Ep. 8: How Troy Trewin Scaled an Online Course for Distilleries by 500% in Less Than Two Years

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Growing up, Troy Trewin always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He witnessed the successes as well as the struggles of his family’s business, so he had a leg up on what it took to grow and scale a company. So, after three years of working for one of the world’s top accounting firms, he started two internet companies.

When he realized he grew weary of running service-based businesses, Troy decided to shift into managing product-based businesses.

The product of choice?

Whisky!

It was 2011 and over the next decade, his involvement in the distillery business included everything from helping a friend start a distillery from the ground up to functioning as CEO over distilleries to serving on the boards of many other distilleries. When a friend mentioned having trouble scaling a Whisky Academy business in 2019, Troy suggested she change the business model from in-person to online.

The timing could not have been more perfect – he along with two others joined forces with his friend in a partnership that started The Distillers Institute. In this scale tale, Troy details how they set an operational foundation that enabled them to legalize their partnership, build an online course, and launch it in only 9 months…during a pandemic!

Discover how they scaled from 60 students to 400 in less than two years, as well as the people, processes, and tools they leveraged to achieve this scale, and their plans for expanding across the world!

Episode Info

Special Guest: Troy Trewin, Founder of Grow A Small Business

Location: Tasmania, AUSTRALIA

Air Date: October 13, 2024

Credits

Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
Audio Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
Sound Design: Sabor! Music Enterprises
Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
Show notes: Erika Ve Revilla
Sponsor: Equilibria, Inc.

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Bios

More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc.. Her career in operations began over 25 years ago while working in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. She is the producer of the weekly top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 70+ countries.

Alicia is also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and serves as the USA Chair of the G100’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Process Excellence Network recognized her as a Top 50 Thought Leader in Operational Excellence. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s designed and optimized processes for small businesses, large enterprises, non-profits, and government organizations alike.

More About Sponsor, Equilibria:
Equilibria, Inc. is an 19-year-old boutique operations management firm. We build the business infrastructure necessary for fast-growing businesses to scale with less pain. With a range of services and products, entrepreneurs can get the operational support and resources they need on demand.