The One-Person Operation (That Can't Stay One Person)

The obvious answer is: don't hire anyone. Run it yourself. Many people start exactly this way — just you, or you and your spouse, doing everything. Brewing, cleaning, delivering, selling, doing the books, answering emails, fixing the boiler.

It works for a while. Maybe even a year or two. But you'll hit a wall. You can't brew and deliver at the same time. You can't run the taproom and clean the tanks. You can't take a day off sick because the whole operation stops.

And if you're running it with your partner, that brings its own pressures. Your business relationship and your personal relationship become the same thing. Every disagreement about a beer recipe is also a domestic argument. Every cash flow crisis is also a marriage crisis. We covered some of this in Chapter 10, but the staffing angle is simple: relying on your spouse instead of hiring properly isn't a staffing solution, it's a relationship risk.

Eventually, you have to hire someone. And that's when the real headaches begin.