Navy officer Michael Stacks used SBA loans and crowdfunding to open Bold Mariner Brewing Company while still on active duty. He raised over $35,000 through crowdfunding and got an SBA-guaranteed loan to cover the capital-intensive startup costs. His advice: start transition planning early if you're thinking about entrepreneurship.
Questions this video answers
18 years.
Within the next two years (from the time of the interview).
Over $35,000.
Chapters
I'm Michael Stacks. I'm the owner of the Bold Mariner Brewing Company. I'm active duty Navy. I've been in the Navy for 18 years. I'm currently on shore duty. I started the Bold Mariner Brewing Company now to help with my transition towards retirement within the next two years. It was always my intention after retiring from the Navy to take my homebrew hobby and passion and turn it into a professional career. When I decided to start planning the business, I found the SBA website and the free resources, and there's also a section that lets you know about the Veteran Business Outreach Center. Luckily enough, there was one right here in the same city that I live in, so it was easy for me to get started.
The day that Michael walked into my office, I knew this man was on a mission. I said, we're going to make this happen and we're going to do it as a team. Because if you have the drive and the desire for whatever it is you want to do, and you combine that with the resources of the sba, the resource partners, you've got a recipe for success.
As the business plan is being prepared, we also start to look at the funding plan. And that's when Cheryl Lynn asked me to spend a lot more time with Michael, focusing on how much capital he'd need to a loan from the bank, how much capital he'd need to be successful, and the types of things he might want to consider for the longer term. One of the sources Michael used Besides getting an SBA loan was he actually raised over $35,000 through crowdfunding.
Opening a brewery is very capital intensive. It was critical that we were able to get a SBA guaranteed loan, and we had to do a number of other things. One of the topics that they go over in boots to business is bootstrapping. And when you bootstrap a business, you have to do a lot of things on your own. The build out and the construction in this building is where we put a lot of our sweat equity into cleaning up this big old warehouse and getting it in shape for bringing in the brewing equipment. Now that the business is up and running, I still have two years left in the Navy. I hired a brewer to help me out with the brewing operations. And also my wife Carrie knows the business as well as I do. She's there. If for some reason I were to have to go on deployment or leave the area, I know that the company's in good hands.
It's always been a dream for him to open a brewery. I just maybe never took him seriously. But having the whole family be a part of it is huge. Without the support of your spouse or your children going through it, you can't do it. You just have to bear down and do it together. And seeing it come together makes it all worth it.
When you're starting your own business, you could find yourself being from the janitor to the CEO. You're mopping floors downstairs and then you go upstairs and you do the books, marketing and you're calling distributors. And then before you know it, it's opening time and you're downstairs and your customers start coming through the door. So having the support of others, not just your family, but the experts that you can get put in touch with those resources, you have to have them. So to anybody that's in the military starting to think about your retirement. If you are planning to become an entrepreneur, the earlier you start, the better. I would recommend looking at the transition programs. Going to Boots to Business start before you go on terminal leave. It takes a year, two years, three years to get a business started. So don't wait until your retirement party to start figuring out what you're going to do next.
