My Kettle Corn Business And A Lesson In Market Opportunity! ❌

My Kettle Corn Business And A Lesson In Market Opportunity! ❌

Million Dollar Secrets fam… Today, I’m going to share some of my failures and biggest lessons with you.

The lessons I want to share are simple, but yet profound (if you truly take them to heart)!

These lessons came with a lot of tears, heart ache, long nights, and negative bank accounts.

I want to tell you about a time when I started a kettle corn business (hoping to make THOUSANDS of dollars)… And show you how I ended up losing THOUSANDS instead.

SEARCHING FOR MONEY IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES 😳

In 2017, I had just graduated college with a degree in Christian Missions and business studies. I was only finishing college because I had started the process and didn’t want thousands of dollars to go to waste.

My wife and I had just gotten married and had started our journey to forever and always… And I really had no way of making income for our family.

I was working as a part-time youth minister on the weekends (I was serving in exchange for free housing) and then throughout the week, I was working as a part-time waiter.

I was bringing home about $2k-$3k per month in measly tips (and some months that was a stretch).

My life was great, but my finances were quite humbling!

So, what did I do? I started my journey towards finding something that could provide a new income for me and my new family.

AN EPIPHANY OF REGRET 🫣

During this time, my family and I had decided to take a small, spontaneous trip down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee - seems normal, right? But it was this trip that lead to an epiphany that I would soon regret.

We left Kentucky and started driving down the windy roads that lead us through the rolling hills of Tennessee, when all of the sudden…

My dad spotted an old, country looking sign on the side of the road that said HOMEMADE KETTLE CORN in big, bold country writing!

My family is a sucker for popcorn, so we decided to pull off the road to snag one of those long, narrow bags of crunchy kettle corn.

It was at this moment in time where I had an epiphany:

“Why can’t I sell kettle corn? It’s easy to make… It’s cheap to make… And this would sell great where we live since there’s a lot of tourism!”

My dad, who’s an entrepreneur to the bone, chimed in and loved the idea!

That was it! His confirmation plus my shiny object syndrome was all it took to push me to go knee deep into a new and quirky business venture.

Looking back, one of the biggest lessons I learned from that point in time was:

Meaning, this business idea wasn’t that great… But, I let my emotions and momentary happiness convince myself that starting a kettle corn business would be profitable and a good fit for my life.

Was it? No.

SUCCESS LOVES (CALCULATED) SPEED 🔑

I ended up getting back home after our short trip into the mountains with this new idea in my head and my heart. Like all the other ventures I had started in the past, I was ready to rock and had lots of enthusiasm for the project!

I went to the bank and requests a loan for the equipment and small building I needed to make the dream become a reality… Then I went to work!

This all happened super fast! I’m talking like, idea to getting the loan within a couple weeks!

Another lesson I learned was that:

I jumped into this process WAY too fast! I didn’t take the necessary time to think about the future in mind and actually see what my life would look like down the road with a kettle corn business.

Now, every time that I go to make a business decision or seize an opportunity, I ask these three things:

1. Can I see this opportunity being what I can see myself doing in 5-10 years? Or will this opportunity lead me to something I can see myself doing in 5-10 years?

2. Does this business opportunity have the potential to generate 7-8 figures in the coming years if I commit to the process?

3. If I choose to pick up on this opportunity, will I feel fulfilled and happy with my decision if I was stuck in it?

Looking back, if I would have honestly answered those questions in Gatlinburg, Tennessee… I probably would have said no.

This opportunity was NOT something I could see myself doing long-term…

The opportunity could have probably generated 6 figures, but to get to 7-8 figures would have been almost impossible with the business model I was using.

And I never saw myself being a guy who wanted to make kettle corn all day. This is definitely something I couldn’t see myself doing down the road.

But, I didn’t ask myself those questions… And I suffered.

We ended up starting the business and doing ok, but never really making a profit.

There were TOO many times I stayed up until 12am or even 1am making kettle corn for measly profits.

Lesson: If you’re going to jump into a new venture, I would recommend you ask yourself some questions similar to the ones above… And definitely take some time to think over your decisions.

We ended up moving past that business after I finally realized that this vehicle wasn’t the one that was going to lead me to my dream destination.

At the time it hurt. It hurt to let go of something I thought I once wanted. It hurt to let go of my pride and accept the fact that I had lost.

But, it allowed me to step into my next businesses with a whole different perspective.

I could probably go deeper into 10+ other lessons that I learned throughout that time in my life, but the moral of the story is…

Think before you act… And only act when you feel the opportunity is right for you and your future goals and dreams.

I sacrificed about 2 years of my life in a business with nothing to show. I don’t want that for you.

Let’s figure out a way to create massive returns with less work.

Blessings,
Michael Tucker