IAM283- Recovery House Owner Finds Purpose in Helping Others Overcome Addiction

Summer Shine found her calling when she had just six months sober from a life long addiction to drugs and alcohol; a juice bar. Luna Juice Bar in Waco, TX had humble beginnings with low start up capitol and one employee.

Shine worked hard to turn her small business into a thriving food truck located at Magnolia Silo's, a hip storefront on Austin Ave and over half a million dollars in sale last year. She now employs women in the early stages of recovery.

In 2015, she and her husband, Ronnie started a recovery house for women in Waco and now serve between 25-30 women annually. Shine is the mother to her best friend and road dog, 21-year-old, Haigon.

• CEO Hack: (1) Strong self-care (2) Listening to podcasts about entrepreneurship
• CEO Nugget: Get some work done then refine it later, perfection comes later
• CEO Defined: Empowering other people

Website: http://www.lunajuicebar.com/

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Luna-Juice-Bar-303655863140450

https://www.facebook.com/Sunshine-Recovery-House-235160867295660

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Summer Shine of Luna Juice Bar. Summer.

It's awesome to have you on the show.

Summer Shine 0:40

Hey, thanks for having me. What an honor.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

Definitely honors all of mine and you'll hear why it's such an honor. I want to read a little bit more about Summer so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Summer Shine found her calling when she had just six months sober from a lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol; a juice bar. Luna Juice Bar in Waco, TX had humble beginnings with low start-up capital and one employee.

Shine worked hard to turn her small business into a thriving food truck located at Magnolia Silo's, a hip storefront on Austin Ave, and over half a million dollars in sales last year. She now employs women in the early stages of recovery. In 2015, she and her husband, Ronnie started a recovery house for women in Waco and now serve between 25-30 women annually. Shine is the mother to her best friend and road dog, 21-year-old, Haigon. Summer, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Summer Shine 1:36

Absolutely. Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:38

Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Summer Shine 1:45

Yeah, so what led me to start my business is I you know, as you heard, in my bio, I had a lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol. And so whenever I got sober, I wasn't the most employable person. I have, I'm great with people. I've been in the food industry my whole life.

I love working with food and around folks, but had a really hard time during my addiction, keeping a job and sustaining a job. And so my whole life looks like this myriad of really great jobs that I kept for not so long, you know, for two years or less. And so whenever I got sober, it kind of dawned on me that maybe I should be my own boss, you know, that maybe that would be the motivation for me to get up and go to a job every single day as if, you know, I was the one creating and doing this thing.

And what I have found, and that is that, that is this is the longest job I've ever had. Yeah, and so my motivation, originally, to start my own business was for me to have something to do and something to find purpose in.

Gresham Harkless 2:56

Nice, I absolutely love that. And I love that the idea, obviously, being able to get over addiction and the drugs and alcohol, but not just being able to, you know, find a job, your longest job that you had yourself. But the fact that you've done this kind of the phrase is always social entrepreneurship, where not only have you done it for yourself, but you're also helping out so many others that are probably going through some of the same frustrations that you had as well.

Summer Shine 3:21

That's right, yeah, absolutely. We now employee, we have 10 employees who are in the early stages of recovery from addiction. And you know, a lot of them have rap sheets, a lot of them have felony charges or are on probation, and they need to go see their probation officers on a regular basis. So we're employing people who are less than desirable and get have a really awesome workforce.

Gresham Harkless 3:51

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that you know, getting the opportunity to have, you know, second chances and additional chances is definitely, you know, a really big part because a lot of times, you know, people, as you mentioned, have really great skills and are really employable and can do really awesome things. But a lot of times, you don't get that, that next opportunity, but people like you that are able to kind of help out and reach out and to build something definitely helped make the world a better place.

Summer Shine 4:15

Well, thank you.

Gresham Harkless 4:16

No problem and I touched on it a little bit. Can you tell us a little bit more about Winter Juice Bar and what exactly you're doing there?

