The past 12 years showed me that if one really really believe in something, if one relentlessly go at it, if one surrounds oneself by good people who help one in those moments of doubts (Tactical Nuclear Penguin), eventually someone might notice.
A over a decade ago i had started organizing a break-even bottle event where a friend at a bar or restaurant i knew accepted to give me a PDR or some sort of private space for a couple hours. A special bottle would be chosen, something cool and weird and rare and it would be sold by the ounce, at cost, on a first come first served basis. I was emailing a list of indsutry people, explained why i had picked that bottle, gave a day and time and would mention that the event would go on for as long as there would be liquid left in that bottle.
I had nothing to sell, PM wasnt a thing yet nor even a thought, i had no real plans of what i would be doing in the business. I felt it was just an accasion to for one who likes booze to pop in for 10mn without the certianty there would be anything to drink left, have a taste, have a quick chat and leave. On paper, it sounded like a cool idea and as i truly wanted to learn more about spirits in general, it was a way to force myself to read and learn about that specific bottle i had selected.
In practice very, very, very few people showed up for the first 10 or 15 tastings.
One night in a bar of the South Street Seaport, the bottles (with an “s”, there were two) were this high-proof beer by Brew Dog called Tactical Nuclear Penguin; in my mind it was kind of exciting to drink/taste/chat about a 32% beer. Turns out that 45mn after the start of this tasting, i was still on my own as not a soul had showed up. Then a lady walked in (Kara, you remember..?), probably thinking that everybody had gone already. Little did she know... She was the only person to show up that night which in itself was great, as nobody got in the way of us introducing each-others and chatting for a bit. Fifteen years later i can still taste the feeling i had of how much of a loser i must have looked like to the restaurant’s staff seeing a dude by himself doing an event that nobody is showing up to.
I have been sing this example to tell my girls that if they deeply believe in something, and if the first attempts are failures, they should keep going despite the unpleasant feeling the failed attempts generate in one’s brain.