March is Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by highlighting some truly bad-ass women in business. Here’s our second installment!

Lauren Chitwood, one of the three boss babes behind the successful non-alcoholic spirits brand Spiritless, is FULL of entrepreneurial spirit. Lauren’s story is an interesting one. She and her co-founders Lexie Lancaster Larsen and Abbey Ferguson were running a successful business in event planning when they recognized a gap in the market and decided to fill that gap by making a massive pivot and starting a new company that offers high-quality, alcohol-free spirits. Talk about guts!

From ideating their product using a homemade still in the basement to forming some amazing partnerships (like their partnership with Drybar), Lauren and her co-founders have demonstrated some major business and marketing chops. Despite their current success, the early days of Spiritless were challenging thanks to the pandemic and global supply chain issues. These amazing women leaned on each other through the hard times, and here in 2023, Lauren says they’re on track to sell 100,000 cases! Congrats, ladies!

Lauren sat down with our founder Jen for a recent episode of Served NEAT. They talked about not only marketing but also the almighty pivot and why relationships are everything.

Tips for Founders from the Serial Entrepreneur behind Spiritless

1. When making a pivot in your business, just start! Lauren suggests making a manageable to-do list for each day with, say, 10 things to research that are related to your pivot, or something similar. The key is to start taking baby steps, and pretty soon, with consistency, you’ll make big shifts happen. Action is such a catalyst! 
2. Be open to new opportunities. Lauren says stepping into the room, saying yes, and doing the best with what you have can be a game-changing mindset. If you’re not open to new opportunities, they probably won’t come.
3. When it comes to marketing and PR, it’s a marathon not a sprint. Spiritless has had some successful marketing/PR efforts in the recent past, including being featured on the Today Show and in Southern Living and O magazines. When you’re in it for the long game, you focus on fostering relationships, you’re persistent, and you don’t give up on yourself before those returns on investment start rolling in. (And, when you need help from an agency, you get it! 😉)
4. Be smart about partnerships. Lauren gushes about Spiritless’ partnership with Drybar and how it has been such a good fit. Get your business THESE types of partnerships! When you find that perfect collab or partnership, it feels oh so good.
5. Relationships are everything. Lauren says this about entrepreneurship: “It’s too hard without some friends!” Amen, sister! When Lauren, Abbey, and Lexie decided to start Spiritless, each of them did what she does best (each woman has a different area of strength), plus they leaned into their network they’d built up over time as entrepreneurs. If you don’t have a network, start building one right now!

Want to hear the whole interview? Listen to the podcast episode here!

If you’re ready to take action in your next level of business, book a call with us!