Paul Mabray has been in the wine and spirits industry for over seventeen years. He has worked for Napa Ale Works, Niebaum~Coppola, WineShopper/Wine.com and also was the North American Beverage Consultant for Sumitomo Corporation of America from 2003 through 2005. He founded Inertia in 2003 as one of the first major companies established to bridge the barrier between wineries and their customers. Paul Mabray was CEO from 2002 until 2008 creating the largest and most powerful e-commerce platform for the wine industry, the Rethink Engine. Under his leadership, Inertia created incredible new products for the wine industry to help open up the ability to sell and market direct including the innovative Direct to Trade, ReThink Compliance, Brix Open Source CMS, Marketplace Enablement, and many more. For his last six months at Inertia, Paul was Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Business Development in charge of creating key strategic direction, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. VinTank is a continuation of his desire to help revolutionize the wine industry through e-business and innovative digital products and marketing.

A key contributor to the Inertia blog, a two time American Wine Blog Awards finalist, he has also been a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, UC Davis and many other symposiums, seminars, blogs, and periodicals for his leadership in the wine industry.

Paul formerly sat on the Board of Directors for the leading wine business social network, Openwineconsortium.org, and the Board of Advisors for Snooth.com.

Paul Mabray is currently on the Board of Directors for Cruvee.com and the Board of Advisors of Taste.com.

What are you working on right now?

We are working on quite a few projects.

The two most exciting are a report about how the internet will change the wine industry and we are helping our client build the free data distribution hub for the wine industry which will be the substrata that new wine/tech companies will be able to innovate and will help catalyze the success of wine online.

3 Trends that excite you?

Social CRM (SCRM).  The notion of connecting conversations to customers to better service them is amazing.

Use of mobile devices to help wine consumers make buying decisions at point of purchase (POP).

The use of aggregate wine conversations on social networks and how it creates “crowd scores” that have never been seen before in the wine industry and help off-set the imbalance caused by only a few key professional critics.

How do you bring ideas to life?

We follow a pretty disciplined routine for making IP a reality.

Harvest – Our discovery phase where we find all the strategic levers and possible friction.

Crush – Ideation where are things are possible.

Blend/Filter – Is it achievable? Does it make money? what has the best ROI?

Bottle - Let’s take this idea to market.

We call this process Agile Business Process (named after Agile Software Process) and it emulates some of the efficiencies of that methodology.  The only three tools we use to create and execute this are a whiteboard, PowerPoint and Excel.  The results of this process:

A PPT with the strategic goals defined.

An XLS with an activity calendar, KPI’s, Costs, Revenue.

KAPOW.

What is one mistake that you’ve made that our readers can learn from?

My goal has always been to help the entire wine industry succeed using digital tools.  As CEO of Inertia Beverage Group, I invented Direct to Trade, a new channel that allowed wineries to sell directly to restaurants and retailers using the internet.  In my hubris, I tried to make it a channel for all customers instead of focusing on the right customers that would help change buying behavior.  As a result we suffered from trying to solve not only the problems of building a new channel, but of trying to help brands that had other problems other than distribution.  It was like pushing a rope.

What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?

A book that constantly challenges my assumptions is Free by Chris Anderson.

I use Evernote.com extensively to ensure that my thoughts are captured in free form and organized for future review.

What is one idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Wine consumers that belong to clubs usually belong to 1-3 clubs.  A central platform to manage all their club activity (change of address, change of credit card, etc) that cascades through to the wineries would be a useful tool.  Moreover, that platform could be an awesome comparative engine for people looking to join new clubs (what are the benefits, how often, shipping costs, etc) and have user generated reviews on club experiences.

What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

I have been fortunate in my life to be part of many incredible companies (some very successful, some not, but all pioneers).  What I love about all these companies is that each of them has added to the gestalt of the success of wine online.  Each step I’ve been part of teams that help our industry get closer to actually making wine work online.  It has been amazing to see the components that all of them have contributed to the infrastructure for the success that is just starting to blossom.  We are just starting the bronze age of wine online.  I hope to continue to be a key contributor to that story and to the evolution of wine online.

When you are not working, what are you doing?

