The Adventures of Jam Boy

Who thought that grandma’s jam recipes could come in handy when building a business? Fraser Doherty from Scotland loved his grandma’s jam so much that he decided to turn her recipe into a business, calling it ”Super jam”. His product was so yummy that a UK supermarket grabbed Doherty’s jam and put it on the shelves of over 184 stores.

Doherty has also published three books so far – think jam is only for toast? Think again, in his first book, “The SuperJam Cookbook”, his jams are used for cakes, pastries and other desserts. Doherty thought it was only fair to let us all in on how he made himself a millionaire (how sweet of him), so his second book “SuperBusiness” is a guide on how to start a business based on his experiences with the “Super Jam” company. Can you take an idea and make it into a business over a weekend? Turns out you can – in Doherty’s third book “48-hour Startup”, he challenges himself to see if he can start a business over a weekend, from idea to launch, and guess what? He succeeds. He launched the oatmeal brand “Awesome Oats”, and showed us that if we put our mind to something, we can succeed too. Doherty saves us from making our own mistakes by letting us all in on the 101 of business, making this book a cheat sheet to easy success.

Successful author and Jam Company, check. Next on the list is beer. In 2013, Doherty became the co-founder of the company Beer52; you tell them the kind of beer you like, and they hand-pick and deliver a mix of craft beers to your doorstep (if you live in or are visiting the UK). Beer buddies loved this unique idea and in no time at all they were subscribing to a monthly subscription. Today, Beer52 has over 100,000 subscribers, and it just keeps growing.

What’s a tea party without jam? Well last year, SuperJam made its way to Downing Street, London, to meet with the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, for a tea party. After everyone tugged into some of Doherty’s delicious jams, they discussed how SuperJam could cheer up the lives of the elderly and make them less lonely– turns out that Doherty is quite the charity man. I am sure with Doherty’s jam and with organized tea parties, the elderly will be chatting and giggling for hours. After all, what’s a tea party without some jam to go on your scones? Way to Go Fraser Doherty! You are an inspiration to teens everywhere.

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