Starting a business often begins with excitement, optimism, and the belief that hard work alone will guarantee success. However, the reality of entrepreneurship can look very different once the daily challenges, financial pressures, and unexpected obstacles begin to appear. Looking back on my experience in the malting industry, there are several things I would have approached differently. One of the most important lessons I learned was the value of controlling startup costs. If I had the...

Queen City Malting conducted a SWOT analysis before we started our company. It was based on the assumption that New York State had just enacted a law allowing brewers and distillers to sell at farmers markets without a liquor license if they included New York State products in their goods. We looked at the number of brewers, probably around 350 at the time in New York State, and the number of distillers, likely between 50 and 100, and thought this was a no-brainer; there was a significant...

A second area I overlooked was building strong relationships with brewers and distillers after we began production. I would walk into their operations and see one of our grain bags mounted on the wall, yet I knew they hadn’t purchased from us in over six months. That was discouraging. It was also difficult just to get time with them. I would schedule appointments, drive two hours to a brewery, and then discover the person I was meeting had forgotten to put me on their calendar. I would have...