Episode 294: What It Takes to Start a Purpose-Driven Wine Brand | Arden Gilfillan & Margaux Reaume of Argaux
Co-founders of Argaux, Arden Gilfillan and Margaux Reaume, are building a modern wine company rooted in community, transparency, and education. They join Kara to talk about what it takes to grow a product-based business, why wine is about more than tasting notes, and the joy of building something with your best friend.
“Wine is a beverage and an agricultural product. It’s history, art, culture as well as the story of the land, the vinemaker, the family, the meal. It’s so much bigger than the wine itself. ”
“We always try to source wines that have a sense of place. When you taste them you cannot create them anywhere else in the world. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:08) - Introduction to Argaux and Its Founders
(00:01:24) - The Origin Story of Argaux
(00:02:15) - The Importance of Community and Events
(00:04:00) - Challenges of Scaling and Customer Relationships
(00:06:44) - Defining Powerful and the Role of Women in Business
(00:08:31) - Navigating Personal and Professional Life
(00:11:29) - Connecting Passion for Wine with Personal Stories
(00:17:29) - Overcoming Resistance in the Wine Industry
(00:22:48) - Highlighting Unique Winemakers and Regions
(00:30:13) - The Joy of Sharing Hidden Wine Gems
(00:54:35) - Closing Thoughts and Future Aspirations
You know, these, this focus on kind of small production and hidden gems from around the world is what makes my job super fun and what I get the most excited about sharing with people.
That's Arden and Margaux, and I'm Kara Duffy. This is the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I am going to grab my water, though, really quick. Yeah. One second.
Yeah, of course. I have multiple beverages around the station.
I feel like I always have like three, three beverages at all time. Coffee, water and some sort of. Juice or something.
Yeah, or a wine depending on the time of day.
Yeah, depending on the time of day, glass of wine.
Mm hmm. Are you guys working out of your office where you have the meetups? Mm hmm. Yes, exactly, yeah.
Q4, so we are full throttle over here. For the holidays.
I believe it. I know we were trying to schedule the for it and it got moved to now I'm like, whew, they're cutting it close. Not for us, but for you guys.
Yeah. Well, I'd love to jump in and just start by telling everyone your names, where you are in the world and what you're up to.
Hey my name is Margaux. I'm one of the co founders of Arguaux. I'm with Arden, the other co founder, and we are located in Costa Mesa, California.
I found you guys through the magical Nancy Eaton.
She brought me to one of your wine tasting kind of meetup events at your location. And not only did I see clients and other friends that I knew here, and I was like, why were you guys keeping this a secret from me? I was like, okay. It was just such a lovely experience to meet you guys and the clientele you've created.
How did Arguaux start and are you amazed at how, where it's gotten to today?
Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that you said that because definitely those pickup parties and the events that we host are, I would say probably like at the core of what we like to do. And that's the most important and kind of special part is bringing people together.
And that's what food and wine does. So it's definitely a focus of ours. I think that in thinking about our story too, that's how it all started. So we really started as an events company. So we became certified sommeliers and Made business cards and started doing private wine tastings in the comfort of our clients homes or their place of work.
And so we always kind of go back to that element, even though the business has grown since then. Being in front of people is certainly something that's very important to us, and we feel like it's the best way to get our message across. Hmm. But. And it's been kind of an interesting journey because we are all online.
So it's not like, you know, the space that you came to here in Costa Mesa is not a brick and mortar wine shop. So it's special when people can come into our space and really see what we're actually doing here.
Yeah. Mhm. And you guys, last I saw, we're an all women team. Are you still? Yes. and So you guys are finding and sourcing wines from around the world.
You are having tastings, you're selling them direct to customers. You have an import side of the business. Like there's a lot going on that I think most of your customers have no idea about. So do you want to kind of walk us through all the different kind of teams and sections of your business so we can get kind of the global scope of what you guys are doing?
How much time do you have? I'll let Margaux tackle that question.
Yeah, we, we have a lot going on from the product perspective. I mean, first and foremost, we're a wine company. So we focus on sourcing small production, family owned and sustainably farmed. So finding those hidden gems up and coming wine regions from around the world is really exciting for us and, and something that we love to share with our clients.
But the company is really evolved organically, and it's the different avenues that we've developed have have really been just from listening to our customers and trying to say yes to everything that they have asked us that they need. So our goal has always been to kind of be a one stop shop for our customers and just make it.
You know, as easy as possible, make the world of wine easy as possible. So that went from throwing in home, you know, wine dinners and tastings to you know, them asking if we could, if they could buy the wine that we were pouring, so we developed the wine club, which we still currently have to them wanting help with corporate gifting.
For their holiday gifts. So we developed that to different events and wanting to bring people together. So, you know, our focus definitely is corporate and the wine club, but, you know, With that being said, we really try to, to just be that one stop shop and help people with pairing wines for dinner parties to holiday gifts to you know, impressing their boss with something.
It's, it's kind of just, it's, it's a hub of anything wine. And we just try to say yes.
