Monday, June 18, 2012

"So what happens now?"

We have had so many people reach out to us today and ask that very question. The answer is simple. We just keep on keeping on.

So our Kickstarter wasn't successful. So what? It has no reflection on the success of our business. We are proceeding as planned. We'll be totally honest with you, as we promised from the get go, we are disappointed it didn't work. When we originally came up with a business plan, Kickstarter wasn't even on our radar. Because it had been so successful for other breweries, we thought why not give it a shot? Hindsight allows us to see what we may have done wrong or what we could have done better. But none of that matters now. What matters now is focusing on moving forward and keeping our momentum going.

And FYI, to anyone considering Kickstarter for their own business.... It is EXTREMELY stressful. Much more emotionally and mentally difficult than we ever anticipated. We would NEVER do it again. Even if we had funded, we are not sure it would have been worth it. The ups and downs were too extreme. It was like being bipolar (or so we imagine). One minute we were like "YAY! Someone donated!" And the next it was "OMG! We haven't had a donation in three days!"

"Yay! Two people just pledged $100! We're totally going to make this!"

"We haven't had a single pledge in 12 hours. It's over. We're NEVER gonna make it."

"Someone just gave us $10 bucks! We totally have this in the bag!"

Sigh.

Frankly, we are relieved it is over. We have been approached by a few people who are interested in investing and want to know what kind of repayment plan we are offering. And many, many people have emailed, Facebooked, Tweeted and texted that they still want to offer their pledge to us. We are so overwhelmed by this generosity and not at all dumb enough to say no. We will also still honor the original prizes offered on Kickstarter! The PayPal link is on the blog at your right. If you would prefer us to send you an email with the link, just private message us your email address via our good pal Facebook or email us directly at mischiefbrewery at gmail dot com.

Finally we want to say thank you to EVERYONE who supported us. First and foremost our parents:

April's parents Stoney and Lana who have been our biggest supporters since the day we said, "Hey... We're thinking about starting a brewery..."

Brandon's parents Steve and Elena, who were a little less excited about our idea but still hesitantly offered support after a lot of questions were answered. :)

Our three amazing kids, Derek, Cade and Mattingly, who pooled their tooth fairy money together and donated $100 (via Nana's help) without us knowing.

Our incredible cousin Eddie, who is also a part of this business. He pimped us out, showed up to events with us and listened to us whine and fret and freak out. Our cousins Gary and Serena, and Rick and Julie, who contributed and helped us by posting our link on Facebook constantly. April's Uncle Bob and Aunt Brenda and our honorary Uncle Ed who supported us without question or judgment.

Our best friends Ken and Deanna, Tim and Beth, Erik and Jessica, Paul and Amy, Clint and Erin, Mike and Diane, Travis and Elizabeth, Karen and Larry, Chad and Jovina, Chad and Kim, Charlie and Brooke, Cory and Becky, Trevor and Catherine, Mark and Kristen, Matt and Tricia, James and Andrea, Todd and Wendy, Sue, Josiah, Shane and Kelly, Kelly and Jerolyn, and Bud and Cheryl, and Joel and Chandra.

Our amazing friends who have been a part of our lives in one way or another pretty much forever: Joanne, Sarah, Roland, Michelle, Julie, Angela, Kyle, Katie, Sargant, Nancy, Maria, Kay, Raz, Roel, Marci, Jill, James, Natasha, Lisa, Mandy, Leigh, Amy, Justin and Brian.

And last but certainly not least, the craft beer community. Our brothers and sisters in brewing here in AZ - Steve from Fate Brewing; Mike from Veritas; Jonathan, Brett and Katie from AZ Wilderness; Michael, Amanda, Audra and Damon from Granite Mountain; Jon and the FABULOUS staff at O.H.S.O Brewery; Rob and Candy at North Mountain; Andy and Ted and the rest of the gang at Four Peaks; Doug from Freak'N Brew; Ron at Papago, and the crazy guys at Devious. We are so honored to be a part of this amazing community of brewers. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your support, encouragement, advice and friendship means more to us than we can ever say.

And everyone from our West Valley and Arizona Craft Beer Fanatics groups - Steph and Ian, Joey, Tony, Noah, King James, Jon P, Rob, Jon G, Hop Head Fred, Billy the Smooth Hoperator, David, Chirs, Isaiah, Tim, Andrew, The Argabrights, Bill, Patrick and the Brew Bros, Maureen and the rest of the awesome women of AZ Girls Pint Out.

Our sweet friend Jen Pruett and the staff at HDE.

The Beer Guy, Seattle Beer Girl, The Beer Wench (Ashley), Chad the Sound Guy from Drinking Made Easy, Kevin and the amazing people at Crazy Mountain, Dave and Bailey from 515 Brewing.

And every single TOTAL STRANGER who contributed because they knew someone who knew us or just out of the kindness of their hearts: Lauren, Steene, Laurie, Bruce, John, Randy, Brian, Erik, Greg, Robert, Anan, Ashley, Scott, Robert, Joshua, Justin B, Nick, Mike B, Matthew, Phil, Jimmie, Barbara, Ed, Adam, KJ, Trinidad, Jason K, Pack Systems, RobJ, Jesse, Stephanie, and Danielle W.

We are still looking forward to making Mischief for you! We are planning to hold some tastings in the very near future so you can try our delicious beer. Like we said on Facebook today, we are not giving up. You don't call yourselves Mischief and go cower in the corner. You pick your bad selves up and KICK ASS.

And that's what we plan to do.