This transcript is auto-generated and may contain spelling and grammatical errors
Tyler Jorgenson (00:00)
Welcome out to Biz Ninja Entrepreneur Radio. I’m your host, Tyler Jorgenson. And today we get a twofer because we got both of the co -founders from De Nada Tequila. We’re going to be talking about why they created it, how they’re rebranding, what they’re doing to innovate in the game right now. It’s a competitive space, so it’s always great to hear what they’re doing. They’re coming to us live from New York City. And we’re really excited to have both of you guys here. Adam and Daniel, welcome out to the show.
Daniel Neeson (00:05)
Okay.
Thanks for having us.
Adam Millman (00:29)
Thanks for having us. Great to be here.
Tyler Jorgenson (00:32)
Absolutely. All right, we’re going to go back and forth a little bit. So I’m going to start with Adam. Adam, when was the moment you first realized that you were an entrepreneur?
Adam Millman (00:41)
It’s kind of a crazy story. So Danny and I, met in college and you know, I wanted to be a musician growing up. So for me, I never really thought I’d end up here. we started a clothing line called Pine Outfitters and you know, we started learning as we went, for us, it wasn’t that we said we were going to be entrepreneurs. It was kind of a learning experience. And to get to this point, you know, it’s a lot of trial and error, but it’s, it’s really for me, just being in the field, doing work, building brands.
Daniel Neeson (00:52)
So, thank
Adam Millman (01:10)
it’s kind of gotten us here and we’ll get into that Danny, but you know, it’s been an ever changing process for us.
Tyler Jorgenson (01:17)
Okay, so clothing line first into tequila. Daniel, talk to me, like what made you guys start a clothing line? What was the idea behind that?
Daniel Neeson (01:28)
Yeah, I mean, it’s funny to Adam’s point when I was a young kid at five, I always found it so fascinating that everything you could buy was owned by somebody. I, know, when you’re that young, you just don’t know how business operates. So I always had that kind of entrepreneurial kind of thing within me to see that. And with Pine Outfitters,
Me and Adam always loved the outdoors. We love, you know, skiing, we love snowboarding, we love hiking, all that kind of stuff. And we wanted to create something that really embodied what we love, and that’s the environment. But we also believe as well that we’re in a time where the environment is at the front of people’s minds. And I think we wanted to have a product that promoted the environment as a playground and priority. So we just did some like…
really cool, innovative like t -shirts made from recycled water bottles. We did some cool hats and we planted a tree through the National Forest Foundation through every product purchase. And it was kind of like a cool like outdoorsy, like Patagonia style brand. And it was incredible experience for us. And that kind of gave us the hunger to reach to a higher level.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:37)
So were you guys doing this while you were still in school?
Adam Millman (02:39)
Yeah, so it was actually, I mean, I saw Danny, he was like sketching designs in the back of class. and I was a business student, so I was more focused on, you know, that path and he’s very creative. but yeah, that was our freshman year and we became roommates during our senior year. but we really have been doing this now for a long time. And, you know, even though Pine Outfitters isn’t a brand to this day.
I felt like just doing this in college, we learned so much more than actually studying a major. I feel like by doing it, you really learn things.
Tyler Jorgenson (03:10)
absolutely. think there’s so much more education that happens from the act of doing than just reading what somebody else has done. Danny, Adam approaches you says, I dig your designs and you got the business, you got the creative, you got a couple of great sharp guys start building stuff. Having a partner, has that been smooth sailing the whole time?
Daniel Neeson (03:34)
Honestly, it has. mean, we’ve definitely learned
along the way with people we’ve worked with. And that’s, know, through a lot through trial and error. I mean, the good thing with me and Adam, everyone always says, don’t go into business with your friends. But I think there’s me and Adam’s like just the way we operate as humans individually, I think really compliment each other. You know, I think Adam like has a lot of skills that I don’t have and not that I don’t have, but we both compliment each other in different ways.