Well, and you guys also have a component of that community you're managing too, like managing a community is no joke. It is, there's so many layers about, similar to a wine club about like the retention, but the fact that people can text and ask their questions and I can only imagine what that text thread looks like because I know with my clients texting me all day long, half the time my mom will text and I won't notice because it's 50 deep in the text thread.
And it's such a big deal to be an expert in one area such as wine and food, but then also to be building expertise in community management and building it in such a way that you're also selling products in is very intricate. So are there days when you guys wake up and go like, What did we do?
Oh, yeah.
But I think that you touched on a really good point and kind of piggybacking off of what Margaux was saying, you know, where did we start and kind of what have we built over the past almost 10 years. I think at the end of the day, we are, I mean, we're a service based business, right? And we're a relationship based business.
And so, yes, we're a wine company. It starts with wine, but it's just like so much more than that. Like we are really trying to create meaningful connection with our members, with the community that you mentioned with our corporate clients. And that's the differentiator, you know, I think that it's I say that because it excites me and we value those relationships that we've built.
I will say that at the same time, to your point, it is a challenge and it's a hurdle. I think when we think about scaling and growing the company, you know, how many people can you really touch? How many relationships can you really build? But I think I've learned more and more like every year that that is what matters, you know, and you look at our retention rate and the customers that come back, they're coming back because.
They trust us and we've built a relationship and we understand their, their needs. So it's, it's challenging, you know, as we continue to grow and our customer base grows and the membership grows, you know, I mean, we joked like when we first launched it, you know, we're like, we're keeping it small and, you know, around 100 people or so.
You know, we do have plans to grow it and, and, you know, try to manage that and not lose that connection. And part of that is through the texting service, you know, it's not automated. It's a real person responding. So we'll see what kind of happens with that. But for now, it works, you know?
Yeah. One of the big things that we're tackling on my businesses for 2025 is Evolving from very accessible to more curated and maybe exclusive, and it's bringing up so many things for me because I am such the person to be like, invite everybody, like everyone's welcome.
And I like allowing people to come who want to and want to be a part of whatever we're creating. But at the same time, it is so overwhelming on the team and our systems, and it's also not always creating the enriched environment for like our VIP people that I want them to be having and honoring as well.
Like it's, I feel I'm in that place where I'm like, okay, like if I was coaching myself, I would also be saying like, no, no, go more, go more limited, go more exclusive because It's a deeper, richer connection, but it's so like, I'm grieving a little bit walking away from regularly open door activities that we're doing.
Is that a topic that you guys discuss a lot between, especially your availability, like everyone loves seeing you guys. And you, I believe, are moms and married and have a whole other life that's not this business that you also have to be maintaining. So, like, how does that fit into what you guys are talking about on a regular basis for your business?
I'm like, were you in our meeting yesterday?
Like, how did you know? You wanna? I mean, it's something that we're, it's something that we, The same as you, we kind of are dealing with head on every day, trying to figure out how we can manage all of the event inquiries, how we, how we can manage all of our time.
The best as possible and make sure that whatever we're hosting or providing for our clients is to our standard, which we really do consider you know, our goal, we feel like we have a really high standard for events and event execution.
So if we feel like we really can't do an event to. You know, our standards and we won't take it on.
But with that being said, it's it is just a constant battle of time, just time management to figure out what we can do. But at the end of the day, we've really realized that You know, our clients are only going to get what we bring to the table. And if we're spread too thin, and if we don't provide an event that's up to, to, up to, up to our standards, everybody's going to be disappointed.
So we've really just worked on trying to kind of structuralize. our events and everything that we're providing for our customers.
Well, I want to go back to eight year old you. Would your eight year old versions imagine that this is the life you have today?
I'm trying to, I mean, eight year old me, I'm trying to figure out.
Eight year old me, I had probably braces and I had a lot of issues. That was an awkward phase, I think. Yeah.
I don't know. I think that personally, I've I was always interested in particularly food and cooking. So whether that was eight or 10 or 12, whenever I kind of felt like I wanted to possibly get into that world.
I think yeah, I think I, I think I, from a pretty early age, love to cook was always in the kitchen with my mom. So I would say I figured that I would, you know, get into the world of food, maybe not wine at that point, but get into the world of food, whether that be chef or writing about food or whatever it was.
Food has definitely always been, and cooking has always been a passion of mine.
When did you guys discover your passion? Because I see it paralleled in your story between traveling and wine. Like it was like the two of you plus traveling plus wine and like, here we are today. So like, what was that origin story and when was the aha moment of we should team up on this?
Well, we met in college. I was gonna say when you were saying that I feel like I mean, we like to have fun. So that's really why we started when I think about it, like I'm laughing, just thinking because there's certainly like many of the days that we have are, I wouldn't define as like fun per se. But, it definitely started because we love to have fun together and our friendship is built on food and wine. And we just instantly connected. I'm from Wisconsin. Margaux is from Pasadena. So when we met in college, like for me personally it was like an instant connection because I was trying to find like my group.
