Latest / Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast / How to Reward and Motivate your Taproom Employees

Transcript

How to Reward and Motivate your Taproom Employees · Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just a quick note, we'll get right into the podcast.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Do you need tools to help you build a more successful tap room business than the taper room success membership might be just a thing for you inside the membership.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: We'll connect you with a community of experts and taproom owners and managers to help you achieve success in your tap room business.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: What you're gonna get in the membership are monthly calls with taproom experts.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We do these via zoom, so you can interact directly with the expert.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: So each month we're gonna talk with someone new about marketing food, service, finances, eCommerce, software systems, business strategy, and more.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We also do monthly Q and a monthly hot seat interviews.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: So we invite one tap room success member to join our live session as a special guest, to ask questions, to get answers and to share lessons learned, you'll also get access to our on-demand tap room, success blueprint.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: This is our flagship course.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It's inside the membership and includes direct access to the instructors.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: That's me and Andrew Copeland.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: There's five modules, 20 on demand video lessons in over three hours, of course, content to help you achieve success in your taproom.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So if you wanna learn more, you can head over to taproom success.com.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: That's taproom success.com in if you decide to join, we look forward to seeing you inside the membership.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the craft brewery, financial training podcast, where we combine beer and numbers to provide you with tips, tactics, and strategies, so that you can improve financial results in your brewery.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carrie Shumway, a CPA CFO for a brewery and a former CFO for a beer distributor.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I've spent the last 20 years using finance to improve financial results in our beer business.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Now I'm helping other craft breweries to do the same.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to take your brewery financial results to the next level?
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's get started.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the craft brewery financial training podcast.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: My name is Carrie Shumway, and I'll be your host today.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I'm sharing the audio from our tap room success membership.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: We do live calls, live Q and A's.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: And in this audio you're gonna hear from me and Andrew Copeland, as we talk about a wide range of topics, real relative to your tap room business.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk about how to reward and motivate your employees this time of year.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about how you can think about team building and ways to make more money in your tap room.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: We'll dig in on year end financial planning, how to break this into small chunks and use accountability to get your plan done.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And we'll talk about monthly reviews.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: So once you have that financial plan, how exactly do you conduct a monthly financial review?
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about all that and then we'll share some exciting news about a live event that's coming up in February, 2022.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So you won't want to miss those details.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So for now, please enjoy this conversation between me and Andrew Copeland about our taproom success membership.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: So let let's talk about what we always talk about first.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: What are you reading right now?
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I am reading and I actually just finished.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: I just, just devoured this book by Michael Lewis called the premonition.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Uh, it's timely.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: It is about the pandemic, but, um, it dives deep into all the inner inner workings, the backstory, a really good character writer, just a real page turn you think, oh my gosh, I don't wanna read about the, and I didn't, but once I started reading, it's really not about the particulars.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: It's more about the lessons you can draw from things, right?
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: So what I drew from it is, uh, a lot of in business or taproom business, you know, what are the things that we, when things go wrong and they go wrong, whether it's, you know, the draft system is not working or we're getting shut down, what are your contingency plans?
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: And, and I think you and I both seen a lot of breweries really had to become so a agile and, and adapt so quickly.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: So the book's a lot about contingency planning and it's also about preventative planning, you know?
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: So, so things are gonna happen.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: What are you gonna do?
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: What are your options able, B and C when it does that's one, two is what can you do to sort of prevent or mitigate it if it's gonna happen again?
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: So what can you do in advance?
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: So it really just gets your mind thinking.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: And the last thing I'll say on this is what I was really struck by, was that the book digs in on this sort of concept of things that almost almost happened, like we always think about, oh man, that went really bad and then let's try not to have that happen again.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: But what are the things that almost went really bad, right?
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: And, and those are usually symptomatic of, you know, things that you need to address.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: So I, I like to, that's kind of how I would sort of summarize it and make it applicable to, you know, to any this, but particularly, you know, for your
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Tap room.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: No, I, I really do like how you kind of related it over to what we typically talk about the tap room space, but also, you know, looking at the past year and a half, nearly two years now talking about like pandemic, no one had a pandemic plan ready, but it's really not just about being prepared for the pandemic or the next pandemic.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: It's like, what are you gonna do if you're processing someone's credit card and your power goes out, you need to have a plan, even for these little silly things, because it could happen.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I've told you this before, but when I was at the Washington state brewers Guild recently, they had a guy speaking.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: He was the keynote speaker.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: His name was, I believe Ryan cans, C a N L I S.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And he showed really neat video on how his company survived the pandemic and his company.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Wasn't just, you run in the mill restaurant.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: They had been an institution in the Seattle area for 75 years, a ridiculous amount of time.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: It's all been in his family, super fancy restaurant, white tablecloth, really iconic name.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And so they did a bunch of crazy things through the, the pandemic just to make ends meet.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Cuz when, you know, when you lose that ability to do what you normally are trained to do, you have to find ways to that buzz where we all hate is pivot.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: But he told one story that was really, they were having sold out dinner like a Friday night and literally the power just went out.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: So I think he started talking immediately to his mare D you know, all these fancy words, you never seen in a brewery, but in these high class restaurants and what are they gonna do?