When am I not working?  LOL.  Actually my other big driver in life is family.  I am fortunate to have an amazing son, Finn, who is the light of my life.  There is nothing better than a Saturday morning watching him learn and grow.  I get recharged by his glow to go back and swing for the fences.  I also am a huge video game fan and play a bit of Xbox360 at night (GamerTag – napa maestro) and focus on immersive first person games so that I am forced to not think about work which really is my passion as well as my occupation.

Connect:

You can find more about me at:
Paul Mabray on Twitter – @pmabray
Paul Mabray on Linkedin – http://www.linkedin.com/in/pmabray
Blog – http://pmabray.tumblr.com
Our site - http://www.vintank.com

If you’re like me, you have to Evolve It before you can Crush It. I was amused and full of pride when I recently accepted the honor of being named one of the top Chief Marketing Officers on Twitter by Social Media Magazine .

Fortunately, it was the one in a string of what some who know me would call unpredictable accomplishments.

A few of the other milestones?

A global wireless analyst firm named my employer the early leader in mobile marketing in part because of my work conceiving and leading the execution of an accelerated rebranding effort. We also won consecutive annual pioneer awards from CTIA — The Wireless Association.

My previous employer was named No. 20 on the prestigious Wired 40 list of most innovative companies on Earth in part because I drove a repositioning of the 10-year old company from a 1-percent share player in online search to the pioneer in mobile media.

So where is the evolution part of the story? You’ve heard the after so here’s the before.

I spent the first dozen years of my professional life reporting on sports. I was on the baseline during the Lakers’ Showtime days, on the 50-yard-line for the Super Bowl, present for World Series heroics, and there when Mike Tyson was pummeling kittens masquerading as contenders.

In those days, my Dad often reminded me to enjoy the ride because “one day you will have to work for a living.” That day came when my then employer United Press International whittled the writing staff from 800 to 80 and it was time for me to identify a transferable skill.

It turned out to be the ability to write that led to more than a decade in the ad and PR agency world.

But the evolving was only beginning.

It was in 2002 that my present incarnation began to take shape.

My then employer purchased a PR firm whose client list was made up exclusively of tech companies. Naturally, I was asked by our largest new client about my PR tech experience. It was a short conversation since I didn’t have any. That client didn’t like the forced marriage and ultimately took the account elsewhere.

Ironically, personal technology became my passion and my profession. What’s funny is my core skill – writing – is now more in demand than ever. Back before Al Gore (claimed to have) invented the Internet, I wrote on deadline. I had to think, inquire, process, and write, all in space of mere minutes.
That’s the world we live in now with social networks, 24-hour news cycles and more opportunities to get your word and name out there than one ever could’ve imagined.

If one were to ask for advice, I’d offer the following:

• Learn to write or perhaps seek ways to refine your skills
• Determine your passion and chart a path to become an expert
• Consume news in real time and get to where you instinctively have a point of view that can be spread
• As Gary Vaynerchuk wrote in Crush It, don’t let your day duties prevent you from working on your brand in off-hours
• Build a body of work that will help you land additional opportunities
• Think creatively – while you may not want to commit to a blog, seek ways to contribute – comment on other posts, do a podcast, do guest writing
• Learn from the experts
• Don’t think you’ve ever finished learning
• Reinvention is only intimidating if you let it be
• Web sites don’t need to cost thousands – there are tremendous templates that do the job for an affordable price
• Stay active – if Twitter is your calling, connect on planes, mobile, iPads
• Embrace your personal evolution

I hardly believe my evolution is over. That is the most fun part of all.

Jeff Hasen is Chief Marketing Officer at mobile marketing leader Hipcricket. He is a frequent speaker and author on critical touchpoints for brands he calls “Moments of Trust” as well as two more of his passions — personal technology and marketing via the mobile device that is forever changing the way brands and consumers interact and mutually benefit. More at jeffhasen.com or you can follow him on Twitter via @jeffhasen.

Terri St. Cloud went on a search to find her passion years ago. The search led to her life exploding and her need to find a completely new way to live. Wanting to be able to stay home and support her sons, Terri started a home based art business. Soon her sons were an integral part of the company! What started out as a means to pay the bills has turned into an intention to touch the world. While they sell books and prints and greeting cards, they do much more than that.

