Family/Brewery balance

[Catfish002]

Hello,

With all of the time/sweat/energy/money etc. it takes to open and work in either a production brewery or brewpub, I am interested in hearing some helpful tips you have to try to find a successful "work/family" balance. I know that trying to achieve a balance of work time and family time applies to any small business venture, but brewing beer successfully definitely is it's own unique type of work! Any tips you would like to share that help you spend time with your family and be a good parent while also being a brewer or brewery owner?

Thanks!

[NHBrewer23]

Balancing home life and brewery responsibilities is a constant battle. One method that I have found to help alleviate some of the pressure to not go to the brewery on a Saturday or Sunday, or even working late, is to bring the family to the brewery. My wife and daughter love coming to the brewery to hang out around the equipment and see what I do all day. Maintaining their safety is obviously a main concern, but allowing them to be somewhat involved with what I do everyday, helps. Having lunch or dinner with the family at the brewery while working also helps. It is tough always coming home late at night when my daughter is asleep and leaving first thing in the morning. I feel like I see my daughter for a total of 1 hour per day. Hopefully you work at a brewery that promotes having family members come to the brewery. It has made weekend brew shifts a lot more manageable on a personal level.

[Bainbridge]

As Scruffy says: "Life and Death are a seamless continuum. Mmm hmm."

OK, not all days are like that. But it is hard and it is seasonal. Summer for us is 70+ hour work weeks including a beer festival or other event pretty much every single f-ing weekend for about 10 weeks straight. Last year I had one day off in six weeks. So I don't recommend that if you want to say, see your spouse, children, etc.. Take a day off a week. (Which means, maybe only stop in to check on pressures, fermenter temps, crash a tank, etc.) Pop home for lunch. The problem with owning and running a brewery is you're there in the morning to make beer, then you're expected to be there in the taproom at night to drink beer. Enough 14 hour days and I start to get all Shining-y...

[Luch15]

This is a constant struggle for me. We have been open now a little over four years and have been expanding constantly since day one, good problem to have but certainly a challenge to personal time. Until our current expansion all of the brewing and everything else was done at the brewpub just down the road from home so lunch, short breaks at home, etc. at home was not a problem. The new production brewery is a 30 minute drive away. I have a business partner who also brews so it helps that we can designate days off where the other one can kind of handle things. I take Saturdays off pretty religiously and I work hard to try to get home early enough most days to do bath time and hang out with the kids for a bit before their bed time which is pretty early since they are little. I also have another job for which I travel up to 10-12 days a month, that doesn't help. I feel like I don't get anywhere near enough time with my family but sometimes making the bacon just has to be done to provide all those things you need in life, we all sacrifice something I guess. I would suggest trying to carve out some sacred time that you can plan for (like my saturdays) and stick to it as much as you can. As preciously suggested having the family come up to the brewery for meals or just fun time helps too. Best of luck!

[aorrick]

A huge part, for me, of battling this has been constant and deliberate communication. Of course, there are times when the sh!t hits the fan only a few minutes before I am ready to leave. But for the most part, if an easy day becomes a very difficult day, the sooner I let my wife know the better. What little time I do spend with my wife is intentional, and usually scheduled pretty specifically, so if those plans have to change, the less whimsical the better. We also use our time together to focus specifically on getting chores done and errands run that require us both, and then use the rest of our time to really enjoy a shared interest. This way, we feel like our time is both productive and relaxing / fun. I try not to talk about work, and she only talks about her work if she really needs to. We keep a calendar of all the brewery events that get scheduled and plan around them accordingly. Basically, lots of planning ahead and communication help us deal with all the little unexpected things that come up in a brewery. It helps if you have a family that wants to see you succeed at this as desperately as you want to see you succeed at this. The brewers I have knows with not-so-supportive spouses....oof.