You know, we’re just always like transparent guys. And I think the one thing that just screws any partnership up is lack of transparency. And we know what each other wants out of this and our motives. And that’s the most important thing, I think, is just always being honest and vocal. So it’s great.
Tyler Jorgenson (04:21)
Yeah, yeah, and be able to say what you’re actually thinking without feeling worrying, right? It’s like any good relationship. Gotta be able to be open and direct and honest in your communication. Adam, what do you think? Do you agree? Has it been smooth sailing?
Daniel Neeson (04:34)
Yeah.
Adam Millman (04:38)
Yeah, I mean, we’ve had a bunch of road bumps. know, Danny can pass to that. But not so much road bumps with us, more so road bumps with the business. And it’s like anything else. You go through periods when things are going really well, it’s like you feel like you’re on cloud nine and then sometimes things aren’t going as well or you’re dealing with a certain thing and it’s more stressful.
Tyler Jorgenson (04:39)
Ha ha ha!
Daniel Neeson (04:51)
Okay.
Adam Millman (04:59)
I think like anything else, you really just need to be open with each other and, you know, being friends also, you have to kind of take a step away sometimes. And, you know, if we’re at like a ranger game together, it’s nice to sometimes not talk about business and just focus on having fun and remembering, you know, what it’s like to not think about our job 24 seven.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:18)
Yeah, absolutely. What, so are you guys both ranger fans, hockey fans? Okay.
Daniel Neeson (05:23)
Totally. Big, big New York fans. It’s been a pretty hard past few years. mean, longer than that. We’re deprived of a champion. So it’s about time.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:34)
Matto Yankees.
Daniel Neeson (05:35)
I’m a Yankees fan. Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, Jets. But you know what? Any New York team besides the Islanders, I’m happy if they win.
Adam Millman (05:38)
Yeah, same here.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:42)
Got it.
Yeah, I get that. Growing up in Southern California, I always just like, I just cheered for California teams and people didn’t understand. like, you can’t cheer. They’re your competitor. I’m like, when they’re playing each other, I’ll pick. They’re playing anyone else. I’ll just cheer for California. So you guys are coming up on almost four years now with DeNata Tequila. Talk to me about why that is, what you guys are working on, how that idea came up.
Adam Millman (05:47)
Good
Daniel Neeson (06:02)
Yeah, exactly.
Tyler Jorgenson (06:15)
how you got started.
Daniel Neeson (06:17)
Yeah, I mean, so like we said, we started the clothing brand back in 2015. Me and Adam really, the initial birth of DeNata started in 2017 when we were going to school, obviously in New Orleans, fell in love with the whole cocktail industry down there, hospitality industry. And on a business level, Tequila was just starting to emerge and we felt there was a really unique opportunity to kind of enter the space and create something that stood for
what we believed in and that’s creating an experience and atmosphere for people to have the best time and to be able to feel safe in a place where they can enjoy tequila, but most importantly, create a brand that stood for craftsmanship and sustainability. And it’s been such an incredible journey so far. mean, we didn’t know, we didn’t have any idea like how to start a tequila brand. We generally didn’t.
But our passion to actually create something that served as the vessel to our ideas was so strong enough that we just figured it out one step at a time. And it was all just incredible amounts of work, but the passion was there and it’s been tremendous so far.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:34)
Awesome, thanks Daniel. Adam, were saying, you know, or Daniel saying, you know, sustainability mattered and things like that. You guys are going through a pretty cool rebrand where you’re doing some unique things in the marketplace. Talk to us about.
Adam Millman (07:48)
Yeah. So we’ve been doing this now for years and about two years ago, we had a realization as a brand, you know, we we’ve always been focused on sustainability. to your point about, you know, when we became entrepreneurs, it’s always been an ever changing plane for us, but our goal with all of this has been to do better for the environment and also make sure sustainability was a core part of our brands. So we hired an amazing creative agency called Sandstorm Partners and the objective there was to
figure out how we could be more sustainable as a brand and do more things than just greenwashing consumers. We wanted to actually make a difference. So what we came up with and what we just launched are these cool new aluminum bottles. And we’re the first to do this in tequila. So this change has been inspired by moving the industry forward and choosing materials that are a bit more sustainable than glass. Glass is fine, but aluminum is lighter. It’s more easily recycled.
