Jun 25, 2016
We’re 84 episodes in, and that means that some of the breweries we profiled when we first started this thing are a year or two old by now. And that’s a year or two of hindsight and lessons learned that anyone in the industry would benefit from. Why kind of problems has a two-year-old brewery had to solve? What kind of assumptions did they make that were completely off-base? And how did they adapt to the always-evolving nature of the market for beer? Today, I’m going to bring you the perspective of Gary Gulley of Alarmist Brewing in Chicago [from Episode 35]. It’s a small operation that hasn’t found its stride yet, though they’ve certainly found a way to solve some unique problems. And despite the hardships of running your own start-up manufacturing business, all the stress and long-term doubts and insane cash flow issues, the effect it can have on an individual and their family is still a net positive. The power of entrepreneurialism lies in that counterintuitive result—with all the incredible burden you take on, you also gain all that reward.