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Pictured above: The Gnarly Nutrition team in Little Cottonwood Canyon participating in a graffiti cleanup with Salt Lake Climbers Alliance.

Living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountain Range is just one of the perks of doing business in Utah for Eli Kerr, CEO of Gnarly Nutrition. “At Gnarly we want to live life so that work, home, play, and our social lives are all integrated. We love that we live in a community where we can do this,” shares Eli. “Our friends are our customers, they are our brand partners, they are the people we ski and run mountain trails with … this builds great solidarity and connection.”

Gnarly’s Startup Story

Eli Kerr started Gnarly Nutrition for one reason: to make quality natural sports nutrition products that people actually want to eat. Five years ago he set out to do just that, and today Gnarly is an authentic, inspirational, and national brand with a full line of products that help people push boundaries, accomplish goals, and reach their potential.

The company’s slogan is Find Your Gnarly, which is to experience the process of becoming more through a commitment to discover what you’re capable of. But this isn’t so much a tagline as a way of life for the Gnarly team. Eli believes that authenticity builds brands—if his team makes a mistake, they own it, correct it, and seek to be more deliberate moving forward.

Gnarly Nutrition is now a well-established brand and presence in the sports nutrition market, inspiring its customers and sponsored pro athletes to want more, do more, and be more. “We rely on that knowledge with things get tough,” says Eli. “Our team isn’t willing to give up; we have a lot of grit. It’s just the kind of people we are.”

How Gnarly Conquers Financial Challenges

Eli and his co-founders started the company with private funds. “It’s pretty incredible that we have built a solid brand with just an initial couple hundred thousand dollars,” he says. “We have been profitable ever since.”

While Eli and his partners have bootstrapped and been very careful about their growth and expenses along the way, like many product-driven small businesses, cash flow has always been an issue. “The list of challenges we have experienced is exhausting,” shares Eli, who adds that financial challenges have always been at the core of the business’s struggles.

Gnarly Nutrition turned to Lendio for additional lines of credit to ease this cash flow burden and pay for purchase orders of products that haven’t sold yet. “We never use the funds to pay for operating or marketing expenses,” says Eli. “We make sure those are budgeted directly from our revenue.”

Eli’s advice for fellow small business owners? Be persistent, but be careful. Sometimes you’ll be so passionate about an idea you’ll try to convince everyone it’s right when it’s not a good fit for your business. When you hit a barrier as a business owner, get back in the saddle and keep trying. While the entrepreneurial journey may not be the easiest, with persistence it will pay off.

Utah is tied with California at No. 1 on Lendio’s 2018 Top 10 Best States for Small Business Lending. Learn more about why the Beehive and Golden States are such thriving hubs for small business.

A self-proclaimed beer nerd, Jose Quinones of Englewood, Colorado, isn’t just obsessed with finding rare beers and building his cellar collection. He brews his own almost every week. Inspired by the American craft beer movement and his love of homebrewing, Jose decided to turn is hobby into a business.

“After six years in retail and eleven years in the mortgage industry, I wanted to turn the skills I acquired and developed into a business that I owned. Apart from being motivated to work independently and free myself from the endless layers of bureaucracy involved in working for a multinational corporation, I wanted to pursue something I was passionate about,” says Jose.

When he heard the local homebrew supply store, where he picked up occasional shifts, was having financial difficulties and would be closing, he decided to seize the opportunity to take over the space. Jose would leverage the existing customer base, avoiding some of the worst growing pains of opening a new business.

Broadway Brew Supply not only sells equipment and supplies for customers to brew beer, wine, cider, and other fermented beverages at home, but it also offers monthly classes and even private lessons to help homebrewers make beverages at home following tried-and-true practices and techniques.

Jose applied for financing through Lendio where he qualified for business credit lines that allowed him to order merchandise and to be fully stocked ahead of opening.

“[Lendio] offered counseling to maximize my credit profile to ensure I can continue obtaining financing as my business grows. The confidence with which Lendio handled my application was a relief,” shares Jose.

Though he’s been able to lean on his experiences in the corporate world to create a successful business plan and execute it, Jose’s startup journey was not without its risks and challenges. “I am betting on myself,” he says. “The idea that I can help others discover this amazing hobby and make a living doing so is what keeps me going.”

Knowing what he knows now, Jose says his best advice to other entrepreneurs is to have a business plan that is a living document. Take the time to write a thorough, well-researched business plan, but be flexible about changing it as the need becomes apparent; this includes conducting regular reviews and updates. Don’t hesitate to ask for help along the way. Consider consulting resources such as a Small Business Development Center, the Chamber of Commerce, or friends and family who have run their own businesses. And don’t forget to pay yourself; do not hire anyone until you are collecting a paycheck, he says.

Colorado recently ranked No. 8 on Lendio’s 2018 Top 10 Best States for Small Business Lending. Read more about why the Centennial State is such a thriving hub for small business.