When Merrilee Kick invented BuzzBallz in 2009, she was a 47-year-old teacher from Texas who needed to make some money fast. “I was about to get a divorce and was terrified of becoming homeless,” she says. “I was a high-school teacher not making enough money to survive, much less put two sons through college.” She had the opportunity to do an MBA through a teacher-enrichment programme, and came up with the idea for BuzzBallz one hot afternoon while marking homework. “I chose booze because it thrives in good times, and thrives even more in bad times,” she says.
Kick decided to make a cocktail that came in a plastic container rather than glass that could break, and was inspired by the shape of a snow globe she had brought back from Sweden. Finding the funds to manufacture her product proved challenging. She was turned down for business loans by every bank in Dallas, until one accepted the cows from her mum’s ranch and her old car as collateral.
