Building a Distillery

My mother might argue that I was born stubborn and opinionated.  Although the bane of her existence, I thank God for these traits as well as my husbands unbridled optimism or we would surely never get this business off the ground.  I am reasonably certain now that in order to be an entrepreneur you must have just a touch of madness. 

Many people ask about the business, and being the all-consumed Stockholm syndrome victim I am, I divulge.  I can see it almost immediately, the eyes of most listeners glazing over and the repeated look that clearly proclaims “why on earth would you want to put yourself through all that when you could just work a 9-5”.   I will plainly admit that my husband and I have on more than one occasion, stuck awake at 3 in the morning, asked ourselves this very question.

For most of us, building a business from the ground up is nothing short of a miracle.  For those of us masochistic enough to be interested in building a distillery let me share a few poignant facts. 

1. No matter how organized, experienced, or educated you are, go right ahead and add 50-100% to what you projected your startup costs to be.  You will be wrong in ways you can’t even imagine or expect, and it will be expensive.
   
2. Be prepared to be managed by not 1, but (at least) 8 separate governmental agencies, all with their own specific (and sometimes ridiculous) requirements.  By the way, their policies will directly contradict one another and they won’t care.
3. You will pay more in taxes than you ever dreamed possible, there will be a tax on everything, and by the way, you will be taxed in the same way as corporations that make billions of dollars in revenue.
4. You won’t (in the state of Michigan) even own the product you make. You will make your product, sell it to the state, and then they will mark it up an exorbitant amount and sell it back to you, so you can sell it in your tasting room.
5. You will have to be nice. You know how you got into this business so you could be “your own man”, “your own boss”, “independent”, “live the dream”, or whatever silly thing you tell yourself.  The truth is, more people will have you by the balls than ever and have the power to completely ruin you in one stroke of the pen.  The old adage “you get more flies with honey than vinegar” could not be truer throughout this entire venture. You will find most people want to help you, especially if you keep a cool head and a zipped lip (thank God for my husband).
6. You will lose sleep, and friends, and life experiences, and opportunities, and… over all of these things.

There you’ve had it, the ugly (and much abbreviated) truth that is starting a distillery.  To be fair, it isn’t all bad and in order to dispense with the doom and gloom I feel obligated to share the most important high points of choosing this way of life.

1. You will meet the most interesting and amazing people that will add value to your life.  These people will share similar life goals and a general philosophy of existence and you will find support and inspiration from these relationships.
2. Your hard work will manifest in a level of satisfaction you cannot achieve by working for someone else.  You will feel, for certain, that you are doing what you are meant to do, down to your very core (maybe for the first time in your life).
3. (Eventually) you will have a working business that will provide a way of life you desire and support your basic needs (or more, if you are savvy).
4. It will be thrilling (and terrifying), and you can rest assured that you will never be bored.

 
It occurs to me that many of these points will resonate with all start-ups.  As you are losing sleep picking out just the right screw to hold up the frame of the structure that no one will ever see, remember that in your insanity you are the very fiber that promotes capitalism and innovation.  Given this, I’ll keep losing sleep, working 70 hour work weeks, and smiling at those giving me the glazed over look when I talk about said screws.  I will do this because those of us stricken with entrepreneurship have no choice and also because ultimately it is our purpose in life. So cheers to all you sick bastards brave enough to be entrepreneurs, I hope you find your cure in self-made success.

Cheers,

Geri