And I knew at that point, like I loved to cook and it was like my thing and Margaux did too. And so I'm like, I want to like throw dinner parties. And so we just bonded over that. And since that, it's just always been, I think, the most fun I have is in the kitchen, right? And that is rooted in, I think, our story, to your point, because it's never, it never was about, like, drinking wine to get drunk or drinking to drink.
It was always just, like, I grew up in a household where my parents always had wine with dinner. You know, and again, like they were just, it was that cultural kind of aspect. And so we talk about that a lot, you know, within our marketing and our messaging and trying to, I think definitely like right now there's a lot of like, which to each their own, but there is a lot of that, you know, I've stopped drinking or sober or whatever it might be.
And like, that's great. But it is a challenge for me who handles the marketing to try and like navigate that messaging that I think people are getting like. inundated with, that alcohol is bad, it's poison, wine is bad for you.
It really did start in college and I remember you know, junior and senior year of college.
We started having business meetings, so we would call it and we would go to a restaurant, one of our favorite restaurants in Tucson and have wine and good food and chat about really what we felt like was missing in the food and wine world. So we spent You know, the later half of our college years kind of just brainstorming and just having fun with it.
And like Artie was saying, it was.
The company really started through friendship. Mean, the best part of starting a company is dreaming up what
the company is going to be. Talking about it. But then once we actually graduated and we decided to go to culinary school and You know, go through this only a program.
It's again that the business really started from something that we felt like wasn't wasn't out there and accessible for the everyday person. So we felt like, you know, in order to access the knowledge of a sommelier or a wine expert, you had to go to a very expensive restaurant, sit down at a table and this and that.
Somalia would come up and approach you and it would be intimidating. And you didn't know how to read the wine list. You didn't know how to articulate your palate or what you're looking for. And you didn't really get much out of that experience except for intimidation, intimidation, and then possibly a bottle that is way overpriced that you didn't really sign up for.
So we, you know, we felt like, how can we provide an experience that's casual and approachable for the everyday person? By coming into their home with a bag of wine, pouring the wines and, you know, laying it all out on the table and having them be able to access the knowledge of a sommelier without.
Without the intimidation of, you know, a very expensive, what we call, like, pinky up restaurant. So, it started through friendship and really developed, you know, out of us just being in the food and wine world and feeling like there was, there was something missing.
Well, and I also think a glaring piece that's been, you know, It's been changing, but it's still missing on a percentage scale is women in these spaces and young women in these spaces.
Obviously, of course, there's female sommeliers, there's female winemakers, but it's still a small percentage of the global. People participating and for you guys to be young, ambitious women who are crossing those barriers and making a bridge between an everyday consumer who wants to be more informed and the pinky up, you know, other space, were you facing a lot of resistance or there are people telling you like this is a dumb idea?
Don't bother. Like what? How are you being intimidated going into this and having to what were you fighting against to start this company?
I feel like more we've been asked that question before, for sure, just being females in the business, but. I think it's more like just in general, like women in business, because I think if anything, the how I felt it was more just like our youth because we started the company, like we made our first business card when we were like 23 or 24.
So we were just really young. And I think that honestly, that was to our advantage because we were naive and we're just like, what could go wrong? You know? But I think that if I look back on any kind of like resistance we got or, you know, if I ever felt stupid or I didn't know what I was doing, like I got that because I think people, yes, probably like, okay, we were female, but also we were just like really young.
And they're like, oh my gosh, you have no idea what you're doing, especially entering the wine world and like being an alcohol with just all the red tape from a compliance perspective. And like just so many nuances to this business that still present challenges for us today. But again, like ignorance is bliss, and I don't know, like, if we had been dealt like a paper to read on, like, all of the issues that we would come across by entering this industry, like, I, we probably would have been like, no, why would we choose to do that?
You know, but, We've taken them as they've come at us and, you know, learned a lot along the way. And I think what I'm most proud of is that like, we definitely are a name in the industry now. Yeah. Oh, it's like, here we are, you know?
Yeah. I think that also something that Arda and I both have in common is a little bit of this if somebody says you shouldn't do that, or that's a bad idea, or you don't really know what you're getting into, it kind of lights a little bit of a fire under our butt, so we kind of want to prove them wrong.
So, I mean, I will say, like, the amount of times that we were told, like, oh, you really shouldn't do that, you really shouldn't get into that, or whatever it was And we just went ahead and did it. I mean, it's still happening. I think we had a conversation with someone about a potential new avenue and, you know, it was like, I, I wouldn't do that for you.
I don't know why you would do that. So we kind of have, the company has kind of turned into many different directions again, like I said, through just listening to our clients and trying to provide what they're asking for. And making it work however we can no matter the, the advice that we're maybe getting from other people in the industry who are older and more experienced.
Nothing makes me more satisfied than proving someone wrong about an idea. Like when you, when you can see it, you're like, no, I can see it. I can see how this would work. I can see the clients using it. It just becomes a, like, I joke that every business I've ever done was either because. The response was that sounds awesome, or it was that's dumb.
