In the last Skimp and Splurge story we featured Studio Mucci and their Etsy Store. In this installment, we’ll cover running your own brewery or cider mill. You haven’t had hard cider until you’ve had Downeast Cider—or so I’ve heard. *sad face* Downeast Cider is run by 20-something founders Matt Brockman, Ross Brockman, and Tyler Mosher. Their passion for high-quality hard cider began in 2011 when Ross and Tyler were just college seniors.
As New England’s newest and fastest-growing hard cider company, they’ve managed to stay true to their original, homespun process of using all-natural ingredients to make freshly pressed hard cider. As a hard cider lover, I’m a little jealous that I don’t live in Boston to enjoy their cider. Hoping it comes to the West Coast one of these days!
In the past few years, Downeast Cider increased their input threefold and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Food and Wine category. They also do cool things like host a prom at their headquarters and are co-sponsoring a music festival. Good times! Here are some tips from Matt, Ross, and Tyler on what to skimp or splurge on when it comes to running your own business:
Office furniture: Skimp
All of our furniture either came from the island of misfit furniture from a back-alley used furniture store or from the dump. It’s actually a recycling company that will get truckloads of old furniture from businesses that are no longer businesses, and they drop it off on our loading dock with a backhoe.
Useless Merch: Skimp
Which is most merch. You don’t need T-shirts and hats and golf balls and all that garbage. First, if it’s not high quality or useful, most of it will actually end up in the garbage. If you’re a tiny B2B software company that nobody has ever heard of (or pretty much any small company for that matter), spending $500 on T-shirts is an ego stroke and a waste of money.
Lawyer: Splurge
Much like insurance, you can easily justify skimping on your lawyer when setting up your corporate docs. If things go sour, these documents, such as your operating agreement and articles of organization, are the map for solving issues. If your map sucks, it’s useless and you’ll have to start over again. If you’re gonna skimp, write something on a napkin. If you’re going to spend any money at all, make sure it’s quality work. Mediocre legal work is a complete waste of money.
Customer Service: Splurge
Especially if you’re an entrepreneurial amateur. Over-the-top customer service is another insurance possibility. If you make a mistake and your customer doesn’t think you give a shit, you can kiss them goodbye.
Equipment: Skimp
At least in our business, you can get a lot of what you need for much less than full price if you can find it used. New is oftentimes no better than used when you are talking about stainless steel equipment that is built to last a lifetime with proper care.