Summer Shine 4:23

Sure, so we offer fresh cold-pressed juices. So cold pressed means that instead of being in a centrifuge juicer which spins the fruits and vegetables, we actually press it kind of like you know wine how wine is pressed, but we have big fancy machines that do it for us and it helps say the nutrients in the juices. So it's 100% fruits and vegetables. We don't add water or sugar or preservatives.

So it's really good for you and you're getting the best bang for your buck. We also serve what we call Whole Foods smoothies. So our smoothies are also 100% fruits or vegetables, we don't add ice to them. We don't add any preservatives or flavorings, there's no sugar. So our smoothies, again, you're getting the most nutrient-dense smoothie that you can get.

Since we opened a storefront, we open the store and we've added on things like wraps, veggie wraps, and vegan waffles, which everybody loves. We've got Yeah, we've got salads and soups. And again, they're all made with integrity, and with high-quality ingredients. And, of course, the staff that makes them is pretty awesome.

Gresham Harkless 5:43

Definitely, it sounds like if you have all those things, you know, at your storefront, and of course at your bar, then that it sounds like an awesome staff has to be able to make that. So I definitely appreciate that. And, and I feel like, you know, authenticity is kind of like a word that always comes up and transparency.

And a lot of times and correct me if I'm wrong, do you find like that happens a lot with and like, kind of like the health and wellness and the food industry as well? But a lot of people want to know exactly what's in there, what they're putting in their bodies. And a lot of times, you know, with the power of the internet and being able to do research, you can find all that information out.

Summer Shine 6:16

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, just recently, within the last few months or so, a major chain smoothie shop has been part of a class action lawsuit for you know, basically lying to the public can smoothies that were full of syrupy sugary fruits, not real fruit, but fruit that had been soaked in sugar and syrup and, you know, dairy instead of plant-based milk and, and things like that.

And sure their smoothies tasted great, but they're not much more than ice cream. They're basically the same thing as ice cream. Right? But yes, exactly. But saying, this is healthy, it's good for either touting themselves as a healthy, you know, a healthy restaurant or healthy place to go when in fact, they're just damaging you in all the same ways. Industry, the food industry is damaging people.

Gresham Harkless 7:12

Yeah, and that's definitely unfortunate because, you know, obviously people are going and you know, paying for you know exactly what they're expecting to get, and having that opportunity to be healthy and to be able to drink a smoothie and be healthy. And to hear you know, something completely different is in, you know, all the smoothies, and everything is definitely frustrating.

So, it's great to hear, like, you know, companies like yourself are able to actually stay consistent and true and in alignment with everything that you're putting out there. So definitely appreciate that. And now, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this might be something we already touched on. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart or your organization apart?

Summer Shine 7:49

Yeah, so I'm glad that you asked that. And it is something we've already touched on, we are more than just a smoothie shop, we're more than just a healthy place to come get a snack, we are empowering women. In recovery, we're empowering people who have not been empowered, who would just have jobs, you know, kind of meaningless jobs, we're giving them a safe place to come and grow.

And to get, you know, training in the food industry. And also, we're giving them leadership opportunities pretty quickly once they come into diluted juice. And so I think that sets us apart from most other places that are doing what we do. You know, the juice is great. I love juice, I go to juice bars all over the country anytime I travel. But juice is juice, it's just juice. And mostly, I have found mostly its main, high quality, the same way that we do it. You know, what does make us different is that we're empowering people to change their lives, not just our employees, but also our customers too.

Gresham Harkless 8:51

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that's, you know, something that's, you know, been, you know, emerging as well, too, as I talked about the authenticity and transparency. But I think that a lot of people want to be in, you know, when they pay money, and they support a business and organization, they're supporting a cause too.

So to be able to do that, where it's not just you know, a juice, and as you're getting when you come there, but you're actually supporting, you know, everything that you guys stand for and that you guys have built. I think that that is something that a lot of consumers really kind of stand behind.

Summer Shine 9:23

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I mean, there's a shoe company out there, I won't name any names, but the shoes are hideous. I mean, they're ugly shoes, but everybody's wearing them. Because if you buy a pair, then somebody in a third world country gets a pair, you know, so I mean, actually, their style has stepped up in the last several years, but you know, and there's a jewelry company, that's the same thing.