And it hasn’t been done before in tequila. So for us, this is a really big moment and we’re pretty excited to launch it.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:52)
cool. So this is pre -launched still, this hasn’t hit market yet.
Daniel Neeson (08:56)
It started rolling out two weeks ago. We’ve been, you know, boots on the ground just selling to each bar.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:59)
awesome.
Daniel Neeson (09:04)
restaurant, liquor store, we can. And the feedback has been amazing. You know, as you can only imagine, tequila is the fastest growing spirit in the whole wine and spirits industry. People are drinking it. It’s a healthier option. And there’s obviously like a whole culture that comes with it. And the biggest issue these days is there’s so many brands out there and a lot of brands don’t do the right job of showcasing how to make a true tequila. And our
Our blend is made by a fifth generation distillery called the Feliciano Vivanco family. They’ve been making tequila for well over a hundred years. And this is made by a family with passion. And so it’s a combination of our ethos of sustainability and hospitality, but it’s partnering with a family that does it the proper way. And I think that’s what consumers deserve is transparency. know, younger drinkers want to know, ooh, what is this brand? What do they stand for? Is it additive free? Are they sustainable?
And those kind of are all the things that we want to address or have been addressing. Sorry.
Tyler Jorgenson (10:10)
Yeah, you’re good. So you guys, you mentioned that you had no idea how to launch and get into this industry. What was one of the biggest challenges that you faced as you entered this industry and how’d you guys over?
Adam Millman (10:22)
The, I mean, the spirits business is tough. It’s, I don’t even think we realized how tough it would be before we got into it. So it’s a three tier system. And for those that don’t know what that means, basically in order for us to sell to consumers, we need to first go through distributors. They need to sell to retailers, whether that be bars, restaurants or liquor stores. And then after all that, those guys will sell to consumers. So for us, we have to make a lot of people happy in order to reach our end game.
And it’s hard to track the data in between all that. And it’s also hard to reach the end consumer. In addition, it’s state by state. So just building the brand too. We have to find distributors in each territory. So it’s definitely been challenging. We’ve just, you know, we’ve taken our time to make good relationships, not grow the business too quickly. We’re available in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut areas right now. And our focus right now is to build a sustainable business model that can scale. We don’t want to go too big too soon.
Daniel Neeson (10:52)
Okay.
Tyler Jorgenson (11:18)
Yeah, I think that’s smart. There are people who have who have crashed just from trying to be a little bit too aggressive What’s You know Danny as you guys are growing you’re in three states those areas at least right now What are some of the big you know you don’t want to go too fast, but what are some of the big goals?
Daniel Neeson (11:20)
I mean definitely like the for the next for O and D is definitely to focus on our on our markets right now build that out but as we look
and to the new year and beyond. mean, we definitely would love to open new territories like Florida, Texas, California. But I think a big thing that me and Adam are always thinking is we want to be as innovative and scrappy as possible. You know, there’s a lot of markets out there that are, you know, there’s low hanging fruit. Like, you know, you look at lower tier markets, like say like a Columbus, Ohio, Madison, Wisconsin, you know, Tampa, Florida. There’s a lot of cool markets that we could go to.
and we could expand this product and really kind of build a nice ecosystem so that it could expand. think, you we all want to be available in the big states, but I think also we have to build it the right way and look in markets where all the other big dogs aren’t. So for our next goal is definitely to build it out here and then look to expand our territories in 2025.
Tyler Jorgenson (12:32)
What was something that was like a big win or your first big aha moment where you’re like, hey I think that this brand is going to turn into something?