Why is it that way? It's one of the two extremes and I don't know if it is our generation. I don't know if it's what Level of anything is possible delusion. We were fed I think I don't know what it is, but it's like if we can do it, why wouldn't we? And I really hear from you guys what I feel about myself is like, it being hard isn't a reason not to do it, especially once we figure it out, the other side is going to be so much more rewarding.
And just the fact that we can actually make it possible when you said we couldn't, now we're really going to make sure we do it.
Yeah. And like, you learn so much along the way, you know, like I think success isn't necessarily built on a ton of successes. It's built on a bunch of failure, you know, and like, and challenges and, and doing something and you're like, Oh, I, you know, you have no idea how to do it, but you do figure it out, you know?
And so yeah, we're certainly proud of that. And like I said, there's still many challenges that present themselves today, just being in this industry, but. I think like, I feel like we've just, we've learned like so much across many different aspects of just having a company in general, but also just like industry that we're in.
When I think how you guys are choosing your winemakers. is so aligned with what so many women in my circle care about. Like, what's the actual story behind the land? Like, what's the story behind the company making it, the people making it? There's so much romance to talk about in every bottle that you guys have.
Is there a particular maker or piece of land that you just cannot get enough of and are obsessed with yourselves right now?
So Margaux buys all the wine for the company. So I'll let her answer that first. ,
I mean, I'm constantly like just in awe of the producers that we work with and their ability to create incredible wine and do it right, which is really hard work.
Most of them, you know, are hand harvesting. It's all organic, so that means they have to be like in the vines every single day checking for, whatever. I mean, it could be past, it could be disease, it could be whatever, but they're really putting in the work to create an incredible wine. I think off the top of my head, a winemaker that I really respect and we've worked with for a long time is Ernst Storm, who's South African, but he's currently living in Santa Barbara and making wine.
He's a wealth of and he's someone that I always try and ask winemakers. You know, besides the wine, besides your own wine, like what other wines in your region or in your valley are you drinking? And for the Valley, his name is always one or two. So he's very well respected by other winemakers and his peers, which I think is important.
And he's just, he's creating amazing wine, but he's also, he's super particular in terms of the vineyards that he works with and his winery and the process. So he is definitely choosing quality over quantity and making sure that every bottle is something that he wants to drink and that he wants to serve at his table.
So he's a winemaker I love and respect. And then in terms of just general regions that I'm excited about I love wines from volcanic wine regions. So I'm loving wines from Sicily. Now the reds and the whites equally are incredible. Great bang for your buck. And yeah, I think Southern Italian whites this year have just been really fun for me, but Sicily, Sicily specifically, I think is, is providing some really fun wines. Yeah.
Yeah. I would agree. I was just going to say Sicily myself, because I, My long and short answer is just that, you know, I feel like Margauxt does a really good job at, we always talk about trying to source wines that are, you know, have a sense of place. And when you're tasting them, like you cannot recreate them anywhere else in the world.
You know, Chablis is a great example of that, but certainly the wines coming from Sicily. So I think that, you know, I just would have to second that the Italian whites coming from those areas, I think are super food friendly. But I love Etna Rosa.
I was part of your Summer Rosé series that you did, and I loved it.
First, I loved that, and we can cut this out if this is not appropriate, but I loved that they would show up at my door. And I didn't have to sign for them because the number of times that I am chasing wine through UPS because they can't leave it at my house and I'm not here makes me crazy. So the hand delivery and it just being at my door was so refreshing.
But mostly like, I love the, your, It felt like you guys were with me with every bottle I was drinking. There was the QR code. We could learn more about it. It was just really, it felt like I was drinking with a friend that was imaginary, but was telling me all the things that I needed to know. And then I could tell who I was sharing the bottle of wine with.
It made it feel really intimate and special. And you guys weren't here. You done all that work in advance.
Well, thank you for saying that. I feel like we, that is exactly what we hoped for. And like any of the creative that we put into the packages, but the QR code is huge, right? So then you're reading that kind of product page description.
And we certainly, you know, we, we get, Thankfully, that kind of great feedback, but the way that you just put it, I'm like, that's exactly what I hope for that. I hope that people feel that's a challenge. You know, it's like, again, we started the company trying to be accessible in terms of our knowledge and expertise when it comes to wine and those who want to learn about it.
But it's challenging when you're like, we don't have a brick and mortar. You can't walk in here and always like, well, you could walk in here and just like talk to us, but we're not seeing people as frequently as you would in actual like retail setting. So it is a challenge to think about. Everything from our packaging to what, you know, a little postcard we choose to put inside to how we're writing and creating the product descriptions.
So that's just, I thank you for saying that because that means a lot.
Yeah, I feel like we are. Providing wines that kind of are off the beaten path. So things that aren't in the grocery store. So it is something that we feel I'm always excited about the wines that we bring on, and I'm always excited to talk to people about them and the fun facts, whether it be about the producer or the region or the grape or whatever it is.
