Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 - (Page 46)

SUCCESS & MOTIVATION difference lies in his product’s allnatural organic formula. Like other common sugar substitutes, such as sucralose (known commercially as Splenda), saccharin (known commercially as Sweet ’n Low) or aspartame (known commercially as NutraSweet or Equal), Zsweet is almost calorie-free. Unlike these other sweeteners, however, Zsweet is a natural product. The primary ingredient in the proprietary blend is the erythritol, a natural substance new to North America but common in other parts of the world, such as Japan. Zsweet is not the first sweetener to proudly proclaim its natural origins. Stevia, a leaf extract widely used in Latin America as a sweetener, is also a naturally occurring substance. In the U.S., however, Stevia is labeled as a “dietary supplement” by the Food & Drug Administration, a designation that has inhibited companies from marketing and selling it as a sweetener. Zsweet is considered to be a food, and has been certified organic by the USDA Want to know more? For more information, recipes and product availability, see www. zsweet.com TIM”S RECIPE FOR SUCCESS The second stage, currently underway, is market development, and it speciﬁcally covers mainstream retailers that carry health foods or specialty “health” or “natural and organic” sections. Stores in this category include a limited number of Kroger, Walgreens, Publix, SuperValue and Safeway stores with specialty subsections. Costco stores are also included in this category, even though they don’t ﬁt the specialty sub-section criterion. The third stage of distribution, expansion to mainstream retailers, is part of Avila’s strategy for 2009. Avila and his founding partners, John Corella, Michael Sanchez (no longer with the company), and Bob Syverson, decided to foster a commitment to social responsibility within their emerging company. They founded LIFE (Lifestyle Initiative for Education), a nonproﬁt that receives at least one percent of sales of Zsweet to fund outreach and education activities concerning diabetes, obesity and nutrition. In addition to LIFE’s own activities, the foundation supports other nonprofits, including Vitamin Angels, Boarding for Breast Cancer, Para los Niños and the Tony Hawk Foundation. “We’re part of the triple bottom line movement,” Avila explains. “We want to make money, to help the planet, and to help society and our fellow human beings.” Tim Avila, 41, the founder of Ventana Health and creator of Zsweet, was born in Los Angeles. He describes himself as a “Mexabilly,” a combination of hillbilly and Mexican, because his mother is from southeastern Kentucky, and his father is Mexican American. “There aren’t too many of us,” he says with mock pride. After working a few years in construction and a few more at an entry-level job in the nutrition industry, Avila became an independent scholar in the ﬁeld and stubbornly set out to develop his own product. Here are his words of advice on start-ups:• THE PLAN Zsweet can be used for cooking and baking, or in its granular form, just like sugar. Avila’s company has decided to push sales of the tabletop product as a way to build the Zsweet brand, but the product can and has already started to be used as sweetener in other products, such as drinks or desserts. As a tabletop product, Zsweet is on a three-phase distribution plan. The ﬁrst stage covered the core market, made up of retailers whose core is health food and dominated by stores such as Whole Foods. During this stage, Zsweet caught an incredibly lucky break when Perry Abbenante, a Whole Foods buyer, contacted Avila out of nowhere and agreed to carry the product in two regions. Momentum built as customers reacted favorably to in-store product demonstrations and began to pick up a box and take it to the check-out counter in growing numbers. 46 1. Build a wellspring of resolve and determination. Talented and (sometimes hyper) intelligent people often fail because they give up (As Rudy Ruttiger says, it’s never too late keep trying and always too early to quit). 2. Be optimistic. Avoid all forms of negativity, naysayers and pessimists. There will always be someone to tell you that you can’t do something. Avoid those people. 3. Have a purpose. Always develop a sense of higher purpose. Socially and spiritually responsible enterprises will have a much higher success ratio. 4. Develop a brand. Understand the experience that your product or service delivers to consumers or customers, and focus on how to continuously improve it. 5. Do brand advocacy. You are the ﬁrst advocate for your brand. Develop as many other brand advocates as you can. Brand loyalty is no longer enough, and word of mouth is now almost the only means of communication that works in today’s attention-overloaded society. HISPANIC ENTERPRISE February/March 2008 http://www.zsweet.com http://www.zsweet.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Trendsetters Briefcase: BIZTECH: Virtually Meeting BizLife: Travel: Madrid's New Attraction Q & A: Mi Case es su Casa Hispanic Commerce: The Agenda Cover Story: The Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity Technology: Hispanic Web 2.0 Success & Motivation: Sweetening the Deal Politics & Government: The Rescue Generation Managing: The Method Franchising: The Hispanic Face of Franchising Chamber Focus: It's Showtime Movers & Shakers: Open for Business Finance & Investing: Getting Your 401(K) on Target

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.