Potential to Powerhouse: Success Secrets for Women Entrepreneurs - 52 - Growing Wine, a Family Business, with Alison Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser Winery

52 - Growing Wine, a Family Business, with Alison Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser Winery

06/22/22 • 52 min

Potential to Powerhouse: Success Secrets for Women Entrepreneurs

Taking a family business into the future can be a daunting venture. How do you best balance history with vision? And when that business is winegrowing in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, home to more than 600 wineries, how do you stand out and continue to innovate?

For Alison Sokol Blosser, Co-President, CEO, and second-generation winegrower of Sokol Blosser Winery, the answer lies in staying true to yourself no matter the conditions. Wine wasn’t necessarily in Alison’s blood, so she studied other fields including marketing, but all paths led back to pastoral Willamette Valley, where her parents ventured decades earlier and, without prior experience, built a world-class winery.

In today’s episode of the Potential to Powerhouse Podcast, Alison walks Tracy and the audience through her journey, which now includes running her parents’ namesake winery with her family. It’s a fascinating conversation that showcases how the next generation can take businesses in exciting new directions when given the proper amounts of care, support, and attention.

Key Points:

What inspired Alison’s parents to start the vineyard and winery, and how did they go about purchasing the land and equipment as recent college graduates?
The family struggled working in an industry that was not established in Oregon like it is today. How did the stress of growing a family business affect Alison’s childhood?
Alison talks about the risk that went into the development of the winery and how the collaborative culture of Oregon helped the state rise in the wine industry.
Alison discusses her journey during college and post-grad when she thought she did not want to be involved in the family business, and then what finally led her to change her mind.
How an executive coach helped Alison and her brother, Alex, maintain a healthy and successful dynamic in the family business in the process of making decisions and growing the future of the business.
Alison discusses the experience of divorce in a family business.
Alison walks the audience through the thought process that led to the idea of having her and her brother run as co-presidents.
Tracy and Alison talk about their shared experience of being a mother while running a business, and the resources they turned to when they were struggling.
Is Alison excited about the future growth of the business?
How did Covid change the way the business was ran and the direction that the business is going?
In a family-run business, how do you prepare the upcoming generation to take over? How do you get these kids to learn about and have a healthy love and respect for the business?
Alison speaks on her family’s move to Boston, while the vineyard and winery are across the country in Oregon.

Key Points:

What inspired Alison’s parents to start the vineyard and winery, and how did they go about purchasing the land and equipment as recent college graduates?
The family struggled working in an industry that was not established in Oregon like it is today. How did the stress of growing a family business affect Alison’s childhood?
Alison talks about the risk that went into the development of the winery and how the collaborative culture of Oregon helped the state rise in the wine industry.
Alison discusses her journey during college and post-grad when she thought she did not want to be involved in the family business, and then what finally led her to change her mind.
How an executive coach helped Alison and her brother, Alex, maintain a healthy and successful dynamic in the family business in the process of making decisions and growing the future of the business.
Alison discusses the experience of divorce in a family business.
Alison walks the audience through the thought process that led to the idea of having her and her brother run as co-presidents.
Tracy and Alison talk about their shared experience of being a mother while running a business, and the resources they turned to when they were struggling.
Is Alison excited about the future growth of the business?
How did Covid change the way the business was ran and the direction that the business is going?
In a family-run business, how do you prepare the upcoming generation to take over? How do you get these kids to learn about and have a healthy love and respect for the business?
Alison speaks on her family’s move to Boston, while the vineyard and winery are across the country in Oregon.

Previous Episode

51 - What Every Parent Needs to Know Now with Parenting Expert Katherine Sellery

Parenting is difficult. It is even more challenging when you are trying to be the best, most well-rounded parent you can be but you are still carrying the generational trauma that has been passed onto you by your own family. The good news is that it’s never too late to reset your approach to parenting, and today’s guest is a sage expert who can help guide you along this journey.

