What would you do? Going Pro.

I know there are a lot of posts on this forum about the ups and downs of going pro, but most of the regard going pro as dipping into your own pocket and starting a brewery.

Here's my what if;

What if you were offered a job to work for a brewery you liked and respected as an brewery assistant? Would you take it?

If there wasn't a difference in pay would you take it even though it's more manual labor? How about if you had to move 500 miles to do it?

Depnds on you're situation and what you want to accomplish in life. I'm 35 with a kid, 2 car payments, and a mortgage. All of which are more important than brewing to me. My wife is all for me following my passion but the numbers don't work out. If it were a breif stepping stone or there was even a path to the next step (whatever that may be for you) then I'd do it. If it's a job where the head brewer has to die in order for you to move up, you'd need to consider the area and if there are other opportunities. If not, you are moving to get the experience and then will need to move again.

My buddy and I graduated college at the same time. Both of us with degrees in music- mine business/ his recording. He learned Portugese and moved to Brazil with the love of his life. He is now famous and owns a bitchin recording studio. I had the opportunity to move to Chicago and intern with one of my favorite labels. I didn't go due to financial and housing reasons. I work in produce now... But I have a view of the ocean and would not have met my wonderful wife if I had not made the decisions I made. Choice is yours- the future is what you make of it.

If the pay was the same as I made now, yep! If I had to move 500 miles... depends on if its 500 miles north or south! I'm tired of these cold winters, so south = yes. North = no. LOL

As mentioned above - you have to consider your current job and if you have room to advance there. If not, its a no brainer.

I'd have to agree with geer537 - it depends on how it fits into your dream life(style). If you truly have a passion and can't think of anything more enjoyable than waking up everyday to brew it is worth considering. If it's a hobby that you have and at the end of a 10gal brew day you plop onto the couch and sigh at the amount of work then maybe not. Do you mind brewing the same beers over and over or is experimenting part of your enjoyment (most breweries are moderately conservative by default (they'd rather make a small profit selling above average beer than lose their @$$ with a wild experiment that flops tragically).
I've got a desk job so the thought of more manual labor would be nice a lot of times. Moving 500 miles depends on your personality (i.e. can you make a new group of friends easily or will your only enjoyment there be working?).
At the end of the day it is entirely your decision. Either way some people will say you're crazy. For the right person it sounds like an amazing opportunity.

EinGutesBiersSWMBO said:

I know there are a lot of posts on this forum about the ups and downs of going pro, but most of the regard going pro as dipping into your own pocket and starting a brewery.

Here's my what if;

What if you were offered a job to work for a brewery you liked and respected as an brewery assistant? Would you take it?

If there wasn't a difference in pay would you take it even though it's more manual labor? How about if you had to move 500 miles to do it?

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Definitely depends on how deep your roots are sunk into your current community. Nearly all of my family lives close by and I'd have to give up my beer club. Those would be hard to say goodbye to. Moving, getting the house prepped for sale, selling the house, buying a new one near the new job...that would be a big pain. I don't think it would be worth it.

I seriously doubt if I could find a brewery asst job at my pay and benefit rate

they would also have to take over my retirement which I have over 30 years paid into.

but if I could, would I?

Hell No, I do this for fun, if I had to scrub and sanitize professional brewing equipment all day I would hate my job and never brew beer at home

EinGutesBiersSWMBO said:

I know there are a lot of posts on this forum about the ups and downs of going pro, but most of the regard going pro as dipping into your own pocket and starting a brewery.

Here's my what if;

What if you were offered a job to work for a brewery you liked and respected as an brewery assistant? Would you take it?

If there wasn't a difference in pay would you take it even though it's more manual labor? How about if you had to move 500 miles to do it?

Click to expand...

Do you mean difference in pay from your current job to the new job? Remember, once you borrow money to open your own brewery you may not get paid for the first year as all your money goes to your business venture and bank until you take profit, that's a big difference in pay

If the new pay equals what you currently make, you don't have to lay any cash out and you don't mind relocating then I'd say take a shot at it!

If it paid the same, I would strongly consider it. The only hang up would be if my wife could start up a practice similar to the one she has now. Also depends on the town we would have to move to!

The only thing I could add to Geer's excellent post is to consider the cost of living where you would be moving to. Also the availability of any sports or activities etc that you may enjoy.

Quality of life is important.

Thanks for all the great responses. There were some aspects I hadn't really thought about yet.

My husband has an opportunity to do this. I could more than likely keep my job and work from home. We're 29-30, no kids. We do own a home. We'd be moving to better weather and more outdoor activities. It would be a much smaller town with no brew club, not that we couldn't start another one. It's a good 6 hour drive to see family.

I guess a big concern is him going from a dead end desk job to labor intensive and repetitive industry.

EinGutesBiersSWMBO said:

Thanks for all the great responses.
I guess a big concern is him going from a dead end desk job to labor intensive and repetitive industry.

