Mara Smith is a former attorney, corporate strategist and stay-at-home mom who is the founder of Inspiro Tequila. Mara began her legal career at a large law firm in Chicago before joining the corporate strategy team at a Fortune 500 Company. After her twins were born prematurely, Mara made the difficult decision to leave the corporate world to focus on her family.

She never stopped thinking about what was next. Mara always envisioned running her own company and in February of 2020 she set out on her journey to create a new tequila brand, Inspiro Tequila.

Key Moments

[00:04:19] Switched from law to real estate corporate, practiced at big firm in Chicago, no women partners, chose corporate strategy at McDonald’s.

[00:09:18] Started tequila company with no additives, targeting overlooked female consumers, driven by love for tequila.

[00:13:49] Entrepreneurship brings excitement, hard work, and fulfillment.

[00:17:24] Maintain perspective, prioritize what truly matters.

Find Mara Online

https://inspirotequila.com

https://www.instagram.com/inspirotequila/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-smith-9109031a1/

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Transcript (Provided by CastMagic.io)

Seth [00:00:00]:

Entrepreneurs Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. With the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs, how we learn from adversity. Every week I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started.

Mara [00:00:24]:

You.

Seth [00:00:30]:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneurs Enigma podcast. I am your host. As always, Seth, today I have a fascinating guest. I first saw her on one of the two of Eliza Freud’s shows. Not sure which one it was because she has two, but I saw the live stream on LinkedIn, and I’m like, Mara’s, got something here. Not only is she a CPA, a lawyer, she is the owner of Inspiro Tequila. So we were just talking before the show about how those two professions are very risk averse and entrepreneurship is exact opposite. So we’re going to talk about that a little bit. She’s a mom. She has done a lot. And she also is giving back. She has a great give back called the Purple Bicycle Project, and she just so happens to be wearing purple today, which is kind of funny. And it was not planned. It was not planned. So that’s kind of cool that she did that. I guess it was kind of like, wouldn’t it be cool? She was wearing purple and she got the memo. I don’t know. How’s it going?

Mara [00:01:33]:

Good. Hi. Thanks for having me, Seth.

Seth [00:01:36]:

This is fun. And you’re based out of the Windy City?

Mara [00:01:39]:

I am. I’m Chicago. But it happens to be a beautiful day today in Chicago.

Seth [00:01:44]:

I thought, I’m in Mars today because we’re getting all the wildfire smoke. Oh, I’m jealous. It’s like 78 and smoky. I mean, literally, the sky is red and where I’m in Philadelphia, so I’m not even in New England, and it’s apparently worse in Connecticut than it is here. And it’s bad where I would wear a mask today. Outside.

Mara [00:02:12]:

Everyone out. Wow.

Seth [00:02:13]:

It’s pretty wild. It’s a wild time nowadays. Time for some tequila.

Mara [00:02:17]:

It’s always time for tequila.

Seth [00:02:18]:

Always time for tequila. So how does an accountantcpa lawyer get to this? I listen to the story, but I’m like, seriously, it’s a great story, and it’s good tequila. So it’s like, why not? But what’s your origin story?

Mara [00:02:37]:

Thank you. So as we talked about a little bit beforehand so I feel like I probably was really risk averse when I was younger, so with age, maybe I was able to build a little bit more risk tolerance, maybe start a model too.

Seth [00:02:53]:

You kind of have to be a mom because kids have no risk. They’re all risky. You kind of have to be like, all right, let them run around totally.

Mara [00:03:01]:

As a little girl, I mean, talk about risk averse. My dream job was I wanted to be a Supreme Court justice. So there’s no more security than having a job that’s for life. So I really wanted job security.

Seth [00:03:14]:

So you wanted to be a lawyer from the very beginning. Wow.

Mara [00:03:17]:

Yeah, I knew that for a long time. It’s funny because I think I wrote a letter like in grade school saying I’m going to be a lawyer and actually that I was going to go to Northwestern Law School. And that’s where I went to law school. I set that out. I put that out in the universe at a very young age. That’s awesome. But yeah, I studied accounting. I’ve always been more into the mathematical subjects. I actually started out in engineering and then did a quick stint in Actuary, studying for the Actuary exams and then decided that was not my path. So accounting, loved accounting.

Seth [00:03:49]:

Let’s pull back. You said you loved accounting.

Mara [00:03:52]:

I actually loved accounting. It was a great fit for me.