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Their places packed.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: They can't run a credit card.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: All their power in the kitchen is gone.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: So they can't cook.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: And what they did, he just like banged on a glass for a second.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Like, let me get your attention to everybody in the restaurant, all 250 people like dressed in fancy suits and dresses, whatev what have you not?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And he said, change of plans for the night.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: We're still gonna show you a fantastic time, free champagne on the house.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: That's the first thing you did.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: They ordered free champagne.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Everybody for everybody, you refunded everybody later on, they didn't pay a dime for the experience.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: And they ordered burgers from another restaurant nearby.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: They had a guy play the piano cuz they had a piano.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So they had live music.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: They had free champagne and hamburgers and people had the time up their life.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: You know, that's amazing.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: It's all about having that plan.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And I kind of wish I was there.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: that's thinking on your feet, but I mean just looking at breweries and what you were talking about, the start, no one typically has these plans on hand, but I think it speaks to the importance of, you know, ask yourself those crazy questions.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: What are you gonna do if, and, and I really hate to live my life in hypotheticals, but you know, as a business owner, what are you gonna do?
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: If your worst case fear actually happens and you gotta be ready case it comes because that extra step ahead of the game could be the difference between, you know, life and closing down the business right on.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So what are you reading these days?
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, what am I reading on your shelf?
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I'm reading, I'm a book right now, Carrie.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: It is called, doesn't have a good cover, the power of strangers by Joe Khan.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: And it's a really rusting book.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: It's talking about how much we can learn from those around us, outside of our circles.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm and you know, to tie it into what you were talking about, just generally speaking of a pandemic, they say in this book that natural disasters and emergency situations bring people together.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: You know, for example, if you and I are somewhere in something terrible happens, we more likely to communicate with one another in the event of a disaster or emergency than we are normally, cuz we could come from different walks of life, have different jobs, different race, different preferences in life.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: They say natural disasters bring people together.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: And one of the neat things about this book that I'm really enjoying and there's one example that's really stood out to me is about starting a conversation.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: And it's starting a conversation with a stranger can be really awkward if someone's, you know, talking to you on the subway, it might come across as really weird.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: But if you realize that, you know, he also has a red Sox hat on and you love the red Sox, you already have that common ground and finding common ground that I think this really applies to tap room space as well.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And finding common ground, you know, with your guests is something you can really expand upon and think about it.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: You know, here's the example of an airport, if you and I bump into each other at the airport.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: And I hope I haven't said this in one of these before.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Cause it fascinates me.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: This little story is that we all have something in common.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: We're going somewhere.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: We can start that conversation and I can say, Hey Carrie, where are you going?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: And you have an answer cuz you're in an airport.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: And I think the same thing can be said for a tap room.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: You know, we all go to that tap room, we're gonna have a beer.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: You know, you can ask someone next to you or the bartender can say, you know, what are you drinking?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: There's gonna be an answer.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: And it starts that conversation.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Another little thing that I really enjoy is, is kind of throwing bits of yourself out there.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: If you want the person you're talking with to reveal more and open up more, start with something personal, like, you know, I'm gonna give you my son's name or I'm gonna say, you know, this is where I got married or I did this last night with our family.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: When you reveal a little piece about you, that person is more apt to do this.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think that can work really well in attack room space because you know, as someone behind the bar, you know, serving guests, you want to build relationships.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: If you can give them a personal anecdote, give them a little bit of information about you to feel more connected.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: They're gonna come spend more money with you.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: They're gonna enjoy that experience at a little higher level.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And you know, they're probably gonna choose your brewery next time over the other place because they had one on one time with you.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: And that's what I'm reading the power of strangers.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I haven't finished it yet.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I've got 20 more pages, but really interesting book.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And last thing on this book, you know, I know we've talked before about how I love a book called the checklist manifesto.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Cause I love checklist as du.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: And that book gives a lot of really neat examples of, you know, how checklists are used, whether it's doctors, you, you know, pilots, just unique situations of how a checklist is valuable.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: My only complaint with the book was I thought it had too many stories, first actionable strategies.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm and I was really nervous about that when I picked out this book about the power of strangers, I didn't just wanna read about Carrie talking to a hundred different strangers every chapter, but this book gives you unique examples of how you can better engage with them.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what I was looking for.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: So I would recommend it to any type manager out there, the power of strangers.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: So to recap for those listening, the power of strangers, the checklist manifesto and premonition, get them on your bookshelf today.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I find when you read and you're like you really sort of reading, you know, maybe not with an agenda in mind, but sort of things come at you like everything you just said, how do I take the power of strangers meeting people and turn that into like a teachable moment that I can use in my business.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: So, and
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I think that's why we all read, we read to learn something at least, or to be enjoyed, to enjoy something, to have that experience of going into someone else's life and seeing their viewpoint with things and yeah, you can apply it to your life even better.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: So I'm gonna hit you.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Um, so that's what we're reading.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: I wanna know like what are we do?
