bCbUSINeSS.CA September 2014 BCBusiness 45
Lauren Mote and Jonathan Chovancek
recently sold their 2008 Honda Element. It
was a bridge-burning moment for the own-
ers of Bittered Sling, a line of flavoured extracts
used in cocktails and recipes. Like many young
entrepreneurs they had launched themselves in one
direction, only to find themselves eventually running an
$5.5 million, they have changed the
way they do business. One employee
will never have that much control
again. "I blamed myself for not hav-
ing systems in place," Joyce says. "So
it became a two-person job. [Employ-
ees handling cash] are directed now
to our controller. It's now a direct
relationship between the controller
and the signing authority. And just
being more organized. If you're only
reviewing it weekly and not daily,
it's easy to get away with. It was an
eye-opener."
Change-Up
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