Adam Millman (12:40)
We, I think Danny’s going to want to touch on this too, because it might differ, we had, we had a call when we first started this brand that we were in the ideation phase at this point, with somebody who was a role model to both of us. And he basically, he gave us the advice saying that we were going to sell models, not cases. and you know, looking back at it, like he wasn’t necessarily wrong. It’s he was warning us how tough the industry is. but I think just when we launched having that first sale.
Daniel Neeson (12:58)
So,
Adam Millman (13:09)
you know, selling a case and proving that wrong in our minds. It was kind of reassurance that, all right, we could do this. We have something here. And it’s crazy because, you you could achieve, you know, a lot more than that. But even the small things to us were really meaningful.
Tyler Jorgenson (13:25)
I always say in business, the first sale that you have that isn’t to like your mom or a friend is a big moment, right? It really validates the idea and what you’re working on. Danny, what about you? Was there one moment early on that really just made you like really believe in that this was gonna turn into something?
Daniel Neeson (13:35)
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it’s so, it’s interesting. I feel like any entrepreneur is never, is actually never satisfied. And I think that goes into, you know, setting goals, all that. think everyone in life, think human beings.
are satisfied with progression, not with end goals. Because what happens is when you arrive at the end goal, you start to think, well, what next? What’s the next high? Because that high will only last so long. So one of the biggest moments for us was when the first bottles arrived, me and Adam drove all the way down about a two hour drive to our warehouse to pick up the first bottles. And we just had such an electric day of just actually seeing something that we’ve been trying to conceptualize for all these years.
and seeing it in our hand was like this moment that all the challenges ahead kind of disappeared and you were just fueled by the moment of creation, know, that exact feeling like, wow, we did this. And then literally the next day you’re like, okay, all the stresses of selling start hitting you, you know, like that moment only lasts so long. But that’s why I think it’s so important to celebrate every small victory. And I think if you don’t celebrate the small victories, ultimately,
Tyler Jorgenson (14:44)
yeah.
Daniel Neeson (14:52)
you’re not gonna feed off of that and propel yourself forward.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:56)
Yeah, I think it’s important to celebrate those little things and to enjoy the process along the way instead of just waiting for one big moment. Adam, what lessons from your first, you guys’ first business working on pine outfitters, what lessons from that are you applying into the business today?
Daniel Neeson (15:04)
Absolutely.
Adam Millman (15:14)
Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of things. I think for us, it’s the biggest lesson I took away from it was just trying to understand your consumer and find your niche in business. think, you we were a bit naive at the time, but we were so eager to start something. But looking back at it, you really want to go into a category where there’s an actual need for your product and somewhat of a white space.
And that’s it’s still like for us. mean, we started thinking one thing about Zanada. It’s changed to something new. But you have to find a reason for your consumer to take it. There’s we see this in tequila now. There’s so many brands. There’s over 3000 brands now. And most of them don’t have the why. They don’t have a reason to exist. And if you can’t create a compelling reason for your consumer to buy the product, you’re going to end up spending a lot of money to try to do so.
Daniel Neeson (15:56)
Our why for De Nada is our new bottle and packaging, new package we just brought out.
Adam Millman (16:06)
That’s been a big takeaway for us.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:09)
So what is the why? What makes De Nada Tequila so unique and different and creating and filling a gap in the why space?
Daniel Neeson (16:27)
It really stands for strong life values and cultural relevance. We believe that our bottle is a sip in the right direction. It’s a bottle that will always, and brand, that will always look to improve each day. And we were always brought up, I mean, I was brought up in a household that always cared about making your guests and whoever you were and make their experience much better. And for us,
There’s, take the most pride in creating something that isn’t just as impactful for the environment, but giving someone an experience where they feel like they’re having a good time and all their stresses have been taken care of. And I know like for them, when you buy a bottle, you know, you, go through all these things, well price point all that. I’m not trying to assume like what a consumer thinks about when they’re buying a product, but when they buy De Nada, it’s a reflection of who they are as a person. And that’s.
You know, we want to be able to be the brand that if someone buys our bottle, they’re like, you know what? I felt good. I bought something that was family made, that was sustainable, but most importantly was a carefree, fun time tequila.
