employees are the most important part of your overall population. So like let's actually put some thinking into it. And so planning in place because it really does matter. Like the interview process is so critical to the success of the hire. And like a concise and coherent interview process that looks good to the candidates, is the cheapest and fastest way to secure great talent.

01:02:00:09 - 01:02:21:15
Jennifer Meacham
Like you can get better people at last if you keep them moving through the process, so why not do it? You know, it's like people are there ready to like, raise the salary limits on a role before they're ready to consolidate their hiring. Yeah. And that just doesn't make any sense to me. And so I think it's just it's just getting and I know I understand everyone's overworked and too busy and I get it.

01:02:21:18 - 01:02:44:23
Jennifer Meacham
But it's just like taking that time to do the forethought about how you're going to approach hiring just the same way you would preplan your year or your quarter or your next 3 to 5 years. You know, like, treat it as, as as important as that. and I think that would be a huge ROI. Like really from a financial standpoint, it'll be better retention, you know, less having to throw money at the problem when you can't find that right.

01:02:45:01 - 01:02:48:01
Jennifer Meacham
And, that would just.

01:02:48:03 - 01:03:00:12
Jessie Ott
I feel like that's been a reoccurring theme, that I've had in, different discussions and, you know, different roundtables. with, with that exact, you know, thought, you know. Yeah.

01:03:00:12 - 01:03:07:08
Caitlyn Lubell
And keep the process moving, like, you know, well, that people in the second round or third round and then the hard stuff and then.

01:03:07:09 - 01:03:10:06
Jessie Ott
Yes, it takes six months.

01:03:10:08 - 01:03:10:23
Jennifer Meacham
And.

01:03:11:01 - 01:03:28:15
Caitlyn Lubell
And we're, we're well, we don't want to take six months because we'll pull candidates and be like, this isn't happening. But it's still where, you know, you got this far like, you're so close and you're gonna lose this jam because they're a good candidate. So somebody else is going to take them.

01:03:28:18 - 01:03:29:08
Jennifer Meacham
Make them.

01:03:29:08 - 01:03:51:03
Caitlyn Lubell
Off, and you're going to lose some. You're going to lose their interest. So they're going to be like, obviously they're not that into me. If they're not continuing the process, even if they're passive and they have no other interviews going on. So keep the process moving along like that. I think that's our biggest pain point. Exactly what Jan said is just, you know, prioritizing your hiring.

01:03:51:05 - 01:03:57:09
Caitlyn Lubell
Let's get it done. Let's let's put the job on the board and get it filled in three weeks. And we have we have plenty.

01:03:57:09 - 01:03:58:07
Jennifer Meacham
Of three weeks after.

01:03:58:07 - 01:04:00:15
Caitlyn Lubell
That. Yeah. So, we we.

01:04:00:15 - 01:04:03:17
Jennifer Meacham
Are like moving on that. Yeah.

01:04:03:19 - 01:04:11:09
Caitlyn Lubell
You get on the phone, we want to debrief and what's the next step and what are we getting them in front of you. Yes.

01:04:11:09 - 01:04:12:07
Jessie Ott
Great.

01:04:12:09 - 01:04:15:11
Jennifer Meacham
But I think the recruiter.

01:04:15:13 - 01:04:31:00
Jennifer Meacham
Very high level role and you need a lot of people to meet with them. Like that's fine. But then get them to give you times when they're available. I mean, we have so much just held up because no one will make time for the interview. And, you know, and then it's like it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Because they're too busy, because they don't have this person on their team.

01:04:31:02 - 01:04:36:13
Jennifer Meacham
So then they can't make time for the hiring. And it's like, well, then you're never going to have you have to stop and make time.

01:04:36:13 - 01:04:40:09
Jessie Ott
What is your average time?

01:04:40:11 - 01:05:01:07
Jennifer Meacham
I mean, we aim for like three weeks or 3 to 6 weeks, often very dependent on the the client, you know. And if there was, they always say to us when we have our, you know, our intake, how soon can we get this filled? And we're like, that barrier is yours and we can get you the people you need tomorrow, but you need to keep them moving through the process, you know, and.

01:05:01:09 - 01:05:04:01
Jessie Ott
So you're coaching them along the way also.

01:05:04:01 - 01:05:08:10
Jennifer Meacham
Oh abides along the way.

01:05:08:12 - 01:05:15:14
Jessie Ott
Yeah, yeah. Oh that's cool. well, I, I had no idea our industry could move that fast. And last I heard was six months by someone.

01:05:15:14 - 01:05:16:14
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, no no, no, no.

01:05:16:15 - 01:05:17:00
Caitlyn Lubell
We don't.

01:05:17:00 - 01:05:23:22
Jessie Ott
Tolerate that. Do interviews and interview. Yeah. You know, no one. No. see, that's.

01:05:23:22 - 01:05:24:11
Jennifer Meacham
What happens.

01:05:24:11 - 01:05:30:21
Caitlyn Lubell
When you're not using a recruiter, honestly. And and, you know, there's nobody there's nobody on the other side to push.

01:05:30:23 - 01:05:32:00
Jennifer Meacham
And keep us.

01:05:32:03 - 01:05:39:07
Caitlyn Lubell
We're pushing twice a week. We're pushing, if not more. We're pushing. The client's going to give us a day, giving you your calendar.

01:05:39:09 - 01:05:41:05
Jennifer Meacham
So you know.