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: What are, what are the things that are exciting us these days, where projects you are working on?
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: So I know you're working on how to reward and motivate your employees this time of year.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Maybe tell us a little bit about what's
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Going on there.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: So I've seen this thread come up in a lot of conversations I've had with brewery owners and I've also seen it pretty actively in the craft beer professionals community.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: It's the time of year when people are thinking about giving holiday bonuses, giving something to their staff for doing a good job.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And I think one of the most important things about just the concepts of rewarding people is, you know, it shouldn't just be around the holidays.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: And I know a lot of people say, well, you know, I'm paying them to work here.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Why do I have to give'em some sort of reward, give'em that reward?
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: You'll see the difference, giving them someone a reward is just the simple a you can let someone know they're appreciated and it really doesn't have to be much.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: And I think the holidays are definitely a time where you can do it.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: And it has more meaning because you know, people do want that little extra wait reason to smile this time of year.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: But so often, you know, I'll lead a training at a brewery and I'll find that they've never ever, you know, rewarded someone for a job well done, whether it's simply, you know, putting their name on a wall next to a gold star and saying so, and so's been our star employee of the month or, you know, giving them a small prize, whether it's a gift card to a local business, maybe some extra low fills from the brewery.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Just something to say, thank you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And one of the examples I like to give, I was at a brewery here in Virginia.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: They had had a meeting between the front of house and back of house and we can get into that later, but we brought everybody together under one room.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: And my favorite question is always about to go beer.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I like to really see how they're pushing that upsell.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: So I ask them, you know, what would motivate you to sell more crows on a Saturday?
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Literally, that was the question how to sell and more crawlers on a Saturday and remind you, they had never been given any kind of reward.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So, you know, while they are behind the bar and they're enjoying their job, don't get me wrong.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: People can still enjoy their job without the extra motivation.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: And they should, those should be the people you really want to have on your team, but you can take those star employees and give'em that little ooph to do a little bit better.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: So I asked them, you know, what's gonna make you sell more crows.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: I went around the table.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Some people said, buy us lunch.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Some people said, buy us a little beer gift card to a local restaurant.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: But the winning solution was a$20 Chick-fil-A gift card.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: A fancy chicken sandwich is all I want.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: And that's all they needed to sell a little bit more beer on that Saturday.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: And they did, they all got really excited about selling more beer to go that weekend.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And it made the brewery owners, you know, quite a bit more money cuz they were seeing more beer out the door.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: But I think the moral story is you really need to ask what motivates your team.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Cause you don't know, you know, everybody is in your tap room for different reasons.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: They're working there for different reasons.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: They may be there just because causes a job to pay for college.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And they might like beer.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: So, you know, that's a perk of it too.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: They get to work in a place that's considered more fun that other person who's working there.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: You know, they might be working there because they have a family of three and they're trying to make as much money as possible different goals.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: So that extra a hundred dollars bonus for being the number one employee over October, you know, they could get really pumped and that a hundred dollars could go a long way with them and that other person behind the bar working in your tap room.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Well, she might want to own her own brewery someday.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: So you really gotta find out why people are working for you, cause that's gonna help you better find ways to motivate them.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: And it really all comes down to understanding your staff.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: So have these conversations, if you don't know, simply ask them basic.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: But as I mentioned, a lot of people don't know and you know, nothing against the people who are posting on social media asking what can I record my reward?
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: My brewers with this holiday season, ask the brewer, say, Hey, you know, you're doing a killer job.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: What can I do to say thank you.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: What would be good for you?
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Because so often we get these little souveneirs and knickknacks and whatever it may be and we just throw it in a shelf wouldn't you rather give them something that they appreciate.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: So, you know, ask, just simply ask that question and there's a lot of ways that can be done if you don't feel comfortable asking, I always recommend an anonymous like employee survey.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: That way you can kind of get a gauge on what's going on in your tap room, behind the scenes, how your staff are feeling about that experience.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And one of the questions I like to include in one of those, I refer to them as an employee, happiness surveys and simply ask them what would motivate you to do better, simple things like that go a long way, but the holiday season it a great time to give that little extra.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: So whether it's that extra gift card, whether it's the, you know, low fills, whether it's saying, Hey, we're gonna have an awesome holiday party for everyone to let you know, we're thankful for you really consider doing something like that, do it monthly, find different rewards.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Look at the data.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Carrie can give you a bunch of great data points to look at, but find different metrics.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: You can monitor it.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Doesn have to be just whoever sells the most to go beer.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: One of my favorites is looking at the tip percentages.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: If your POS allows it and it allows your team members to clock in under different, you know, user IDs of sorts, look at it and see that, oh, Andrew's getting an average tip of 19%, but Carrie he's getting 27% every time.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: That means Carrie's doing something right.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: And I argue his tabs are definitely gonna be high too.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Because when the guest is in your tap room, they're gonna tip a little bit more to that server.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Who's more engaged and you know, spending more time with them.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: So find those metrics that work for you, understand what your tap room staff want and not just your tap room staff.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: You can reward everybody in the back of the house too, but find what makes them happy.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Use the data, give that reward, given that re rec uh, recognition, little motivation goes a long way.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: And you know, I, I always get excited to ask people and like I said earlier, what motivates you?
