Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Peter.
Hi Shannon, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I have always been an individual who doesn’t like to work for someone, rather have someone work for me. I was very determined to be my own boss. Many years ago, my dream was to open a smoothie shop. I researched a local company and sent in my application and business plan. Fifteen years later, I’m still in business (although COVID cut into our sales last year) and I’m a survivor.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth Road, well, you would think that with our business entity name, The Smoothie Life.
It has not. I’m a self-taught business Women. I don’t have a college degree, and that has been a personal struggle for me for many years. I’m working on my self-confidence and realizing that I have the best degree possible to run a small business, hands-on experience. We started in 2006 as a franchisee. Soon after, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, our franchisor went bankrupt.
I wasn’t going to stand down and change my name to Shannon’s Juice Bar instead I did my due diligence and contacted the right individuals and their attorneys, and we purchased the assets, which were the trade name, copyrights, trademarks, and know-how to Inta Juice. I wish the story ended there, and we went on our merry way; it did not. There was a lot of turmoil and other factors that played into the running of Inta Juice over the next many years until 2017.
Fast forward to 2017, and that is when two other individuals and I started another entity. We decided then to franchise Inta Juice again (under a new entity) and formed Inta Juice Franchising, LLC. My business partners and I try to be innovative and methodical about growth. Would we want to have 100’s of franchisees, yes, but not at the expense of those already in business and those coming in a new franchisee, so we are good with opening 2-3 stores a year. We want to grow smart, not greedy.
In 2019, I had the best year ever at Inta Juice of Greeley, and we reached a massive goal in sales. We were on our way to another successful year in 2020, then COVID. We were able to continue working and were already providing online ordering and delivery; we just happened not to do as well as the first part of 2020.
2021 has been another struggle; staffing has been the biggest hurdle to jump over. We are okay, not fantastic, but we are hiring staff and working on getting staff up to speed and trained so that I can go back to the franchising and focus on selling stores. I’m a fighter no matter what is thrown at me; I will figure out what needs to be done and approach everything head-on.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As mentioned before, I graduated high school and then worked various jobs throughout my grown-up life. In 2006, I opened up Inta Juice of Greeley and haven’t had a single day that I would change anything.
I have been told that I wouldn’t do well because I don’t have a college degree. That has haunted me for a very long time, then in 2019, we had a massive year in sales and I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs that through hard work and determination you can do anything you set your mind to, college degree or NOT.
I’m a very proud small business owner and I’m not going to tell anyone it has been easy, but it has been an amazing road and one I hope to continue on for many more years to come.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Determination, strong, hard-working, personable, caring, There are a lot of characteristics, and it’s tough tooting your own horn, but I never backed down. I worked very hard and if I didn’t know something, I figured it out.
I’m very passionate about my store and my job, but most of all, my love is for my staff and my customers. Without them, I wouldn’t be in business still 15 years later.
Contact Info:
- Email: greeleyintajuice@gmail.com
- Website: intajuice.com
- Instagram: intajuicegco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intajuicegco
