DINA: Welcome to the first ever “interview with an entrepreneur…” from Entrepreneur’s Breakfast and Wordfeeder Copywriting.
This month we’re hearing from Michael Adams of Eddie’s Energy Bars in scenic Richmond, Vermont. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us today, Michael!
MICHAEL: Thanks for having me as your guest!
DINA: Okay, let’s begin. You run a successful business, and yet you’re in college. How do you manage to pull this off?
MICHAEL: This even baffles me sometimes! The secret is that my workload is somewhat reversed when I am at school. I (almost) always put school ahead of my company, so I get all of my reading done before I work on the website or call potential retailers. I also have wonderful parents who are my head bakers and distributors. They produce and distribute the energy bars while I am at school. Having that taken care of is great, and I can tend to administrative duties (making all of the business decisions) when I have time.
DINA: Your company is called Eddie’s Energy Bars… but your name is Michael Adams. Who is Eddie and how did he manage to get his name on the company’s flagship product?
MICHAEL: Eddie is my dad. They are his recipes that were developed when I was in high school. We took a favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, took out the bad, and put in the really good ingredients. I basically sat there at the computer as he rattled off ingredients that we could put in our very first test batch. I tossed around names, and Mikey’s Energy did not have a great ring, so I said let’s call it “Eddie’s Energy”. It’s nice, so we ran with it. People seem to like the name (plus the domain was available). My dad gets all kinds of flack from his co-workers that now call him Eddie—it’s good times!
DINA: I’ve read on your blog that your bars are the choice for a high profile team of unicyclers. What’s that all about?
MICHAEL: I love these guys. We were approached by Team American Mojo a while ago, about getting involved with Eddie’s Energy. They are a regional team of unicyclists, many from Vermont, and one from Rhode Island that compete in races around the northeast. We donate bars to them for a couple of reasons: a) they ride unicycles b) they are local whom I talk to often and c) they are willing to promote the Eddie’s brand and get us noticed rather than be after free product. This is why we donate/sponsor locally—great people and great connections.
DINA: Wow… impressive! You’re doing business the right way, from the start. I know I would need a lot more than an energy bar to get on a unicycle. In fact, I’ll pass on the unicycling and just take the energy bar! Okay: describe a pivotal moment in the world of business owner and creative entrepreneur, Michael Adams.
MICHAEL: A pivotal moment…hmm…I would have to go with being featured in Backpacker Magazine in August 2007. We were approached by a freelance writer who lives in the same town as the Eddie’s bakery, about doing a local bar. This bar had to be made with ingredients that were found within one hundred miles of the Long Trail. This was tough, but we pulled it off and it was an awesome tasting bar (no longer produced because it was quite expensive).
We were able to drop test bars in the writer’s mailbox and she would e-mail back her feedback—it really was a team effort! We saw some awesome feedback from that national exposure. One guy from New Jersey was heading up to Vermont for vacation, looked us up, and stopped at the Vermont Green Grocer in Richmond, VT to pick up some energy bars for his hike up Everest—all because of our spot in Backpacker Magazine!
DINA: Are you serious? That’s awesome publicity! I would advise any small business owner to get as much exposure as possible. A simple press release can help you get your foot in the door. Okay: Michael, what do your friends think about you being so young and yet so driven?
MICHAEL: My friends are very supportive of Eddie’s. They serve as my brainstorming crew when I need an idea, and they are also very opinionated taste-testers. They also like that I have actually gotten off my butt and started a company, regardless of whether it succeeds or not.
DINA: That’s awesome! A lot of my friends still have no idea what I do! I guess food is a better way to connect with the common people, no? 
Okay, moving on… what type of advice can you offer to the new business owner who’s just getting started in a bad economy?
MICHAEL: I’m no financial guru, but the advice that I could give would be to start a company that is recession proof. Think of industries that people are still buying from, regardless of economic status. I would also recommend starting something that has incredibly low start-up costs. Use your home as your new office and work from home. Expansion is tough when banks are not lending out any money. Like Eddie’s, you have to start small and control your growth. Growing too fast will throw your business out of control.
DINA: Amen to that. I’m thankful to be able to work virtually and keep overhead costs to a minimum. Also VERY interested in keeping my clients thinking creatively about what sells during tough economic times. Maybe an energy bar would be that needed fuel to keep our creative wheels spinning.
Eddie’s Energy Bars are all natural. Can you describe exactly what goes into the bars, and how they manage to stay fresh without all those nasty preservatives?
MICHAEL: My rule of thumb is if a member of the Eddie’s crew can’t pronounce it, then it doesn’t go in to our energy bars. Plain and simple. We take ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen; mix that together with almost two years of testing and you get our energy bars. We put soy flour, applesauce, yogurt, apricots, honey, and other ingredients into our bars.