Tyler Jorgenson (17:34)
Adam, any other thoughts on that?
Adam Millman (17:36)
Yeah, I think Danny hit the nail on the head. We like to say Dinata is made from the finest high quality decisions because our ingredients are our decisions. know, every step that we’ve taken along the way.
has been with Keras. we hope that translates into our product and what consumers think of it. you know, it’s a journey. It’s like you’re not going to convey all that at the first glance when a consumer sees it on the shelf. I think a lot of it is measured by your actions in the market and how you build the brands, the decisions you make along the way.
Tyler Jorgenson (18:08)
Yeah, so you guys are coming up on four years and so you probably, you you went from ideation to your initial launch. You’re going through a little bit of a rebrand and relaunch right now. But what were some of the things that I know, you you didn’t know anything about it, right? So you had to learn the three tier system. But in the last year or so, what things really surprised you about the industry and about running a business like this?
Daniel Neeson (18:30)
I mean, you really start to understand how competitive it is and how you as a brand can’t have any assumption that people will sell your brand for you. I think the worst lessons that we learned, especially going back to Pine Outfitters, was you think you create something, you set up the platforms and the channels for people to buy it. No matter how strong your idea is, you always assume it’s going to sell.
And I think through learning those lessons, it’s only instilled in us that we just have to work as hard as we can to every person we sell to, to every store that we always have to be out there, you know, selling this product. And all of our assumptions of where we thought this industry was going towards more, know, tequila is now where we felt like four years ago, the tequila industry will become additive free. Now it’s really, that’s really starting to blossom. And now probably it’ll all go towards sustainable packaging.
So we want to be out there like boots on the ground. It’s not going to sell for us only if we put in the work and meet as many people as possible.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:35)
Gotcha. Let’s go into just kind of like the day -to -day business operations of things. I mean, the brand is amazing, but a lot of the people that are on the show or listening to the show may not ever launch a tequila brand, right? But everyone’s running business and there’s parallels in every type of business. So we got Adam, you’re the co -founder and CEO. got Danny, you’re the co -founder and president. What are some of the first roles that you guys hired out as you started?
Adam Millman (20:02)
Yeah, so I think that the biggest thing that we faced, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this, that have startups, is you really wear a lot of hats. When you’re starting a company, you have to kind of get good at a lot of things. You don’t need to be an expert, but you need to figure things out. So that’s the core of how Dan and I started. I handle a lot of the operation, the legal, finance, all that stuff.
Danny’s really great at more so the marketing sales distribution, the other piece of it, which are very complimentary roles. And then we also, you we do a lot of the same things as well, but we, we try to divide and conquer. That’s the biggest thing. So when we first looked to build out our team.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:33)
yeah.
Adam Millman (20:43)
The most immediate need we felt in our category was sales. And we’re always looking for good sales reps that can embody the values of the brand, have that hustle to go out and sell it with us and try to match the energy that we have about it. But it’s always changing. I we’ve outsourced a lot through agencies and there have been marketing needs and distribution needs. So it’s important to be flexible.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:47)
yeah.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, yeah, no business can exist if you don’t have sales. So it makes sense that that’s a priority. Danny, if you could wave a magic wand and have one like bottleneck in your business fixed, what would it be?
Daniel Neeson (21:24)
Kind of like in the whole business, like.
Tyler Jorgenson (21:26)
Anywhere. Yeah. Yeah.
Daniel Neeson (21:27)
anything that could be fixed. mean, now that we’re like, you know, it’s tough, you know, the most important thing is sales, right? So I think having more boots on the ground, you know, there’s only so many territories me and Adam can cover. So it’s almost like being able to generate like a good machine, like with sales where, you know, we’re constantly, you know, hitting, hitting stores, stuff like that. I mean, we were so confident.
And in the branding, we’re so confident in our operation. But the magic wand for sure, I would say, look, if anything to bolster sales, I would do a rain dance for it.