01:05:41:07 - 01:06:06:20
Jennifer Meacham
Well yeah. And we I mean we get them like as soon as we start the roll, we have them 3 to 5 stellar candidates who we know check the boxes. So it's like you're fast forwarded to the almost the end of the process, because you've narrowed it down already to people who are great fits for the position. and we hear it a lot from people who've been at larger companies that the internal hiring teams, they almost always don't come from, like the internal recruit.

01:06:06:20 - 01:06:28:02
Jennifer Meacham
If they have an internal recruiting team, they don't come from the industry. And so there's just this complete disconnect between the hiring managers saying, I need x, y, z. They have to be from this industry and they're not getting those resumes at all. So they kind of have to go through a long period of, of trial and complete error before finally they're like, all right, we'll use a recruiter.

01:06:28:04 - 01:06:35:16
Jennifer Meacham
And it's like, just jump to the recruiter. Like, if your internal hiring people don't understand the industry at all, like, I don't I just don't understand that. Yeah. There.

01:06:35:18 - 01:06:43:23
Jessie Ott
But so last question, Jennifer, do you have any passions outside of work that you want to share with us?

01:06:44:01 - 01:06:53:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, well, I have two girls, seven resume, and I'm a single person. yes. So I that that's it. That's my passion. Or my dog is very quiet.

01:06:53:08 - 01:06:54:23
Jessie Ott
My husband quiet too. So.

01:06:55:02 - 01:06:57:02
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. Yeah, she's quiet all day.

01:06:57:02 - 01:07:15:20
Jennifer Meacham
And then she's so annoying at night, but she, She. Yeah. So my girls are, you know, like, everything. And I spend a ton of time with them and taking care of them. And then outside of that, I love just staying active. Like, especially in the summer. I love to get outside and, you know, walk or run or hike or whatever and get to the gym.

01:07:16:13 - 01:07:25:15
Jennifer Meacham
I love to cook. I think anybody in the industry loves cooking in new restaurants. And, you know, food, of course, is a huge passion of mine.

01:07:25:17 - 01:07:43:19
Jessie Ott
Nice, I love that. Great. Well, I know you have to to run, so I will get back to Caitlin here, but, thank you so much. And again, congratulations to you. yeah. Thank you. I look forward to, staying in touch.

01:07:43:21 - 01:07:45:21
Jennifer Meacham
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah.

01:07:45:23 - 01:07:47:19
Jessie Ott
And I feel like I have so many more questions.

01:07:47:19 - 01:07:54:08
Jennifer Meacham
But I know, I know, we have to do this again. Okay? But I.

01:07:54:10 - 01:07:55:06
Jennifer Meacham
All right. Bye.

01:07:55:09 - 01:07:57:18
Jessie Ott
All right. Caitlin, it's just me and you, girl.

01:07:57:20 - 01:08:19:19
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah. I mean, Jen is, like, sleeves up recruiting right now because we have so many jobs on the board and and again, you know, we we we the clients, if they don't get it, how much work we do on the back end. And you know, she was just kind of mentioning it. But we do so much on the back end that, you know, we have to go find the people.

01:08:19:20 - 01:08:25:01
Caitlyn Lubell
Then we interview the people and we write up basically, we become their cover letter.

01:08:25:01 - 01:08:26:17
Jennifer Meacham
And so we had it all.

01:08:26:17 - 01:08:27:10
Caitlyn Lubell
Up and.

01:08:27:14 - 01:08:28:15
Jennifer Meacham
And oh my.

01:08:28:21 - 01:08:49:20
Caitlyn Lubell
God. And then we top the there's always questions from the client. And you know, we go back and forth. So there's a lot of stuff we do. And so we just have a lot of live jobs right now, which is great. And that's great. Jen is, you know, sleeves rolled up right now. So she's got candidate calls all day today.

01:08:49:20 - 01:08:51:05
Caitlyn Lubell
And you know we have a short week.

01:08:51:05 - 01:08:53:04
Jessie Ott
So yeah, it's a short week. Yeah.

01:08:53:05 - 01:08:54:18
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:08:54:20 - 01:09:01:14
Jessie Ott
Well let's go back to your mentors that you would want to mention and talk about.

01:09:01:16 - 01:09:32:18
Caitlyn Lubell
You know, you ask this question and, and of course I, I'm a talker, obviously. So, sales person type personality. So I, wrote some things I had to keep myself together, but it's such a hard question. I, I utilize every conversation as a mentor, a conversation. And I think my, candidates that I talk to become huge mentors because, you know, what is the definition of a mentor?

01:09:32:18 - 01:10:01:23
Caitlyn Lubell
Maybe it's somebody who really guides you and helps you along in your path. And, I learn something every single day from talking to candidates. you know, I have mentors, salespeople. When I was a buyer, you know, telling me, like, hey, you can do that. And, you know, you could work for a distributor. And, you know, when I got to Saint Michel Wine Estates, you know, there was one female C-suite.

01:10:02:00 - 01:10:13:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Carrie Leach, who became a formal mentor, I think is really, really important for companies to have a formal mentor program because people are so shy to ask somebody to be.

01:10:13:19 - 01:10:14:06
Jennifer Meacham


01:10:14:06 - 01:10:38:16
Caitlyn Lubell
Poor. And it's such a shame because you learn so much. I mean, Carrie tossed me up some ledges and really helped guide me, so much. And Carrie Leach is just an incredible woman. And and, you know, she was a C-suite female. And I can't help but look up two female entrepreneurs, all entrepreneurs I look up to good.

