Chelann Gienger is a millennial thought leader and young entrepreneur movement creator. Along with many other publication features highlighting her serial entrepreneurship ventures, Chelann has been featured in HuffPost, EOFire, and was named in the Top 40 Millennial Influencers to Follow in 2018.
At the age of 18, Chelann opened NUYU Juice Bar along with her partners. To date, NUYU Juice Bar has served hundreds of customers on a weekly basis in Yakima, Washington.
Within a year of launching NUYU Juice Bar, Chelann started the Entrepreneur Before 25 Podcast out of a desire to inspire and unite young and like-minded entrepreneurs. The podcast features weekly interviews with inspiring entrepreneurs all around the world who started their entrepreneurial journey at the age of 25 and under.
In September 2017 at 20-years old, Chelann published her first book, Dear Millennial, a compass to defining your unique purpose, pursuing a life of fulfillment, and building a legacy.
Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:
- Michelle introduces Chelann Gienger.
- Chelann shares a brief description of who she is and what her business is all about.
- “We kind of become numb to the NO after being an entrepreneur for a while.” ~ Chelann Gienger
- Chelann shares how before opening she and her partners did some market research to find out what was and wasn’t working with Juice Bars in Yakima, Washington.
- Three days after graduating high school, 18 year old Chelann opened NUYU Juice Bar with help from a loan from a close family friend.
- Chelann shares her experience with her first potential investor who wanted 50% ownership! She shares the full story in this episode.
- The reason that NUYU has remained so successful is because Chelann believes they are different from the previous Yakima Juice Bars. Chelann shares the three things that make her business stand out!
- Service is so underrated in many businesses, and Chelann believes that service is what helps you stand apart.
- In November of 2016, Chelann and her partners reached a crossroads. The business had plateaued and some of the partners were trying to decide if they’d leave the organization. Chelann shares this never before told story in this episode!
- After creating a potential shutdown plan for their business, Chelann and her partners decided to put their all into building the business. Within three months the changes they implemented came to fruition and the business soared.
- “In those low moments, if we can muster up enough strength to push past that and to once again call ourselves to a higher standard and pull ourselves out of the trench, what’s on the other side is almost always going to be this exponential amazingness.” ~ Chelann Gienger
- Chelann shares why they were putting shutdown plans in place.
- Michelle and Chelann discuss how you can’t just google “shut down plans” and find good information if closing a business is something you will have to do.
- Chelann talks about what changes they made to NUYU to begin seeing massive shifts in the business.
- Chelann shares what she would tell her younger self.
Connect with Chelann Gienger:
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P.S. Creating a shutdown plan doesn’t always mean you’re going to have to use it! Check out THIS BLOG POST to learn why you may want to create a shutdown plan just in case.