But yeah, it is hard when you're not with them in person to try and get that. So we just try to do that as best we can. Really so that whoever it is, if they're opening up at home or if they're taking it to a dinner party, they kind of have the quick facts to explain to somebody else, you know, again, it's not something that's not like a Rombauer or something people have seen.
So we try and we try and provide those. those fun facts for them to be able to communicate to their friends or their family or whoever they're sharing the bottle with.
Well, and even when you do go to a wine store and they're telling you all about it, by the time you get home and you're drinking it, you're like, I think this is from South Africa.
I don't remember anything else now. So having it actually there when you were drinking it was so different because you could. Yeah. beyond the label, you could be tasting the different notes. Like it just made it so much more interactive. And I honestly think we were looking at that example of what you guys have been doing for my business about how can, when we send out a guide or a spreadsheet, what can we be doing where people can do it on their own and feel like I'm talking to them?
Yeah. It was so good that my team and I started talking about like, okay, what would that look like in our business? And cause it's so, that's the scalability component that you were kind of mentioning before of, What do we have to do so that the experience feels the same, even when we're not present?
Because that's the magic wand opportunity.
How much of it are you, how proud are you that you get to introduce people to these amazing wines that you find?
So fun. Yeah. It's the best part of the job, I think. For me personally, I love I love talking about new wines and I'm finding when I get super excited about a new wine. I mean, I just, I want to drink it, but I also want to like share it with people and I want to want to show them.
I mean, we, what we call is like hidden gems, but I want to show them these wines that are, you know, You know, grapes that are grown across the street from the Grand Cru vineyard or the neighbor, or whatever it is, and it's the same soil, it's the same climate, it's the same grape, but it's a quarter of the price, and it's just as good.
Or a new grape that I hadn't heard of before that is a cross between like Pinot and it's super food friendly, and, you know, I can't wait for people to try it. So I think, you know, these, this focus on kind of small production and hidden gems from around the world is, is what makes my job super fun and what I get the most excited about sharing with people.
And I think it comes like full circle, like back to your question about like traveling, you know, and Like that is what we're trying to do is like transport you and to these like lesser known Underrated regions that you know, it's like you know sans serre but how about like the little village outside of sans serre that's making even better so it's like Sauvignon Blanc and I think that that's what's really special about like we always we have to talk to our the team when we're in front of people about being like we're storytellers and like We are here to entertain and to get people excited and like And to share the story of these, these farmers, I mean, I think that that's also like a missing, you know, this kind of like bridge between the consumer that, you know, maybe this more like mass produced commercialized product.
And then like these more artisan small batch wines, like, I think that sometimes there's this veil over the consumer's eyes where we forget that these people are like, Like your wine tasting in Europe, you're knocking on like their kitchen door and you're like, yeah, is anybody there? It's not like Napa where it's this beautiful tasting room.
If you're 25 minutes late to your appointment, you can't come in, you know, it's all about hospitality. And so, you know, to Margaux's point, that's definitely the most fun part is just like sharing. these new wines with our consumers. And we always talk about how it's, it's about discovery, you know, and so that's why with the wine club, it's like, you're going to taste six new wines every three months.
Now...
like, if you like something, you can reorder it. But the beauty of it is that you're going to just discover, you know, six new wines every quarter. And that's really fun.
My as a consumer, my ideas, I have of things that I would love from you guys. Feel free to throw them all out and say they're dumb ideas or too much But I would love some sort of like passport or app like somewhere I'm tracking all this stuff because I feel like i'm getting so much knowledge from you guys And if I get rid of the bottle i'm like the qr code's gone.
Where do I find it again? but also even be able to have some sort of passport book or something where i'm Like, I loved that one. Oh, that, oh, that's related to that one. There's so much. It almost becomes an educational platform and not even a wine platform after a while. Cause even a friend of mine, who's an artist and a client, he's building this lineage of all the artists and who mentored who, and you don't realize what these mentorship relationships are and apprenticeships, and that exists in the wine world as well.
And where the. you know, the winemakers are moving from and different. So it's so interesting to see the intimacy of where everyone's related to. And they're always bringing that like going from South Africa to Santa Barbara, you're bringing that with you. So how is it influencing the winemaking there? I just think it's, it's so fascinating that part of passport.
Yeah.
Yes. And hopefully it's something that you guys can make once and never have to make again. Yeah. But that's, that's been on my list because I don't remember all the wines that I drank this summer and they were all good. I think there was one that wasn't my favorite, but yeah. Okay. One out of 14 bottles or whatever it was.
Yeah. But I'm like, I can remember some of the labels and I'm like, I should have taken photos. I should have taken notes. So that was my miss for this summer.
Yes, that's a great point, though, because I feel like that's probably we hear that a lot where it's just like, I don't, you know, I love one of these wines, but I just don't remember what it was or what it was called or, you know, and we can sit there in the text trying to send them photos of the label, but it would be way more efficient if they were just able to keep track of it in a nice way.