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I have worked previous jobs that were labor intensive and now that I have an office job I miss it sometimes. Kept me in decent shape as opposed to sitting around all day! But intenseive labor can get old pretty quickly if you don't love the job. I think I could handle it a lot better if it was brewing related

I'd leave my job tomorrow if the BA job paid the same or close to what I make today. I do this knowing that as a BA or even a brewer, much of the time will be spent doing manual labor.

Brewers don't just brew all day and wander away. The cleanup you endure on any given brew day is multiplied when you brew on a larger system. As a brewer's assistant you can be you'll be cleaning more than brewing. I was a photographer's assistant for a time. I cleaned, packed, unpacked, inventoried, carried, ran, walked, climbed, etc etc more than I took photos. In fact, for every one photo I took, I did the aforementioned tasks about 50 times. From talking to brewers and brewer's assistants, I know this will be a similar picture.

In the end, I still would leave my job today if I knew I could make the same but that will never happen ever, not even if I were an amazing brewer.

EinGutesBiersSWMBO said:

Thanks for all the great responses. There were some aspects I hadn't really thought about yet.

My husband has an opportunity to do this. I could more than likely keep my job and work from home. We're 29-30, no kids. We do own a home. We'd be moving to better weather and more outdoor activities. It would be a much smaller town with no brew club, not that we couldn't start another one. It's a good 6 hour drive to see family.

I guess a big concern is him going from a dead end desk job to labor intensive and repetitive industry.

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can i ask where you would be moving to?if you were to do this.

South central Montana.

Everything I've heard tells me that it is a very labor intensive job. I guess as long as he's going into it with his eyes open that's not a problem.

I'd want to look at the brewery's long term viability. Are they likely to be around in three to five years? Another question I'd have is whether I'd be the only BA, and what's the prospect for advancement.

A question I always ask during an interview is "Is this a new position or am I taking the place of someone who left?" If it's a new position it probably means they are growing and that could be a good thing, it could also turn out that the growth isn't as strong as they anticipated and they'll have to cut back. If it's an existing position, why did the previous guy leave?

You said the money is comparable, is this an hourly job or salaried? If hourly, you need to factor in the ability for overtime in the new job vs. the old. Don't underestimate the value of the benefit package. What are their health care options? Vacation? 401k matching?

The only other caveat would be your distance from family. This can be a huge issue depending.

Good luck with your choice!

Make sure you know a lot about the business he will be working for, does it have enough money to be successful? Is management competent? And other questions that go to determining the risk involved.

EinGutesBiersSWMBO said:

Thanks for all the great responses. There were some aspects I hadn't really thought about yet.

My husband has an opportunity to do this. I could more than likely keep my job and work from home. We're 29-30, no kids. We do own a home. We'd be moving to better weather and more outdoor activities. It would be a much smaller town with no brew club, not that we couldn't start another one. It's a good 6 hour drive to see family.

I guess a big concern is him going from a dead end desk job to labor intensive and repetitive industry.

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Manual labor never hurt anyone. All things being equal other than more sweat at work, do it.

Follow your passion, you'll never work a day in your life.

Bless you for supporting your husband's dream (if his dream is to work in the brewing Industry). Not many wives have that kind of support for their husbands and vise versa.

If I could make the same money and my wife would support my move I would take a job in a brewery without looking back.

I would recommend that the two of you sit down and figure out what the long term goals of your family is (5 years, 10years). Is it to become a master brewer at a successful brewery or to start your own? That would tell you how long to expect to be at that brewery and what the income potential is over the long term, and how that will impact having kids (if you want kinds). Every successful person will tell you to put your dreams to paper and make them life goals and you WILL reach them.

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Rhumbline said:

A question I always ask during an interview is "Is this a new position or am I taking the place of someone who left?" If it's a new position it probably means they are growing and that could be a good thing, it could also turn out that the growth isn't as strong as they anticipated and they'll have to cut back.

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Espresso said:

Make sure you know a lot about the business he will be working for, does it have enough money to be successful? Is management competent? And other questions that go to determining the risk involved.

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Good points! The brewery has been around for about 15 years and they're continuing to up their production each year. This is a new position, since they're wanting to add another 1000 barrels to production each year. As far as I can tell, staff seems to stay on for a long time, so I think management is decent. I've heard the horror stories out of Rogue.

harry_the_face said:

Bless you for supporting your husband's dream (if his dream is to work in the brewing Industry). Not many wives have that kind of support for their husbands and vise versa.

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Well, thank you, he's done the same for me. He had a brewery job when I got a job offer out of state I couldn't pass up. Luckily it's that same company that's allowing me to work remotely now. It would be great for us to both be able to do what we want.

If I was wife and kids free I would take it in a heartbeat even with a major drop in salary. I would have been working at a brewery long ago but the overhead of family life is way too high to support with a brewery job. Owning would be my only option.