Wine-in a-can.

Was reading in the Herald Sun on March 6 about a new product called “Wine-in-a-can.” Now I must confess right here that haven’t drunken wine or alcohol for years. I used to be a social drinker before I became a Christian but never really liked either and never drank at home, unless I had drinking friends over - Only when out and to be sociable. However upon becoming a Christian, although I could find scriptural warrant for drinking wine, I realised that I was only being a hypocrite by drinking only when friends were around, so I stopped. Not stopped being social, just stopped being a social drinker that’s all. So all this is just to let you know that I don’t have a vested interest in pushing this product at all. What interested me was that they were able to finally get it in to a can.

I had heard previously that this was not possible. In fact the article stares that “People have been trying to put wine in a can since 1936 but the wine always collapsed or ate through the can because of acidity.”

Yet this never stopped people trying, and it didn’t stop one Greg Stokes either! After 5 years of research; building on all the research of those who had tried before, a winning formula was perfected called the “Vinsafe” system.

Of course creating the product was one thing selling it was another. This man actually started off canning and selling his own premium quality wines at the Cellar Door, before finally getting then into 40 Safeway stores over a bout five years ago. Still it was a hard slog convincing wine lovers of the quality of “Wine in a can”! Making it happen was one thing. Convincing the general public it works, was another thing altogether it seams!

The inventor Greg stokes was at a party drinking his own product when a fellow guest asked what he was drinking. When told, “Wine-in-a-can” the guy replied, “What idiot would make that?” To which Mr Stokes replied, “Me.”

That fellow guest obviously tried the product and although in a completely different business, became an investment partner in the scheme of selling canned wine. So far they are not flooding the market with their product but selecting certain niche Markets and countries to introduce their product to selected segments of the market.

This man succeeded at a process that many others had tried and failed at, by building on their research and adding his own improvements and by never giving up! Just because many had tried for many years without success, did not stop him from trying.

Then even when succeeding, he still needed to convince the buying public of the value of his product. And finally he realised he needed outside help and financing to finish the project, and brought in interested outsiders. Not just those with money but those with a real interest in the product. And finally rather than try and hit every market available, they have aimed for niche markets to build up the brand name and reputation, by word of mouth so to speak, rather than through mass advertising.

Can we not also learn from this example? Learn to believe in our product and ourselves? Learn to persevere and stick at our appointed task or lot? Learn whom to bring in from outside, if necessarily; the help that is required and not just take whatever is available? And finally to learn what markets it would be best promote our product in?

What say you now? Do you still have some unfinished business that you need to stick at? Can you really do it all yourself, or do you too need to bring in outside help? These are, in my humble opinion, great questions, but they are also questions only you can answer. Again what say you?