Seth [00:03:58]:

I’m right brained. So anything with numbers, I’m like. I don’t like.

Mara [00:04:01]:

I like when everything has an answer, there’s a right answer and a wrong answer. I actually took the CPA exam right my senior year of college, right before I went to law school because then I went straight to law school. So I passed the CPA exam and then went straight to law school.

Seth [00:04:18]:

Wow.

Mara [00:04:19]:

And thought I was going to practice Tesla, then debated change a path and then decided to go into commercial real estate corporate, like Securitization. I practiced at a really large law firm in Chicago. I learned a ton very quickly on the job, but this is where things started to pivot and change and you have to go with the flow a little bit. I then decided I knew I was going to want to start a family soon. And at the time I was at my law firm, the largest law firm in Chicago then, and I had no role models. There were no women partners in my entire department. So I actually loved it. I liked the deals I was working on. So really my options were to go like a part time and part time meant kind of working full time, just being paid part time, being off the partnership track, not getting the big sexy deals that I really liked working on. I’d be doing a little bit more the mundane thing. So at that point I thought I got a great, a lot of great on the job training and learning. I’m going to go and then kind of more apply my business background and graduate from business school for undergrad and go into corporate strategy. That’s cool. I went to McDonald’s corporation.

Seth [00:05:35]:

Very good for that. You have the accounting, you got the JD. And people think, oh, accounting has to be accountants and lawyers have to be lawyers. No, it’s just good. I know a lot of lawyers that went well. Lawyers and quotes that people went to law school. Don’t regret going to law school when the dad going to law school never went into law because they are just like but it’s critical thinking skills, so you get all that good stuff.

Mara [00:06:02]:

It was a great education. You laugh how I liked accounting. I actually love law school. I had friends who in law school time as me and they did not find it as enjoyable. But I love the whole process behind it. The learning therapy method, like everything about it I actually really enjoyed. And I’m probably just someone who could have been a student for life because I just like learning and being in school. But I went to go into corporate strategy and that’s the first time I kind of like it sparked my entrepreneurial spirit. I was studying like consumer trends and insights and we were iding, like different concepts. And all of a sudden I’m like, oh my gosh, look at this whole world out there of kind of like looking at trends and seeing what else you can come up with and ideas. And at the time I started thinking like, maybe I want to start my own company. And I looked into opening a branch of an ice cream franchise, then decided Chicago is not the best locale for an ice cream franchise.

Seth [00:07:05]:

Well, not now at least, but the.

Mara [00:07:08]:

Weather is not great. But I started thinking of ideas like, oh, what if I started my own company? It was the first time I really I think it was so myopically focused on you need to do this. You need to do well in accounting. You have to study hard, pass CPA exam, you have to go to law school, work really hard, get a job at big law firm in order to pay off your law school loan. So I never looked outside and kind of what I was super focused on and a really linear path. So all of a sudden I was thinking of ideas. But then my corporate career came to be Screeching Hall. I became pregnant with my oldest who are twins, and I was on emergency bed rest.

Seth [00:07:53]:

You want bigger one home? You had two at once.

Mara [00:07:55]:

Exactly. I have a third since, but still two at once.

Seth [00:07:59]:

Let’s just hold on to that for a second. I have one kid who’s like seven kids at once. I can only imagine having two that are literally individual people. One going that way, one going that way.

Mara [00:08:10]:

Yeah, and they’re boy girl twins and they were preemies. I was emergency bedrest. Then I had premie twins and I made the decision to stay home. So I’m very fortunate that I had that option. But it was really never something I ever anticipated and I don’t think anyone who knew me ever saw that coming either.

Seth [00:08:30]:

Parenthood changed you though.

Mara [00:08:31]:

Parenthood it did. And I realized that the amount of attention they required being twins that were preemies, and I felt like I had to be there doing that. So I was home for many years so this is really a reentry for me into the workhorse workhorse workforce. Also workhorse.

Seth [00:08:55]:

That’s a little stumble, but not really. It is a workhorse. It’s like, whoa, you kind of went big. Which kind of looks like it kind of looks like your mo. Kind of like, let’s go big. Let’s get the CPA exam in senior year of college. Who the heck does that? Goes in law school, goes to a big law firm. I mean, go bigger, go home. So, look, this is big.

