Corporate Sales Executive Leaves Security Behind to Focus on Wine

What would you do after a getting a degree in supply chain management from Penn State and making a great living selling software to corporate accounts? Become a wine coach, of course.

Laurie Forster is The Wine Coach, making her living speaking to corporate and association groups and educating them about wine. Her path from high-powered software sales to entrepreneurship actually makes a lot of sense and teaches a number of valuable lessons for people who are considering moving from executive positions to entrepreneurship. Listen to my interview with Laurie to get the full story.

In a nutshell, Laurie knew as much about wine as the average person. If it was wet, it was good. She grew up on jug wine and Boone's Farm, but when she got into corporate software sales and client entertaining, she had to upgrade her wine knowledge. She started studying wine and became intrigued. Because she had a very secure financial cushion from years of sales success, she took a sabbatical from her job (this was in the days when companies were willing to give extended leaves to big producers). She trained to be a sommelier at Astor Wines in New York. She also studied coaching at CoachU and began taking coaching clients. And she never went back to software sales.

A few major lessons from Laurie's entrepreneurial experience:

1. Diversify income streams: While 80 percent of her income comes from speaking to groups, which obviously does not scale, 20 percent is from the sale of books and CDs.
2. Have a great looking website: Laurie invested heavily last year in upgrading her web presence and blogging.
3. Find new ways to reach consumers: Laurie is holding a free teleseminar on how to avoid wine-ordering blunders on Sept. 7 to educate more people and expand her reach.

Laurie has been at it since 2004 and has a great business going because she built a financial cushion so she could pursue her idea. She refined it with the help of several coaches and groups, and she created a brand presence that stands out. Check out our interview for the complete story.