Tyler Jorgenson (22:04)
Yeah, so it, I don’t know if people really understand when you say your boots on the ground, when you say that you guys are really being, you know, have the grit that you’re taking onto the streets. I don’t know if people get that. Like you, sounds to me like both of you are actually out there acting as your sales reps right now, really pushing the product. Explain to people what that is, what that looks like.
Daniel Neeson (22:20)
Yes.
So just like basically, as Adam was saying, in a three tier system, back in the day, years ago in the spirits business, your distributor was really your partner. They built the brand with you. They got into a lot of accounts. And mind you, we’re with one of the best distributors in New York Empire. They’re fantastic. They know brand building. They get us great points of distribution. But a lot of sales nowadays, because there’s so many brands out there, it’s really the brand that generates the amount of sales. I mean, there’s things we do with our distributors.
We’ve come up with strategic pricing to make it appealing for accounts. We come up with incentive programs for sales reps to really get us distribution. But all the big accounts, it’s really us. We dive deep into our Rolodex of accounts that we can really speak to, that we can go pitch. So like my typical day, like today, for example, I went to four of our top selling accounts just to make sure they’re good on product, to see if they needed anything.
to plan like tastings at some of our liquor stores, stuff like that. So like we’re literally like out on the streets. If we get any leads, like we’re there. So it’s a lot of driving and it’s a lot of, you know, that’s the biggest thing, right? Like it’s you drive like an hour to visit three accounts and then you have to drive an hour back. That’s like a good four hours out of the day. So that’s why like with the magic wand, I think the biggest key is having boots on the ground.
That’s such a big challenge because it’s so socially taxing. You have to have such good energy to always be out going to stores. But we need to scale too. So it’s like that’s where the biggest challenge is.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:06)
For sure. And I have a ton of respect for founders that are still working the streets, Like hustling and doing that. Because I think that it gets forgotten later on, right? A lot of times, you know, when you guys hit future levels of success and you have a multi -tiered sales team and you have all these things, people forget that it got started because you guys were both willing to go have doors slammed in your face or accept the rejection.
Daniel Neeson (24:32)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:35)
What are some of the, you you guys, there’s a lot of creative outlets in this as well, right? So you guys come up with, you know, I’m looking at your website and you come up with different cocktails people can try. I love your branding and your colors and your design. All of that’s really cool. What are some of just the fun parts of the business that you guys just really enjoy working
Daniel Neeson (24:56)
So, thank
Adam Millman (24:56)
It’s, I mean, it’s a fun industry. There’s no doubt about it. I think, and this goes back to your earlier question about what are some of the cool moments? I think one of the coolest moments that we had was when we saw a bartender pouring De Nota without us actually ordering it, just being in an account and seeing that. I mean, that’s still cool to me to this day. I’ll look out of the corner of my eye and like lose track of our conversation I’m having with somebody because I see it. It’s a cool feeling and you know, it’s fun to go out and have some cocktails with friends and order De Nota and enjoy it.
It’s fun to work with bartenders in the trade. They’re great people and it’s fun to go out and support accounts that support you.
Daniel Neeson (25:33)
And it’s also to add to that, one of the coolest things is it’s such a small industry.
And like anybody in anybody’s any, any business out there, whenever you’re a part of it or not, it’s such a small family. Like, you know, there’s so many bars and restaurants and liquor stores out there. There’s thousands and there’s thousands of brands, but everyone knows each other. And that for me is like so awesome when you, as a consumer, you go to a bar and all this and you enjoy it. But then when you actually meet the people behind some of your favorite bars that you used to go to like.
growing up, not legally that you could enjoy. It’s so cool to be on the back end of that now and to see the people who actually run it. And everyone is just human. They’re trying to make their business succeed and survive. for me, I love those moments.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:23)
That’s cool. Let’s say that you had a blank check. You could sign one celebrity to endorse the product. Who would you guys sign?
Daniel Neeson (26:33)
That’s a great question. That is a great question.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:38)
You can each have a different answer.
