Lost My Job - Feeling E36 M3ty and Worthless

The guys have covered most of what I was going to suggest - smaller brewer, sales etc. I will add that someone opened a growler store locally in a mid sized town in the land of Budweiser, and it is killing. Maybe a business partner with a good head for details could let you run the front end, and then split the success. Or maybe a craft distributor is looking to break into the area and would be interested in backing a storefront.

There's also an opportunity in emerging markets to write beer reviews for local media. Start a blog and do beer reviews in your spare time. Once you have a portfolio of articles, knock on the door of local papers and lifestyle magazines and discuss freelance work. It might not be a living but it could be fun and profitable as a sideline or it could open other doors. Its also a good way to fill time while looking for the next gig.

At any rate, I agree with the others who said this is an opportunity, not a set back. Stay frosty.

Is it okay for me to consider this both an opportunity and a setback?

In any case, I am doing better today than yesterday. Yesterday was spent moping around the house in pajamas and a robe. I am already dressed and do plan to at least leave the house to take care of errands, although I am still steeling myself to build up the nerve to hit the pavement and talk to potential employers. I need to at least get over focusing on my faults and be able to focus on my strengths to sell myself better.

Okay, I just had a really good talk with my dad. It is very helpful to have someone with another 30 years life experience who has similar sorts of strengths and weaknesses to me. We identified what I'm not so good at, and what I am good at. I am not good at being a worker bee. Doing the same thing over and over, day after day makes me kinda bored, and my attention drifts off. What I am good at is looking at and solving puzzles, understanding interconnected systems, making things work better, and also giving training and instruction. I'm pretty good at doing most anything I set my mind to... but I'm really good at training and instructing people. This has given me some ideas.

His suggestion, that I think I'm going to follow, is to set up some sort of mobile consulting business for starting and expanding breweries. I come in, figure out what they could do better, and help make that happen. I can also do things like train sales staff on how to talk about and sell their beers. On top of that, I already have a pilot's license, and my dad is an instructor and will get me current and back into that (probably even get me my instrument rating) for free. So I can be really mobile. Like... able to serve anyone in Ohio, and potentially any neighboring state same day kind of mobile.

Top it all off, my family has a parcel of land that we need to sell. I now have the time and freedom to focus on that. Getting that sold will easily net me 3-4 times what my yearly salary as a brewer was.

Just as a data note, this store is near me and seems to do quite well. They always have beer on tap and you can also buy an individual bottle, pop it and drink it while hanging out. It is fun to go into and sample different beers from around the world. http://tipplesbrews.com/

Another thought is the company World of Beer (http://wobusa.com/). They are expanding rapidly.

Beer Baron wrote: Is it okay for me to consider this *both* an opportunity and a setback?

Seems like the most reasonable way to view it - not acknowledging that the downsides seems unrealistically optimistic, looking for the opportunity seems like the best way to handle dealing with it.

Good luck on the new venture idea - hopefully it will pan out.

I commend you for speaking of setbacks. The internet allows people to manufacture their own reality, allowing only successes to be revealed. It's nice to be reminded that others face the same issues, and that mistakes and losses are just part of life.

I have been with my current employer for almost 12 years; never had any problems, but in the span of a month, I have been written up a few times due to tardiness (resulting from sleep issues), and I am now on the brink of losing my job. It's a kind reminder that work is not family; it is work. Time to start looking for something different.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. But all is not lost. You're still young and that's a strong advantage. Age-wise I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I turned 65 last December and will retire in two days ... March 28. I spent over 40 years in a variety of positions with companies that make industrial manufacturing equipment (primarily machine tools and CMMs) in Manufacturing Engineering, Applications Engineering, Technical Sales, Product Management, Project Management and Marketing. From my standpoint I stayed with what I knew and was successful at that. If you know the brewing business, my recommendation would be to stick with it. You don't need to be an actual brewer if that doesn't suit you. But at least stay in a field where you can cultivate your experience, rather than jumping around from one idea to another (i.e., the Siemens comment). The other thing I've recognized in my 40+ working years is that there definitely are detail oriented contributors, and there are non-detail oriented contributors (also known in my industry as idea-men ... or women). There's a need for both types in business. Typically the non-detail oriented types were successful in sales and marketing, and the detail oriented types were successful in project management and engineering. Based on what I'm hearing about your situation, and as a well seasoned employee on the verge of retirement, I would recommend that you stay in the brewing or brewing equipment field, or a related field such as liquor distribution or the food industry, etc., and look for a position in sales and/or marketing.

Coming to the realization that you are not a good fit for a production environment is NOT the same thing as coming to the conclusion that beer is not for you.

If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Zomby Woof wrote: If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Because for "focus-issue" types, (myself included) concentrating on a fixed end goal is often easier than staying focused on repetitive day-to-day things.

Beer Baron wrote: Is it okay for me to consider this *both* an opportunity and a setback?

I'd say so. After all, it is initially a setback, but I think it's probably a bit of a prod for you to go off in another/the right direction. And that's a big opportunity.

Beer Baron wrote: In any case, I am doing better today than yesterday. Yesterday was spent moping around the house in pajamas and a robe. I am already dressed and do plan to at least leave the house to take care of errands, although I am still steeling myself to build up the nerve to hit the pavement and talk to potential employers. I need to at least get over focusing on my faults and be able to focus on my strengths to sell myself better.

Hey, nobody knows if you misplaced your job or just won the lottery . No reason not to go out and face the world.

Given the results of your talk with your dad, you actually may have won a lottery, in a way.

Zomby Woof wrote: If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Right, schooling isn't a set of reoccurring similar tasks, it's a progression. Knock one thing out, move to the next. What's interest is that often time folks who are more routine "worker bee" types are really good at nailing that test or doing homework, but after the class is over they retain little of the information learned.

