We shot our Indiegogo video today! And a special announcement…

As you might have heard we have been planning on running an Indiegogo campaign for a while.  This will be a great way to raise some awareness about who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish.  Not only will this video be great publicity but we could also raise some money which is pretty cool too.  Having a successful campaign legitimizes your market and shows a proof of concept.  In other words, we can go to investors and show them we aren’t crazy and that there is a community of people ready to support us.  Making this campaign a success is kind of a big deal.

Today we met up with Jena’s cousin Paul to shoot our Indiegogo video.  Paul and his wife Kelly run Central Studios together shooting videos and photography for weddings, businesses, or whatever the occasion might be.  In this case we were shooting a crowd funding video for Indiegogo and Paul was all over it.

We met up at The Estate On Second in downtown Santa Ana around 10am this morning.  The owner’s of the building are currently renovating but allowed us to use the upstairs.  We brought our chairs along and found a nice little nook by a window where Paul set up his gear.

I gotta admit, Jena and I were nervous at first.  How often are you in front of a video camera?  We felt the pressure a bit but didn’t fold and delivered some Oscar worthy performances.  Haha…YA RIGHT!  We weren’t shining like stars in Hollywood but we pulled through.  Paul was great at directing the flow of what we were talking about and giving us ideas.

When we were done shooting the interview segments we headed over to Beach City Brewery where Glenn and his crew allowed us to shoot some beer porn.  We got some cool shots of beer being poured for what Paul called, “B-Roll,” whatever that means.  We had never been there before and jumped on the opportunity to taste some local brew.  Their Hang 5 IPA and PCH Pale Ale turned out to be my favorites.

All in all it was a successful day and we can’t wait to see the finished product.  As soon as it’s done we’ll be blasting it everywhere and we hope you all can spread the word or contribute to our dream.

Oh and what’s the special announcement you ask?

Yepp that’s right.  We’re pregnant!  Jena is due on July 27th.  So unfortunately for her she won’t be going to tastings or bottle shares with me for a while but that’s okay.  And I thought I was motivated to get this business off the ground before, right?

Cheers!

A look back at 2014 and how far we’ve come.

The New Year is a good time to reflect upon the year that was.  2014 was amazing.  We accomplished so much in so little time.  We took our idea of opening up a bottle shop in June of 2014, ran with it, and haven’t looked back since.  We’ve got a dream location we’re working on, raised some start-up capital from investors, and if we can raise the rest of the money we need we’ll be open in the summer of 2015.  So let’s take a look back shall we?

In June of 2014 I had this crazy idea to open up a bottle shop.  Why?  Well first off I love beer.  As my taste expanded so did my driving.  I had to go outside my little neighborhood in search of delicious beer.  I would travel to breweries, liquor stores, wine shops, you name it, in search of rarer and harder to find beers.  The more I looked around the more I learned about beer and how it was made, distributed, and sold.

While searching on the internet for local spots that sold craft beer I learned about these mysterious places called bottle shops.  I thought this was amazing.  I couldn’t fathom the thought of a business that sold beer, and only beer.  This seemed like a dream come true.  So I got in my car and drove far away to go visit these awesome places.  I drove South to Carlsbad to visit the Pizza Port Bottle Shop , and far North to visit the Select Beer Store and Tap Room in Redondo Beach.  What I found was truly amazing, but more importantly, inspiring.

On my trip home from visiting Pizza Port in Carlsbad It dawned on me.  Why should I have to travel so far away?  Why isn’t there a bottle shop in Orange County?  After all, Orange County was in the center of the craft beer revolution, sandwiched between the micro brewery capital of San Diego and the home brewing capital of Los Angeles.  Since my passion for craft beer and home brewing had picked up there were Orange County Beer Fests popping up more regularly and new breweries opening by the handful.  I figured there had to be more people like me, thirsty for craft beer and needing a shop to quench that thirst.  So there it was.  That was the beginning. That was my idea.

I went home and began working.  I researched bottle shops around the nation, beer stores, liquor stores, and breweries.  All of it.  My dream was to open a shop in Orange County that had the largest selection of craft beer from all over the world.  I drove up North to visit the Select Beer Store in Redondo Beach and saw that he not only had the bottles, but a tap room as well.  I was sold on the idea.

This got me thinking.  What else could I bring to the table that would differentiate me?  What could set our shop apart from the pack? Customer Service.  And I don’t mean employees being nice, but being knowledgeable.  It’s always refreshing for me to walk into a store and be met by someone who knows a thing or two about the beer they are selling.  The different styles, what pairs well with the dinner I’m going to make tonight, what a good desert beer would be, and where the beer comes from, what’s the history of the brewery?  When I drink a beer it’s great to know the story behind it if it has one.  The more you know about the beer you’re drinking the more you appreciate it.  The better it tastes even.  🙂

How could I make sure that everyone in my store knows a thing or two about beer?  The Cicerone Certification Program.  If someone wants to work in my shop they gotta pass the Cicerone Certification Program’s Certified Beer Server Test.  Is that a lot to ask of my employees?  I don’t think so.  I myself will be certified and I’m studying right now.

So now that I had all my ideas I put them on paper in the form of a business plan.  To get that done Jena and I attended workshops held by SCORE on how to write business plans, how to put all the numbers together for financial projections, how to market and advertise the business.  We met with a couple of mentors through the SBA.  We found all the help we needed to make sure we did it right.

Since then it’s been non-stop networking.  We’ve met so many great people along the way and even convinced a couple of them to invest in our idea.  2015 will bring more meetings, more new faces, and if everything works out we’ll open our doors.

It was an insanely busy and fun year and we can’t wait to find out what 2015 will bring.  We gotta thank our friend Monte Mitchell for designing our logo.  You can find all his info here http://www.portmonteau.com/ He is so talented and does amazing work.  We gotta thank our Mentors at SCORE, everyone at the SBA, and all the amazing people we’ve met along the way.  Most importantly, thank you to our friends and family.  Your support and belief in us no matter how crazy we sound has meant everything.  You have all inspired us to keep moving forward and following our dreams.

Lastly, we learned last night that our good friend Hannah was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She’ll be out of work and school for a while and needs all the help she can get.  Please take a second to say a prayer for her and any other help is greatly appreciated and will go a long way.  http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-hannah-holmes-fight-breast-cancer-/287108

Cheers!