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: So if you're watching today and you do this, let me know what your team wants.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I'm so curious to see how it, you were able to motivate them.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: That's
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Great stuff.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: And I think, I mean, obviously it's the, this, the hot holiday season, so you can, you know, think about skewing it that way.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: But I liked what you said.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: There is like really getting to, to dig in on your employees and what motivates them sort of on a macro level, right?
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Why are they working there?
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: And then you can take it to a micro level.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: What would motivate you right now?
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Well, it's a Chick-fil-A gift card.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: I know for me, this is gonna sound weird.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: It's not really usually of my alley, but a former employer every year, they would, they would give everyone this beautiful centerpiece for your holiday table, you know, and I'm not a centerpiece guy and I'm really not into candles, but I would bring it home and it would just be there and it would be a constant or, you know, and the family would come together.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's beautiful.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Where'd that come from?
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: And it's an opportunity to talk about, you know, where you work and, and so forth.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: So pretty
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Cool.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: It almost has a dual purpose there, cause it's almost like having that gold star on your table, but it's also something physical that you could enjoy.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I really like that.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: That's a good one.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: It's surprised me too.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Cause I'm like, I'm not really into Nick now or I like decorations, but it kind of begins and ends with Christmas lights.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: So, but that was that, that one, I don't
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Know if we're doing Christmas bonuses or gifts at taper room success.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: So, you know, don't get excited if I don't send you one or don't get upset.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Maybe next year
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: If we forgive you,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: But you know, as we do get to the end of the year, I wanna throw a question your away.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: You know, I, I really feel like it's been such a weird two years, but finally people are looking ahead to 2022, but what comes first is the end of the year financial planning and it's a big task, you know, how do you recommend that those Handl, this break it into smaller chunks and then use the accountability to get a it done.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: It's hard.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: You know what I, when I work with clients, one of the biggest issues is simply the plan getting it.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: It seems like too big of a task, you know, cuz it's, they start with the feeling like, oh, I don't really know where to start.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: I really know what to do.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: I'm worried that once I do this, it's gonna become kind of obsolete as soon as I'm done.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Uh, cuz you know, things are changing so fast.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: So my recommendation is really, truly break it into smaller pieces.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: It's it's sort of the common answer to any big problem is you take this big problem, you break it up, you do it a little bit of a time.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: I give you a quick analogy.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: This may or may not be on point, but I did this summer.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I was doing some work around the house and I ordered the, this huge pile of of three quarter inch crushed gravel.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: And it was like two yards, which is a big pile.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Um, and my goal was to spread it around the perimeter to the home and it would, you know, it would look nice and it would keep the water from splashing on the house.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Anyway, every day I would drive back from work, I'd pull in and there's that huge pile of rocks.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, I don't, I don't know even where, I mean, I it's gonna take me forever to get this pile spread out and it's heavy and I got a wheel barrel.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: The tire goes flat.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, no.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: So I avoided it, avoid it.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: And finally I said, all right, here's what I'm gonna do.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Take one hour every day.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: And I think I can probably get this done in two weeks.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: Well, I get it done in like eight days.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: I just, you know, 10 wheelbarrow spreading around.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: So the moral of that story is, you know, your financial plan can like a big pile of rocks and you're gonna look at it every day and it's gonna feel impossible.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: But if you do it a little bit at a time over and you give yourself, um, you know, a little bit of run time, uh, you will get it done.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: And you know, we have tools in our blueprint, right?
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: That basically can walk you through this.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: So your sales plan, your margins, your operating expenses, any capital expenditures, if you wanna do some taper improvements or what have you, you know how to build that plan and to do it in a manageable fashion, uh, so that you can break it into those chunks.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: But it's a critical piece of you.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: You're in planning yet.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: We're are coming up.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: We're in mid-December uh, now is the absolute perfect time to do it, get it done and get it communicated out to your team.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Cause it can be, it can make a really big difference for you.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: So the first thing is it looks huge break into small chunks, follow formula, and you will have a sweet financial plan for your time and
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Going off the accountability component of that out, that how important do you believe deadlines are giving personal deadlines to knock these, task it out?
