Connect
To Top

Meet Jamie Futscher of ThinkLiquor.com and SpiritedGifts.com

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Futscher.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Jamie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
After working as the buyer at a wine shop for 8 years I wanted to do more with tech and online. I read the ‘4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss and set out to try and start a business. I built what, in hindsight, was the world’s ugliest website but learned a lot in doing so. After about a year of doing this as a ‘side hustle’ I knew I had to either give it a go full time or quit because it was eating up all my time (which it still is!) so I put in my notice at my job and decided that I would give it six full months and if it still wasn’t profitable would look to find another job. The company is entirely self-funded and I am the 100% owner so this was really taking my savings and giving it my all.

Fortunately, by year 2 we were profitable. That second year we started the engraving part of the business and I convinced my sister, Cassie Futscher, to join me full time and run that part. Until about 18 months ago it was only my sister and I and a few remote customer service part-time employees. I continued to refine the idea and have launched 3 additional versions of the website since the original to get us to where we are today. Our business model is to always put the customer first and we are constantly listening to what our customers want and refining our product selection based on that.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Having your own business is always hard. This past year we moved into a larger warehouse and the process of the loans and outfitting that was very challenging. Growing the team and keeping your company culture intact is also challenging – making sure you are bringing in the right key people and making sure you keep sight of your vision, mission, and culture.

Technology is also challenging, website crashes, bugs, optimizing the website and making sure your customers have the best experience possible is a full-time job in and of itself.

We have grown from 3 to 16 in less than 18 months so I would say scaling and keeping quality consistent is the most challenging part.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with ThinkLiquor.com and SpiritedGifts.com – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We have two companies – customer experience is what sets us apart.

Spirited Gifts services the gift market, we offer engraved bottles and gift sets and gift baskets. We do a lot of holiday and corporate orders – engraved bottles make a great gift! Groomsmen gifts are also popular and condolence gifts. If you look at the reviews on the website you will see that we go above and beyond for the customer to make every bottle special.

Think Liquor is a recently launched website and is aimed more direct to consumer. I believe that the future is in delivery so think of it as your ‘online liquor store’ we offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount and are looking to change the way people think about liquor stores and offer a new way to shop and discover new products online. This website is really about those interested in what they drink as opposed to just sending a gift – we offer some curated cocktail sets and more limited items as well as your traditional bar-goods.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Well, we are already out of space in our current location so next year we will look into moving to a larger warehouse to expand our current offerings as well as build out the personalization department to include more options and offerings.

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in