Entrepreneur journal: Selena Cuffe, CEO, Heritage Link Brands

TORONTO (Reuters) - When you think of your typical soccer fan, you don't picture them holding a glass of wine in their hand. Beer is definitely the drink of choice for diehards, but entrepreneur Selena Cuffe is hoping to use this year's soccer World Cup in South Africa to convert some of them. In 2005 Cuffe, 34, founded Heritage Link Brands, a Los Angeles-based company that imports wines produced by black South Africans. The following is Cuffe's five- day entrepreneur journal, exclusively for Reuters.com:

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By Selena Cuffe

Day 1: Monday, January 25

Today I'm up early and working hard for the money. The motto of the community in which I live: "Where Families Grow and Businesses Prosper," inspired my husband and I to move to Cincinnati, Ohio; our family and business have grown exponentially since we arrived two years ago. When not working from my home office or on the road, I'm working from our Los Angeles office. As the mother of two toddlers under the age of three, my daily challenge is to better manage my work and personal demands.

At 4 a.m. CT I'm taking calls with suppliers in South Africa and strategically planning with a service vendor in the Philippines. At 7 a.m. I wake the boys, get breakfast ready, and we're off to school!

Midday I take a call from the Atlanta Post - lots of inquiries lately about what it's like to be in business with my spouse. The interview goes long so BOB (backofficeboss.com) reorganizes a few things to get me back on track. I then embark upon a series of short, succinct calls with customers. These calls are made mainly in an effort to ensure marketing plans in place for February are well executed. During one of these calls, I learn that we've been awarded the "Diverse Supplier of the Year" award from one of our largest customers - Supervalu.

In the afternoon, there are more conference calls with distributors in Illinois and Georgia (our two largest markets). The last call I take is with a metropolitan Washington, DC distributor interested in representing our brands. The call is productive, yet brief because I can't be late to pick up the kids.

Day 2: Tuesday, January 26

Tuesdays for me are always filled with administration, but thankfully BOB helps me not stress. I begin the day speaking with my virtual assistant who keeps me abreast of the "hot" items and removes the inconsequential stuff from my purview.

The hot buttons for this week are many:

1. Switch to a new enterprise server

2. Redesign website for March 1 launch date

3. Identify a new inventory management system

4. Pay bills

My assistant and I stay in constant contact throughout the day to make sure all moving parts related to points 1-4 come together so we can cross off these to do's. This, in turn, frees up time for me to prepare for important meetings in Chicago on the 28th. I purposely make Tuesday my administrative "to do" day of the week so I can ease into my week a bit more, and Mondays no longer make me want to pull out my hair!

Day 3: Wednesday, January 27

One of the benefits of being an entrepreneur is setting your own schedule! And today I really need to get my hair trimmed! That's why this morning I'm off to see Adrienne at Salon Concepts to make it happen. But what would normally be a two-hour stay has turned into four, thanks to an unexpected out of stock situation identified by our fulfillment partner, WTN Services. In between shampooing and conditioning, I'm desperately trying to track down a trucker who's MIA with $70,000 of our wine. After locating him, I then spend the next hour contacting customers to apologize for what will now result in a 48-hour delay in restocking our wines on their shelves. Thankfully most understand.

After leaving the salon, I head to a variety of stores in the area to do store checks. This gives me the opportunity to evaluate how product is moving, dust off a few bottles, and talk to the store managers about where their businesses are heading. This is something I try to do at least once, if not several times, a week.

Day 4: Thursday, January 28

I'm always sad when I leave my boys and head off on business trips. This morning, I take the boys to daycare at 7:30 a.m. so I can make it to the airport in time for my 9 a.m. flight to Chicago. Once there, I grab a rental and head straight for the United Airlines headquarters. Our M'hudi "iSong Sauvignon Blanc" first boarded their flights in 2008, and we're eager to grow our business with them. The meeting goes well, and I take the next two hours to prepare for a big potential customer, Costco!

Thanks to a traffic violation and a glitch with my hybrid car rental, I arrive to meet the Costco wine buyer almost an hour late - never good for a first meeting. But thank God, the meeting concludes and I receive a compliment on the presentation. At least the preparation counted for something! But my work is not over as I still must get the sale!

After the meeting, I head for the nearest pharmacy in search of eye drops. I'm operating on two hours of sleep, but still have one more event left to do: exhibition of our wines at the Jewel Osco "Taste of Black History" Celebration. An hour and six eye drops later, I arrive at the center to work the event with Jamila McClinton, one of our area brand ambassadors. While there, we experience, along with 800 others, the most amazing Cherry Sorbet created by Washburn Culinary student chef, Tracee Bright, using our wine - Seven Sisters Pinotage Shiraz "Dawn."

Day 5: Friday, January 29

I'm on the expressway at 4:30 a.m. to take the rental back and catch a 6:30 a.m. flight to New York City. Thankfully snow flurries don't stop my flight from taking off, and I land at JFK with enough time, before my next meeting, to do store checks in Brooklyn. I even have a few minutes to swing by my in-laws' home to say, "hello" and drop off my bags.

I then head over to Gnarly Vines, one of our most loyal wine shop customers in the country. This gives me a chance to speak with the owner, Brian Robinson, about our new vintages currently under harvest, what trends we're seeing in the market, and of course, our families! After our visit, I head to midtown Manhattan for a series of meetings.

Early evening, I take the subway en route to the New York Historical Society for a reception my company is co- sponsoring with the Harvard Business School and Morgan Stanley. Tonight our wines were paired with delicious food, great conversation, and an amazing exhibit on Abraham Lincoln. I don't always get the chance to end my hectic weeks this way, but I have no problem appreciating the fun and educational perks that come along with my biz.