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Mark Graban

Author, Speaker, Consultant, Podcaster, Entepreneur - "The Mistakes That Make Us"

Brewer Kelly Meyer Started a Damn Brewery at the Wrong Damn Time

posted on Filed Under: My Favorite Mistake Tagged With: , , , ,

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My guest for Episode #133 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Kelly Meyer, the author of How NOT to start a Damn Brewery: Ten Business Lessons From The Front Lines of The Craft Beer Industry — and a podcast of that same name.

In today's episode, Kelly shares his “favorite mistake” story about starting a brewery (New Braunfels Brewing Company) at the wrong time — and how he sold that brewery ten years later. His book talks about 10 major mistakes that he made… it’s a fun read, even if you’re not interested in starting a damn brewery.

We talk about that story and other topics including:

  • Not getting out – 3 moments of insolvency… How close were you to getting out?
  • Had sold a chain of fitness centers — what made that successful? Did you think that would be transferrable?
  • 2022 – when the EIDL funds run out…
  • Why write the book? Cathartic? Warning for others?
  • Are you working as an advisor to others?
  • Was it a mistake to curse in the book?
  • “Most people… don’t want to hear the truth” — Magazines don’t want to print anything negative
  • “Mistakes are just weaknesses leaving your business”
  • Would you ever start another brewery based on what you learned the first time?
  • Tell us more about the podcast — No shortage of guests?

Scroll down to find:

Quotes:

"The magazines by and large refuse to print anything that is negative [like my story]. And the argument that I've gotten back - and I actually printed one and framed it - is that the reason is that everybody knows business is hard. "
Is there temptation to start another brewery?"No, there is not. Not only would I not do that, I would be a single man if I did, and I love my wife tremendously. And so I'm not willing to start another."
Was it a mistake to curse so much in the book?"I don't think that was a mistake because there was no other way for me to do it. Anything else that I had written would have been disingenuous and it would have been just a money grab."

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