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a, I mean I use this quote all the time.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Nothing focuses the mind, like a deadline.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: It's just true, you know, by nature human beings are we, we like to procrastinate and you know, having a deadline, you know, you can always change it, but it's, it's really important.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: So there's two component is that I do recommend in terms of getting it done.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Certainly here's the rock pile break into chunks, use this system and then come backwards from that.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: So for example, if you say right, I want, I wanna get this thing done in four weeks, 28 days.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: So I'm gonna take, um, my sales plan.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: I want to get done at the end of next week, my margin plan the week after, after OPEX and so forth.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: And at the conclusion of those four weeks, I'm done with my financial plan.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: That's what I wanna do.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: The accountability piece is really having someone that you work with.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: So maybe it's your boss, you know, maybe it's the owner.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's an external, I work with, you know, brewery clients on this a lot where I say, all right, we're gonna meet once a week, four weeks we to build your plan, you know, I'm gonna give you homework.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: We're gonna talk about it every Thursday at three o'clock.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: And you know, at the conclusion of those, uh, four weeks, we're gonna have a plan.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: So having someone that, you know, you're accountable to is important as well.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: So we don't, we're less likely, uh, to push it off.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: So that's, that's typically how I would approach it.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: No, I agree to all that.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: And going back to your, your leaf example, just the other day, my son max and I, we were doing leaves in the backyard.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I got the big old rake out, was putting'em in piles and he was helping me.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: He was using his bare hands, putting the leaves in the bags and you know, it's accountability.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: If I'm not raking the piles for him, he's got no work to do.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: And he's gonna look at me like, dad, what are you doing?
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: You gotta do your part.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: So you're accountable to somebody, it's
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: True.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: It, it, it always comes back to that and
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We got the job done seven or eight bags later.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: I'm
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Proud of you.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: So that seems like real teamwork.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: But now I want to ask you about team building, sir.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: So how are you thinking about this these days?
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: I know this is a, a topic, uh, that's on your plate team, building your tap room ways to make more money.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: Tell us what you're, you're learning on this.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I have a lot of conversations about the disconnect sometimes between front of house and back of house.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: And I mentioned a couple minutes ago that, you know, the brewery I was working with here in Virginia, they hadn't had a team meeting prior, especially one that included everybody from the brew house and everybody in the TA room space.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: So I think it's extremely important that all people are brought together and it kind of really ties into the motivational component, but also ties into the educational component too.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: But then it ties into the relationship as of just being in a brewery.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: You know, if people are on the same team, well yes, you are there for the greater good to make money for yourself.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And for the business, you work a lot better when you like each other.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I know it's so simple, but think of this basic example, if Carrie, if you and I are working behind a bar and we can't stand one another, for every reason it is, and I wish I could make a good, you know, baseball example, but I don't follow sports like you do.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: But you know, if I was a Yankees fan, you like the red Sox and you know, my dad is a Yankees fan.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: So little make makes a little bit of sense and you know, we're behind the bar and you just can't stand me because I like the Yankees.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Then we're not gonna work well together.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: If you know, you're helping a customer and I could, you know, pay intent, come, come in and help you out.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do that cuz we don't get along.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: We don't see eye to eye, you know, but if we're buddies, we get along, we respect each other and we enjoy each other's company.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: We're gonna be much more likely to jump in and help one another and that's gonna help us move the line quicker.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: It's gonna give us time to engage with the guests on a higher level and the guests across the bar, they're gonna see our rapport.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: They're gonna see how we work together and that's gonna become part of the experience.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: So that that's the basic example.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: But to take it back to what I mentioned about the disconnect between front of house and back of house, I really think it comes down to education and exposure.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: You know, looking at the back of house is your brewer spending any time in the tap room?
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think brewers both ways, both times and sometimes brewers love to be in the spotlight.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: They love to be the one who's in the tap room, getting greed because they made the beer.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: But then I've seen the opposite sometimes.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Well, brewers just wanna stick to the back, but either way, I think it's really good for your brewer to interact in the tap room space because people really get excited to see that person they're gonna, you know, ask them questions, pick their brain, but it also gives your brewer an appreciation of what the front house staff are going through, how they interact with customers, put your brewer behind the bars, get to experience it.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Do like a guest shift on a Saturday night and feature your head brewer or some of your brewing staff, you know, interacting with guests because they might be, you know, to also build a relationship on a different level, by answering some technical cool questions that your front of house staff might not be as in tune with.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: But on the other side of things, you know, how much time is your front of house staff spending in the back?
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: And I think that's equally as important because when you go to a brewery, we have the love of beer and people like you and I, Carrie, when we're sitting in a tap room and to someone on the other side, we're probably gonna pick their brain and want to ask some questions.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: I know I especially do.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: If I go by myself, I wanna know what hops are in a beer.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: I want to know the, you know, processes they use to make this unique style of beer.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I wanna know about the history of the brewery I wanna know about what's going on behind the scenes.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: So I think it's very, very important for your tap room staff to go and have a brew day, you know, just shadow, do the dirty work that the brewer doesn't wanna do.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Anyway.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: It's not saying they need to, but you know, feel what the experience is like and get them to appreciate one other's roles.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Cause that's gonna create a better vibe in the overall, you know, brew house.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: But also it's gonna give knowledge it's gonna of that front of house person, a little more insight into the brewing process might help them understand some of that terminology that they're reading on your menu board, but don't always know what it means.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: And it'll also give the brewer the appreciation for what they're doing in front of house.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: And this comes back down to team meetings.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I think team meetings are huge.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: We talk a lot about motivation when they had that first meeting with the staff here in Virginia, you know, we did learn motivated them, but something else we did at that meeting the head brewer, walked through all the new beers that she had on tap.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: She walked through every beer they were putting out and normally they gave a nice little one sheet, the tap room staff that could, they could read.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: And that's a great idea too.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's really fantastic to give your front of house staff, the tasting notes.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: That way they can properly, you know, explain the beer.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: But also when you, someone walking you through the process, you know, asking you questions, what are you tasting right now?
