Neal Gottlieb | The Founder of Three Twins Ice Cream

Show Notes

 The founder of Three Twins Ice Cream brand Neal Gottlieb shares with you how he was able to get his ice cream into 5,000 stores and how you can get your product into major retail stores too!

1. Yes, yes, yes and yes! Thrivetime Nation on today’s show we are interviewing Neal Gottlieb the Founder of the Three Twins Ice Cream brand that is loved by Nancy Pelosi! Neal Gottlieb, welcome onto the Thrivetime Show…how are you sir?!
2. Neal Gottlieb, my understanding is Before writing the business plan for Three Twins Ice Cream, Founding Twin you were sharing an apartment with your twin brother, Carl, and his wife, Liz, who is also a twin, when did you first have the idea to start Three Twins Ice Cream?
   1. https://www.google.com/search?q=three+twins+ice+cream+pelosi&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS737US737&sxsrf=ALeKk026CVp9W8-2kWm2L6Oh-TOeVNUK7A:1588193252034&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihzvz0wI7pAhUGPa0KHUA1C08Q_AUoAnoECAwQBA&biw=1842&bih=950#imgrc=v5-LLYJO_TlKxM
3. Neal Gottlieb, How did you begin to make Three Twins Ice Cream that people actually liked?
   1. It is not rocket science, put in ingredients that taste good and put it all together.
4. How did you know that people would actually like the ice cream?
   1. I had never thought about making ice cream before
   2. I started making it at home and everyone of course loves free ice cream
5. How did you raise the money needed to fund the company?
   1. We started by asking friends and family
   2. In later years, I raised money through capital investors
6. How did you go about branding the company and creating the marketing materials for the company?
   1. I kind of started out with the name
   2. I worked in branding early on, so that helped shape the direction the branding went.
   3. We knew we needed to be consistent with the branding in everything we did.
7. How did you go about gaining your first 10 clients for Three Twins Ice Cream?
   1. We were in a tucked away ice cream shop
   2. We were by a taekwondo studio
   3. I hesitated to put up a big sign at first, but when I did my sales jumped
8. How did you get your products into stores?
   1. Early on, I would walk into the store, try to find the buyer and when possible come with samples
   2. Once we got into bigger stores, we had to find out what their buying schedules were.
9. Neal Gotlieb, When did you first feel like you were truly beginning to gain traction with your career?
10. What was the process on getting on the show SURVIVOR?
11. What was the high point of Three Points Ice Cream?!
12. On your website it currently reads, “Dear Three Twins Community,
13. It is with sadness that I announce that Three Twins Ice Cream is ceasing operations as of Friday April 17, 2020.” Why did you have to shut down your business?
    1. The public perception was that we were making a lot of money.
    2. Our margins were too low out of the gate
    3. We wanted the ice cream to be an affordable indulgence
    4. But we never got to the scale where the margins made sense
    5. My best,
    6. Neal Gottlieb
    7. Founding Twin and CEO
    8. Three Twins Ice Cream
    9. 2005 – 2020
    10. P.S. I can be reached at neal.h.gottl
14. Neal Gotlieb, What attempts did you make to save Three Twins Ice Cream before deciding to shut the company down?
15. What impact is the Government shutdown going to have on other businesses?
16. How did you communicate with the employees that you were shutting down the company?
17. What have you learned most from this experience?
18. Today, I’d love for you to share with the listeners about the kinds of projects that you are up to?
19. What are a few of your daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success?
20. What mentor has made the biggest impact on your career thus far?
21. What has been the biggest adversity that you’ve had to fight through during your career?
22. What is your favorite old school jam?
23. What advice would you give the younger version of yourself?
    1. I would have priced our products a little higher out of the gate by about 10%
    2. You have to invest in the visual identity of your company
       1. Create a simple, easily identifiable logo
24. Neal Gotlieb, Is there a difference between marketing and sales
    1. In the case of ice cream, we considered sales as getting the products in the store
    2. For marketing, is actually getting the consumer to make the purchase
25. We find that most successful entrepreneurs tend to have idiosyncrasies that are actually their super powers…what idiosyncrasy do you have?
26. What message or principle that you wish you could teach everyone?
27. You are super successful, but what do you struggle with the most…what is your weakness…what is your kryptonite? 
28. Neal Gotlieb, What are a couple of books that you believe that all of our listeners should read?
29. You’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with the Thrive Nation before you drop the mic?

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