Mara [00:09:18]:

I think when I put my mind to something and I’m like, I’m going to do it. So once I decided I’m going to start a tequila company in spirit tequila, the reason this came to be is not because three kids drove me to drinking, but because I love it. I knew I wanted a ceremonial company. I knew it was going to be a consumer product company because I’m a super consumer of taste testing, trying things. I like to follow all the trends. And the reason became tequila is I’ve been a tequila drinker for years. It’s been my kind of clean spirit of choice when I was looking for just a better kind of for you adult beverage. So I started drinking tequila. What I didn’t know is that all the tequilas I was drinking contained additives. So undisclosed additives because they’re allowed to add flavoring, glycerin, oak extract, coloring. And I didn’t know that the vast majority of brands. So I said, oh, well, can I create something that’s additive free but still is approachable easy to drink? Like, these other tequilas has sweeter tasting notes but additive free. And that was really like the impetus behind this bureau tequila. Can we grace something additive free? We also focus on this female tequila consumer who makes up about half of tequila drinkers and makes 80% of all purchasing decisions, yet is really overlooked in the spirits industry. Very important consumer, all purchasing decisions. If you think of who’s shopping the grocery aisles, who’s making as much as.

Seth [00:10:48]:

I only admit it’s my wife. And the reason why it’s not that I make her dough because she’s the woman. No, it’s because I will miss half the shopping list because I’m the man. Different brain lengths. I will literally miss half the shopping list because I didn’t open it up and look at, oh, it’s another side.

Mara [00:11:09]:

Yeah, well, if I send my husband, it takes him a really long time because I’m so used to it. I know where everything is. I’m super efficient down the aisles. And he’s like.

Seth [00:11:18]:

He looks at you, he’s like, how do you know what? I’ve just been there. I do it. It’s my thing.

Mara [00:11:26]:

She’s a really important consumer in general. She controls a lot of the wallet. And so when we thought about her and how can I create something really focused on this consumer who educated, cares about what she’s eating and drinking, is caring about better for you and everything from her skin care to household cleaning products to food she’s eating. So of course drinks also. So could we really focus and create everything from the bottle design being super sleek and sophisticated looking?

Seth [00:11:56]:

It’s really sleek. That’s the word. That’s a good word. It’s very sleek and kind of high.

Mara [00:12:06]:

And it’s easy to hold and pour too. So that’s something I wanted to be really functional too. It’s slim in the middle because I found that the big Round style bottles are very hard to manipulate. Exactly.

Seth [00:12:19]:

The stuff is expensive.

Mara [00:12:21]:

Yeah. So we meticulously crafted like a really great quality juice and spirit kilo is all about being very thoughtful on every step of the process. And also if I was going to get back into the workforce after being out for many years, I wanted to do something where I saw I could make an impact. And like many industries where women are underrepresented in spirits, there are so few women in the spirits industry. And here we have the opportunity to bring another female perspective. So we are actually distilled owned and led by all women.

Seth [00:12:54]:

We’re going to take a quick break here from our sponsors and get right back to the show. Oh wow.

Mara [00:12:59]:

That’s awesome.

Seth [00:13:00]:

That is awesome. That’s so cool.

Mara [00:13:02]:

Everyone from our masters still are in Mexico down the line. I just thought I’m going to do this and try and focus on this consumer and who better to understand her and speak to her than us. And I really wanted to be authentic and that the people truly behind the brand. It’s not just me as a figurehead and there’s like a woman involved, but really that women are part of everything we’re doing.

Seth [00:13:24]:

That’s fantastic. So here’s a question for you, because you’ve done the corporate, you’ve done the ashway. I think was one of the most important jobs is being in the mom. Because that’s completely like, no two days is the same. It’s more than the entrepreneurship and that’s coming from a dad perspective here. But what is the best thing about being an entrepreneur now? I’m sure your kids are grown up and a little less needy.

Mara [00:13:49]:

I don’t know if they ever are that much less needy. But yes, my two older ones that are in college, but I still have an eleven year old home too, so there’s still a lot of juggling. I mean, I just got on here after purpling for basketball camp. That job never ends. So I still have that job. I just took on another job. I think the best part of entrepreneurship, honestly, and after being corporate and big law firms, and it’s not that I feel like I have control over my hours or anything like that because I actually think I work more than I did when I worked at the largest law firm in Chicago. I think I work more now. I think seeing something come to life, like building something and creating it. And I don’t think it’ll ever get old going into a store and seeing our bottles on the shelves. I truly am elated every time I see it and get excited exactly. Whenever someone tells me like, oh, I tried that, I heard about that somewhere else, I’m like, really? How? And I get excited every time. So I think just knowing that there are a lot of hurdles and it’s not an easy road by any, I’m not going to make it sound like it’s like sunshine. Yeah. I mean, it is not nearly as glamorous as it sometimes maybe looks, but seeing that how we do things and the care that goes into it and the thoughtfulness behind it does resonate and people appreciate it. And then seeing it actually come to life and be out in the world, it is really exciting for a founder.