Hearing daily from people around the country that have been affected by her works, Terri has become convinced that offering who we really are to the world is what matters. Having just released her book, ‘Fabric of Her Dancing Shoes,’ Terri is walking her talk. “It was really scary to put that out there,” Terri laughs, “but I believe who we are is what we have to offer. And so I offered.” The book is a walk through Terri’s inner search to ‘find the real in her life.’

Finishing up raising her sons, and watching them spin off into businesses of their own, Terri St. Cloud is turning more and more towards writing. She works daily on listening to her heart and following it.

You can find her work at www.BoneSighArts.com

What are you working on right now?

Not too long ago, I figured out I was in a ‘mid-life awakening’ period. I did a lot of inner searching. Things quieted down, I got busy with the business and finishing the new book. Recently some deep stuff has been coming up with the theme of darkness and light – of how I cope when I see ‘darkness’ win over ‘light.’  I want to offer my heart to the world. How strange that sounds. And yet, that’s what I do with my business. To do that, I have to know it. I have to know my heart.  And right now, I’m not real sure about some of the stuff whirling around in it. I want to understand how deeply I trust the process of life, how much I really can offer, knowing that light doesn’t always win. I feel like I have to do some searching within. And that’s where I am right now.

3 Trends that excite you?

Trends that excite me are the do it yourself things that are so available now! If you want to make a video, you can! Publish your own book, start your own record label, sell your art, spread your news, share your creativity! I love, love, love things like youtube where anyone can post anything and the really creative stuff goes wild and spreads so fast! I love the internet for that and all it has to offer. The do It yourself stuff lights my fire. I see a great video, and I want to make one! I see a great anything, and I want to do that! I’m laughing here as well, it takes talent, but more than that…it takes creativity. And I think the doors are open more than ever now for creativity.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I don’t know any other way to explain this, except that I have a lot of the ‘fool’ in me. I just dive right on in. With my whole business, I had no art background, no businesses background, I just dived in. I do things hands on. If I have an idea, I just sit down and try it. I remember when I very first began, I would have an idea and wonder can I do this or can I do that? And every single time, EVERY single time, a little voice in my head said ‘Just try it.’ Every single time. That was new for me. I never had that before. It became my mantra. Then I forgot about it, but it had become habit. When I was working on my book and nervous about how to put it all together, the voice was back! I’d question and I’d hear it! JUST TRY IT! And that’s what I do.

What is one mistake that you’ve made that our readers can learn from?

Not listening to my heart. Sometimes someone would come through that I knew wasn’t going to be good to work with. But the money would call me. And I’d go for it. Do that a few times, and deal with people you knew you shouldn’t have dealt with, and you start to listen more closely. You really deep down do have the answers and know what you should do. Don’t block that out!

What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?:

‘Women Who Run With the Wolves’ is like a bible to me. It reminds me that I matter, and that I have so much inside me. It reminds me to believe in myself. It reminds me of the importance of being authentically myself.  And then in the practical sense, Adobe Photoshop has been the software I wouldn’t live without. And believe me, I dragged my feet on learning it. And now I can’t believe I lived without it.

What is one idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Okay, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to relate to what I do or not, but I do have the idea that will make someone a fortune. And since I know I’ll never do it, and would so love to have one of these, I offer it to you. A knob on a toilet seat! Yes! On the side of the seat so that you can just lift the seat up and down without having to deal with  the seat itself.

Can you tell I have three sons? I really think the world needs this.

What kind of training have you had?

And the answer would be “None.” I think that’s so important for people to know. What I had was complete desperation. I had to make this work. And I did. I learned along the way. On the job training. You do not need to be an expert to succeed.

You have a business based on pain and struggle (it was born from a divorce) and you hear daily from people with very real, deep pain. Has this dampened your belief in the joy and goodness of life?

And the answer so far is “I am finally learning that life is struggle. And it is joy. And it is happiness. And it is everything. I am finally learning that it isn’t a storybook line that we follow and that that’s more than okay, that is a good thing.  The opposites are there constantly. We need to learn to balance the holding of both of them. And it is completely our choice if we are going to be bitter or not. I choose not.”

Connect:

Terri St. Cloud ‘s blog: http://bonesigharts.blogspot.com/
bone sigh arts on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/bone-sigh-arts/76611786370?ref=ts
bone sigh arts: http://www.BoneSighArts.com