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: And just teaching you about it.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: It deepens that connection and you feel a little more connected to the beers you're serving behind the bar.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: So I think having these meetings where you're motivating, but also educating is really good and also taking it more to the personal level.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: It's the holidays right now.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: And if you're watching this in the holidays, if you're watching this in the middle of the summer 2022, it doesn't matter have some sort of team building activity, bring people together, something as simple as ordering a pizza.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: When you close up on a Sunday afternoon, you know, order a pizza, hang out, get to know each other, play a little fun icebreaker.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be all business, go to other brew together.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: And while you're at that brew together, look at what you like, look at what you don't like.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Talk about the experience.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: But social activities are really important because like I mentioned, when we started this little segment, people like people who they wanna spend time with, you know, they be like people who have things in common, they like people who they think are fun.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: They like people who they respect.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: So build those relationships between your team and it goes a long way.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: It's gonna make everybody's job easier and it's gonna make the business more successful.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: So that's my little segment on, you know, just team building, cuz it does have value and you're gonna see it in the bottom line and you're gonna see it in just in the daily interactions.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: You're gonna probably see less turnover cuz people are happy and it's gonna create for a better positive company culture.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: It's a virtuous cycle too.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: You're right.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: I mean you've got front and back front of house, uh, back of house, right.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Interacting there.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: And that's, that's, that's a pretty common thing.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: You, you literally have a wall delineating spaces, so to bring those together and then you've got within each team right within the front of house team within the back.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: And one of the things that we've done in the past, there's been lots of team building exercises that come to mind.
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: But one in particular that was a lot of fun and you gotta kind of read the room, like what is your brewery into, what are your people like to do?
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Uh, but we went to this place called the apex center and they do, go-karts like these fancy like formula and go-karts like serious and uh, and did like a, a bowling, you know, bowling together.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: So it's just like, you know, you get outta your space and it's, and it's, this is not always practical to do tapering, you know, getting everybody out.
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: But the payoff's incredible cuz you know, you have those conversations with people, uh, that you wouldn't necess necessarily have, you know, behind the bar when you're trying to open.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: So you get'em out of that space, you do a fun activity.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: People kind of loosen up a little bit.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Um, and I think even using some of those points that you raised earlier, which is, you know, in order to kind of create those relationships, you start by sharing maybe something personal about yourself.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: You know, you kind of show people, look, I'm not trying to trap you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I'm just trying to get to know you, you know, here's a little bit about me.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: So I think those are great points that, you know, not only does it help with sort the communication education, but building relationships within your own teams so that, you know, folks understand how to build relationships with your customers when they come in.
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: So it doesn't just happen at a vacuum, right?
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: We, uh, and I'm glad you raised this cuz a lot of times it is very focused on what can your staff do to engage that customer?
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, that's important.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: But though taking those skills to your own team, those they're really interesting ideas and
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: To go full circle with it, the brewer I referenced earlier about never having the team media and they have a wonderful staff right now, extremely educated.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: There's no longer a disc connect between the front of house and back of house.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: And funny enough today they're having their holiday party with everyone in their families.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: So they're doing great things, right.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Love it.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Now I got another one to throw your way, Carrie.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: You know, I love how we go back and forth with this.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I think we could probably have like a five hour session, one time where we just go forever asking each other questions.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: But we already talked a little bit about the year in financial planning.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about monthly reviews and once you have the plan, you know, how do you check in to see if you're on track and what do you look for and how do you make this a routine?
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: It's it's like anything, you know, when, when you first do it, it's hard, right?
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Anything you do the first time is generally gonna be hard.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: The second time's a little easier.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: So it does take a little bit of commitment it to come up with sort of a rhythm and a flow, but you spend all this time creating your financial plan, right?
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: So you got sales goals and profit goals and whatever your financial and operational goals are.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: And then it really comes down to how are we reflecting back on whether we've hit these goals?
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: You know, we've exceeded them.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: We came up short, where are we?
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: And we like to this.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: So the typical cadence of a financial review would be each month.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: So you complete the month, you close out the books, as they say, you produce your reports in the financial world.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: That could be an income statement, could be some score cards could be a balance sheet, whatever your financial objectives are.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: And then you're comparing what your actual results were to what you expected to happen.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: So we like to have these expectations and then we look back and say, what did we actually achieve?
