To help Beattie in developing her business idea, she took part in the first Springboard Australia program to help Australian women get their businesses off the ground.
“It helped us with capital raising and getting our businesses ready to go through that process. We were given mentors and advice and our businesses were put through a boot camp and tested to see how robust they were,” she says.
“It gave me an insight into what my business would look like in 10 years. That was in February and my business is quite different now in terms of its strategy and business model.”
Eventually Beattie wants to be the leader in the single serve packaging industry across all alcoholic beverages, but her interests extend beyond business.
“I’m actually also really interested in the non-profit sector. I studied in Boston in the States and they have this attitude that you create a commercial, profitable business, but at the same time it has to give back to the community,” she says.
“It’s really different here in Australia and I’m not sure which industry I would go into, but I will increase my not-for-profit participation. I’m also interested in entrepreneurial teaching involving people of less fortunate backgrounds and also fee-paying students. I think the dynamic could be very interesting to get the venture of the ground.”
Beattie’s proudest moment has been seeing her products in some of Australia’s biggest sporting stadiums.
“I have friends taking photos at the MCG of the wines and sending it to me and it’s only the start of what I’m doing.
“I also do a lot of speaking at RMIT and other universities and corporate firms. While I’ve just started my business, I get a lot out of passing on what I’ve learnt.”
A few years ago Beattie was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease) and this has reshaped her outlook on life.
“I’m a big believer in healthy body, healthy mind. It’s changed the way I eat and sleep and look after myself.
“I was diagnosed not long after I started and now I’m all about having the right amount of sleep, exercising and eating clean raw foods.”
Beattie also has a love of travelling and in India she studied Buddhism and meditation alongside a monk, but ultimately for her working is not a chore.
Beattie is in the process of launching the retail division of the business, Beattie, which she hopes will be a “force on the retail shelves” come summer, and creating a colourful range of glasses for the warmer months.
“At the end of the day I’d like to be a respected business person in Australia, so I can use that to create social benefits and change which is commercially feasible,” she says.
I also want to create businesses around social change and have money go toward a service which is actually part of building a community.”
Beattie says her biggest challenge is convincing the Australian wine industry of the benefits of single serve packaging.
“It is a game changer in the wine industry and we have a point of difference on the shelf,” she says.
“For individuals who aren’t educated in wine, wine is perceived as intimidating if they don’t have an understanding of wine-growing regions and understand the communication of quality. Our little glasses are cheaper and if you’re very new to wine, you don’t even need a wine glass.”