Yeah, even like an artist and they'll have like their past collections. And you're like, Oh, these are, you at least be able to go and see him like that was the one. Yeah. But I do want to come back to the California sober conversation.
Yes.
Cause I do think this is a really interesting time. I'm glad that people are choosing health in general.
I'm glad that it's, it's a lot of work right now. Cause there's so many supplements and like what to eat and what not to eat, what to drink, what not to drink. It's exhausting. I've never thought that I've had a bad relationship with food until now because of that. Yeah. And it's like, I feel overwhelmed about, am I allowed to have this?
Am I, and who's deciding and what do I think? It's very convoluted right now for me. I am someone who is like never really been a big drinker anyway. I grew up in a essentially straight edge house. My parents have never drank. It was just never in their mindset, but I've also lived in Europe and I have a very European approach to a lot of daily activity things, which I also love about your brand.
Like I really feel a California European hybrid in your entire business that I think relates to myself and so many other women I know in particular. But I do think it's an interesting conversation because we are, we are so quick to villainize and cancel a food or beverage at any one time. And wine is one that always keeps coming around.
It's in the blue zone list, especially red wine. What are your personal opinions about it first? Let's just start there. What are you personally think about what's happening to pour wine right now?
God, I feel like I have so many. Yeah. I think that it's exactly what you were just saying in terms of things being villainized and it being a very just like wine as wine as a, or alcohol really just like as a group is just it's bad for you.
There's nothing good about it, whatever it is. And it's like, very, it can be very narrow minded. We've always said, you know, people should be looking at their food. The same way that they look at their wine or their beverages. So if you're buying only organic, or if you're buying, you care about like quality ingredients with your food, well, you should care about quality ingredients with your beverages as well, especially wine, because it's an agricultural product.
So mass produced wines, there are. A lot of additives outside of alcohol itself. There's a lot of different additives that can be put into a wine that make it incredibly unhealthy. But the wines that we represent do not have those things. And it is. I would say the main focus just for us is that small production.
You know, sustainably farmed family owned really keeps the wines at a level of quality that we want to drink ourselves. We want to pour ourselves. And it's a very different category than, than mass produced wines. With that being said, it's all about, you know, if you're going to have four bottles of wine a night, yeah, that's not great for you.
It's not great for anybody. And, you know, we're not saying that, that, that it is, but if having a glass of wine with dinner at the end of the day. It's something that you enjoy and it's something that brings you happiness and lowers your level of stress like that is good for you in terms of your overall well being, whether that be like your intellectual health or your social health or whatever it is.
So I truly for me, you know, it's all subjective, so it's every, every individual is different. But for me, it's important to be drinking wine. That is that I know is sustainably farmed whether that be organic regenerative, biodynamic, or just sustainable. And for me at the end of the day, I think it's very important for my health, for my social health and intellectual health to come home from the day, unwind, put my phone away, have a glass of wine and start cooking.
And that's what I love. And I think that that's good for me. I think that there's a lot of I think people are way too stressed about all of the different things that are going on, all the different information that you're being fed about all the different supplements and powders and yeah, whatever it is.
So I don't really know if I answered your question, but I just think that there's there is a lot of noise out there. It's really hard to navigate.
Yeah,
but I think, you know, aside from just X, you know, something you really have to think about yourself and you're, you know, managing your own stress and your own body and your own mind and understanding, like, obviously everything in moderation, but like, what is going to make you happy and if it's in moderation in a healthy way, you know, a glass of wine is for me, right?
Absolutely. healthy for my mind and my soul. Yeah, I think that's important.
I know. I mean, education is like so important to what we do, which we've talked about, you know, the tastings and things like that and the QR code and like all of that. And I think like the more that I'm in this industry and that we're running this company now, like, It is, it's like so much bigger than wine.
Wine as a beverage to Margaux's point, it's an agricultural product, but it's also like, it's history. Yes. It has been around forever, like actually, and it's history, it's art, it's culture. And so I think there's just like, it's just like a different mindset. And I get where people are coming from when it's like. I mean, I don't really get when I hear like the Instagram reels about, you know, it's poison and whatever. It's like, okay, you know, just not true. But it's just like, we're on different pages, you know? So I think that that is a goal of ours in our messaging and what we're trying to create. And like I said, with the membership program and discovering these new products, like she's choosing products that yes, they check certain boxes in terms of like production and responsible farming and like things like that.
But at the end of the day, we're also choosing wines that teach us something new about the world, you know, whether it's the family history or the farming practices or, you know, a recipe that pairs with the wine, you know, it's just, it's so much more than just the wine itself. And so that's where my perspective is.
It's like, again, I grew up in a household that it was a cultural thing. It was like, you had a glass of wine with dinner. And so that's just the perspective there. But as I've been a part of the industry, like more than ever, I, It's just not even about like even drinking the wine, it's like finding the wine and sourcing it and just being like, look what I found. This is so cool. It's so different, you know, so yeah, I mean, there's a lot more we could say, but
I actually think this is a great segue into asking you guys, how do you define powerful and the word ladies and do their definitions change when those words are next to each other?
