Making Something From Nothing: Tracy Memoli Of FrutaPOP On How To Go From Idea To Launch

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Always, always trust your gut and that inner voice inside yourself — No matter how crazy it may seem to be at the time. We instinctively have the answers; we just have to have the courage to listen to ourselves.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy Memoli, Founder of FrutaPOP.

Tracy created FrutaPOP as a healthy alternative to all ready-to-eat, frozen cocktails and ice pops on the market. She always loved frozen cocktails, but they were always filled with a lot of sugar and bad ingredients. She was shocked that a healthier option didn’t exist and wanted to change that. Together, with her life-long love for ice pops, she set out to create alcohol-infused ice pops without any added sugars, syrups or dyes. In 2016, Tracy founded FrutaPOP, the makers of alcohol-infused ice pops — reinventing the ice pop — a product that hasn’t seen an innovation in the last 70 years.

Tracy has served as a judge in the International Chocolate Awards and at SIGEP, the world’s largest gelato and pastry trade show in the world. Tracy works with some of the world’s largest beverage brands, start up companies, corporations, restaurants and top chefs to create alcohol-infused ice pop flavors.

Tracy has appeared on Dr.Oz and has been featured in USA Today Travel, U.S. News & World Report, TheStreet.com, The Daily Meal and Destination Weddings & Events. Tracy is a graduate of the University of North Florida with a degree in Communications. She is a member of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance, United Women in Business and The Entreprenistas League.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I always had an entrepreneurial spirit; ever since I was a young girl I remember going door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies and calendars! I was always highly motivated and goal-oriented from a very young age. I was also very active, I was part of an acting troupe, took dance classes, played soccer, gymnastics and cheerleading. Participating in team sports and having an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age has had a huge impact on my life and career — especially in team building, delegating responsibilities, understanding strengths, resilience and setting goals.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along,” George Herbert

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes that I think about all the time and is so perfect for everyone, especially entrepreneurs at any stage of their journey. The timing will never be quite right and we have to work with the tools and resources that we have at hand until we have better. And I’ve adopted a more simplified version as my daily mantra: start by starting.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

My all-time favorite book is Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her book completely changed the way I think about creativity and the entire creative process. In the book, she discusses attitudes, approaches and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. The way she describes an idea is as a “disembodied, energetic life-form. They are separate from us but interact with us. The only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner.” I think about this almost every single day or whenever I have a new idea. A new idea is this energy, a lifeform in the universe and sometimes you listen to it and other times it may pass you by.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

First of all, don’t overthink it. Second, start by starting. Whether it’s doing research, building a prototype, creating a website, talking to people about your idea, you just have to start.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Isn’t that the truth? You have this great idea and you think someone else must have thought of it or someone else is thinking of it right now and the truth is all of that is possibly true. The first step you have to take is to do your research to see if there are any similar products or services on the market — you can start by doing a Google search and search on social media.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

First, know your strengths and how much you are able to actually do yourself — then you can create a roadmap for your product launch. For example, lay out the tasks that you are able to handle yourself and get to work. For the other tasks that you’ll need help with, ask your friends and family for any recommendations. For example, you may be able to handle the web design and product prototype yourself, but you’ll need help with filing a patent, distribution and press outreach — then you’ll want to interview and find the right people that will help you take your idea to life. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals that you can trust is one of the most important things you can do for your idea and your future business.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

1. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster — There’s really no other way to describe it. You’re going to have great days and then you’re going to have terrible days and average days in between. And you have to prepare yourself for that. For me, my favorite part of being an entrepreneur is that every day is different — the good, the bad and everything in between.

2. Always surround yourself with people that make you better — “You grow the fastest when you’re surrounded by people smarter and more talented than you are,” Nobel Laureate William G. Kaelin Jr. said this and it is so true and I think of it all the time. And it leads me to the next one.

3. Know your strengths and weaknesses — This one is important. We know what we know and we have to be comfortable with that. More importantly, we have to know what we don’t know and be as comfortable with that and be able to ask and seek help when needed. It’s ok if you’re not an expert on every single topic — no one is. It helps to surround ourselves with others that know the things we don’t. That’s the only way we can grow and learn from each other. Eventually, you’ll learn new things from the people you surround yourself with.

4. Always, always trust your gut and that inner voice inside yourself — No matter how crazy it may seem to be at the time. We instinctively have the answers; we just have to have the courage to listen to ourselves.

5. Forget the mistake, remember the lesson — This is a big one. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re human and that is part of the process. What matters is how quickly you learn from that mistake to avoid making the same mistake twice.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Doing your research is the first and most important step you must take. Start by doing a Google search, then do a social search and see what comes up. Are other companies out there already doing this? If yes, ask yourself what would make your product different? What would set your product apart? If no, why not? You’ll then have to ask yourself: Does your idea solve a problem? After you spend your time researching and answering those questions then you have to make the decision to act on the idea and turn it into a business or not.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

That all depends on the idea and their level of experience — for instance, my background was in the food and beverage industry, I worked for a couple industry magazines, had a food blog and I launched FrutaPOP, boozy ice pops — I love cocktails, recipes and experimenting with new flavor combinations, so I was able to create all the flavors myself. If someone didn’t have that experience then I would say, they would have to hire an outside consultant to help them.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I always say, bootstrap for as long as you can. It’s your company and you want to keep as much equity for as long as you can.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Our company donates money to various charities throughout the year. We also give back to charities through activations and donate products. Personally, I mentor other female entrepreneurs that are just starting out.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

You never know what your idea can trigger. Being your most authentic self and living with authenticity — is the most important way we can live our lives.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

If I could share a meal with someone, I would love to share a meal with Maggie Timoney, CEO of Heineken USA — she’s the company’s first woman CEO and is such an inspiration.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.