I was horrible at math for this reason. It requires repetitively doing the same types of problems over and over. Pattern recognition. Recognizing that "hey, this is this type of problem, I need this equation" was very difficult for me.

3-5 page essay on stuff we learned throughout the class? Easy.

In my department of 10 I am the quickest learner and most able to think outside of the box. Am I the most productive?

Anyway...back to work, haha

SVreX wrote: Coming to the realization that you are not a good fit for a production environment is NOT the same thing as coming to the conclusion that beer is not for you.

This. It might require some real effort on your part to consciously be more detail oriented or as others have said partner with someone whose strengths can cover that kind of thing for you while you concentrate on yours.

Don't look at what happened to you as failure because it isn't failure. You took a risk, made an investment in yourself, and learned something. The answer wasn't what you wanted, but it would have been the same answer even if you never took the risk: you just would have never known it. You succeeded because you tried something.

Now you need to take what you learned and find the job that fits into your interest in beer. You could build a bar at an airfield! "Bottle to Throttle!" Pilots fly to the airport your bar is at, have their proverbial $300 beer, and then stumble back to their planes and fly back to their home airports. It's genius: you get to work with people as a salesman, and beer as your passion.

EDIT: And I get 6%.

PHeller wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Right, schooling isn't a set of reoccurring similar tasks, it's a progression. Knock one thing out, move to the next. What's interest is that often time folks who are more routine "worker bee" types are really good at nailing that test or doing homework, but after the class is over they retain little of the information learned. I was horrible at math for this reason. It requires repetitively doing the same types of problems over and over. Pattern recognition. Recognizing that "hey, this is this type of problem, I need this equation" was very difficult for me. 3-5 page essay on stuff we learned throughout the class? Easy. In my department of 10 I am the quickest learner and most able to think outside of the box. Am I the most productive? Anyway...back to work, haha

Yup. That is totally me. I do great on research papers: analyzing data, drudging things up, synthesizing information. I was also pretty darned good in labs too. I will fall asleep within 10 minutes of a dry lecture though. Through my college career, I couldn't memorize formulae to save my life.

confuZion3: Dear gods, I hope that business idea was suggested as a joke.

I don't have much to contribute more than an anecdote. Back in the early 90's I was going to become the owner of half a dozen chain bakeries and live on Easy Street until the chain was reorganized (sold) and the new owners had their own guy. The night they let me go, I was sitting at my girlfriends house, watching TV and feeling sorry for myself when the phrase, "It's something that should happen to everyone once" popped into my head. That was something my Dad told me years before when he related having been fired from his job by some pipsqueak manager. I'll summarize by saying my Dad identified with his work GREATLY and the sense of shame he felt at having been fired at all was nothing compared to the injustice of it. This was in England just after the war. Long story short, he used that firing to explore the possibility of relocating to North America as he saw the way England was going. Bottom line he turned that situation into a new career with Trane Air Conditioning and ended up with a couple of dozen patents and one of his ideas sitting on the moon. The reason I'm telling you this is to echo what some others have said. "Change is Opportunity" was the mantra of my second boss and it's true. It sounds to me like you're on the right track but I cannot overemphasize how important it is to know yourself. If you're anything like me, you're going to have to spend a lot of time thinking very hard about what your strengths and vulnerabilities are. Brainstorm. Do it a lot. A LOT. Think about any indication of what you've got a historical track record of doing well then try to start comparing those skill sets against known positions. I don't know how old you are, but don't wait until you're too old. Get after it. Shrug it off and kick life's ass. Good luck!

Beer Baron wrote: His suggestion, that I think I'm going to follow, is to set up some sort of mobile consulting business for starting and expanding breweries. I come in, figure out what they could do better, and help make that happen. I can also do things like train sales staff on how to talk about and sell their beers.

A ton of new microbreweries have opened up in Minneapolis in the last couple years, with a bunch more planned - I can see where there's a market for this sort of consulting. I imagine there are similar situations in cities all over the country.

The Chinese symbol for crisis is a combination of the ones for 'danger' and 'opportunity'.

I've watched Top Gear UK so much that now I read "crisis" as "orgasm".

Zomby Woof wrote: If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Dude, he was in school in Germany...with beer wenches.

I cannot add anything valuable to the advice given, so I just want you to know I am also pulling for you.

Curmudgeon wrote: The Chinese symbol for crisis is a combination of the ones for 'danger' and 'opportunity'.

I shared this with my 13 year old.

He said, "I think it should be a screaming stick figure with his hands in the air!"

spitfirebill wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: If you're not detail oriented and frequently scatterbrained, then how did you get through your schooling to become a brewer?

Dude, he was in school in Germany...with beer wenches.

And if you saw the video of me dancing, you should appreciate how much self control I had to exert staying faithful to my now-fiancee.

Okay, my dad and I have been discussing more about the beer consulting idea. Primary target clientele would be retail establishments (bars, tap houses, bottle shops, liquor stores, high end grocery) providing tasting and education events for clients and education/training for staff; secondary would be small, young craft breweries ironing out their procedures, portfolios, and marketing. We've been trying to come up with a good name to market myself as. Something that will be easy to remember, descriptive, and not overly pretentious.

Ideas so far are:
The Beer Guy or That Beer Guy
The Beer Brain
The Beer Adviser
The Beer Counselor
The Beer Baron

Any thoughts on those or ideas for others? My dad like The/That Beer Guy because he figures stores will be like, "Hey, who was that beer guy who came in a while back?" I think that's not specific enough that there will be too many "beer guys" in those shops and on the web for me to stand out.

The Sommelier of Beer