Latest news with #wineclub
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
How To Build Your Dream Life With AI
How to build your dream life with AI Living your dream life is more possible than ever before. You can be anyone you want to be, live wherever you want, set up the career that uses your superpowers and spend your time doing work that fills you up and hobbies you enjoy. The robots can handle the rest. Award-winning entrepreneur Ngozi Elobuike knows this firsthand. The global AI strategist and founder transformed a moment of rock bottom (sleeping on her sister's couch) into a multi-country venture powered by AI. Now living across three countries (U.S., Ireland, and France) and pursuing her third master's degree, Ngozi has built Ireland's first black-led wine club, launched two premium beverage products, written an AI-powered travel book, and taught over 500 creatives how to use AI to unlock their potential. In her recent TEDx talk, that has already had over 200,000 views, Ngozi explains how to use today's tools to create a better tomorrow. Most people stay stuck in lives they don't love because they think transformation takes years. They believe dream lives belong to other people. The lucky ones with connections, money, or special talents. But AI has demolished those barriers. When you give repetitive tasks to technology, you create space for what matters. Time to explore. Time to build. Time to become who you're meant to be. I sold my social media agency in 2021 and used AI to build my next business. I learned to delegate everything that wasn't uniquely human to AI. I focus on doing the work I love: writing for Forbes, competing internationally in powerlifting, and living as a digital nomad across 35 cities. The tools exist. The opportunity is here. You just need to start using them strategically instead of playing around. Stop treating ChatGPT like a toy and start building systems that free your time and amplify your strengths. "What does a scientist do? They think about life as an experiment," says Elobuike. "You have dependent variables and you have independent variables. You have things that you can control in your settings." She calls AI an independent variable with the power to transform outcomes. "It actually has the ability to act as an enzyme. It has the ability to lower the activation energy needed to complete a task." Start by auditing where your time actually goes. Track your days for a week. Note what drains you versus what energizes you. Identify the repetitive tasks eating your hours. Those are your first targets for AI automation. Use tools like Claude for writing, Zapier for workflows, or Perplexity for research. Each task you delegate creates space for activities that require your unique perspective and creativity. Most people use AI for basic tasks when they could be accessing wisdom. "In the absence of an advisory board that has the ability to advise you on your business or the next step, how does AI slot in?" Elobuike asks. "Instead of asking your friend who may be a naysayer, 'hey, I'm thinking about starting this new idea venture', consider asking AI." Create specialized AI advisors for different areas of your dream life. One for business strategy. Another for creative projects. A third for personal development. Give each specific context about your goals and challenges. "Prompt ChatGPT and say, I have an idea for X. Give me advice as if you were Oprah," suggests Elobuike. "This allows you to gain insight on things that you typically wouldn't have access to." Most people never start because they think they need the perfect plan. But Elobuike advocates thinking like a consultant: "What consulting teaches you is to think about life as an experiment, but to think along the lines of ROI, return on investment, MVP, minimally viable product, and USP, unique selling point." You don't need to quit your job tomorrow. Start with micro-experiments. Want to write? Use AI to help you publish one article. Dream of starting a business? Let AI help you validate your idea with market research. "If you want to test whether or not your audience will be interested in a new wine that you're presenting to them, the first step is not to create a wine," Elobuike explains. "The first step is to make a product mockup to see if the design that you've envisioned is something that your audience has an appetite for." The numbers tell an interesting story. Around 32% of adults believe AI will benefit them, with younger adults and degree holders leading the optimism. Meanwhile, 36% remain sceptical, particularly women and older adults. This gap creates opportunity. While others debate whether AI is good or bad, you can be building. Their hesitation is your head start. Use AI to maximize your natural talents while sceptics argue about hypotheticals. By the time they catch up, you'll have built the life they're still dreaming about. "Growth hacking is what startup entrepreneurs created as a term back in 2010," notes Elobuike. "What is growth hacking? Imagine if you got not 1% better every day, but 10% better every day." You don't do this by becoming a robot. You do this by making intentional improvement in areas that matter to you. Pick one aspect of your dream life. Maybe it's your morning routine, your creative output, or your business systems. Use AI to analyze what's working and what isn't. Test variations. Track results. "If you think about a system of continuous improvement, you thoroughly analyze each step in your user journey and think about how they can gain greater access to your product or service," Elobuike explains. Apply this thinking to your own life journey. "Sparring is training," Elobuike reminds us. "You will not cut your teeth in your bedroom with your idea on a piece of paper, refusing to take action on it." The dream life you want won't build itself. But with AI as your partner, you can move faster than ever before. Start today. Open ChatGPT and describe your dream life in detail. Ask it to help you identify the first three steps. Use AI to research, plan, and execute. Let it handle the mundane so you can focus on what makes you irreplaceable. Your dream life isn't a fantasy. It's a project waiting for you to begin. Get my best ChatGPT prompts to change your life.
Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How One California Winery Is Reinventing Wine Clubs For Millennials And Gen Z
A growing number of younger consumers are opting out of traditional wine clubs in favor of more flexible, personalized membership models. The traditional wine club—long defined by quarterly shipments, fixed selections and rigid commitment structures—is showing signs of strain. Amid shifting consumer behavior and mounting pressure to adapt, some wineries are beginning to rethink a model that has remained largely unchanged for decades. In El Dorado County, California, a few hours north of Napa Valley, Edio Vineyards has introduced a new approach that challenges the standard template. The winery now offers a monthly, pay-as-you-go membership in which funds accumulate in a customer account that can be used at their discretion—for wine, cider, food or goods from an on-site bakery. Christine Noonan, co-owner and general manager, says the motivation to rethink the system emerged from personal experience. 'Being in the wine industry for a while now, I have felt and learned that the traditional wine club system is a little archaic,' says Noonan, via Zoom. 'It's dated. Consumers don't want to be forced to take certain wines and are more interested in customizing.' Traditional wine clubs continue to serve an aging demographic, with a 2024 study showing that the average member is 59 years old and more than 75% are over the age of 50. Nearly 50% are retired, and about 33% earn more than $400,000 annually. This entrenched model faces increasing pressure as younger consumers—particularly millennials and Gen Z—show limited interest in rigid, quarterly-shipment clubs and instead favor flexible, personalized options. According to the 2024 Silicon Valley Bank Direct-to-Consumer Wine Survey, 19% of wine club members canceled their memberships, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with the conventional structure. Despite this, 40% of wineries do not track member churn, limiting their ability to address retention issues and respond to shifting expectations. Flexibility is at the center of the model. Members pay a monthly fee—starting at $39—which builds over time and never expires. The funds can be redeemed on a timeline that suits the customer. The structure is designed to resemble a digital wallet rather than a subscription. 'We don't like calling it a 'subscription club' because it is so much more than that,' Noonan says. 'The word 'subscription' can be overused, often not even providing you with that much. Subscriptions can also be shady, continuing to charge people without them even realizing it.' Instead, Edio calls it a 'member account.' The goal is to eliminate surprises and remove the pressure to purchase unwanted products. Members can choose when and how to engage. For some, that might mean a single annual visit to restock. For others, it could mean smaller, more frequent visits with the option to use funds on a bottle of cider and a cheese plate. The approach is rooted in a generational shift. With Millennials and Gen Z consumers driving most new membership sign ups, wineries are facing increased demand for personalization and transparency. 'With all of us owners being Millennials, we obviously think a lot about what we would like,' Noonan says. This shift hasn't been without challenges. Moving away from fixed shipments complicates forecasting and inventory management. 'For larger wine brands, it might be hard to know what wines will move,' she says. 'Will you have an inventory issue? Will you find you shouldn't be making a particular SKU now?' Edio's solution is to release wines first to members, adopting a first-come, first-served model. Once a product is gone, it's gone. Communication is key. 'We've had to focus a lot on communication,' Noonan says. 'We frequently reach out to encourage members to make an order once their funds build up.' The model also addresses a longstanding concern for wineries: financial predictability. Even with flexible redemption, Edio still receives a steady monthly income. 'That was my biggest challenge when trying to figure out a new club structure—we need the dependable income,' Noonan says. 'But the beauty of this club structure is that we still get it. It's just monthly now.' So far, the results appear promising. 'The cancellation rate is significantly lower than what our traditional club was, and we are seeing a better retention rate,' she says. 'Our customers love the customization as well as smaller monthly payments instead of larger quarterly charges.' Other wineries are watching the shift with interest, but many are not ready to overhaul their own models. At Romeo Vineyards and Cellars in Napa Valley, general manager Mary Simmons says tradition still holds value. Romeo does allow members to adjust or skip shipments, but the core structure remains fixed. She says the model offers benefits of its own. 'Our members value the consistency and quality of our traditional biannual shipments, which offer a thoughtfully curated selection without overwhelming them with frequent deliveries,' Simmons says. 'This approach allows us to maintain a meaningful connection with our members while ensuring they receive just the right amount of wine at well-timed intervals.' Still, she acknowledges external pressure. 'There is a growing industry trend toward more customizable memberships, particularly among younger wine enthusiasts who appreciate flexibility.' Wayfarer Vineyard, located on the Sonoma Coast, takes a hybrid approach. The winery offers three annual shipments and allows full customization, including alternate selections and access to library wines. 'Why set ourselves up for failure by forcing our members to take a set selection of wines or quit the membership?' says Cleo Pahlmeyer, proprietor and general manager. 'Our club membership receives top priority in all that we do.' For Wayfarer, club tiers are deliberately limited. 'Our entry-level tier membership receives 18 bottles per year and the majority of our bottlings are $100 or over,' Pahlmeyer says. Still, the winery has introduced a second label, WF2, at a lower price point in an effort to reach younger audiences. 'We are finding these wines, with their value proposition and affordable price point, are resonating with younger audiences,' Pahlmeyer says. 'We have clientele who only purchase our WF2 [pinot noir] wines at the moment—but we hope with time they'll engage with the rest of our portfolio.' That long-term vision—creating a lower barrier to entry and building loyalty over time—is shared by Edio. 'A pay-as-you-go structure could serve as a stepping stone for customers who may later transition into a more traditional membership,' Simmons says. Pahlmeyer echoes the importance of deepening customer relationships over time, regardless of the model. 'The goal is to provide a compelling value proposition that also drives deeper engagement with our wines,' she says.
