From a Single Event to a Nationally Recognized Brand

Elaine Honig will be leading a workshop titled “How I Created (and Licensed) a Successful Charitable Event Concept” at BizBash IdeaFest Los Angeles on June 19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Elaine Honig, founder of Wine, Women, and Shoes, not only created an innovative fundraising event, but also successfully licensed that concept to nonprofit organizations around the country . We snagged an exclusive interview with Elaine on how she turned a smart idea into a nationally recognized brand.

For our readers, can you start by telling us a little bit about who you are.

I’m Elaine Honig and I founded Wine Women and Shoes. We are a fundraising and event platform for nonprofits. Our event concept offers both charities and corporate clients the opportunity to leverage our successful platform to achieve a variety of goals from fundraising and cause awareness to team building and client networking. Prior to this venture, I spent 21 years the wine business as a partner at Honig Winery in Napa Valley. When I started at Honig, it was just a hobby and side-project for our family but we eventually turned it around into a 100,000 case brand. I left that partnership 5 years ago to scale Wine Women and Shoes into a full time business. While at Honig, I created Wine Women and Shoes to help promote wine sales and raise money for nonprofit events. Wine Women and Shoes is a really nice synergy between my passion for charitable causes and experience at the winery.

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Wine Women and Shoes began as a single event and is now one of the fastest growing event-series in the country.  What factors lent to your success in scaling a single event into a national recognized brand?

“Together we’re better.”

I had no idea Wine Women & Shoes would grow to become what it is today. It started as a fun way to raise money for nonprofits, but the concept was so successful that other nonprofits wanted to copy the event. 1 event became 3 events and 3 events became 10 events! I realized how quickly our concept was growing and saw an opportunity to turn it into a business.

One of the really simple factors that contributed to our success is the name.You say Wine Women & Shoes and people just smile- they love it. This factor has contributed to our growth because when people hear how fun the name is, they want to get on board.

The other factor that contributes to our success is that we really pay attention to what our clients and charities need. Every event we do is a laboratory for ideas. If we try something out in one city and it works well, then we make that program available to our other charity partners. It’s all about the power of your network. I have a friend who lives by the mantra “together we’re better.” Wine Women & Shoes is a great living example of that. 40 groups produce our event concept each year. We try a lot of new things, see what works and what doesn’t work and then we can grow stronger from there.

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To date, Wine Women and Shoes has raised $15 million for women’s and children’s charities. What is the most important strategy for event organizers to keep in mind when planning fundraisers?

In my opinion, the most part of a fundraiser without fail is a strong committee. A strong team separates a successful event from not-so-successful event. If you don’t have a well-organized team, you can’t execute on all of the programs that are in front of you. There are a lot of opportunities within WW&S and we recognize that everything we have can be leveraged up. If you don’t have all your priorities in place, you will get overwhelmed. Keep your mindset sophisticated, put your event team in place and you will be successful.

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What do you think can be done to encourage women in the industry to progress to more senior positions?

“I have to admit I’m fearless.”

I’ve always been an entrepreneur- a get out there and just do it kind of gal. Keeping a progressive mindset and ‘just roll your sleeves up and get to work’ attitude helps me get ahead. You have to be willing to put in crazy hours and really work hard with incredible focus. I don’t worry about what people think but on the other hand I always try to treat people well and do the right thing. I try to be very aware of making people around me feel good about what they are doing and encourage them to do their best. I also have to remember to let go of my ego. It’s not about me it’s about making my clients and partners look the best they can.

What’s helped me getting ahead is my sheer ability to work hard. I’m fearful about other things in my life, but I am fearless about business.

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Who has been an inspiration to you in your career and why?

There are two people who come to mind.  My first husband and I grew a business together as young professionals when we were 23 and 25. He was an inspiration because of his tremendous work ethic.  He taught me to put my head down and plow through work to get stuff accomplished. I learned a lot from working beside him day after day; he kept me motivated.

My father also had a great ability to work hard and gave me great advice. “Every day when you’re working, when you’re tired and you want to go home and call it a day just do one more thing.” If you keep up with this, by the end of the week, you’ll have done 5 more things and by the end of the month you’ll have done 25 or 30 more things. These add up and make a huge difference in your success. I still apply this. I remember back when I was selling wine, I would make one more sales call, and inevitably that one call would help us sell more cases. Even if you can just send a few more emails, you’ll be ahead for the next day. Just do one more thing every day it’s totally manageable but it makes a huge difference.