Want to turn your passion for homebrewing into a job?

[MotivatedBeers]

Hi, Mark from New York here. I've been a long time lurker under a different name. But with so much experience and expertise here, I knew this was the right place to get feedback on a business me and some buddies are thinking of launching.

Over a few beers (of course) the three of us came up with an idea for a business. We realized that if you love making beer you don't really have any options to turn that passion into a business. You can start a blog. But making money requires tons of visitors. You could start a craft brewery of your own, but that takes time and money most of us don’t have. Between those options there are no other choices, especially if you're only looking for part-time work to earn extra cash.

We came up with Motivated Beers. It's a direct sales business like Tupperware or Avon. You become a Motivated Beers Brewing Guide and run events to teach others the art and craft of homebrewing. While you're teaching you're selling equipment to beginners and ingredients to everybody and becoming the expert resource to a group of passionate homebrewers like yourself.

You're probably saying "direct sales blech". Right? That was our feeling too until we thought more about it.

Isn't everybody's dream to turn their hobby into a career? To be able to earn extra cash or make a living doing something they love so that it's no longer work but something they’re fired up to do? If that's the goal, then Motivated Beers might help homebrewers get there.

Getting this off the ground will take a ton of work. Hard work. We want to do it, but not before we know it's something people would get behind and join.

Tell us what you think.

 

[coolharry]

I love the creativity and thought you guys put into this, but why not just open a homebrew shop? You could do all the same things (classes, equipment, ingredients, etc) and not have to worry about traveling and all that extra. It sounds like this idea would mostly cater to new brewers, and you might have an easier time reaching more people with a dedicated location for classes. Of course you could do a shop and still offer those party type deals where you travel to someone's house to teach and sell.

 

[MalFet]

Blunt question: it's obvious why you'd need me, but why would I need you?

If I'm going to be out selling homebrew gear to my friends, why should I be paying you a cut? It's easy enough to get wholesale prices on most supplies as an individual.

 

[Hello]

Like Avon, Sentsy, Pampered Chef and the likes, I would not get behind this and that is mostly because of what was posted just above. Especially with what we're dealing with in brewing, it is quite easy to get wholesale pricing and turn all the profits over to my checking account without giving someone a cut. That is, unless I am missing the point.

I think opening a local home brew supply shop is a much better idea that could lead to operating in the black a lot quicker.

 

[mikescooling]

I think the people who would go to this are new brewers. You let them taste each kind of beer, eat some different kinds of grain. Tell them what they need to buy to get started. I have tried to explain AG brewing to new, people, even when you make a cup of tea, then say "that's it" I'm making a big cup of tea. It's still too much for them. The LHBS around here all have classes, so I'd think people would go there. Don't let me stop you, just say'n.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm not seeing the benefit here, when any one of us can open up shop, order inventory from various wholesalers and sell it like anyone else. What would stop any traditional LHBS from directly pursuing the home-sales angle if they wanted to?

If we were to pay that middleman (you), what is the added value we receive in return? Do you build up potential sales leads, set up appointments, provide advertising, etc., for us?

 

[smccarter]

"turn your passion into a "...... JOB?????

That doesn't really sound like much fun. My "job" is extremely stressful. I brew beer to relax.... well... brew and drink beer to relax. Why would I want to turn my hobbie into a job?

I was hoping you would have had a really good idea like... You'd open the brew pub, and we'd brew our beer with your equipment as paid part-time employees. You bring the brew pub to a legal status, and we'd do all of the leg work - brewing. Now that's a good idea.

 

[mattd2]

"turn your passion into a "...... JOB?????

That doesn't really sound like much fun. My "job" is extremely stressful. I brew beer to relax.... well... brew and drink beer to relax. Why would I want to turn my hobbie into a job?

I was hoping you would have had a really good idea like... You'd open the brew pub, and we'd brew our beer with your equipment as paid part-time employees. You bring the brew pub to a legal status, and we'd do all of the leg work - brewing. Now that's a good idea.

shhhhhhhh!!! Don't give all the good ideas away for free

 

[Brewbien]

I actually don't think its a terrible idea. It's just not for everyone. To open a homebrew shop, at least a successful one, you need a certain population size to support it. This can get equipment, ingredients, and face to face instruction to some smaller regions. I think what we would get out of it would be support and direction as well as what would at some point be brand recognition? Definitely not something that I would take part in but I think there is a market for it and I do think its a pretty creative idea. Good luck man.

