Somewhere Between Catch 22s
Building a plane mid-flight, weaving loose threads, and betting it all on takeoff.
If you’ve been following along recently (in Part 1 & Part 2), you know this: Sam and I were less than two weeks from producing our first run of a brand we’d spent the year building when the bottom dropped out.
We regrouped in May, made a seismic pivot, and resurrected an idea we’d sketched back in January. Within weeks, we paid in full for our first round of inventory to secure time on a new production line. Now, we’re in the middle of a ~10 week production schedule.
Here’s how I’ve described it to my closest friends: by paying for inventory, we essentially jumped off a cliff with only the body of a plane. We’ve got two months until we either hit the ground… or catch air. So here we are: building the plane mid-flight — wings, engines, landing gear, navigation systems — everything it takes to transform a consumer brand into a functioning company.
And layered on top of this? We’re doing it in a gray-space industry where every supporting service (payments, logistics, insurance, warehousing, etc) is still figuring out how to work with us. Which means every step comes with a premium — in both money and time.
Example 1: The credit card Catch 22
As a consumer brand, selling online is basic logic. Except in our category, nothing is basic. To design our product page the way we need, we first have to secure a credit card processor. But because our industry is labeled “high-risk,” standard processors won’t touch us. The handful that will? They charged a hefty premium.
Here’s what that means in numbers: if I list a product for $100, $6 disappears immediately off the top just for the “privilege” of these companies move the money from your credit card into our account. Scale that to $500,000 in revenue, and $30,000 is gone before we even account for product costs, packaging, warehousing, shipping, marketing — and, hopefully one day, start to pay ourselves. And that’s before the extra ~$100 per month they charge just for the privilege of having an account. That’s rich. I’ve started wondering if the real money is in the processing, not the producing, lol!
And the kicker? To even apply for one of these processors, we need a fully built-out website (which we can’t do until we have a processor in place…?) plus a third-party lab test of our product. The product that, at that moment, doesn’t exist yet. The circular logic is wild (and wildly frustrating).
Example 2: The 3PL Catch 22
Here’s another example from this Catch 22 phase: I couldn’t approve our outer packaging (which takes 55 days to produce) until our 3PL (third party logistics) signed our Terms & Agreements. Why? Because the packaging has to list the city and zip code of our fulfillment partner.
But the 3PL didn’t initially want to finalize their contract until we had business insurance in place. And insurance brokers can’t give us a quote until they see the 3PL terms. Who signs first? Exactly.
These are just two out of the 27+ Catch 22s I’m juggling — each a loose thread only I know how to weave at the moment. And if I miss even one? The whole tapestry risks unraveling.
The bigger picture
These aren’t complaints. They’re the realities of building a CPG (consumer packaged goods) company — the messy, sometimes-maddening behind-the-scenes steps that our amazing, inspiring, hope-fueling community (that’s you!) rarely, if ever, see.
When I mentor budding entrepreneurs, I tell them:
“The setup feels like the real work. I get it. It’s intense, it will boggle your mind, it can feel overwhelming and like you’re in a race that only you can see but everyone’s somehow also running. But this period is only the warm-up. The real work begins the day you start selling. That’s when you actually enter the race. Right now, you (and currently me & Sam!) are just in the batting cages, warming up your shoulders, legs, and mindsets to prepare for the moment when all the eyeballs are on you (& us!).”
This period is months of moving the needle one notch at a time. It’s losing a full day to resolve a single detail on a to-do list of 100 — each with massive downstream effects. It’s a gauntlet of carefully timed steps that can feel taxing, absurd, and — if you let it — also funny. Sometimes it’s even a thrill: a real-time test of your communication and negotiation skills.
This is what it takes.
Not grind (for the sake of grinding).
Not endless hours.
Not writing “I want to be a millionaire” on a piece of paper ten times per day.
It takes focus (put down your phones!), surgical execution, discipline & a healthy perspective.
We’re still somewhere between all of these Catch 22s and liftoff. That’s the truth of building; it’s rarely smooth but it is filled with hope that it will all be worth it. For Sam and I? We are showing up and betting big on this plane flying.
I absolutely LOVE that you all are here with me. I definitely did not pull back this kind of curtain when I was building Brenne Whisky — it’s a really interesting and vulnerable place. So I deeply thank you for each time you “like” a post, add a comments, send me notes, and DM’s of encouragement. I can’t WAIT to show you what all of this effort is creating!
Until then, I hope this gives you a little inspiration to spend some focused time this week on something that you are passionate about. Put down the fear of rejection and create as if you already know it is going to be a wild success in whatever way you desire. We only have this one, precious life. Live it boldly and build it bravely.
