Hey Contrarians,

Today you’ll learn about what it takes to build a business.

Not just any business. An ice cream business.

And not just any ice cream business. An ice cream business… on a bike.

After you’re done, we think you’ll know more about the biz-on-a-bike model than 99.99% of humanity.

(Even the lactose intolerant will find this cool…)

Today in 5 minutes or less:

✔️ How she whipped up an ice cream biz

✔️ MELTDOWN: the harsh realities of growth

✔️ Key to success: build once, sell forever

✔️ 8 lessons from the road

How she whipped up an ice cream bike biz

Today, Katherine O’Brien is known as the Ice Cream Bike Lady. But in 2014, she was just working a “normal job.”

Every day, she’d commute to work at a corporate 9-5 along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Busy area. Lots of people. Great for spotting… opportunity.

“Every single day I would think to myself 'What could I sell to all of these people and how can I be easily accessible to them?'”

With little money to put to work, she had a feeling selling something from a bike would be both affordable and smart, letting her reach her customers where they are.

She also had a feeling that, on a hot summer day, there’s not much better to sell than homemade, gourmet ice cream sandwiches.

So after months of recipe testing and discussions with a small business that builds custom food bikes (yep, that’s a thing), she took a leap and made an investment.

How much are we talking?

According to Katherine, she got her business off the ground for around $8,500.

Here’s what she thinks startup costs could look like today:

• $4000: for the bike
  
  
• $2000: for miscellaneous costs
  
  
• $1500: for a trailer (to transport the bike)
  
  
• $1000: for event supplies (menu boards, napkins, bags, etc.)
  
  
• $1000: for storage or commissary space
  
  
• $500: for marketing materials
  
  
• $500: for packaging supplies
  
  
• $500: for opening product orders and ingredients
  
  
• $200: for permits & inspections

Certainly not nothing, and it could rise, but as businesses go that cliff could be way steeper.

So Katherine officially launched her business, Cream Cruiser, in 2015.

She’d go on to work her full-time job and sell ice cream in the summer for 3 more years, putting every dollar she could back into the business.

And in 2018, she made the move. Ice Cream Bike Lady, full time.

Soon enough, she was catering ice cream sandwiches at weddings, and corporate and college events.

She also made a short-lived (and painful) swing at the wholesale business. Big mistake, as you’ll see…

It’s taken her a decade of wins, costly errors, and important lessons, but to date, Katherine says that, with the help of a few employees, she’s catered more than 700 events and sold more than 160k ice cream sandwiches.

That totals more than $1.6M in sales. And if that sounds easy to do — you should know, it’s certainly not…

MELTDOWN: the harsh realities of growth

For a while, while Katherine was trying to build out a wholesale business, some things looked good.

Sales were growing (quite a lot).

Almost 100 stores were carrying her products.

But in business, that’s only HALF the story.

While sales were up, profit was... nonexistent. The business was bleeding money. Salary? Forget about it.

More staff, more equipment, more machines… it adds up fast. Overhead was through the roof.

With the pandemic and inflation, costs skyrocketed too. “Mess is an understatement,” as she put it.

“It was the most stressful time of my whole, entire life and gave me anxiety that I would not wish upon my worst enemy.”

To dig herself out of the hole, she cut off EVERY part of the business that wasn’t working.

“I went back to what I knew worked and what was the ONLY part of the business that made money. And that is and always has been catering from my pink bikes.”

That meant overall sales dropped, but so did overhead. Margins improved, and profits rose.

“I spent YEARSSSSS working (basically for free) until things started to fall into place. I will never sit here and tell you that you will be quitting your job in 6 months to live a newfound life of business owner freedom.”

“It will absolutely not happen overnight.”

Key to success: build once, sell forever

Despite the fact that this may seem like a pretty simple business, dive into the nitty gritty, and there’s A LOT you realize you don’t know…

Maybe you correctly assumed that the job entails spending 5 days straight at a time “lugging around coolers, dry ice, ice cream, loading the van, unloading the van, late nights catering weddings, and early mornings setting up for festivals.”

But did you also know that depending on your business plan, you may be required to have a State Peddlers License, or that you might need to get a Frozen Dessert Permit?

Over time, Katherine realized the niche knowledge she’s accumulated is valuable. Really valuable.

So to grow her income (sustainably) on top of selling ice cream, Katherine built Bike Business University, which… is exactly what it sounds like.

It’s an online program and community where she teaches people how to build their own bike businesses.

Her goal: “Make the bike business community just as big as the food truck community.”

Lessons from the (literal) road

Sell 160k ice cream sandwiches, and you’ll learn a thing or two.

1) Less is more

“More equipment, more staff, more products, more inventory does not equal more money. It equals more expenses and more overhead. Which equals a slower and harder ROI.”

2) Wholesale margins are tough

“Unless you have the ability to significantly speed up production and get packaging costs way down without investing a ton of money… there is a good chance it won’t be worth it. Great learning experience but it’s hard to be sustainable as a small business.”

3) It’s 2024

“You need to learn how to use social media to make sales. And bonus if you can incorporate an online income stream as well.”

4) Get comfortable being uncomfortable

“Never drove a truck before? Time to learn! Nervous to get on camera? Sorry, YOU are what will make the sales come in.”

5) Find your why

“Visualize the life you want. Work towards it every single day. Write down your goals. Double them. And stay focused. Even when you don’t feel like it.”

6) Community. Built it.

“I owe a lot of my catering success to the farmers market that I first started at. I showed up consistently, built amazing relationships…” Also, “Start...an...email...list. Enough said.”

7) Catering is the name of the game

“It’s where the money is,” she’s explained. “Focus on repeat customers. About 70% of my catering business is repeat... I do the same events year after year.”

8) Above all, SELL

“This is the name of the game in the beginning. Nothing else matters if you’re not selling.”

A taste of freedom before you go

“When I start taking life too seriously I need to remind myself that I sell ice cream for a living,” Katherine says.

“The opportunities that have come from my pink ice cream bikes continue to amaze me every day. But most importantly, my absolute favorite thing that has come from the bikes…? FREEDOM.”

“For me, it’s never been about the money, it’s been about living life on my own terms.”

SO not boring...

🎧 Listen: On the latest Big Deal pod, Codie talks with a Special Forces sniper about how to STAND OUT from 99% of people...

▶️ Watch: We took to the streets of New York to highlight 7 long-lasting businesses (and what you should learn from them)

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