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: And what's the gap.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: And then right, how do we close the gap?
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Pretty standard stuff.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: But to do that on a regular basis and to include, you know, communicate with your team and those people that can influence these outcomes.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: I, I find it's very often the missing link.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: So sometimes an owner would look at the reports, oh, we're coming up short and then come up with some arbitrary changes that, why are we doing this now?
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: So if we include those, that can make a difference, taper manager, even taper staff, uh, you'll see, you'll see a world of difference.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: So I think that it's, those are important, right?
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: It's really just checkpoints along the way.
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: The other things that I really like about the frequency of that routine is it gives you an opportunity, not only check in what you did, but to learn a little bit more about your business.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: So you can say, ah, I didn't really noticed that last time.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: It's also an educational opportunity.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: So if you can have someone there that's explaining on a regular basis, you know, how, what is cost of good?
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, why are we, what is cost?
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: So I don't even know what that means.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: You know, margins, how does that calculation work?
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: So you have these multiple opportunities that can be educational and informing your staff and obviously better informed, you know, we can show them how, what they do can influence these numbers.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: So it's really connecting their actions back to these financial outcomes.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Um, it also creates an opportunity for action items, right?
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: So numbers in a vacuum, nobody cares, but if you create numbers and you're like, oh, we're, we're falling short.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: We have a gap.
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: What are the things that we can do to shrink that gap?
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: What are the action items that we can put in place?
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: So first we identify, where is the gap?
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: It's on sales or it's on operating expenses are running too hot.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: So we need the data to understand what's going on and then identify the gap compared to our plan.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: And then those action items to close it and include those people.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: People that can make a difference.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: And then lastly, on this point, it's a great opportunity to make updates.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: So one of the common complaints about the budget is, oh, we create the budget.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: It's obsolete immediately.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: What am I gonna do with this thing?
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: Well, there's no nothing saying you can't change the budget.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: So you create an annual plan by month.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: You get into the new year and you realize we're missing by a lot.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: We need to of make some modifications.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: So you go in, you modify your plan and now you, you reset it going forward, nothing wrong with that.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: Definitely encourage it.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: Particularly these days everything's changing so fast.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't, we don't know what's gonna happen, you know, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, no one can predict that.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: But what we can do is create models and systems so that we can stay updated when those changes come down the place.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: So we don't feel like, ah, you know, I'm dealing with outdated information.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: So that's kind of how I like to think about the monthly reviews.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: That's, that's a mouthful there, but I think the takeaway is, you know, create those regular routines, those regular checkpoints, um, and use them as a way to kind of kind of check because everyone wants say like, how are we, how are we doing?
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: You know, this is, this is one way to, to answer that question.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: So what
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: You're talking about, leads directly into goal setting, you know, as we talk about the new year, everybody's getting their resolutions out there.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: What are some tips and tactics that you have for successfully, you know, setting these goals and sticking to'em
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: I like to use, I'm gonna hit you with some acronyms, but you know, I like to use sort of systems in order to create outcomes.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: And this, the acronyms, I I'm sure everybody has heard these before, but you know, the first one is really the, you know, use smart goals, right?
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: So a specific, so we're very targeted.
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: What is the goal?
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: It's measurable?
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: We actually can quantify the thing.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: Uh, the a is for achievable, you know, we want, we wanna make it a stretch.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: We wanna push if it's a goal, but we wanna make sure that we can hit it, our realistic.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: Um, and the T is timebound.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: So we wanna have a, a deadline on that too.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: So you think about setting goals, I would use some sort of a system like that so that we can, and you can think of it as a checklist.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: Like we wanna check these boxes, does this goal meet the smart goal criteria?
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: You know, have we, have we accounted for those things?
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: So that would be kind of one.
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: Um, I would also think about the SWAT analysis S w OT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Um, some of these things are interesting, cuz what I, I, I find is when I bring these up people like, oh yeah, I, I, I know what that is.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I know what that is.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: We've done that before.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: I'm like, well, when have you done it?
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: I don't know, a few years ago.
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: Well what, what came of it?
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: Nothing.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: It's like, okay, these aren't going to solve, you know, themselves.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: You, we need to use these as systems that will only work if we work them right.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: If we have the discipline and the diligence to use them and understanding, they're just sort of a means to an end, right?
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: They're not at the end in and of itself, but a SWAT else can be very interesting.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: What do we do?
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: Well, what do we need to work on?
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: What are opportunities out there?
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: And these days, the focus on that T what are the threats?
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: Um, so I think that's really important.
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: Some other basics are, um, you know, you gotta get it in writing.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of times we walk around with goals in our head.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: We never tell anybody.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: Um, that's kind of hard.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: So get into writing is, is, is clear.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: Number one, use some simple tools, like a business plan, obviously a financial plan, uh, to help kind of provide some structure around that business.
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: Plan's another one where can feel like a really overwhelming task.