 

[jcmcdowell]

Brick and Mortar- the biggest expense most small business's carry. This would 'virtually' eliminate that. It takes a different type of personality to stand in front of a group of people and 'sell' even if they love what they are selling. Food for thought. Otherwise- anything is possible.

 

[dlester]

Very creative. However, every person I ask that sells Amway, insurance, Pampered Chef or whatever how much many they make and what is the time they put into it...it's not worth your time. I know a guy that was pushing his product hard. He only made $1,000 +/- a month. I'd rather sell vacuums door-to-door.

 

[thadass]

What most direct sales organizations have (or purport to have) is a superior, unique product, in addition to the community/party/event/social aspect many of them leverage. The requirement for being a skilled and helpful salesperson/host has also added a sense of positive reputation to many of these other groups regarding the salespeople. Many would rather sit in somebody's house over drinks with a friendly salesperson than deal with the unhelpful perfume salesperson at Nordstroms (or unknowledgeable LHBS worker).

Questions:
Do you have any unique/exclusive products set up (other than recipe kits)?
Will there be a vetting process for prospective salespeople?


Suggestion:
Direct sales is a well-worn path and while this is somewhat of a generalization, that path leads primarily to women. Fermentation arts are many and varied, and I believe that somebody looking to be employed in this line would do well to know about beer, wine, kombucha, pickling, and cheese making for this reason. Being stuck to only Beer might be an issue, as can the company name. No reason to dissuade or exclude the wife wanting the 1G kombucha demijohn in addition to the husband's brew starter kit.


Edit: I do see now that MotivatedBeers seems to be a specific sub-branding of MotivatedFoods. I do get that this is your post on a homebrew forum, so Beer is the obvious target, but is there any chance of having it.. less specific? Or representing multiple branches of the sales chain in the company? Even most brick-and-mortar homebrew shops sell cheese kits

 

[Calichusetts]

 

[MotivatedBeers]

In some ways you don't need this business. In others you might.

You could easily get yourself wholesale prices on supplies. But that also means buying some quantity of the equipment, finding a place to store this inventory, covering the carrying costs for your inventory, then managing sales yourself.

The 'cut' you refer to would cover Motivated Beers assuming all these responsibilities leaving you to focus on growing your business. No worrying about inventory, cash management, warehousing, spoilage, deliveries, shipping, reordering, in addition to branding, marketing, sales.

Blunt question: it's obvious why you'd need me, but why would I need you?

If I'm going to be out selling homebrew gear to my friends, why should I be paying you a cut? It's easy enough to get wholesale prices on most supplies as an individual.

 

[MotivatedBeers]

Our idea is to eventually get to this exact point. Creating places where people can brew beer on commercial grade equipment that is sold directly to consumers. You would earn a good commission on all sales as incentive for making great beer and promoting your product.

"turn your passion into a "...... JOB?????

That doesn't really sound like much fun. My "job" is extremely stressful. I brew beer to relax.... well... brew and drink beer to relax. Why would I want to turn my hobbie into a job?

I was hoping you would have had a really good idea like... You'd open the brew pub, and we'd brew our beer with your equipment as paid part-time employees. You bring the brew pub to a legal status, and we'd do all of the leg work - brewing. Now that's a good idea.

 

[MaxStout]

The 'cut' you refer to would cover Motivated Beers assuming all these responsibilities leaving you to focus on growing your business. No worrying about inventory, cash management, warehousing, spoilage, deliveries, shipping, reordering, in addition to branding, marketing, sales.

So, essentially what you're selling is supply chain management. That might be attractive to some retailers, but you would have to be extremely nimble and have the ability to respond quickly to your clients' changing needs. Miss one major shipment and you'll have some unhappy retailers who are scrambling to explain to their customers why their order won't ship out.