Daniel Neeson (26:40)
Okay, I’m gonna have to. Exactly.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:41)
man, we stumped you guys. Man, I thought you guys would have someone right on the tip of your tongue. Like, can’t wait if, man, if we had this guy represent us with this person.
Daniel Neeson (26:49)
I would say if there was one ideal person for me, I think Adam could agree with this, Dreamworld. I’m not criticizing anybody’s Instagram, but if you had somebody who could really back the brand to be out there, as a celebrity should when they are selling a brand, behind the bar, would be Leo DiCaprio. I think he is a very strong advocate massively for the environment. His social media is all about the environment. He likes to party.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:10)
guys.
Daniel Neeson (27:18)
I mean, so you can’t blame him for that. And he also like, I think caters to like the younger and older demographic because he is obvious. Yeah. He’s a, he’s a, he’s a, mean, look, if you really want a brand to go mega overnight, would say Taylor Swift would be like, if we’re trying to quick exit, Taylor Swift endorses something and next thing you know, you’ll be overnight. But if you had to build like.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:26)
21 to 25, right?
Adam Millman (27:33)
So, we’ll better.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:39)
yeah.
I don’t think you could, yeah, trying to handle the manufacturing from that level, but.
Daniel Neeson (27:46)
Yeah. I mean, if you also see Travis Kelce’s vibe and her, maybe they would be a good duo. But I would say Leo DiCaprio. I think he fits the brand. Sure.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:55)
Okay, I like it. Now we got your brain, your, your wheels turn in. What about you, Adam?
Adam Millman (28:01)
I’m going to say somebody that already has a tequila. So obviously not possible, but The Rock. The Rock is, and I really admire what he’s built with TerraMana. He’s a guy that you want to root for. Like even as a competitor, me and Danny look at him with TerraMana and this guy works so hard. Like he’s always out there promoting his brands. He’s humble about it. He’s a good partner, it seems.
Tyler Jorgenson (28:03)
That’s okay.
yeah.
Adam Millman (28:24)
So somebody with that work ethic and ethos that can come join us and work and not just attach their face to a brand, really get out there in the streets. That’s our dream. So we always look at what he’s building and just have a lot of respect for that.
Tyler Jorgenson (28:37)
Well, mean, Ryan Reynolds sold off aviation, so maybe he’s in the market again. you got, all right, now let’s go local. Let’s go local. Who, like what New York person, like we can, let’s say athlete, you got a New York athlete that’s going to rep day. Not a, would it be?
Adam Millman (28:42)
Yeah, he’s a dream too. He’s awesome.
Daniel Neeson (28:43)
Yeah, exactly.
New York athlete right now. You know what? I think I would have to go with Aaron Judge, I think. I mean, I, yeah, I, yeah, I mean, I would say the baseball community is great. I think a lot of people in the baseball community, loved, everyone loves to kill, of course.
Tyler Jorgenson (29:06)
I was gonna say, how could it not be? He’s basically the rock of baseball.
Adam Millman (29:12)
Thank you.
Daniel Neeson (29:19)
But especially baseball, obviously it’s like America’s oldest sport. The Yankees is an iconic brand team. And I think Aaron Judge, I mean, he’s such a powerful presence. I think that’d be amazing.
Tyler Jorgenson (29:35)
Awesome. All right, we’re gonna wrap up with one last question for each of you. So you can just answer this in succession here. business is great, but you guys both mentioned that it’s also important to still live, right? Go out and enjoy a game together. So what is one item on each of your personal bucket lists you’re gonna accomplish in the next 12 months?
Adam Millman (29:55)
Yeah. In terms of business or just personal.
Tyler Jorgenson (29:58)
No, personal. Yeah. Somewhere you want to go, something you want to do, something you want to experience.
Adam Millman (30:04)
Yeah, it’s a question. I really want to go to Japan. That’s for me. Hopefully in the next year I can go. But that’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit. It just seems like an amazing place. So if I can make that happen, find a week or two to go away, that’d be perfect.