A good question. I would say I would define powerful as you know, the things that come to mind is like feeling like you have autonomy to make decisions.
I think I certainly have days where I don't feel powerful and where I'm like, I can't make it a decision for like the life of me, whether it's what shirt I'm going to wear or, you know, what the budget should be for. But I feel like I feel the most powerful when I just feel confident in my own decisions, you know, and whether it's just a gut feeling or I have the data to back it, you know, it's kind of a balance between those two as well.
But that's probably how I would define it.
Yeah, I, I think this is currently because I was just talking to two clients, but I think, you know, powerful and powerful ladies together. Is I'm putting that like in tangent with like, inspiring other people to make a move. I just, we have clients that recently I was with them this past weekend and they said that they came into our space and they, it made them like pull the trigger on finally opening up this boutique shop that they've been wanting to do.
And, and they felt really inspired when they left. And I feel like that's really powerful. Like we helped. And not helped, but we just they wanted to do something. They felt inspired when they came here and that made a huge impact for me because we've been doing this for 10 years, almost 10 years, 10 years coming up in February.
And it's really, it felt really. powerful and in such a positive way to feel like we had some sort of impact on them to make the move and doing something that they have always wanted to do and that they love.
Part of my entire coaching business and philosophy is that When people are in alignment, earning a living with things they're passionate about, it not just changes their life.
It really does change the world in some level. There's so many people earning a living in things that are sucking their soul. And I also know that we're really good as business owners of creating businesses that become prisons as well. So it's like managing that process, but we at least have the choices, right?
To be like, hold on. If this is sucking our soul, why are we doing it? Like maybe we delegate it, maybe we outsource it. Like how do we reposition what we're doing in our own business to stay in that lane of inspiration and our zone of genius. But there's so many incredible things that every one of us cares about and is passionate about.
And you can earn a living doing absolutely anything. It's, you know, my favorite stories tend to be with dogs, so they sound the most ridiculous, but there's someone who has a six figure business doing dog birthday parties. Yeah.
Very specific. Yeah.
Right. Like, you're so specific. And then there's someone else I saw recently who, their whole business is dog and cat furniture building.
Wow. I know.
Okay. Yeah. So like there truly is a market for anyone there. There are consumers for every niche that we want to have. So I guess. So my question here is just like how has listening to yourselves. And chasing after the idea, like, how has it changed how you view yourselves?
I think it might be time to open a bottle of wine.
The question was, has it changed our view of ourselves as like, yeah, I'm just gonna say the first thing that came to my mind, which I don't like love the answer, but I'm just gonna say, I, Margaux's gonna laugh when I say this, I have always been a very confident person. And very much like, you know, go get her, we're going to do this and whatever.
And I think that having this company has certainly grounded me. And I think it's when I said that it's not, I don't love the answer. It's more just like, I do battle with like my own, like I know myself and I know that I have like that confidence to get things done and to like be the cheerleader and get the team on like the same page, but like, it's hard.
You know, it's like really hard and like a daily basis to like manage your own inner dialogue and then like show up for the team and be like, here's the plan for 2025, you know? Yes, when I do it, it's what gives me fuel and it like excites me. So that's like the really positive thing. But I think what I've learned is just like, it is difficult to manage that.
And Even if you're doing something that you love, you know, I don't know if this was a client who said this or if it's like a, like a common quote, but it's like, people always say, you know, do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life. And it's like, what? It's like, yeah, exact opposite.
Do what you love. And you are going to be, like you said, locked in a prison. I mean, yeah. So I don't really know how to articulate that better, but I think it's more just yeah, it's, it's,
I don't know. What would you say? I don't know if it's like for how I view myself. Or if it's just like what it's necessarily like helped me almost like develop like serious problem solving and critical thinking, which I think is so crucial when you're running your own company.
You know, and I think not. Being able to be very like solution minded is something that I think in running the, you know, running this. business for 10 years we've had to do but something that's really developed, you know, significantly over the last 10 years. And, and it's something that Is how I think I approach life now.
So it's something that's not just like a skill to have, but definitely a way that I approach life. So I think just in terms of like internal growth, since I started the company, I don't know if it's how I look at myself or review myself now, but it's definitely, there've been a few things that my perspective on how I approach life has changed, I think due to.
Just the development of the company and living in it day to day. Yeah.
Well, we also ask everyone in the podcast where you put yourself on the powerful ladies scale. If zero is the average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself today and on an average day?
Oh, geez. That's, I mean, that is hard to,
well, we're both moms now, so it's like we got that added to our plate too, where we're like, okay, well, one. is a priority. They both can't be number one priority. You would say if I'm shooting for a five, then it's a good day.
I was, I mean, I thought it was five too. I mean, I think, yeah, we're doing the best we can, but being a mom managing a company and also, you know, your personal relationships and all of that is definitely a work in progress. I don't think I'll ever nail it.