The shelf life on your kitchen counter is one to two weeks, depending on normal conditions. However, our bars can be kept in the refrigerator for up to four weeks, but the biggest selling point is that our bars stay soft in the freezer for up to six months. A good chunk of our customer base will only eat our bars out of the freezer. We didn’t even know this was possible! We found out from a cross-country skier that eats Eddie’s.
I honestly can’t give you a reason why food producers load food with preservatives. Our bars are fresh, healthy, and power-packed. You don’t need to accomplish that by diluting the taste with nasty, bitter vitamins and minerals. Eat an orange instead!
DINA: Another smart business decision by one smart guy. I’m all for preservative and additive free, and I think the market is just going that way as people grow in awareness. Okay, next question: how much does online presence account for your total sales? What percentage are online customers?
MICHAEL: Online selling is an interesting part of any business. Totally different marketing tactics are applied online. Online sales account for 10% of Eddie’s Sales, with most of our orders coming from the East Coast and California.
DINA: I hope to see that change for you in the future… think you’ve got the right idea with the blog, and being present in places like Facebook. Keep pushing for those magazine features!
Next question, what types of marketing do you use to get the word out about Eddie’s Energy Bars? How are those working for you?
MICHAEL: Considering that I am a marketing major at Bryant University, you would think that I pull out all of the stops when it comes to getting the word out. But, in fact, it’s just the opposite. We do very little advertising or marketing. We do a couple of farmer’s markets in Vermont each summer that gets the word of mouth flowing in town. These are usually used to build customer loyalty so that we have a foundation to go on when we pitch to an area retailer.
We also do a tradeshow every year which ends up going pretty well. We also, 95% of time, donate locally (Vermont only) because we have the best experiences with the organizations we sponsor. These local donations usually result in more business for us, and make the donation very worthwhile.
For example, for the second year in a row, we are supporting the Jarred Williams Foundation Turkey Trot in Richmond, VT which is a 5K or 10K that supports sick children and their families. Jarred was a good friend of mine when I was in middle school who passed away from a rare brain tumor in 6th grade, on his birthday (which also coincided with Thanksgiving). It’s this social responsibility that I enjoy most about my company. Secondarily, it happens to create good rapport with the locals. Oh—forgot to throw in the blog (www.eddiesenergy.wordpress.com). It needs some more attention these days, but I try to get a post in every couple of days.
DINA: I’m sorry to know about your friend.
Sounds like local marketing ranks much higher on your priority list than global online marketing - but I think that’s a wise choice; after all, Vermont has a big draw. This explains a lot about why your online sales total 10%. Trade shows are fun! And… exhausting. I give you a lot of credit for showing up in all the right places.
Any last words of advice? Regrets? Pearls of wisdom to share?
MICHAEL: I could write a book on this (oh wait, it’s in the beginning stages! I chronicle my experiences with Eddie’s and hope to one day turn it into a book) Even if no one buys it, it will be good for me to look back.
Advice: Surround yourself with successful people: I am a firm believer in building an advisory board for your company, especially when you are starting out young. I have multiple professors, customers, and good friends (plus mom and dad!) on my board, that I run things by all of the time. This helps get the ideas going, but the final decision is always up to me.
Don’t let anyone steer you in a direction you don’t want to go. You’re at the wheel. Also, if you are in college, look at professors as super-expensive consultants—get every single penny out of your education by talking to professors all of the time. I have plenty more advice, and am willing to share it with anyone who asks.
Regret: I wish I could donate to every run or triathlon that I get an e-mail for, but we just can’t do that. We pick and choose the events we donate to. If they work, then we stick with them. Maybe one of these days, I’ll be able to donate more than I do now.
Pearl of Wisdom: This isn’t exactly my pearl of wisdom, but it comes from Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (I just want to pass it on because it has changed how I look at things now). He says to not look at success as the wealth, fame, and power, but to look at success as the number of shining eyes around you. This has really stuck with me.
I’m not in business to only make money, but to help out the community that helped me when I was first starting out. This is why I love speaking about entrepreneurship to high schools. I have talked at two high schools and Vermont Technical College about the importance of entrepreneurship in our state’s high schools—this was easily the best speaking engagement I have done, and I would love to do more!
DINA: Do you foresee early retirement as part of your game plan?
MICHAEL: Actually, no. I’m the type that gets incredibly bored if I just sit around. I have ideas for new companies bouncing around in my head constantly. Implementing the company and growing a brand is what is most exciting to me. I have no idea what is ahead of me. Anything is possible.
DINA: Everyone, Eddie’s Energy Bars are truly delicious… and Michael has created a Pumpkin Spice bar that sounds perfect for this time of year. Find out more and place your order at http://www.eddiesenergy.com/.
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Awesome stuff Mike! Anything is possible