01:10:38:18 - 01:11:01:16
Caitlyn Lubell
You know, and I'm not a soapbox woman at all. But, you know, as a female in, you know, as I said, pretty male dominated industry, you know, I would watch all the, the women that were, you know, successful. And how are they doing and how are they getting there? when I went to Saint Michel Wine Estates, they worked with Damari Felicio.

01:11:01:16 - 01:11:24:03
Caitlyn Lubell
She is my girl. she's now a VP of R&D Co-op in New York. but she was most recently in the constellation as a national account manager. But I was her cam at southern. I mean, we were side by side together, and I learned so much from her. She is a tough Queens girl, and she is a closer and powerhouse.

01:11:24:05 - 01:11:25:23
Jennifer Meacham
And I did.

01:11:26:01 - 01:11:48:06
Caitlyn Lubell
So much from her and getting into recruiting. I worked for a company called Gecko Hospitality, which I kind of brushed over a little, during the pandemic, before the pandemic, I decided I wanted to be a recruiter, and I cold called this chick a friend of a family. Told me about the company and his friend as a mentor.

01:11:48:06 - 01:12:04:04
Caitlyn Lubell
He goes, oh, you should reach out to my buddy Marty, just as a mentor in conversation. And I talked to him and I looked at the website. I did all the work for them, and I cold call emailed this woman, Georgia Westwood, and I was like, hi, I gotta work for you.

01:12:04:06 - 01:12:05:01
Jennifer Meacham
I know in.

01:12:05:03 - 01:12:09:11
Caitlyn Lubell
New York City, all the buyers of the restaurants and, and.

01:12:09:13 - 01:12:09:15
Jennifer Meacham
The.

01:12:09:19 - 01:12:34:18
Caitlyn Lubell
Staff, and within an hour she texted me, let's set up a call. And she has taught me. She taught me everything I knew. Trial by fire. We had New York and New Jersey, as I mentioned, recruiting for restaurant managers, and she's still my best friend to this day is Rosemary and I. So classic Harry Leach. I think the best relationships really are when you're mentoring each other.

01:12:35:04 - 01:13:02:10
Caitlyn Lubell
I know you know, my little crew, Michelle Hodges, Shannon Reynolds and Holly beech from Saint Michelle Line Estates. And we we constantly mentor each other all day, every day, helping each other. and my business partner, I mean, Jen, is where we're pretty different. she is the opposite of my into my yang or whatever, but boy, do I learn a ton from her.

01:13:02:10 - 01:13:26:06
Caitlyn Lubell
In our team, we we we try and we try and do, brainstorming sessions all the time. We're a new company, right? And we asked the team for input. And, guys, this is what we're thinking. Or here's the stumbling block. Let's talk through it. And the recruiters, you know, Kayla and Sarah and Tara, our coordinator, they're just super smart women.

01:13:26:06 - 01:13:29:22
Caitlyn Lubell
And so, the world is my mentor.

01:13:29:22 - 01:13:32:06
Jennifer Meacham
And and I love that.

01:13:32:08 - 01:13:49:02
Caitlyn Lubell
I can't get enough of it. I mean, you, Jackie, I like you're a mentor because, what you're doing, you're just. You're doing it. You're scrapping out. And I am, like, enamored with all these people that are just doing impactful things in the world.

01:13:49:02 - 01:13:52:02
Jennifer Meacham
So, yeah, I love that long winded.

01:13:52:02 - 01:14:05:14
Caitlyn Lubell
But, but definitely, you know, I would say mid team and those three women that I mentioned that, forever indebted to them for all they taught me for sure help make this like, awesome.

01:14:05:15 - 01:14:12:10
Jessie Ott
Yeah. That means you're you're doing the right thing. You're in the right place. But, you know, I love this. Mentored by the world. I think that's fantastic.

01:14:12:11 - 01:14:41:18
Caitlyn Lubell
By the world, I mean, you know, it's when you just have that inner energy to, like, learn. Then everything you look at, you can learn from. And, and I think one of my friends just said it. I just reposted what she said, spacing right now. And I apologize, my friend, about that, but it was just such a good quote, basically, like learn from your surroundings and learn from the world around you.

01:14:41:18 - 01:14:47:14
Caitlyn Lubell
And, yeah, as long as you keep doing that, you're going to continue to evolve and grow, right?

01:14:47:16 - 01:14:54:14
Jessie Ott
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely. What about any resources that you'd like to share?

01:14:54:16 - 01:14:57:19
Jennifer Meacham
So, well.

01:14:57:20 - 01:15:28:10
Caitlyn Lubell
For me, resources, tend to be entrepreneurial. So, I've taken some classes and I, always, you know, want to learn more about being a stronger entrepreneur and leader. but, score scary is all. Capital score is a free mentor program. I everybody keeps asking me if it's just New York. I know it from my chapter is New York, but I'm pretty sure they're national.

01:15:28:12 - 01:15:28:19
Jennifer Meacham
I think.

01:15:28:19 - 01:15:40:06
Caitlyn Lubell
So they have free mentors. I just talked to one yesterday, a new one. there's they're they're older people who've retired who just want to give back.

01:15:40:08 - 01:15:41:09
Jennifer Meacham
Home,

01:15:41:11 - 01:15:51:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Helping entrepreneurs. And it score has been amazing. I've had it multiple different score mentors. SBA Small Business.

01:15:51:05 - 01:15:52:09
Jennifer Meacham
Administration,

01:15:52:11 - 01:15:54:11
Caitlyn Lubell
Free mentor and coaching.

01:15:55:00 - 01:15:57:08
Jessie Ott
business plan review. yeah.