Seth [00:15:35]:

Yeah. So on the flip side, what keeps you up at night? Besides your eleven year old and your kids in college?

Mara [00:15:40]:

Oh my gosh, everything keeps me up at night. What doesn’t keep me up a night? Probably shipments. We’re constantly, no matter what happens, every event I have, it is last minute scramble to get product and shipment, product or setups. I mean, we did a big trade show. I’m trying to get to the point where everything’s going to work out, it’s going to be fine. I’m a planner, be organized. I’m a planner. So everything that’s last minute for me is super stressful. So the fact that, oh my gosh, last minute. We had like a huge trade show. It’s our first trade show we were doing in Orlando and our entire box of all our supplies, our backdrop, everything doesn’t show up.

Seth [00:16:16]:

Oh no.

Mara [00:16:17]:

And I’m scrambling to reorder and do things. I just came from a big event in Miami, waiting and waiting, our product. I was like waiting until the very last minute when it arrived and I was opening boxes. So somehow it doesn’t matter how far out we try and plan, there’s always something happening last minute. And I’m trying to approach it a little more calmly than like, okay, we’re going to get it, we’re going to figure it out. But those are the things that I find extremely stressful because I would like things done like a week ahead of time just to make sure and everybody.

Seth [00:16:57]:

Plus the kill doesn’t go bad. So you could get it a week ahead, put it in the closet somewhere, or put it where it should be properly packaged and put but it never happens that way.

Mara [00:17:07]:

It’s always like it never happens that way. It’s always sorry, that was one of my kids walking in the background.

Seth [00:17:12]:

Your mom always goes first. Yeah. So what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Mara [00:17:24]:

For me, I’m going to say just perspective. I try and put things in a bigger perspective. Like everything that talk about like a stressful situation, like things not arriving okay. In the scheme of all things, I always have perspective that if everybody’s, like, doing okay, my kids are okay, everyone’s healthy. That’s the bigger picture in perspective. What I’m doing, it’s great. And I hope I can make an impact and do things. I hope I can help a lot of other women founders and support them. But in the scheme of things, like, I take a step back and whatever happens, if it didn’t get there last minute, it’s not like the tools for me to perform, like, neurosurgery tomorrow exactly. To provide cocktails for people, and it’s going to be okay. So I think I’m always trying to think perspective and that everything is figureoutable, and I’m learning that more and more. Even though I love to be planned and organized, I came from professions and things you always have to problem solve, and I think I learned that a lot with kids. Right. You said that no day ever goes as planned, and was that when the premium walked by? Yeah.

Seth [00:18:40]:

That does not look like a premium anymore.

Mara [00:18:42]:

No. He’s a very big guest towering over the rest of the family.

Seth [00:18:47]:

It amazes me. My junior in college now, my kids the same way. He’s ten and he’s a premium and he’s oh, he’s giant. I’m like, all right, you never know.

Mara [00:18:55]:

I know, it’s amazing. A little three pound, 14 ounce baby who now is like, God bless them.

Seth [00:19:01]:

That’s awesome. So people can find you over@inspir.com.

Mara [00:19:07]:

So inspiro. Tequila.com. Tiro Tequila.com. Do not worry. East coast always has somewhere.

Seth [00:19:16]:

Exactly, no problem.

Mara [00:19:17]:

And at Inspiro Tequila on LinkedIn. That’s where I’m most active. I love LinkedIn, so if you connect with me on LinkedIn, I will definitely engage with you.

Seth [00:19:29]:

That’s awesome. Mara, thank you so much for coming on. It’s been so much fun. And we’ll see everyone next time.

Mara [00:19:37]:

Thanks.

Seth [00:19:37]:

That was a great show. If you’re enjoying entrepreneurs Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the Marketing Podcast Network@marketingpodcast.net.

Mara [00:19:59]:

Close.

Seth [00:20:19]:

Gold Theme. Hopes you have enjoyed this episode. This podcast is one of the many great shows on the MPN Marketing Podcast Network.