Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Katona
Hi Mike, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started Rocks N’ Roses a little bit over a year ago. To date, we’ve curated and designed two really fun gift sets – The Bourbon Box and the Golf Gift Bag.
The Bourbon Box actually doesn’t contain any bourbon (maybe it should be called the Bourbon-less box), but contains 5-6 cool gifts to create the ultimate bourbon drinking experience. The biggest hit in the set has been our spinning whiskey glasses that aerate your bourbon and are just a blast to drink out of.
Our RNR Golf Collection has some really fun items and our focus was ensuring each item was highly functional. In that set, the magnetic golf towel which you can pick up off the ground with your golf club or attach magnetically to your cart for convenience has been the big hit.
While both collections started as gift sets, we found a lot of people wanted to buy individual items, so we began selling individual items from both sets at in-person events as well as on our website.
Being only a year and a half in, we’re still in our infancy, but have really been gaining some momentum. We’re currently in conversations with several pro shops in CLE and have plans to expand our golf collection as well as introduce some female/mom inspired gift sets by the end of this year – so keep an eye out!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think trying to start a new brand and business is always pretty challenging. For us the biggest struggle was gaining the brand recognition and online traffic to drive sales, which we’re still constantly working on.
As we were getting started we were lucky to have a lot of close friends who supported us. They bought gift sets for their friends/family and that gave us the confidence that what what we were doing was in fact cool. So we owe a big thanks to them!
Also, as we started selling at in-person events, we found our booth was always packed. Having a chance to show people our products in-person and just interact with them has been huge. We always get tons of compliments on our products and people seem to love us at those shows. That has been another enormous boost for our brand visibility/confidence.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Rocks N’ Roses (www.rocksnroses.com)?
To dive a little deeper into the Bourbon Box, our goal was to create create a really fun bourbon drinking experience. The gift set includes:
– two spinning whiskey glasses (just spin and pour your bourbon to aerate)
– an extra large cocktail ice cube tray (creates 4 huge cocktail ice cubes)
– organic 5-spice bitter infused sugar cubes (add bourbon and muddle to create the perfect Old Fashioned)
– Cocktail Spears (for garnishing your cocktails)
– Nat’s Nuts Cinnamon Whiskey Pecans (these are the absolute best)
– Mast Brother’s Dark Chocolate Bar (The perfect bourbon pairing)
To make the gifting experience really fun – we pack all of these items in a custom printed box. Inside the items are packed with black and gold crinkle paper to create the ultimate unboxing experience!
The RNR Golf Bag
Instead of doing a custom printed gift box, we decided to pack all of the items in a high-end shoe bag. It’s a little greener of an option and allowed us to put more money into the actual products rather than the gifting vehicle.
The RNR Golf Bag includes:
– High-end golf shoe bag with valuables pocket
– Magnetic Golf Towel
– Magnetic Phone Holder
– Custom PU Leather Driver Head Cover
– Golf Multi-Tool (ball marker, divot repair tool, bottle opener and club rest)
The Magnetic Phone Holder is my absolute favorite item. I use it every round I play. It fits any size phone and attaches magnetically with a super powerful N52 magnet to the golf cart for super easy access. It’s a game changer!
Again, both of these collections where originally designed as gift sets, but due to popular demand we started selling all of items in both kits individually.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
When I think back through the past 20 years of my professional career, I’ve only really ever had one mentor. His name is Mark McMullen and he had spent 30+ years working for some of the largest advertising agencies in the U.S.
Mark was my biggest advocate and even when I thought I wasn’t doing that great he ALWAYS encouraged me and told me I was amazing. It was a huge boost to my confidence.
My advice to someone seeking a mentor, find someone you admire and don’t be afraid to ask them to be your mentor. I think it can be extremely difficult for that relationship to develop naturally on it’s own and may not happen if you don’t have the courage to ask that person to be your mentor.
In regard to networking in general – just get out there and start talking to people. Go to local fairs/shows or travel to trade shows in your industry and start making friends. It’ll never happen if you don’t get out there a make it happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rocksnroses.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocksnroses.com_/
