Kendall Antonelli, who started a cheese shop with her husband. Antonelli’s Cheese Shop has taken off, and last year their revenue was $1.9 million. Kendall and her husband have found that they secret to their success is storytelling. They share the personal stories behind their cheeses and other products.

Famous 5:

 

• Favorite Book? – Good to Great, Uncontainable, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits
• Favorite online tool? — QuickBooks

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Keep an adventurous spirit. Do something every day that betters yourself.

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:25 – Nathan introduces Kendall
• 01:40 – Kendall and her husband got the idea on their honeymoon
• 02:25 – Her husband wanted to find a better job, in cheese
• 03:00 – He decided to look into the business
• 03:40 – Kendall was working in social work
• 04:20 – They always wanted to work together
• 04:45 – She grew up in a farm town, and they “fell in love with the story of cheese.”
• 05:10 – They looked at their strengths
• 05:35 – Antonelli’s Cheese LLC
• 06:00 – Their rent
• 07:10 – Multiple business models
• 07:20 – Her and her husband have separate roles
• 08:25 – Open-book management
• 08:40 – $1.9 million in 2015
• 09:05 – “Passion with Purpose”
• 09:25 – Their retail is the most successful
• 10:00 – Cost is per pound
• 11:00 – Making cheese is a labor-intensive industry
• 12:15 – They decided to not be cheese makers, but be out of the kitchen and “storytelling”
• 13:15 – All the costs behind a wheel of cheese
• 13:40 – Team of six or seven people
• 14:05 – An artisanal journey
• 14:30 – Telling the story of the cheese
• 14:45 – Skews were as high as 2000
• 15:15 – Most lucrative products
• • 16:15 – Wholesale in 2015 was about half of their revenue
  • 16:45 – Cheese of the Month Club
  • 17:15 – Parties and catering
• 17:45 – Their wholesale market is more flexible for clients
• 18:25 – Dealing with a perishable item/shelf life
• 19:00 – They are looking into investors
• 19:25 – What they pay themselves
• 20:20 – They travel to cheese conventions around the world
• 20:55 – They want to be in control of their business
• 21:30 – Professional and personal life can coexist
• 24:00 – Antonellischeese.com
• 26:20 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Make your passion your business.
• Design a career that lets you accomplish your life goals.
• Your professional and personal life can coexist.

Resources Mentioned:

• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• QuickBooks – The accounting tool for Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
• Good to Great, Uncontainable and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits – A series of great business books that Kendall recommends.

• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives