Mark Seiler of Maine Root on keeping up the momentum
Q: What’s the one thing you wish you had known when you first launched Maine Root?
A: I wish I had known how long I would have to keep the pedal down. I didn’t realize that the gas pedal needs to keep going down further the longer, bigger and more complex the business gets. I naively thought once the snowball got rolling down the mountain, I just had to stay out of the way. Not true. The big breaks just come. The question that keeps popping up is if I want to be this busy. The answer is always “yes.” I ran my ass off for twelve years and I can’t imagine losing momentum now. So the answer is always the same: Keep plowing, mofo.
Q: If you could have one do-over, what would it be?
A: Having the specifics of operational roles, buy/sell agreements, what happens if one partner dies on day one.
Q: What’s the one piece of advice you’d give someone who is starting a beverage company?
A: Stick to alcohol. Bigger profit and no one expects you to be sober.
Q: What’s your death row beverage of choice? (Sorry, Mark. Can’t be Maine Root.)
A: Haven’t had any booze in 9 years and 11 months (I’m not really counting though, ha!). If I were going to croak in an hour, I would stay sober and go with Paraguay fair trade organic cane juice out of a rubber boot.