Daniel Neeson (30:12)
That’s a really good question.
Tyler Jorgenson (30:22)
love it. Heck yeah. Goodbye, you, Danny.
Daniel Neeson (30:31)
You know what, my biggest goal, I think for me, I think especially, it’s kind of like a weird avant -garde answer, but is to be present through all of my friends’ big moments. I have a lot of friends getting engaged, getting married, stuff like that. And so my goal, I think, in such a crazy, toxic society, kind of, it’s easy to get lost in the grind. So a big goal me would be to be more present with, you know,
things that are happening socially with your friends and enjoy those moments. Because, you know, it’s easy to get lost. So I think my goal is to be more present.
Tyler Jorgenson (31:09)
I love that. All right guys, thank you so much for coming out. Please go check out De Nada Tequila. They’re on all the socials, or you can check them out at De Nadatequila .com. And if you’re in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, make sure to ask for it when you order. Thank you so much for listening to BizNinja Entrepreneur Radio and to all my BizNinjas. Wherever you’re listening, watching, tuning in or streaming, it’s your turn to go out and do something.
Tyler Jorgenson (31:34)
Welcome out. Hopefully you guys just watched the full episode with Adam Millman and Daniel Nielsen, the co -founders of Deinara Tequila. It’s a really amazing sustainable brand. They’re doing really cool things with kosher, like no additive tequila in amazing bottles. The first ones to put them in aluminum bottles. Please go check out that full episode at bizninjaradio .com. But Danny, Adam.
Daniel Neeson (31:57)
Okay.
Tyler Jorgenson (32:02)
Take, I want you to think for a moment, you run into one of your old college buddies from New Orleans after having a wonderful day, not a cocktail, you guys, and catching up for a bit, your friend leans in and says, I’m just feeling totally stuck. What’s a piece of advice that you give them to get back into momentum?
Adam Millman (32:21)
It’s that’s honestly, that’s a feeling that I think everybody faces. I faced it. I’m sure Danny has, you know, I think it’s important to take a step back and think about what’s important to you. I think in our age demographic, you know, we’re 27 people, you know, in the thirties. It’s, it’s a weird time. Like you might be at at a crossroads where you’re not happy with your job or you don’t know what your future holds. You might look sideways and see your peers, you know, doing better than you or.
do something you would love to do. I would just say, you know, like there’s always time to improve and change and you got to enjoy the journey. Like we always remind each other that you got to enjoy what you’re doing currently and not get too hung up on where you’re going to be in 10 years.
Tyler Jorgenson (33:05)
I like that, yeah. Sometimes you gotta stop looking around and comparing so much. Danny, what do you think? What would you say?
Daniel Neeson (33:09)
Absolutely. I think people are so harsh on themselves. You know, I think to Adam’s point, you got to take a step back and always understand the grass will always be greener. know, fortunately there are
No, unfortunately and fortunately there are people who can’t afford they need to work. And some people don’t have the luxury to sit back and devise what they want to do. Some people as well actually do have the time to think about what they want to do. But I think you have to really just stress what makes you go. Like there are a couple of things that I look at for motivation. One is like RPM, is like Tony Robbins like.
rapid planning method. And then I love Tim Ferriss’s four hour work week. I think you got to start like looking at how you operate at a more like, you got to change like the way you think. I think you got to think about what do I want out of this? Like how like, what will be the end goal? And how will I get there? And so I think for anybody, they got to do a bit more diving deep into what they want instead of trying to like,
you know, work to live. I think there’s a way to actually work and still like live a life where you’re wealthy and everything, social life, work life, physical life, all that kind of stuff. So I think don’t be hard on yourself and try and like come up with a new pattern to make you think in a new direction.
Tyler Jorgenson (34:27)
really good advice. Thank you, Adam. Thank you. Thank you, Daniel. Please go check out danattakela .com. Check them out on all their socials. Give them a follow. Make sure to order them in your next cocktail.
