Pencil & Spoon - Exciting times ahead!
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What's your dream job? Like half the other cohort on thefirst day of the first lecture on a Media Arts degree, I wanted to be a filmdirector. I have no idea why. I guess it was just the glamorous, gloriousoption and I knew no better. About 15 minutes into the lecture, as the tutor forDirecting talked about his side of the curriculum, he told us to dream on andthat none of us would-be movie makers would ever actually be movie makers.Welcome to your future.
The next few years didn't point me in a clear direction ofwhere I wanted to go. Then a couple of years of working still didn't show mewhere I was going. All I knew was that I wanted to be known and respected forwhat I did; I wanted to be at the top of whatever profession I chose. Bigambitions for someone with no path.
Writing this blog is a way of being creative. I rememberwhen I started, when no one read anything I wrote, I dreamed of the day someonewould comment on it, of a day when maybe I had regular readers who felt aboutmy blog the way I felt about Stonch's blog or The Beer Nut's or Tandleman's orPete Brown's or some of the good food blogs. The blog was never a way for me toearn money. Over time it developed into a launching pad for me to writefreelance while doing the day job. I like that because it means I can justpitch the stories which I really want to write and am really passionate about,rather than having to worry about where I can publish my next words in order toeat my next dinner. That doesn't appeal to me at all. I love to write. Earningmoney to do it is brilliant. Doing it full time is too worrying. Next I want towrite books. But that’s for the future.
At the same time, I never really wanted to work in the beerindustry; there wasn't anything or anywhere which was right for me, so ploddingalong in communications, marketing and social media was fine for me as long asI could write about beer.
That was until the Beer Bloggers Conference in May. Thatmade me realise that I've got things to offer, that I love the industry, thepeople, the products, and that I could make a difference. It made me realisethat I somehow wanted to earn my salary from beer; not just being a commentatoron it, but being a part of it.
But what and where? There's 800 breweries in the UK. Lookingaround at them, how many would I like to work for? How many could I work forwithout moving? How many could I make a real impact upon? How many would have aposition relevant for me where I'd fit in? There was only one but it wasn'tright at the time, so it was back on with the day job.
You can probably guess where this is going... This week Istarted working in the beer industry. I'm incredibly excited about it becauseit's a brilliant opportunity for me. A perfect opportunity.
I now work at Camden Town Brewery. That's the one placewhere I saw that I could fit in, where I saw that they had ambitions andattitudes similar to mine.
My job is to manage social media, to develop and build thebrand, to create the website, to run tastings and training, to manage events, towork with pubs and bars, internal comms, and develop anything that you canphysically hold with a Camden Town Brewery logo on it. With just a logo and nobrand, a website which goes no further than a holding page, and no social mediaactivity (there's a Facebook and Twitter page but little else, yet), it's a blank page to begin with, which makes it very exciting. Andall for a brewery which is doubling capacity between now and November withplans to grow further already in place.
Now I get my chance to make a difference in the industry Ilove (plus you should see the view from my office now and smell the aroma offresh wort and hops which greets me when I arrive for work). Camden isambitious and so am I. I'm coming into this with a lot at stake (longer hours,I need to move flat or pay a stupid amount for the train, working hard) but I know the sort of brilliantthings we can achieve. My aim is for Camden to be one of the top breweries inthe UK and I know that it'll happen.
The blog isn't changing and it isn't going anywhere. Camdenstarting talking to me because Jasper reads my blog (I suggested that I helpedthem get started with social media and we soon realised that I could do a lotmore than just that). I love writing this blog so wouldn't have taken a jobwhich would prevent me from doing this or meant that I had to do somethingdifferent to what I already do. This blog post is me being excited about whatI'm doing next but also for transparency; I now work full time for a brewery. Ialso think that now I’ll have a far better understanding of breweries, brewingand the beer industry.
I now know what my dream job is and tomorrow is my third daydoing it. Here's to new beginnings and challenges. I can't wait to get properlystuck in!
If anyone wants to say hi to me at work, wants to talk about the beers or the brewery or come for a look around, or whatever, then my emailaddress is mark@camdentownbrewery.com.
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