Melissa Myers worked as a professional brewmaster
for 16 years before she was ready to call the shots and open her own brewery. She tried to start her business for about five years, but didn’t get far on her own. She decided to enroll in our Business Planning class. On the first day of class students were asked to estimate how much they would need to start their business and Melissa estimated $1.5 million dollars. Paul Terry, the class instructor, pulled her aside and said “After class, we’ll talk.”
The Business Planning class helped Melissa create stepping stones to achieve her dreams. One of the most important steps was doing deeper financial analysis. It helped her decide it was a better idea to begin by opening a bottle shop instead of a brewery. And this is how The Good Hop Shop was born. Located in Oakland, The Good Hop Shop offers 450 bottles to drink on site or buy to go and has 4.5 stars on all the review sites. Though her business is booming, Melissa laments not enrolling in Renaissance’s Business Planning class sooner. If she had, she would have done things differently and her business would have launched way sooner.
Melissa is now back at Renaissance receiving financial advice to support her growth from our Financing Resource Center and sharing her experience with current students. Melissa was a guest speaker at our Start Smart class in May 2016 and provided valuable insights to our would-be-entrepreneurs. She advised students on how to acknowledge their weaknesses, know what to farm out and ask other people to help, learn how to trust people, how to find customers and how to become your own brand, she actually wears one of her Good Hop Shop t-shirts nearly every day so people know her and her product.
The Good Hop Bottle Shop
2421 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612
thegoodhop.com