How A Missed Milkshake Is A Reminder About 2025 Strategic Business Planning

Crisscross applesauce friends, it's story time. I wanted to tell you about an adventure I had this week. My family and I drove home from New Mexico, and dinner time hit. We’d mapped out the perfect pit stop—the Dairy Bar in Red River—because greasy burgers and thick milkshakes? That’s our love language.

Their website said they were open until 9 p.m., so we rolled in at 7:30 p.m., stomachs growling, and ready to feast—except…they were closed.

Cue the chaos. Now I’m hangry, stuck in a car with a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old who are also hangry, and guess what? No cell signal. It was intense.

And let me tell you—we all felt betrayed and disappointed. That one bad experience has us questioning whether we can trust their hours ever again. Expectations were shattered. Burgers were lost. And now Dairy Bar is just… dead to us. ???? (maybe, those shakes are amazing)

Here’s the story's moral: When you set expectations, you better follow through. Whether it’s business hours, a product launch, or the latest release your customers are excited about, people expect you to deliver. If you don’t? You’ve not only lost a sale—you’ve created distrust. And that’s hard to recover from.

And when I say customers, I mean your taproom traffic, retail partners, online audience, and distributors.

That’s precisely why strategic planning is critical. It helps you:

• Set clear expectations with your customers, buyers, and distributors.
• Align your team so production and promotions happen smoothly.
• Forecast sales so you can plan smarter, not harder.
• Stay ahead of deadlines, making the year seamless instead of scrambled.

This is a big part of what I just taught in my Barrel 2 Business Membership Program this month. We dove into how to build an annual Brand Calendar and how to formulate demand planning. The B2B group coaching program costs your entire team?$79.99?per month. Think of it as your strategy playbook for:

• Selling in the taproom, through distribution, online, and at events.
• Crushing digital marketing—and measuring ROI.
• Selling to the big national accounts without losing your sanity.
• Making sense of sales and marketing data so you can confidently grow.
• Managing your team with more ease and less stress.
• Understanding how to better partner with your wholesalers.

Don’t leave your 2025 to chance—or worse, scramble. (Trust me, you don’t want customers feeling like I did in that parking lot.)

Let's make 2025 amazing together,

Julie

PS - reminder about some recent BIG CHANGES for me!

I've slashed the price of my Consulting Punch Card back to $500 - that's 70% off and pre-2020 rates! So, what is the Punch Card? You pay the flat price of $500 and bank 4 hours of live consulting/coaching time with me that you can use whenever you want to discuss whatever you need help with business-wise. No long-term commitments. Come solo or bring your whole team. Buy your Punch Card or learn more by clicking HERE.

I've also brought back Hourly Coaching. Each session is $150. There are no contracts or scary financial commitments—book time when you need me. Just rapid-fire any business questions at me, get answers and then go about your day. Confused about social media? Need help with your ABP? Not sure when to hire a sales rep? Lost in setting up KPIs? I've got you covered. Book time with me by clicking HERE.

PPS— If you missed this last time, here it is again! At the last conference I spoke at, I mentioned many business books that have helped my client partners and me in our business journeys. I've finally curated that list; you can find it HERE!