You pay a little bit more for the jewelry, but it's helping women in other countries. So people want to feel good when they buy a product. They want to know that they're not only doing something good for themselves but that their money is going towards something that can help other people as well. And I've really seen that happen in our company.

Gresham Harkless 10:03

Absolutely, absolutely. It's great to hear. And I always say, my favorite is like a math equation, I always say entrepreneurship equals hope. And you're definitely, you know, a living breathing example of that, just because you've been able to build that.

And you've been able to provide hope to so many people, and then the people that are supporting as well. So I appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Summer Shine 10:31

Oh, good. Yeah, totally. Um, so, number one, the most important thing that I can do for my business is self-care. So my self-care game is strong. I mean, it is hardcore, I wake up every morning at 5 am. And I do not take phone calls or text messages before 8 am. And so I get up and I, you know, make my celery juice, I make celery juice for myself every morning at home, and then I work out and I log my food or meditate and pray and meditate every morning without fail.

And so my self-care is probably the number one thing that I can do for my company to keep it strong. And then another thing that I do is seek out other entrepreneurs and listen to podcasts. I'm a huge podcast listener. So I love doing that. That's a that's one of my favorite things to do is listen to podcasts about entrepreneurship.

Gresham Harkless 11:30

Absolutely, I love that. And I love that I feel like that should be a teacher myself game, my self-care game is strong. So I definitely appreciate you because you have to be able to put your oxygen mask on first to be able to help out others. So you have to make sure yourself get your self-care game is strong because you have to be able to do that and make sure you're taking care of stuff.

Summer Shine 11:48

Absolutely. Yeah. And I tell people all the time, I say, look, I take three hours out of the day to care for myself because the other 21 hours are going to be caring for somebody else. You know, I've run a business and I also run a nonprofit organization. And so it's really important that my mind and my body and my spirit are right before I go interact with people, or else I'll just mess it up, you know?

Gresham Harkless 12:14

Yeah, absolutely. And that's definitely a great reminder for everybody that's listening in. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Summer Shine 12:29

Wow, that's good. I think that the self-care was not there when I first came in. So self-care would have been a big thing. I thought that really hustling for my dollar was the way to do it, that grinding hard and going hard all the time and not asking for help figuring things out on my own. I thought that was a good thing to do. So self-care would be one thing.

And then another thing that has been successful for me, but I've, I now help other women start businesses of their own. And so I kind of mentor them through it. And the best thing, piece of advice that I can give them is don't get caught up in the details.

You know, just do the work, get the details to come in time. You know, so if you've got to get a website up, but you can't figure out the about section, get rid of the about section for right now. It'll come to you in time, you know, if you can't figure out how you want, you know, a picture on your website to look, just take the picture off, you know, but do something, get work done, get some work done, and then refine it as time goes on. I think people get stuck in perfection and in detail.

And while there is space for that somewhere, when you are starting a business, you are not going to know everything there is to know about your business. And if you do, then you've probably been waiting too long to start.

Gresham Harkless 13:52

That's so funny that you say that I remember there's this quote that I read somewhere and it said that if by the time you launch people aren't laughing at your first product, then you launch too late. So a lot of times people get so wrapped up in perfection that they want to be perfect before it actually launches.

Summer Shine 14:09

Amen.

Gresham Harkless 14:10
Yeah, absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Summer, I want to ask you what does being a CEO means to you.

Summer Shine 14:23

Being a CEO means empowering other people. That's exactly what it means to me. I like I said, when I started this, I thought I was empowering myself and what God has given me as a gift to empower other people. Yeah. And that says, as much as I need to expand on that, I think

Gresham Harkless 14:41

Absolutely no, I definitely appreciate that. I appreciate everything that you're doing and that ripple effect that you're creating as well to where you have to employ people but also empower other entrepreneurs and business owners as well to continue that ripple.

So again, I appreciate your time. We'll make sure to have all those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you. But I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 15:01

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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