But that's also, you know, to make it a positive thing. I think that's also kind of like the, the, the beauty of it is it's like you, I think that's what I love about business and having our own company is that you are constantly trying to be better at, you know, your individual role and how you approach problems.
And like I was saying, you know, like my whole confidence issue but I think just, you're learning about yourself in ways that you would never learn about yourself. If you weren't managing it on your own and having to figure it out on your own, you know, there's no easy, no one's coming to like, save you.
You know, I think that that what is what really gets me like going is when you just really sit down and you're like, no one's coming. Like, no one's going to come and be like, here you go. Like, here's the answer. But that's, what's so exciting is like, we have to figure it out and we're going to, you know, So it's like a tent.
Yeah, perfect. Perfect. I was talking to a friend and realize I'm like, I think I'm a masochist. Every, every way I named my company, every program we release, like my company is called powerful ladies. There are so many days I wake up and I'm like, fuck that. I do not want to be powerful today. Then we have a program called the have it all method.
Part of it, like, it is knowing, like, we say no to a lot to have what we really want, like, that's part of the, and just not tolerating the dumb stuff, like, I don't want to not like my team or not be communicating or, like, nope, we're, nope, we're leveling up, like, we're just not going to, but having it all is like a whole other standard of, and like, now I need to walk this walk, and I, you can't walk it every day, like, You guys know, like your one minute, like your kids are having a meltdown and oh, and by the way, the internet went out at the office and you're like, why it, it is inevitable.
Like I tell my clients, I do not get back to in 24 or 48 hours because inevitably you will all have a fire drill at the same time in one hour, probably while I'm recording the podcast. So there'll be a cue and we'll go through it top to bottom. And then the other one is a ridiculous and extraordinary life and just the ridiculous part is easier to manage because I think if you have your own business, ridiculous things just happen anyway.
But extraordinary, like it caused me to end an eight year relationship. I was in a mastermind with like all guys talking about extraordinary. And I was like, Oh, I don't have an extraordinary relationship. What do I do about that? And I was like, Ooh, so I have somehow built this whole space where I'm challenging myself, let alone the people I'm helping.
And I'm like, can we pick softer names going forward? Like what are things that I can guarantee we're going to do? Like the horizontal life. Yes, we can do that one. Yes. So I just, I really relate to like running so much faster than we can build things sometimes and getting to the end and. Someone asked me the other day, when you have extra money, where do you go?
And I'm like, oh, I'm like, should we upgrade the website? And I'm like, where do you go? They're like, we should go shopping. And I'm like, oh, my brain just doesn't work that way. It's always, what else can we create and what else can we expand? And I'm like, maybe I need to take that to a therapist because maybe that's not a healthy, long term approach.
Yeah. Yeah, it's an ongoing battle.
Well, for everybody who wants to get wine from you, do events with you, support you, etc. Where can they find and follow you?
Arguaux. com, A R G A U X, which is a combination of our names. Lightbulb. But Arguaux. com is where all the wines are online. So you can buy a bottle of wine. You don't have to be a member. But I will say that in terms of like what is next for us, The membership is certainly a priority. It's where we put a lot of our time and energy into. If you're someone who wants to discover these small batch artists and wines from around the world, like we were talking about, I certainly suggest joining the club. And then, what was the other question? Instagram, Arguaux. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, great. And then the last question I have for you guys today this is a big powerful group who loves to help and support each other. What is on your wishlist to manifest list? How can we help?
Wishlist manifest list.
I would say We've been big this year about like for exactly what you just asked us, like just asking for referrals, right?
So when I say that, I mean, you know, if you've got a friend that you think we should meet, whether it's there a potential wine club member, or they work at a company that sends wine gifts over the holidays, or they do client entertaining events or whatever it might be like anyone in that regard, like Our doors are open.
We love to host like those really small intimate tastings just to get to like know them. And to get to know you too. So I would say that, you know, we're always, always have wine chilling and just to meet a new face. Again, build that relationship in a really organic way is Right for us.
Amazing.
Well, thank you guys so much for being a yes.. I know how busy you are, especially this time of year. And also just thank you for making what you've made. Like when I came to that tasting, I was so inspired by what you're doing, how you're doing it, who you're attracting into your community because of who you guys are and how you're running the business.
So thank you for creating a space that Felt like I fit in and could not just like have fun and enjoy good wine, but Check so many boxes. I care about like learning new things meeting new people having it just be quality Yeah, you hit so many of the core values that I try to have in all my places. So thank you for that That's great.
Thank you for the kind words and what a great conversation. That was really fun.
Now. I'm feeling like a 10.
Yeah Thank you All. The links to connect with Arden, Margaux and Arguaux are in our show notes at thepowerfulladies. com. Please subscribe wherever you're listening and share this podcast with a friend. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and you can connect directly with me at karaDuffy. com or Kara underscore Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Website: argaux.com
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
