[NOTE: This post was entitled "All Good Things Must Come To An End" on the Purple Teeth Cellars website.]
When you have something special to you, it seems as though the most important thing is knowing when to move on to the next chapter. And with mixed emotions, we're announcing that we have completed the process of closing down Purple Teeth Cellars.
We had the opportunity to understand what being an entrepreneur really means with our names essentially being "on the letterhead". We also learned how incredibly hard it is to make high quality wine in meaningful quantities year-in and year-out. We were able to donate some of our revenues to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), which is a non-profit that we strongly support. And we had the "pleasure" of selling wine during a recession where plenty of supply was available. Fortunately we were able to sell all of the wine that we wanted to sell. Obviously we held some back for ourselves.
We would like to thank the countless industry professionals who were very supportive of our venture, but still provided very constructive feedback on our offering and how we could improve what we were doing. The time, energy and passion that they spent on Purple Teeth Cellars was incredibly instrumental in some of the decisions we made.
When you have something special to you, it seems as though the most important thing is knowing when to move on to the next chapter. And with mixed emotions, we're announcing that we have completed the process of closing down Purple Teeth Cellars.
Words cannot express how much this venture has taught us. When we started this in late 2006, we wanted to make wine that we would want to drink. And we succeeded. We also went into this project knowing this WAS NOT going to be our exit strategy from our "day jobs" because we wanted to have fun. We achieved that.
When we started promoting our wine to our family and friends in different channels, we quickly realized that we were becoming a resource for many who were just learning about wine.
We resolved to stay true to the advice we would have given if we weren't making and selling wine. We did that and strongly encouraged folks to "drink what YOU like", not what the experts TELL you to like. Hopefully we accomplished that in your eyes.
We resolved to stay true to the advice we would have given if we weren't making and selling wine. We did that and strongly encouraged folks to "drink what YOU like", not what the experts TELL you to like. Hopefully we accomplished that in your eyes.
We had the opportunity to understand what being an entrepreneur really means with our names essentially being "on the letterhead". We also learned how incredibly hard it is to make high quality wine in meaningful quantities year-in and year-out. We were able to donate some of our revenues to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), which is a non-profit that we strongly support. And we had the "pleasure" of selling wine during a recession where plenty of supply was available. Fortunately we were able to sell all of the wine that we wanted to sell. Obviously we held some back for ourselves.
We would like to thank folks like "Z", Kian and Gifford for their tireless efforts in getting Purple Teeth Cellars off of the ground. You always answered our "dumb questions" and really understood the meaning of customer service whether or not the problem was in your job description. In what is no surprise to us, "Z" went to university with some of the best winemakers in Australia and thanks to him, we were able to meet many of them on our recent trip there.
We would like to thank our family and friends who provided feedback to us as we were starting off, particularly as we were struggling with our logo. Special thanks to Jill's former manager, Chris, who gave us the most value-added and direct piece of feedback on the logo. This then led to Jill's sister coming up with an idea that we were then able to pass off to cousin Andrea to play with.
We would like to thank the countless industry professionals who were very supportive of our venture, but still provided very constructive feedback on our offering and how we could improve what we were doing. The time, energy and passion that they spent on Purple Teeth Cellars was incredibly instrumental in some of the decisions we made.
And most of all, we would like to thank our customers who bought from us time and time again. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to learn as much as we did. Your business, your feedback and your support really is what made this experience worthwhile.
Closing this chapter enables us to focus on new adventures, one of which was a wonderful 3+ month trip around Australia. No need to fret or be sad for us.
And please don't forget to flaunt your PURPLE TEETH!
Thanks again and happy holidays.
-- Marc and Jill Beck