01:15:57:10 - 01:16:28:21
Caitlyn Lubell
So good. And, LinkedIn. I mean, I'm constantly reading articles. I do love Chengchen. I mean, who doesn't love again? But and I love I used to love dev media. I remember when we see a big media, we all get our big fat dose and look for is your who's friends are in the picture this month and you know, but industry news I just, I, you know, I, I try and follow it as much as I can and just other people posting stuff on LinkedIn is so interesting.

01:16:30:04 - 01:16:40:11
Caitlyn Lubell
so I, I'm not an avid reader. I am not a podcaster. The ADHD gives me challenges with those things. So, snippets.

01:16:40:11 - 01:16:40:19
Jennifer Meacham
Short.

01:16:40:21 - 01:16:42:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Article, the better for.

01:16:42:05 - 01:16:44:18
Jennifer Meacham
Me for.

01:16:44:20 - 01:17:02:09
Caitlyn Lubell
That. but yeah, I think score in SBA, especially if you're an entrepreneur, can be huge. and and then LinkedIn for if you're a candidate looking or even you're someone looking to hire, I think you can learn a ton by following the right people on LinkedIn.

01:17:02:11 - 01:17:04:00
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Agreed.

01:17:04:02 - 01:17:05:00
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah.

01:17:05:02 - 01:17:10:01
Jessie Ott
What about any pain points that we haven't, we haven't mentioned so far? I mean.

01:17:10:03 - 01:17:33:07
Caitlyn Lubell
Now that, you know, you know, that we, we, you know, we do so much vetting on our side. And when we put somebody in front of you clients, it's because we really think that they are a good fit and they at least deserve a 20 30 minute conversation on zoom. but, I think making the hiring process a priority, Jen, just nailed it.

01:17:33:07 - 01:17:58:14
Caitlyn Lubell
I mean, that's that's exactly, you know, your people are your most important yet we see some very challenging interview processes and and, that's our biggest pain point. And then our other biggest pain point I would say is the, the three tier system and is that we have, you know, it's, you know, homeless and we speak to people at their most vulnerable.

01:17:58:14 - 01:18:31:18
Caitlyn Lubell
Right? They're they either just lost their job or they're not making enough money, or their boss treats them like crap, or there's a new CEO and they're in panic mode. So being able to help people navigate through that vulnerable time in their life is really hard. And you have to really balance. I mean, I have had a lot of sleepless nights for candidates, you know, just feeling so bad and, and the situation that they're in and the position that they're in and, and you know, do unto others.

01:18:31:18 - 01:18:32:09
Jennifer Meacham
Like, yeah, there.

01:18:32:09 - 01:18:58:02
Caitlyn Lubell
Are people treating people so poorly these days. It's just I don't know, you know, it's definitely a pain point for me. Keeps me up at night to say, how can I help make the industry better and stronger and people treating each other better? And, you know, one of my favorite questions that I ask candidates when I talk to them is you spend a lot of plates stress.

01:18:58:02 - 01:19:20:12
Caitlyn Lubell
You've done a lot of things. I think I even said this to you maybe one time when we talked. Spent a lot of place. But when you sit down and xyzzy hits your desk and you physically get a smile on your face, what's that? What's that moment? And then we want to lean into that for your next role.

01:19:20:14 - 01:19:27:20
Caitlyn Lubell
Why aren't managers asking their direct reports that question what's your favorite part of the job?

01:19:28:01 - 01:19:28:17
Jennifer Meacham
Well, yeah.

01:19:28:18 - 01:19:45:14
Caitlyn Lubell
You know what? What drives you. What excites you. And you know, I think a lot of people are good at managing different personality. And it is very challenging but has more questions. And, you know, I don't think that people are doing six month in annual reviews this month.

01:19:45:14 - 01:19:49:07
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, it's awful. And it's like, this is where you need.

01:19:49:07 - 01:20:10:07
Caitlyn Lubell
To talk to your people. Because honestly, one of our one of our screening questions is what do you do for your next review? Because you're telling me all these things, you're not moving up, you're not happy, you're not making enough money. Have you talked to your boss about this before I even try and get you another job, have you had the conversation?

01:20:10:09 - 01:20:39:00
Caitlyn Lubell
And so I often I hear like, well, I haven't really had the opportunity or they're not going to understand. To me that's a major pain point it. Yeah. That you know. Yeah. Like everybody should treat each other like it's, sister, daughter, wife, sibling, whatever. to the point of like, caring about if they're smiling every day. Not rocket science.

01:20:39:01 - 01:20:57:02
Jessie Ott
Yeah. I think for me, as a, you know, someone who wants to build a company and have employees, my, my, my, you know, everybody has their own experience about a boss or this or that. And, what I don't understand is the conversations. Just to your point. And it's like, okay, well, what do you really want to do?

01:20:57:02 - 01:21:15:13
Jessie Ott
How can I facilitate that for you? How can I make this happen for you? What do you what do you want to do more of? And I think you know what? What bosses don't do within certain confines of a team is utilize different people for their skill sets. You know, lean in on this person for this, lean on this person for this.

01:21:15:15 - 01:21:46:14
Jessie Ott
They don't even have the other team take tests or or understand any kind of personalities. You know, I, I, really believe in desk and all these other things. And my wife is great. Dugger heels into it and it can help companies that, you know, want to grow or are struggling with finance, HR, like she's basically CEO level thinker of and the core of what she does is understands people because you have to have different people's, personalities to make a company work.