Katherine Sellery is the founder of Conscious Parenting Revolution, an organization that helps parents become more conscious and thoughtful about how they communicate with and raise their children. In today’s episode, Katherine speaks about the challenging relationship she had with her own mother and the journey she went through to free herself from it. Our conversation also covers the power of celebrating mistakes, why we need to become aware of our trigger points, and the difference between punitive and restorative justice in the context of parenting. Addressing your past can be a complex process, but with a strong support system and experts like Katherine, it is a rewarding endeavor like no other.

Key Points From This Episode:

How our upbringing impacts the way that we parent our own children
The percentage of children who are able to overcome the psychological differential between an adult and a child
Why it is problematic to raise children to be obedient and compliant
A real-world example that epitomizes the concept of “the tragic expression of an unmet need”
The way we should react when to a trigger that someone activates in us
Katherine explains the difference between punitive and restorative justice and how these approaches relate to parenting.
How we can gain control of our thoughts and feelings so that we can subsequently gain control of our actions
The book that helped Katherine understand her own upbringing
Tragedies that Katherine has experienced in her life and how she responded to them
Generational trauma that Tracy has become aware of in her family
Work that Katherine had to do to separate herself from her generational trauma
Why Tracy and Katherine both have baby pictures of themselves on their desks
The value of having difficult conversations with our children, and celebrating their (and our own) mistakes

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Conscious Parenting Revolution

Katherine Sellery

Katherine Sellery on LinkedIn

Katherine Sellery on Instagram

The Drama of The Gifted Child by Alice Miller

A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman

Potential to Powerhouse

Tracy Holland on Instagram

Next Episode

53 - Changing Your Trajectory and Taking Control of Your Destiny with "Purpose" Author Jessica Huie

Jessica Huie MBE is an entrepreneur and the author of the bestseller PURPOSE: Find Your Truth and Embrace Your Calling published by Hay House. Jessica enjoyed a glittering career as a journalist and publicist and has worked with some of the world’s biggest stars and business people, including Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Cowell, Kelly Rowland, and the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle. In 2006 Jessica launched Color Blind Cards, a multi-award winning multicultural greeting card company that drove an early conversation around the importance of ethnic representation in retail and became the first independent brand to secure a high-street presence for black cards in the UK. Her first book, Purpose, as well as her transformation evolved from the profound space between life and death in which she found herself as a caretaker for her beloved father.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:03:07]: Jessica Huie believes that you do not have to fit into one label at a time and answers Tracy’s question on if she would consider herself an entrepreneur or an author.

[00:04:22]: What was Jessica like as a child and what was her perspective like on her future career possibilities?

[00:08:19]: Jessica tells the story about getting expelled at 15 years old.

[00:14:43]: How did Jessica deal with growing up mixed race in London?

[00:16:31]: Jessica became a single mother at 17 years old and had a rocky beginning to her career that was made even harder by the shame her father felt for a daughter that did not reach what he believed was her true potential.

[00:23:23]: Jessica’s post-grad experience after deciding to go back to school with her abundance of determination and breaking into the field of PR and journalism

[00:28:13]: Tracy and Jessica conversate about how they believe having a degree affected their path to success.

[00:30:18]: Jessica tells the story behind Color Blind Cards, a greeting card company she founded after a pivotal experience she had with her young daughter.

[00:35:30]: After Jessica’s success with Color Blind Cards, she decided to start her own PR agency, bringing her back to her career roots.

[00:38:12]: In 2016, Buckingham Palace presented an award to Jessica Huie, given to her by the Queen.

[00:39:42]: How Jessica’s father’s journey with terminal cancer led her to write her book, Purpose, and what the writing experience was like in such a challenging time for her and her family

QUOTES:

“I always had the strong ability to dream... I kind of found safety in my imagination.”

“I have this gift of being able to see people in ways that they cannot yet see themselves, and then supporting them and bringing that out.”

“I was driven by this desire to have my daughter see herself and know that she is enough; she doesn’t need to aspire to be anyone other than who she is.”

RESOURCE LINKS

Jessica Huie Instagram

Jessica Huie LinkedIn