I love learning new things.
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Not at first when its all alien, difficult and frustrating - who likes that bit?Â
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But when you realise that its a process you know from experience that if you persevere you’ll get thereÂ
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And that soon you’ll be able to do another new thing and then be good at itÂ
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Learning becomes a passionÂ
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Lot’s studies more or less prove that embracing lifelong learning is the best way to prevent you developing dementia in later life.
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So even though I live what most would describe as a semi retired lifestyle I’m constantly looking for new things to learn.
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Internet marketing is a great example - it’s constantly evolving - which is why I’m so glad I discovered SFM 6 years ago and learned how to build the life I want with the internet.
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On a completely different level I’ve just embarked on a new learning curve - making beer.
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I’ve learned a few early lessons the hard way !Â
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So I got my 40 pint kit 2 weeks ago. It supposedly contained everything I needed for my first brew.
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Except common sense!Â
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I usually pride myself on having a good level of that but sometimes enthusiasm takes over.Â
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I went through all the initial steps carefully:Â
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I sterilised the brewing tub, hydrometer, syphon tubes and all 24 half litre bottles (tedious but crucial)
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Then I rinsed everything and poured the gloopy beer syrup, brewing sugar and correct amount of hot and cold water into the tub, mixed it thoroughly and sealed it off.Â
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So far so good - all I had to do know was leave it in a warm place for 5 days.
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On Saturday it was time to syphon it off into the bottles - which is where things went wrong!Â
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Rookie mistake A. Not enough bottles.Â
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If I had stopped for a second to do some basic maths I’d have realised that 24 500ml bottles will not hold 30 litres of liquid.Â
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But of course I’d started syphoning by then.
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Rookie mistake B. No tap.
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Ever tried syphoning? if you have you’ll know that once started it’s difficult to stop and that beer - even at an early stage - is pretty foamy.
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I should have remembered from my dad’s wine making attempts that its much easier if you buy a little plastic tap and stick it in the pouring end of the tube.
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Otherwise, like me on Saturday, you’ll waste quite a bit of beer (and possibly turn your kitchen into a beer swimming pool) as you desperately try to lift the tube over your head or block it with your thumb as you try to get the next bottle ready.Â
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40 pints of anything is a lot of liquid!Â
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Anyway i finally rediscovered my common sense and worked out a solution.Â
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I remembered I had two 5 litre containers from last years cider experiment. I sterilised those and an empty soda bottle that was lying around. This gave me enough storage space at least.
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I syphoned the beer into the 5 litre containers and filled the bottles from those. What was left filled one of the big containers and the soda bottle.Â
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Finally I added the correct amount of sugar pellets to the bottles and the whole lot is busy carbonating for another 4 days. After that 10 days cold storage and we’ll see what we have.Â
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So not quite the disaster it could have been and next time I’ll be better prepared.Â
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You’ll probably gather from this that people who run internet businesses are by no means geniuses : )Â
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The moral of the story:Â
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If I’d had a “mentor” helping me - even a remote Youtube mentor - on Saturday they’d have quickly prevented my rookie mistakes.
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“Where’s your syphon tap?” they might have saidÂ
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Or “Where’s the rest of your bottles?”Â
(for some reason my imaginary beer mentor is quite sarcastic)
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Instead I fumbled my way through with a lot of mess and waste.
(I also swallowed quite a lot of unfinished beer and had a bit of a dicky tummy on Sunday)
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On the plus side I now have a small degree of brewing expertise I could pass on to a first time home brewer.Â
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Building an internet business that gives you an enviable lifestyle is vastly more complicated than making beer at home (although as I’ve demonstrated you don’t need to be a genius!)Â
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You can fumble your way through it of course but you’ll waste a hell of a lot of time and money in the processÂ
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Much better to leverage the experience and mistakes of mentors in all learning curves.Â
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Cheers!
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Dave
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