01:21:46:16 - 01:21:56:17
Jessie Ott
You know, like, yeah, I mean, you were more like the visionary sort of like out there doing stuff. I my wife says, I mean, maybe,

01:21:56:19 - 01:21:59:12
Jennifer Meacham
We're just like, okay.

01:21:59:13 - 01:22:19:20
Jessie Ott
Jen is more like the processor and the operator, and she's. Oh, yeah, like that, this, this role that's so important to get that I need that. And that's my wife. So there's there's certain roles that people need to play in order to have, that expertise in companies that are older, don't buy into it. And they don't try it and they don't understand it.

01:22:19:20 - 01:22:34:04
Jessie Ott
And I don't understand from an HR perspective. It's not I don't know, I, I'm not trying to judge her or complain or anything like that, but I do feel like there's a real mis, and probably not just our industry. It's probably just, you know.

01:22:34:06 - 01:22:55:04
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, it's a it's a good point. And it it just makes me feel bad, you know, for people that are feeling stuck or challenged or whatever, but, but yeah, hiring managers, moving a process along and then and then also thinking like, no, we don't need boosters. Like we're just going to post an ad and we're like, okay.

01:22:55:06 - 01:22:55:13
Jennifer Meacham
Good, good.

01:22:55:13 - 01:23:20:05
Caitlyn Lubell
But those 312 resumes that you have to go through, that the majority of them are not even from the industry. They I get it, our fees are not low, but we do so much work for it. And you need to be busy running your team, dealing with your distributor, working on your inventory levels, you know, working on your marketing plan.

01:23:20:06 - 01:23:26:15
Caitlyn Lubell
You're right. In the fiscal, whatever it is, when you could outsource it and just give it to us.

01:23:26:15 - 01:23:28:23
Jennifer Meacham
And we could get a better case panel.

01:23:29:00 - 01:23:41:11
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah. silver platter. Yeah. And and so it's a shame that, I mean, we have a lot of clients, but it's a shame. I think it's a little pain point that more, don't you? That's right. I got it.

01:23:41:12 - 01:23:56:15
Jessie Ott
Right. Well, I also think that, you know, to your point, if they're, if their number one priority is their employees and why aren't they investing in that piece like that? Just seems like, you know, you're going to get that person 100%.

01:23:56:17 - 01:23:57:07
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah.

01:23:57:09 - 01:24:08:08
Jessie Ott
Versus well, they might be 80%. Right. Well, that 20% can make or break an employee. Yeah, that's the right culture. And you know, the right job.

01:24:08:10 - 01:24:29:13
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah. We're so happy when we get the right the right candidate for the right. Well and a good, really responsive client and everything works out already. So happy that we get the maximum one year anniversary. Happy anniversary. And you know, we text them in two months and say how's it going. And they're both like head over heels, like that makes a day, you know, that's.

01:24:29:13 - 01:24:32:05
Jennifer Meacham
Like, yeah, it's kind of like.

01:24:32:07 - 01:24:47:23
Jessie Ott
You go to an expensive restaurant, right. And and yeah, it's a little bit out of my budget. but it's so good in such an amazing experience that it's so worth it because the outcome was perfect. Right? It's worth.

01:24:47:23 - 01:24:49:06
Jennifer Meacham
It.

01:24:49:08 - 01:25:04:10
Caitlyn Lubell
It's worth it. we had, John and I met with a client in person when she was up here in New York, when she first came up for New York Food and Wine Festival last year. And we met with a client and she said, I got a scrappy startup, great guy. And he said, I got to be honest.

01:25:04:10 - 01:25:26:12
Caitlyn Lubell
When you first told me your fears, I fell out of my chair and like, you know, I was like, can I do this? And he said, within a week I see your value. Like, and I couldn't do this without you. And we got him such a gem. He is over the moon. Well, happy. It's like a perfect pairing.

01:25:26:12 - 01:25:32:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Is like, I couldn't have done this alone. And I see your value. And I am so really good at validating.

01:25:32:17 - 01:25:33:17
Jennifer Meacham
Not crazy.

01:25:33:17 - 01:25:47:18
Caitlyn Lubell
But it was so nice to hear from a startup that, you know, scrapping away at money. but he saw our value. He sees our value, and he still sees our value. So that that was really nice. Yeah.

01:25:47:20 - 01:25:59:00
Jessie Ott
Yeah. That's awesome. Switching over to outlook, is there do you see any trend changes or anything you know from your perspective that could be evolving?

01:25:59:02 - 01:25:59:22
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I bet you do.

01:25:59:22 - 01:26:41:09
Caitlyn Lubell
Definitely this through the three payer system and the antiquated laws that we deal with. And, you know, all the things that everyone in our industry is talking about right now. you know, we have a great partner with MH, w we also work with Park Street and live dib and and again, I come from, you know, distribute or sell there and I, I, I had a great career there and it's no disrespect to them in any way, but, they yeah these these new brands are going to come in or these new imports are going to come in whether they like it or not, but they really can't find a distributor or can't

01:26:41:09 - 01:26:57:15
Caitlyn Lubell
find an importer. So I think there's going to be a lot of, gray lines and legally, you know, compliance, but gray lines to where, you know, different go to market strategies, which.

01:26:57:20 - 01:26:58:17
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah. you know.

01:26:58:17 - 01:27:10:14
Caitlyn Lubell
Why we went with this brand cultivator program just as a different go to market. I think E-Com is huge. and, but you got to have money to play in that, you know, and.

01:27:10:15 - 01:27:13:21
Jennifer Meacham
So I.