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: Um, and I definitely advocate for shorter simpler one page business plan, focus on, you know, your main objectives and go from there.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I think, you know, this is the time of year is coming to an end setting goals for the new in thinking about kind of those acronyms those systems in order to, to get the juices flow.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: So
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: I do love the acronyms as well.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: And you know, you talk a lot about planning for these goals, but you also mentioned, you know, looking at things you've done in the past and looking at how you can do them better, you know, learning from your failures and just Tapper managers, you know, looking at event that you might have had and this symbol of this year.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: And don't just say, well, I wish it went smoother.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Look down, look at it and write down what you can do better for the next time that you host that event or a similar event always find ways to constantly improve.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: You know, and I think a couple of other add-ons to that are, you wanna write it down, but you wanna make it visible so people can actually see it.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: We, and we love scorecards, right.
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: You know, scorecards are a great way to do that.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: So you can sort of capture a goal, put it up there, scorecards, scoreboards, you know, behind the bar, you know, the break room, uh, as a, a, a tool for your, for your team meetings, you know, if it's really important and you can run it through those smart goal objectives, um, it's a great way to kind of share that information and engage, engage the team in the process.
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: So lots of cool things around goal setting and, uh, yeah, definitely been thinking about that a lot these days.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: So cool, man.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: Well, as we're wrapping up, we, we don't wanna leave without talking about a live event.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: That's coming up in February.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: I'm excited about it.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: The next time I get to see you face to face, we, we spend way too much time on the internet together.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Carrie.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: I
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: Know it's true.
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: So tell us about it.
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: What is this live event?
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: What do tap from success?
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Members need to know what are they gonna learn there?
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: You, yeah, absolutely.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: So we are really excited.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: I also wear the hat for craft beer professionals, word organization of 14,000, working in the craft beer industry.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: And we've got our base built on the internet right on our Facebook community.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: But what that's built is so many relationships like Carrie and I, people who know each other, but haven't had the opportunity to connect face to face.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: So what we're really looking forward to in February, 2022 is a two day workshop where you get to come interact and network with, you know, fellow capital managers, other brewery owners, people outside your general circles, so that you can learn from them and our events February 7th, where we're hosting the rep welcome reception, then eighth and ninth or two days a workshop followed by receptions.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: And you're gonna learn everything kind of along the lines of what Carrie just talked about.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: We're not just going to give you a presentation that makes it feel like you're in college, but you're going to leave with actionable strategies.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: You can take back to your tap room and Carrie's gonna be leading the session, how to build your time.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Ugh, can't get my words out today.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: How to build your tap room, financial plan.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: So we're gonna have workshops like that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have one that goes over.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: You know what we can learn from the sports marketing world.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: We're gonna wanna have one by John with craft peak, talking about closing the loop between your online and tap room sales.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: These are sessions that are designed to make you better tap room managers, better business owners.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: And there's gonna be that educational component where each day you're able to ask questions.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: You can ask me questions.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: You can ask Carrie question.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Then later that night, we're gonna have the opportunity to go face to face three different tap rooms over those days and ask more questions.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: You know, when I see Carrie, you know, give his lecture, give his workshop and I'm gonna learn so much, but guess what?
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: An hour and a half later, I'm probably gonna be scratched in my head and be like, you know what?
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: I forgot to ask him that.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: And you are going to have the opportunity to see Carrie later that night over a beer and ask those questions.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: You're just itching to ask.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: So really looking forward to that February 7th, eighth, ninth, Norfolk, Virginia taproom success members stay tuned to your inboxes.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: There could be something special coming your way special.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: I love it special.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: And for anyone just interested in learning more it's C B P connects.com.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: CBP connects.com.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no substitute for in person.
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, certainly virtual is great.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: It's a great way to deliver information.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: You can get it when you want it, you know, on your own schedule.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: Um, but there is that missing piece, right?
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: So I find, I I'm, I typically am resistant to traveling and all this, but whenever I do it and I get there, you know, you're just jazzed up.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: You know, you get to meet different people, interact in different ways.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: And as you said, you know, the virtual thing's very sort of linear.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: And as I, one way, you know, I give you information, you do something whether or you don't, but that workshop where it is back and forth, it's peer to peer.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: I think that's gonna be really cool.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: So I am definitely looking forward to that and encourage people to check it out.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Uh, and then see if it's, it's something that, uh, might be good for you as well.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: And I look forward to seeing so many people in the new year, indeed.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: Well, Gary is always a fun time hanging out and learning from you, excited to see you in February.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: I look forward to that very much and for everybody who's tuned in today.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: We look forward to seeing you soon and have a great day and happy holidays if it's still 2021.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Cheers, happy
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: Holidays.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: Take care.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the craft brewery, financial training podcast, where we combine beer and numbers so that you can improve financial results in your brewery.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: For more resources, tools, guides, and online courses, visit craft brewery, financial training.com.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: And don't forget to sign up for the world old, famous craft brewery, financial training newsletter until next time, get out there and improve financial results in your brewery today.