Interview with PennyDrinks.com
There are still many ways to earn a living with the Internet at your disposal.
Our news team had the opportunity to interview J.C. Granger, 23 , the founder of www.PennyDrinks.com who has built a name for himself with his unique business idea. With his idea, a customer in a bar only needs to pay one penny (equivalent of one cent) for a drink every night!!!
Tell us a bit about your businesss
My business is based on my website called www.PennyDrinks.com. We’re based out of Boulder, Colorado. So how does it work?
Well the long story short is this: You sign up and pay $2.99 per month and in exchange you get a coupon for a penny drink every night of the week to your favorite bars in your city. You just print it offline and bring it in to a bar/club on the site. You give it to them and you get your first drink for one penny! So basically, if you use it even one time it’s already paid for itself. But feel free to drink it up cheap every night of the month!
How did you get started? What spurred you to go for the idea?
People always ask me how I came up with my idea. Well the story goes like this: It was my senior year in college at the University of Colorado at Boulder and I was in the shower getting ready to go out to the bars like I did about 3-4 days a week. I had a lot of friends and I was always being invited to go out and have a good time. The problem was that unlike most of my friends I was extremely poor. I could barely pay my rent. I worked almost full time while being a full time student AND doing Air Force office training. I remember thinking to myself, “Ok so I’ll budget for $20 tonight and that’s it.” Then I thought a little more and realized that in reality I’d go out budgeting for $20 and end up spending $50 and losing my credit card at one of the bars like I always seemed to do. So then I thought to myself, “You know, if I could just get my FIRST drink for free…just the FIRST one…something to get the ball rolling, the buzz going…I’d be happy…Just the first.” And then I realized that I was not the only person with this problem. I realized I was one of MANY students or people my age who loved to have a good time and couldn’t necessarily support the habit. My 6 years in marketing and advertising experience (3 yrs of which were spent advertising clubs in Daytona Beach Florida) gave me the idea to give the advertising part to the clubs completely for free. I figured the best way to attract a million people was to keep the price cheap. After those thoughts went through my head it was pretty easy. I mean the idea was kind of a no-brainer. I just knew I had to keep it simple.
How long have you been in the business? How many employees do you have at the moment?
The website is relatively new, about 5 months old. I have 4 interns that are senior advertising majors at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They’re awesome. They do all my marketing and advertising and they do it for free. They like working for me and I love having them be creative and create incredible ad and marketing campaigns.
Why is your business considered unique?
Everyone tells me that my idea is unique because it’s simple and makes so much sense. Everyone who hears about it says, “Wow, that’s a great idea. I can’t believe no one’s doing this yet”. I agree. I think it’s the simplicity that makes it so unique. I mean, who wouldn’t want a basically free drink every night of the month?
What do you think is important in starting a business like yours?
Many people will tell you your idea won’t work or that for some reason you’ll fail. Don’t let those people get to you. And if you’re looking for investors for your idea remember one thing: Investors don’t invest in your company. They invest in YOU. So keep that confidence high and people will trust you when you say you’ll make them a million dollars along the way.
What advice do you have for Malaysians interested in starting a business?
Do your research! Before you try ANY idea do some research on it first. Whether you look up statistics on the internet or walk around your area and just do surveys you need to do your research! I did a lot of surveys and demographic research for my idea before I ever put a dime into the website. Even the best ideas have the “X-Factor”. This means that even if it sounds incredible, maybe no one’s interested. Don’t cheat yourself. Find out first and don’t be bias! Listen to what your potential customers have to say. And be FLEXIBLE! My idea has already evolved significantly since I first thought of it and that is solely based on what bars/clubs and potential site members have had to say about it.
[Article provided by www.malaysian-entrepreneur.com – Your free source of information for anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship]
My two cents
This is cool idea indeed. Well, who wants to start a TehTarikSen.com? The subscription members will get free teh tarik at mamak stalls. ;)