01:27:13:23 - 01:27:41:07
Caitlyn Lubell
So I, I think the industry is going to evolve massively in the next five years. the fact that we're all talking about it. So much, is there has to be changes. Yeah, maybe they will be with some antiquated compliance laws and maybe they'll be with evolution in the three tier system. But, industry is going to change a lot in the next five years.

01:27:41:11 - 01:27:42:04
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I.

01:27:42:04 - 01:27:44:12
Caitlyn Lubell
Did about it. I think it's going to be in a good way.

01:27:44:15 - 01:27:56:09
Jessie Ott
It's time. I do think that, you know, and this is no disrespect to anybody, but, you know, you hear these stories. Oh, I went to Mexico, fell in love. Tequila.

01:27:56:11 - 01:27:59:04
Caitlyn Lubell
That's that's a whole other podcast. That's. Yeah.

01:27:59:21 - 01:28:02:22
Jennifer Meacham
that that story. But another day.

01:28:02:23 - 01:28:24:08
Jessie Ott
But I'll be honest with you, they're making really good tequila. They're finding the good names are finding the great. The great. Yeah. You know, houses that have been making tequila for generations. And they all have room for more. So I think the point of that is, you know, there's room for everybody because not everybody needs to be everywhere, right?

01:28:24:08 - 01:28:28:04
Jessie Ott
They just need some growth and just get in a few places if you use is a few places.

01:28:28:07 - 01:28:58:15
Caitlyn Lubell
So but you gotta you gotta hire the right people who if you don't know what you're doing, they know what they. And you gotta have funding. I mean, to be honest, I think I I've heard it before. It's, you know, it's you try and enter the market in a big way with anything under three mil. Yeah. You need 3 to 5 mil that have success in the US market, which a lot of these companies would gas that, that it's, you know, it it's very expensive.

01:28:58:15 - 01:28:59:22
Jennifer Meacham
It's expensive.

01:29:00:00 - 01:29:04:16
Caitlyn Lubell
Every state is different. And, the compliance is so much legal.

01:29:04:17 - 01:29:07:12
Jessie Ott
Materials, production, design.

01:29:07:14 - 01:29:13:00
Jennifer Meacham
Cogs and everything is solid. Yeah. And I we.

01:29:13:00 - 01:29:29:13
Caitlyn Lubell
Support we support these these brands, as long as they want to hire somebody who knows what they're doing, which some of our clients do. You know, they say, yeah, I don't know what I'm doing, but I got a lot of money. So let's hire a team who knows what they're doing. And I'm like, great, let's go. We are happy to help.

01:29:29:13 - 01:29:32:19
Jennifer Meacham
So that's very. Yeah.

01:29:32:21 - 01:29:37:12
Jessie Ott
So what about you? Do you have any passions outside of work? I know you're busy.

01:29:38:05 - 01:29:49:07
Caitlyn Lubell
yeah, I'm in New York, girl, so I love just walking around the city and getting my stuff, and I miss it. I used to get 10,000 steps a day in.

01:29:49:09 - 01:29:52:23
Jennifer Meacham
And, oh, yeah, behind a desk. And so.

01:29:53:18 - 01:30:18:18
Caitlyn Lubell
like Dan said, you know, I think anybody in the street loves to eat and drink and discover new restaurants and bars and cocktails. Yeah, speakeasies and fun things like that. I am single, no kids, so I don't have that. I do have two new rescue kitty cats that are giving me entertainment. They're so cute. but, I love to bike ride.

01:30:18:18 - 01:30:42:10
Caitlyn Lubell
I, I ride up around the East River and and the Hudson River, you know, when it's when the weather's good. and. Yeah, just spending time with friends and family, honestly, you know, this industry is like, it's it's not separate from your life, right? We, you know, we eat and drink for a living. And so it's fun. So a lot of my friends are in the industry.

01:30:42:10 - 01:30:56:21
Caitlyn Lubell
I love talking business. I love learning and growing. So as long phone calls with my mentor, as I mentioned in and friends in the industry, just I love it. I'm like a geek for that.

01:30:56:21 - 01:30:59:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, that's great years.

01:30:59:06 - 01:31:04:06
Caitlyn Lubell
In the biz. And I'm just it's my it's my hobby, not just my job.

01:31:04:06 - 01:31:05:17
Jennifer Meacham
So, That's awesome.

01:31:05:18 - 01:31:16:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, yeah. And then sometimes on the weekends, I'm just tired, you know? But when I'm not, I get out on the bike or, you know, just walk around and enjoy my city.

01:31:16:18 - 01:31:19:09
Jennifer Meacham
So awesome. And I love to travel.

01:31:19:10 - 01:31:24:02
Caitlyn Lubell
Like any excuse, any good events that are going on around the industry?

01:31:24:02 - 01:31:24:16
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, I know.

01:31:24:16 - 01:31:51:08
Caitlyn Lubell
The business development and cat well, no agendas, a lot of business development as well. But she can't go out to the event. She has two girls so she's like go, go to. She actually did come up for BCB because I thought it was some really good event. But she needs to come to. But anybody hears about events or knows about events that I can make an excuse and travel to a city and go, you know, spend a few days and hit up an event and see some friends.

01:31:51:08 - 01:32:07:14
Caitlyn Lubell
And in that market, please tell me I'm always sometimes I'll see people post and I'm like, oh man, that event was yesterday, I missed it. I wish I knew that any excuse to travel for me and but we'll base it around work now and then.

01:32:07:19 - 01:32:08:13
Jennifer Meacham


01:32:08:15 - 01:32:15:15
Jessie Ott
Nice. Nice. Is there anything else that you want to close with or talk about your maybe your website or.

