When I was new to business I read (and re-read) everything I could find about operating a business that seemed relevant at the time. There was one book in particular that shook the ground of my beliefs. It was The 7 Basic Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey. It’s a famous book and I consumed it like a man with a cool glass of water, who was dying of thirst.
There was one story in the book that really made sense to me. Let me see if I can come close to telling it correctly.
A professor stands before a huge class, the kind that a college freshman would call Psychology 101. On a table he has a large jar. Without saying anything to the class he starts placing baseball-size rocks into the jar until he can’t fit any more in. He asks, “Is the jar full?” The class answers yes.
Next he pulls up a sack of pebbles from under the table and pours it into the jar, filling in all the spaces in between the rocks and asks, “Is it full now?” Half the class say’s yes.
From under the table he now pulls out a bag of sand and pours it into the jar. “Full yet?” the professor asks. The students have caught on and say no.
Finally he pulls out a pitcher of water and pours it into the jar. “Full, right?” The students break out in applause. The professor then explains to the class that the big rocks had to go in the jar first or they never would have fit. If you don’t do the big important things first, you will never get around to them. He asks, “What are the big rocks in your life?”
In the brewery business there are all sorts of rocks we deal with on a day to day basis. The beer quality is a big one for sure. So are our employees. The cool adjustable Perlic tap compared to a standard cheaper one? I’d say, important but not a big rock. It still dispenses beer.
How about your nine-year olds softball game? Big rock. Or maybe a Wednesday date night with your partner? Really a big rock.
What I am getting at is you are thrown all sorts of to-do’s in running your own business. They can all be categorized by importance. Going through the mail or answering email can be important but most of the time it is not. Especially if it makes you late for date night.
When I first read this story, I would make a list of what I felt were the big rocks of the week. Date night for sure, working on a business promotion, exploring a better way to clean kegs that would be faster and save money - that’s a yes. I would write these big rocks down and refer to that list every day to keep me on track. Without doing that exercise, the week could have flown by and I might have been spending valuable time discussing a movie with my work mates. That’s important for sure, but it is a pebble in this situation.
If you are a brewery in planning what are your big rocks? If you haven’t identified them you might just go through weeks not making any progress towards your goal of opening your brewery. I would think seeking funding and finding a location would be my two biggest!
To have the time to even separate your big rocks from your pebbles (am I carrying this metaphor too far?) you need a good business system to help operate your brewery. This will allow you to have the time needed to work on your business instead of in it. The business system really takes only a few hours per month to operate. I am amazed how many brewery owners will give their life blood in energy, time and money to get their brewery open, and then whine that there is not enough time in the week to implement an operating system.
The key is, your business operating system may be the biggest rock of all. As Arnold Schwarzenegger say’s “Here me now, or believe me later.” Did he really say that, or was that from a skit on SNL?
Anyway, it’s a good book and worth your time. It could help add perspective to your brewery. Perspective. Use it or lose it.