You don't need to own a brewery to make beer

Start without your own production equipment if you can find a way in through other people’s facilities. Many entrepreneurs don’t get started because they think they need money for everything from the beginning. Travelling in New Zealand in 2012, I talked about a brewer who did something different.

Start without your own production equipment and use other people’s capacity

I’d interviewed Søren, who made beer under the name 8 Wired. He hadn’t bought his own brewery but used other breweries’ equipment and paid for production.

First, he’d worked at a brewery and learned to brew on a larger scale. Afterwards, he got the opportunity to use spare capacity for his own beer.

I didn’t know all the details of the payment model. The point was that he could get started and put his energy into becoming a good brewer rather than building the whole production operation himself.

The same principle in a nail salon

I also described a young woman who’d bought a nail machine and rented a little corner at a hairdresser’s on Saturdays. That gave her her own nail salon without needing to start with an entire shop.

Look at opportunities before limitations

The examples made me ask: Can you rent space or use equipment someone already has? Can you start smaller while improving your skills and finding customers?

These are historical examples from 2012. My point was that you don’t need to own every part to take the first step with your business.

Start without your own production equipment: Søren uses another brewery

We’re still in New Zealand on the trip where I’m interviewing Danish entrepreneurs for Amino TV. This time, I show the entrance to the Hobbit village area we’ve just visited.

At the time, we’re not allowed to share pictures from inside, I explain, so you see the entrance. I also show a Lord of the Rings beer called Sobering Thoughts and say it has 0.01 percent alcohol. Mads puts his bottle beside it.

We also have a long drive ahead. The next visit concerns a man recording a fishing film up north. I’m not entirely sure what the film is about, but I estimate the journey there at around ten hours.

The person I’ve most recently interviewed is Søren. Now I’m starting to get confused by all the names, but Søren makes beer under the name 8 Wired. What’s interesting is that he brews on other people’s equipment.

If you can’t have everything from the start

Many entrepreneurs have an unfortunate tendency: If they can’t have the entire setup from the beginning, they won’t start at all. Perhaps it’s also a way of protecting themselves because they don’t dare.

But if you want to get started, it’s worth considering whether you can use something others already have. Søren couldn’t afford to buy a brewery. So he found another way.

He’d already brewed at home. Then he took a job at a brewery for three months and learned to brew on a larger scale. Afterwards, he got the opportunity to use some of its spare production capacity for his own beer.

Pay for production instead of the entire factory

Instead of buying the whole brewery, he brews on its equipment and pays to use it. In the video, I wonder whether payment is per litre or per day. I don’t know the exact agreement.

The principle is what’s interesting: He can use a kind of pay-as-you-go instead of owning everything from the start.

Because he doesn’t need to spend all his energy establishing an entire brewery, he can use it to become a really good brewer. I say in the video that the year before he won an award as New Zealand’s best brewer, and some of his beers were recognised among the best in that part of the world.

That’s my enthusiastic account from the 2012 visit. I think it’s a great achievement after a few years as a brewer, and I explain that he can now make a living from it.

A nail salon in a corner at the hairdresser’s

It reminds me of a story I’ve told before. A young woman raised her hand at an entrepreneurship event where people were discussing how expensive starting was.

She had her own nail salon. As far as I remember, she’d bought a nail machine with money from her confirmation. Then she rented a little corner at the local hairdresser’s every Saturday.

That way, she was running her own business. She didn’t first need money for a whole shop and everything else.

Which opportunities can you already access?

If you’re thinking it’s too expensive and too difficult, try turning the question around. Can you use other people’s production equipment? Can you rent a space? Is there something that makes starting easier?

Don’t only see the limitations. See the opportunities. That’s the thought I take from Søren and the young woman’s nail salon. Also read Iværksætter til jeg dør about my experiences of getting started as an entrepreneur.

See here how New Zealand’s best master brewer sells lots of beer without owning so much as a bottle cap. PS: Here I referred to a free interview with Anders about performing magic on cruise ships in the Caribbean. The original interview page can’t be opened.