01:32:15:17 - 01:32:57:03
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, I just want to thank you for having us on. I mean, you know, listen, there are other players in there are other recruiting agencies to do focus on the booze industry. I think that one of our things is that we are from the biz for the biz, and, you know, our whole team has worked mostly in sales that, one of us has worked in operations and, and, you know, being in the new York market, I got to work with the marketing people and the VP's and the higher levels, and, you know, all the different the chain people and, so, I think we set ourselves apart a little bit that

01:32:57:03 - 01:33:22:13
Caitlyn Lubell
way that we just talk the talk. but, yeah, I mean, let's just keep growing and and, you know, we would love to be the go to. And, you know, we're always we always have a full job board, but we're always taking on new clients. as long as they want to be responsive and have money to pay their bills and want to partner with us, we look for long term.

01:33:22:13 - 01:33:48:07
Caitlyn Lubell
So, yeah, that's fine. If you have one role, we'll come in, fill the role and make you happy. But we tend to work on a long term basis. So we'll fill role and then you'll come back to us in a month or two for another role. And and that's really what we look for. So good clients that really want to partner up, that are just too busy and want to, you know, hand over this, the the hiring situation, the bruises.

01:33:48:09 - 01:34:12:11
Caitlyn Lubell
I mean, we're all about it. We focus on wine, spirits, beer, soccer, ultimate bads. We're even open minded to booze free. if it's something cool and something fun, we're not necessarily going for soda pop and energy drinks, but, I think there's a cool market. Jen loves the nonalcoholic market and the CBD.

01:34:12:11 - 01:34:14:01
Jennifer Meacham
My growing, you know.

01:34:14:03 - 01:34:42:16
Caitlyn Lubell
I mean, any if it's a beverage and you need experts in the industry from the industry, we have them. So we even work with agencies. We have a PR agency that focuses on the industry. We work with them. We have an agency that does, point of sale materials. We were working with them for a while. So even an added layer marketing company and things like that, as long as you're affiliated with the industry, that's what our Rolodex is.

01:34:42:16 - 01:34:46:00
Caitlyn Lubell
Right? So yeah, I think that's the only thing I would say.

01:34:46:02 - 01:34:53:05
Jessie Ott
Do you ever do any contracting with companies, or is it just kind of a per basis?

01:34:54:03 - 01:34:58:12
Caitlyn Lubell
we're open to alternative situations.

01:34:58:16 - 01:34:58:21
Jennifer Meacham
Say.

01:34:58:22 - 01:35:28:04
Caitlyn Lubell
That we're we're always open minded and you know, not just with the brand cultivator program, with the fractional sales people, but we're very open to, you know, fractional CMO and things like that. so, yeah, we're open minded. We're always open to conversation. And if for a company that has hiring needs, yes, we're always open to think outside the box.

01:35:28:06 - 01:35:30:16
Jennifer Meacham
Okay. Yeah.

01:35:30:17 - 01:35:56:06
Caitlyn Lubell
Now, thank you so much, Jesse. I really appreciate it. And it's great to get the word out about boosters. I think we do have a pretty good following to thank everyone for supporting us and saying positive, positive, wonderful things about us. We really it just makes us smile ear to ear. And we appreciate every kind note and that is and follow and like and all the things because we want to continue to grow.

01:35:57:05 - 01:36:00:11
Caitlyn Lubell
I always say, I'm going to do this until I can't see the computer anymore.

01:36:00:11 - 01:36:03:09
Jennifer Meacham
So, yeah, seeing the load.

01:36:03:09 - 01:36:28:22
Caitlyn Lubell
Is is nice. Our whole team is remote. We have, you know, a recruiter in Arizona, one in Florida. our coordinator bounces between North Carolina and Oklahoma. Jen's in Maryland. I'm in New York. definitely. In the future, we'll look for a recruiter probably based in Sonoma. They can help me do business development. So, you know, we plan to grow as a company.

01:36:28:22 - 01:36:33:22
Caitlyn Lubell
And, there's a lot of cool opportunity. But, baby steps. We're.

01:36:33:23 - 01:36:34:20
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:36:34:21 - 01:36:37:03
Caitlyn Lubell
We're just a year in, so we're.

01:36:37:03 - 01:36:38:06
Jennifer Meacham
You're right. You're good. You're.

01:36:38:08 - 01:36:40:06
Jessie Ott
You already grown a lot.

01:36:40:08 - 01:36:57:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, it's been a pinch. Me, it's been just awesome. But it also feels like we're supposed to be doing. You know, Jen and I talk about it many times. Are like, wow. Like, people are like, oh, why are you so scared? And we're like, no, no. Feels like what? We're supposed to be.

01:36:57:05 - 01:36:58:09
Jessie Ott
Doing those we good.

01:36:58:13 - 01:36:59:06
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah, not to be.

01:36:59:06 - 01:37:10:00
Caitlyn Lubell
Cocky, but it's just like, no, we're not scared. We're just figuring it out. And, you know. Yeah. but yeah, what a good balance I have with her, right?

01:37:10:02 - 01:37:11:02
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:37:11:04 - 01:37:13:01
Jessie Ott
100%.

01:37:13:03 - 01:37:13:20
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:37:13:22 - 01:37:15:20
Jessie Ott
Couldn't have picked a better teammate.

01:37:15:21 - 01:37:16:14
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:37:16:14 - 01:37:21:08
Caitlyn Lubell
Oh, so thankful, so thankful. So. But thank you so much again.

