Beer Wars
I went with the thursday night peeps to see Beer Wars last thursday. I found it quite interesting. A couple of noteworthy facts: 51% of beer sold in the US is a Budweiser product (now IMBEV). Miller and Coors (same company now) have something like 30% or so and all of the craft breweries combined including Sam Adams is only 7% of the US market.
One of the people they followed was Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head ales. He seemed like one of those people in life that just did what he loves to do. There are very few people it seems that literally get up everyday and do what they love to do. It seems to me that it takes a huge amount of raw honesty and courage to really make it through life doing what you truly love to do. Honesty with yourself about what you really like regardless of how much value society puts on that, and the cajones to actually chase it down and live the dream. If I had to guess a percentage, I'd say maybe 5%. Give or take.
The part that struck me the most was the formal discussion afterward. Ben Stein was the moderator and he asked some pretty pointed questions. One of which being "will you sell out when your business is big enough and someone offers you enough money that you can't turn it down?" Sam and the other brewers in the discussion were quite determined that they had no interest in selling because they truly loved beer. If money were no object, they would get up everyday and probably brew beer regardless if it made any money at all.
Of course that is the big setup question; if money were no object and you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do? That is the eternal question asked by Peter in Office Space, to which his reply is "nothing". While seemingly trite and beat to death, I personally believe that question really is fundamental. If you really know what your passion in life is, and you are brave enough to try and figure out how to get paid to do that, you will be one of the few peeps that really enjoys life.
The new twist on that concept for me was that, if you are doing what you truly love, the chances of you selling out are lessened. They never totally go away because as long as you are human, you have your price required for you to sell out. Could be $20, $20,000, $20,000,000, or $20,000,000,000 but everyone has their price. when you get up everyday and do whatever it is that you would do anyway, it really makes no sense to leave it, regardless of how much money you would make. Once you have enough to take care of your lifestyle, the rest is simply extra. I find this to be true in my life. The more that I line up my activities with what I really love in life, the happier I am, regardless of what society has to say about the viability of any activity. It's a comforting feeling to know that even if you had all the money in the world, you would still be doing what it is that you are doing now.
One of the people they followed was Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head ales. He seemed like one of those people in life that just did what he loves to do. There are very few people it seems that literally get up everyday and do what they love to do. It seems to me that it takes a huge amount of raw honesty and courage to really make it through life doing what you truly love to do. Honesty with yourself about what you really like regardless of how much value society puts on that, and the cajones to actually chase it down and live the dream. If I had to guess a percentage, I'd say maybe 5%. Give or take.
The part that struck me the most was the formal discussion afterward. Ben Stein was the moderator and he asked some pretty pointed questions. One of which being "will you sell out when your business is big enough and someone offers you enough money that you can't turn it down?" Sam and the other brewers in the discussion were quite determined that they had no interest in selling because they truly loved beer. If money were no object, they would get up everyday and probably brew beer regardless if it made any money at all.
Of course that is the big setup question; if money were no object and you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do? That is the eternal question asked by Peter in Office Space, to which his reply is "nothing". While seemingly trite and beat to death, I personally believe that question really is fundamental. If you really know what your passion in life is, and you are brave enough to try and figure out how to get paid to do that, you will be one of the few peeps that really enjoys life.
The new twist on that concept for me was that, if you are doing what you truly love, the chances of you selling out are lessened. They never totally go away because as long as you are human, you have your price required for you to sell out. Could be $20, $20,000, $20,000,000, or $20,000,000,000 but everyone has their price. when you get up everyday and do whatever it is that you would do anyway, it really makes no sense to leave it, regardless of how much money you would make. Once you have enough to take care of your lifestyle, the rest is simply extra. I find this to be true in my life. The more that I line up my activities with what I really love in life, the happier I am, regardless of what society has to say about the viability of any activity. It's a comforting feeling to know that even if you had all the money in the world, you would still be doing what it is that you are doing now.
posted by Wurfel at
9:14 PM
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