Meet Nicole Todd

We recently connected with Nicole Todd and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

My strong work ethic started with my mother. Growing up, she was the one working long hours and making most of the money for the household. She taught us that working hard was one of the most important qualities to have in life. After years of constant work, long hours and sacrificing my own personal health and happiness for work I am starting to question whether this is one of the most important skills in life. Is breaking your back with work worth it if it only brings you pain and suffering? I am starting to change my tune to be: it’s important to work hard for things you believe in. Do you believe in what you are working towards? I do, and slowly I am solidifying my place in the community where I feel like I am helping make it a better place, while also finding a better work life balance and not just letting work dictate my whole life.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I started a cider company with my sister Natalie in 2013. We didn’t set out to be cidermakers, cider found us. It all started with an abandoned orchard and apples going to waste. It broke my heart to see so much good fruit going to waste, and that was common for our area, the former Apple City of the world. So we started with using all the apples from one orchard, then another and another, now we make as much apple juice fresh in season as we possibly can. Fermentation is a great way to preserve the harvest, and it’s fun! I come from a wine and beer fermenting background, so apples was the natural next step. We now help multiple farms put their unused harvest to good use. This is one of my favorite parts of the business, getting out into the orchards, meeting the trees and geeking out on weird apple varieties. Another favorite part is having a tasting room where folks can come try the ciders we make. Over the years we have noticed a community growing around us and our tasting room, bringing people together that might have never met. We have community events where we raise money and awareness about local and global issues. We get to give back and learn about the folks who live around us. I love the tie in of brining the local food harvest to your glass.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Self confidence – I would not be able to have a business, especially one open to the public, without confidence in myself. It takes a lot of confidence and not second guessing yourself to make a product and put it out there in the world. Not everyone is going to like it, or you. You need to be tough and confident in what you are doing to survive. Take care of yourself and don’t get your feelings hurt if someone doesn’t like your product, not everything is for everyone.

Sales – as much as I don’t like the sales aspect of my work, it is more important than we realize. You need to be able to talk to folks about your product, stand behind it and convince them that they need it too. I am not a pushy sales rep, but I am incredibly knowledgeable about my trade and easy in my approach. If I could do it over again, I would learn more about sales early on and grow a thick skin for when folks say no.

Practical skills – fermentation isn’t too difficult but some of the equipment can be dangerous. I got paid to learn by working at similar businesses first and developing my skills before we started our own business. It’s good to learn in your field first, make sure you like it, and can do the work in the long run. Our work is very physically demanding, especially during harvest. Make sure you are up for the physical and mental challenge.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

Any of us can study and learn a specific profession and play to our strengths. Being a small business owner, you need to know your field well but you also need to know how to run a business. This means the management side of the business, office work, staffing, raw materials ordering, finances, equipment purchases and maintenance, sales, delivery, service and all the way down to keeping the bathroom clean. With a small business you don’t get to focus on just your strengths, you have to know a little something about everything. As things come up in our business, we teach ourselves those new skills. We are currently designing a new bar for our tasting room. This made us learn about the size it needs to be, ADA measurements, type of material and base it needs to be, what kind of wood, lighting colors do we use to make it safe and interesting. Putting in a new walk in cooler we had to learn about refrigeration and codes, etc. When you know a little about everything, you are more likely to teach yourself a new skill to save money at your business, rather than hiring out for every little need. In the long run, having a wide knowledge base will keep your business within your values and help save you money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.santacruzciderco.com
• Instagram: @santacruzciderco
• Facebook: @santacruzciderco
• Yelp: Santa Cruz Cider Co