01:37:21:10 - 01:37:25:15
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Of course. Thanks for coming on. I'm glad it. We were finally able to connect.

01:37:25:17 - 01:37:29:00
Caitlyn Lubell
I know, me too. And happy to do them in the future as well too.

01:37:29:00 - 01:37:32:12
Jessie Ott
So do you want to end on a fun game?

01:37:32:14 - 01:37:34:04
Jennifer Meacham
Sure.

01:37:34:06 - 01:37:42:13
Jessie Ott
Okay, I'm going to ask you a question. And you? It's like a speed game. You have to answer it really fast first, first, first thing that comes to mind.

01:37:42:15 - 01:37:43:11
Caitlyn Lubell
Okay.

01:37:43:13 - 01:37:44:16
Jessie Ott
You ready?

01:37:44:18 - 01:37:45:14
Jennifer Meacham
Yeah.

01:37:45:16 - 01:37:49:08
Jessie Ott
If you were a cocktail, what would you be?

01:37:49:10 - 01:37:51:05
Caitlyn Lubell
Martini with an olive.

01:37:51:07 - 01:37:53:20
Jessie Ott
Ginger vodka.

01:37:53:22 - 01:37:55:10
Caitlyn Lubell
Gin.

01:37:55:12 - 01:37:57:01
Jessie Ott
Dirty.

01:37:57:02 - 01:37:58:10
Caitlyn Lubell
Yeah, yeah, a little dirty.

01:37:58:12 - 01:38:00:04
Jennifer Meacham
Dirty little dirty dirty.

01:38:00:06 - 01:38:02:20
Jessie Ott
That's a little dirty. What's your favorite color?

01:38:02:22 - 01:38:05:17
Caitlyn Lubell
Purple. Everyone knows that. I got purple glasses.

01:38:05:17 - 01:38:07:19
Jennifer Meacham
There, so I can't see.

01:38:07:20 - 01:38:08:07
Jessie Ott
I can't see that.

01:38:08:07 - 01:38:10:05
Jennifer Meacham
The purple.

01:38:10:06 - 01:38:17:10
Jessie Ott
The sides. Manhattan or New York City. What's your favorite city to travel to?

01:38:17:12 - 01:38:27:09
Caitlyn Lubell
Well, I would say Colorado as a state. I absolutely love Colorado. It's my second happy place. yeah. Colorado, just in general. I just love it there.

01:38:27:15 - 01:38:31:15
Jessie Ott
Nice. What's your favorite food?

01:38:31:16 - 01:38:36:08
Caitlyn Lubell
Oh, gosh, that one is impossible. I'm a foodie. That one's so hard.

01:38:36:09 - 01:38:38:10
Jennifer Meacham
I know I love Italian, I like.

01:38:38:15 - 01:38:42:14
Caitlyn Lubell
I like a good shellfish tower, like a good seafood tower.

01:38:42:19 - 01:38:45:21
Jennifer Meacham
And all that stuff I love.

01:38:45:23 - 01:38:54:09
Jessie Ott
Yeah, that's such a big joke. Because, you know, when you have an expense account, people are like, yeah, shellfish tower.

01:38:54:10 - 01:38:55:21
Jennifer Meacham
Oh, yeah, yeah.

01:38:55:23 - 01:38:57:13
Jessie Ott
Let's get them.

01:38:57:15 - 01:39:11:00
Caitlyn Lubell
I like the steak house in the Midtown. And they would joke because I don't mean steak, and they're like, you're the steak house clean. It doesn't need steak. And I'm like, yeah, but they got good shellfish. It's just did.

01:39:11:12 - 01:39:45:03
Jessie Ott
well, that was fun. That was fun. Thank you for, joining me and, Yeah. Really, I'm sincerely mean. I'm super pumped, you know, as. Yeah, as a woman and, you know, as someone who has switched careers and found their passion, I think, you know, you and Jen have, that lucky, want of getting to be in the industry, but being off the streets because, you know, we can't we can't physically do that forever.

01:39:45:05 - 01:40:07:15
Jessie Ott
So, you know what? What is your process? Yeah. What what is that process and how do you continue to stay active in the industry. But, not carrying a wine bag all the time. And, you know, to your point, like as you get higher and higher in management, those that job becomes pricing and managing distributor orders and doing all the things that just aren't really that glamorous and fun.

01:40:07:17 - 01:40:29:21
Jessie Ott
Whereas yeah, that's you still have that active, you know, you're talking to people of all different levels, of all different companies throughout the industry, and it's just probably to you, for you, it's your learner. So you're learning that continuous basis and it's rejuvenate, it's rejuvenating your energy. And so it's like the perfect fit. So I commend you for.

01:40:29:21 - 01:40:34:14
Caitlyn Lubell
This job I've ever had. But you know, pretty darn fun.

01:40:34:14 - 01:40:36:07
Jennifer Meacham
It rewarding.

01:40:36:11 - 01:40:46:01
Caitlyn Lubell
It is fun is sleeping in a castle in Italy. But it's pretty darn like I get five people all day long and it's amazing. I love it so yeah.

01:40:46:02 - 01:40:53:02
Jessie Ott
Awesome. Awesome. Well, again, best of luck. And, I'll let you get back to it.

01:40:53:04 - 01:40:56:09
Jennifer Meacham
All right. Have a great day. Thanks. So much.

01:40:56:11 - 01:40:58:07
Caitlyn Lubell
I.

01:40:58:09 - 01:41:02:16
Jessie Ott
This week's episode was produced by Fedora Jay Productions.