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March 2016
Success is bubbling for The Soda Shop owners BY TIERRA BEASLEY
Most people can’t spell entrepreneur, much less become one. What separates entrepreneurs from average Joes? It’s simple—drive. Entrepreneurs think like a world changer and say anything is possible. With dedication to keep moving forward, dreams become tangible. Chase Wardrop and Dylan Roeder had the idea, the drive and the motivation to prove it. They decided to start a business. Armed with the knowledge they acquired from their studies at Brigham Young University in Utah, Wardrop and Roeder left college and opened The Soda Shop in their hometown of Gilbert. They embarked on their journey, doe-eyed and eager but more importantly, determined. Step one: come up with a unique idea. “We were going back and forth with a bunch of random ideas. We started with a snow cone shack, dabbled with creating an app. Just a bunch of random stuff,” Roeder said. Then the idea of a soda shack came up. In Utah, soda shops were common but noticing a lagging market in Arizona, Roeder, 24, and Wardrop, 25, decided to bridge the gap. The first task was to seek a location, which they would pay for with money from their savings, loans and other financial vendors. Many owners turned down their request to rent a building based on their age. “Once it came time to do something it was like we weren’t credible because we didn’t have anything that showed we had experience,” said Roeder. Next, the duo found Town policies cumbersome, according to Wardrop. “Just permits and understanding the magnitude of what we were taking on,” including cost and commitment, shared Wardrop, “We had never done this. School does not train you. It kind of helps you to know what questions to ask. But it does not prepare you to start a business.” Roeder said they were “naïve and ignorant” when they started. “Thinking, it’s just soda [we thought] we get a soda machine and that’s all we have to do.’ But there were so many different components we weren’t prepared for.” It was becoming clear; starting a business was not what they imagined. “Everything was an obstacle,” Wardrop said. Even with all the setbacks, they didn’t give up. After finally securing a location in the former location of a dry cleaners near Baseline and Greenfield roads, the guys got to work.
Business
Getting to work Imagine they’re Rocky. “Eye of the Tiger” is blaring through the speakers. Prepare the montage. Month after month, they prepared for the September opening. Wardrop and Roeder did most of the labor themselves, creating the walls, making the tables. The first two months after opening, Wardrop and Roeder barely slept. The shop opened at 7 a.m. daily and closed at 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday, it closed at 11 p.m. “We were here for over 100 hours a week,” said Wardrop. They even enlisted the help of their parents. While the dads ran out to get ice, the moms worked the counter—some days for 10-hour shifts. “It’s the best type of labor because it’s free,” joked Dylan. Minus the “Hugs and Kisses” tax. Their labor was not in vain. The Soda Shop has been steadily increasing its customer support with an average of 100 customers a day and over 8,000 followers on Instagram. The ice machines are full, the customers are satisfied, and everything is running smoothly. Fear of failure For the record: Wardrop and Roeder are not the exception. Sure they had family support and money in the bank, but they also possessed a new mindset and the right initiative. And accepting they may fail once or 20 times. “I was afraid to do this,” Roeder shared. “You always question the idea of failure. It’s something that’s constant when you’re starting a business. You think, ‘Will it work out? Am I going to lose my money? Am I going to lose these other people’s money?’ And that’s scary.” But after seeing the success of the Soda Shop, Roeder said he’s no longer as risk adverse. “I understand we need some risk in order to get some reward so it’s changed my mentality on what I’m capable of and what I can do.” Wardrop and Roeder plan to expand The Soda Shop but not anytime soon. “We want to make this one the best experience for people. We’re constantly refining things,” Roeder said. “We want everyone that comes here to feel the love that we put into it for them...Once we get that down, we want open more of them.” The Soda Shop 4311 E. Baseline Rd. Suite 101A Gilbert 85234 (480) 794-1094 www.thesodashop.com
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Entrepreneurs Chase Wardrop and Dylan Roeder. GSN photos by Tim Sealy
Turning dreams into reality There are plenty of entrepreneurs who don’t know how to take their dream and turn it into reality. For The Soda Shop’s Chase Wardrop and Dylan Roeder, the answer was clear: Don’t give up. Here’s what you can do to stay focused and achieve your dream: Start anywhere “Once you start you will be amazed at what you can figure out. Everything seems overwhelming but if you keep going, little by little, you will be able to piece together what. Go for it. What’s the worst that can happen? You might fail and that’s just a great learning experience. Sometime we’re afraid to take that first step. Just start and tackle something you know how to do and keep going and developing plans. You can accomplish whatever you set your mind.”—Wardrop Talk about your goals “We talked about goals and dreams all the time. At school, we did a five-year plan. It’s not that it always happens that way but we just wanted to make something of ourselves.”—Wardrop Save money “You know, a penny saved is a penny earned,” Wardrop said. “You can always set [money] aside. I think the perception is hard to live with less but once you make the commitment to put some aside you’ll always see that
what’s left you can still make work once you’re committed to doing that. As long as you’re confident that whatever percent you’re setting aside is going toward something bigger.”—Roeder Overcome doubts “There are a lot of distractions. Instead of getting influenced by what the world expects, I broke it down to what I want. I knew I wanted to try my own thing and start my own business. When I broke that down, it made the other things less significant. And if this is really what I want to do, I have to prove it to myself.”— Roeder Understand what you want “The motivation will come when you understand what you want to accomplish. I feel like a lot of times we’re not sure what we’re doing with our own time. Once someone comes to peace with what they’re doing with themselves, the motivation will come.”—Roeder Find a good partner “It helps being with someone who will motivate you when you’re down. If you have those two things—knowing what you want to accomplish and you have someone who is on the same page with you—the sky’s the limit. You can do whatever you want.”—Roeder Again, don’t quit “We had to keep going. We knew we wanted to do it. So regardless of who was accepting it...we knew we just had to keep fighting.”—Wardrop