Experiences in food 'n wine muses?

[Kris]

Hi all,

New to this forum, I'm in dire need of help to create a muse. Any help from NRs or NR achievers is greatly appreciated.
By accident I stuppled upon Tim's book in a Barnes and Nobles during my first visist to the US last year. It was (and still is) a giant eye opener. Now I go this forum often and study the 4HWW philosophy daily and learn from it ongoing.

My situation is that I am working in an industry I barely understand, I am a system and computer software analyst. However, the money is good and the work hours are not so bad, so I actually have time at work working on muse ideas during work hours sometimes.
Its not really my kind of work since I hold a master in bus. administration, majoring in int. marketing and management. I believe I waste my capabilities in IT, instead I should stick to what I know best.

My primary hobby and interest is wine and dining. I'm a proud amateur in the fine arts of wine and cooking. My dream is to somehow combine my hobby to a steady cash flow generating muse. I am concidering something like a '101 entry to wines' for beginners. I know the market huge and there is plenty offering similar products. However, I remember when I started to break down the enourmes field of winery and how difficult for a newcomer to get an overview and where to start.

I realise I have to create some kind of niche business. I read in a threat somewhere in this forum how the golf industry can be taken on by with a niche product, so why not 'my' industry?

I should mention that I am from Europe. As European we experience alot of influence floating from the US towards consumers in the EU and often we happily apply it to our culture and living. Therefore, perhaps some of you can give me advice on whats going on 'over there' in this market :)

Thx.
Kris.

[Vagabond]

Unfortunately I don't know too much about the status of the wine industry in the U.S. but I'm sure some google searches could help you out.

In terms of your idea for a muse, I think you can do something with wine as long as you niche it down. Instead of doing intro to wines 101 where you'll be competing with Dummies books and the wealth of information on wines in general. Depending on your expertise or knowledge, maybe you can do something on how to select the best wines from a certain region...

Maybe how to select the the best reds from the Tuscany region of Italy... with this you're niching down to not only red wines but red wines from a certain region...

thats my 2c :)

[AntonTheKhan]

Why not sell premium Quality Wines through drop shipping.
Instead of offering 250 $10 wines, offer 20 $100 bottle wines. Make it exclusive and limited, for high quality wine lovers only.
Then include your little starter ebook with every purchase as an added bonus (the free added bonuses often sell the product more).
Good luck. It don't have to be an info product.
Hi all,

New to this forum, I'm in dire need of help to create a muse. Any help from NRs or NR achievers is greatly appreciated.
By accident I stuppled upon Tim's book in a Barnes and Nobles during my first visist to the US last year. It was (and still is) a giant eye opener. Now I go this forum often and study the 4HWW philosophy daily and learn from it ongoing.

My situation is that I am working in an industry I barely understand, I am a system and computer software analyst. However, the money is good and the work hours are not so bad, so I actually have time at work working on muse ideas during work hours sometimes.
Its not really my kind of work since I hold a master in bus. administration, majoring in int. marketing and management. I believe I waste my capabilities in IT, instead I should stick to what I know best.

My primary hobby and interest is wine and dining. I'm a proud amateur in the fine arts of wine and cooking. My dream is to somehow combine my hobby to a steady cash flow generating muse. I am concidering something like a '101 entry to wines' for beginners. I know the market huge and there is plenty offering similar products. However, I remember when I started to break down the enourmes field of winery and how difficult for a newcomer to get an overview and where to start.

I realise I have to create some kind of niche business. I read in a threat somewhere in this forum how the golf industry can be taken on by with a niche product, so why not 'my' industry?

I should mention that I am from Europe. As European we experience alot of influence floating from the US towards consumers in the EU and often we happily apply it to our culture and living. Therefore, perhaps some of you can give me advice on whats going on 'over there' in this market :)

Thx.
Kris.

[TimW]

If you are looking to sell TO the United States, you are going to face some hurdles.

First, import laws regarding alcoholic beverages.

Next, trade laws within the separate states regulating the shipment of wine and spirits to their residents. For example, it's legal for Arizona residents to order wine via mail/phone for vineyards/producers within Arizona. but out-of-state wine companies will not/cannot sell directly to the Arizona consumer (this is due to the power of the alcohol beverage distributor's lobby...there is no good reason). This has created a niche-market for dedicated wine and alcohol stores (like BevMo) that cater to "The Long Tail" of alcoholic beverages. But even then, they are limited to their floor space.

The following is my OPINION. I am not a lawyer, etc. --- One thing you MIGHT have going for you is that you don't have to conform (legally) to U.S. laws. I say this because I know of several people who order Absinthe directly from Europe, and have it shipped to them here in the United States. Absinthe, REAL Absinthe, is illegal in the US since it's classified as a hallucinogen. However, there seems to be a blind eye turned toward smaller purchases. I imagine that if somone tried to order several cases of it, that customs would sieze it. Obviously, if it is siezed, there is little the US Government can do to the distributor/seller in the Czech Republic.

I know nothing about European import laws, but I imagine that you might face similar hurdles/restrictions trying to import alcohol into those countries. Seems like the industry is dead-set on protecting their markets. :)

I believe you will have a tougher time importing food into the US due to health and safety laws, but I really know nothing about this other than I had to throw away fruit and food everytime I re-entered the US from business trips.

So...if you can import or export alcohol itself, you might then look to ancillary products...such as wine openers, casks, corks, etc., that might have a regional appeal that we cannot get here in the U.S. Cookbooks written for locals might also have a shot, too.

TimW
Phoenix

[nightowl]

Just read this and can relate:

As women are conducting more business over meals, many find that navigating the wine list can be more intimidating than sealing the deal. A recent survey of the mostly female members of food and wine experts at the International Association of Culinary Professional found that, even in this savvy group, many lacked the confidence to order wines in restaurants.

I would love to read a speed course on navigating a wine list. With a whole bunch of copies of different restaurants wine lists so that I can try out the tricks I have learnt in the speed course. I haven't seen that anywhere. I look forward to my glass of wine or two every evening. I have too many other interests to invest time into reading a whole book about the subject, however I have found myself in exactly the same situation as quoted above, more than once. In a business meeting where I am trying to sell myself (figuratively), I don't necessarily need to steer the conversation to be about wine, but I would like to confidently choose a wine and get back to business and enjoy the wine when it arrives.

I also find that the same wines show up over and over again. Once someone realizes that, then the choosing process becomes easier. You could include the most popular wines in your speed course. It is a very similar philosophy to the language learning techniques used by many of us here. Instead of trying to tackle the whole language, discover what the most used words are and tackle them first.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/18/nsales218.xml

[nightowl]

another possible niche:

Waiters/waitresses/servers and restaurant owners.

Increase their tips. The more they seem to know about wine, the more they upsell.