Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast
Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast
How Breweries Can Use Workforce Grants To Boost Profit
In today's podcast we lay out a simple path for Massachusetts breweries to use the Workforce Training Fund Express program for up to 100% reimbursement on financial training.
From eligibility to application steps, we reveal each step in the process to turn free training dollars into better profits and steadier cash flow.
• who qualifies and what reimbursement you can expect
• how to find and choose pre-approved courses in the catalog
• what documents you need for the application
• typical approval timing and how long approvals last
• why year end is the best time to apply
• next steps to book a call and get guided support
For Massachusetts breweries, book a call with me and I’ll walk you through the entire application.
For breweries in other states, email me about grant programs in your area - Kary@BeerBusinessFinance.com - let's work together to get you grant funds to cover the cost of financial training in the new year.
Ready to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.
Today we've got a very special podcast, and it's specifically for Massachusetts Breweries. But hold on, this is also for any state that offers workforce training funds, workforce training grants, and I know that's pretty much every state. I happen to live in New Hampshire. I grew up in Massachusetts. So the focus for today is on Massachusetts breweries and how they can use a workforce training grant to strengthen financial performance in the year ahead. So if you are a Massachusetts brewery and you want to start off the new year on a much stronger financial footing, there's a powerful resource sitting right in front of you that most breweries don't even know how to use, and that's the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund, specifically the Express program. We're going to talk about how to use it to get your staff trained, get yourself trained, and improve your financial systems and get up to 100% reimbursement. So if you're not in Massachusetts, fear not. We are looking into grant programs in every state. And if you happen to know about specific grant programs, training programs in your state, drop me a line and I'll see if I can get my programs approved so that you get 100% reimbursement. Just reach out Carrie at bearbusinessfinance.com, K A R Y at BeerBusinessfinance.com. And without further ado, let's talk about how breweries can use the workforce training grant to strengthen financial performance in the new year ahead. Welcome to the Kraft Brewery Financial Training Podcast, where we combine beer and numbers to provide you with tips, tactics, and strategies so that you can improve financial results in your brewery. I'm your host, Carrie Shemoy, a CPA, CFO for a brewery, and a former CFO for a beer distributor. I've spent the last 20 years using finance to improve financial results in our beer business. Now I'm helping other craft breweries to do the same. Are you ready to take your brewery financial results to the next level? Okay, let's get started. Just a quick note, and we'll be right back to the podcast. I want to let you know about a new network for beer industry professionals. It's called the Beer Business Finance Association. It's an organization of financial pros, just like you, looking to improve financial results, increase profitability, connect with your peers, and share best practices. So I'd love to tell you a little bit more about this. If you are interested in learning more, please email me, Carrie at Beer Business Finance.com. That's K-A-R-Y at beerbusinessfinance.com, or you can visit BBFassociation.org. That's BBFassociation.org to learn more. Today on the podcast, I want to talk about how Massachusetts breweries can use the workforce training grant to strengthen financial performance in the year ahead. So my name is Carrie Shamway. I'm a CPA, former CFO for a brewery and a beer wholesaler. And I understand how hard it is to get training for ourselves, for managers, for staff. So that's where I think this grant comes in is depending on the size of your brewery, uh, the training costs are 100% reimbursable. So we'll get into the details of how that works and how you can take advantage of it. Um but by way of quick background, I I was born in Massachusetts, grew up there, live in New Hampshire currently, and I have a real vested interest in spreading the good word of financial training and literacy so that your business, your brewery can remain financially strong into the future. Because let's face it, I love numbers, but I love beer too. Um so I have I have a strong interest in seeing Massachusetts breweries be successful. And I think this this grant program can really really help in that regard. So if you're a Massachusetts brewery and you want to start up the new year on a stronger financial footing, this is a powerful resource that frankly I think most breweries don't even know about. I didn't know about it or how to use it. It took me a while to figure that out. Uh, and that's what I want to untangle here for you and uh really kind of shorten the learning curve because it took me a while to figure this, figure this stuff out. But uh I'm gonna kind of go through the details, share the value, and then give you some next steps if you're ready to kind of check this out. So again, the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund. And there's uh couple of different programs under this. We're gonna talk about the Express program today, and as the name implies, it's fast and easy and really designed to give you quick wins. So we'll talk about how you can use it to get yourself, your managers, your staff trained, and improve your financial systems, and ultimately improve profitability and cash flow in the new year and get the state to pay for it. So we know we've got growing costs, they're just going up everywhere, margins are tight. Our staff needs this training, these financial headaches, they're just not gonna go away. So you can get this financial training, benchmarking tools, skill development, all reimbursed by the state. So I'm gonna show you exactly how the grant works, how breweries qualify, which courses are eligible, including the ones that I've put together, and why I think now is the perfect time to apply. And I think there's we're always looking for you know return on investment. Where can I spend money so that I get more money back? And I think this may be the easiest return on investment that you you're gonna get all year. All right. So, what is this training fund? It's a state funded program, and it's designed to help mass businesses, including breweries, train the workforce. So, again, two major programs under this. We're gonna talk about the Express program, which is perfect for small breweries. So it's a fast, streamlined online application. There's a catalog of pre-approved courses, and reimbursement is up to one hundred percent of these training costs. It's important because again, you know, budgets are tight. We don't have money just sitting around to invest in training, but this is a great way to get the training paid for. And it reduces the risk for you, lets you invest in the skills that drive profitability. And it's kind of like the state handing us a coupon for financial education that directly improves your margins. All right, so let's go through the details. How does this work? Break it down step by step. So the first step really is to go to the Express program website, and I'm gonna put that link here in the show notes for you. Uh, so you can go in there and just nose around like what what pro what courses are here, what might you need for training? I'll obviously direct you to the courses that I've um put together and have approved in the directory for financial training. Uh, so you can browse those courses. Um my courses are listed under Brewery Financial Training, Craft Brewery Financial Training. Uh so we've got a brewery financial benchmarks and scorecards course. We've got our Financial Excellence for Breweries, that's a multi-part uh course that's uh longer, more comprehensive. So, step one, go to the website, search the programs, see what's available, see what might tickle your fancy. Then you choose a course. So, so for example, say you want to start with a two-hour workshop on brewery financial benchmarks. So you choose the course, it lists out all the details, the pricing, the reimbursement, all the things that are available, and then you make applications. So, right on the website at the bottom, once you select the course, it'll say, you know, apply here. So the application, you know, it takes probably 10 or 15 minutes. You're gonna need some information to fill this thing out. The application itself is pretty straightforward. It's like your name, your address, your tax ID number, uh, things of that nature. They'll need a few documents that you're gonna need to upload with the application. One is just your certificate of good standing with the state of Massachusetts. You can usually get that online. A certificate of insurance, uh, and this is going to number one prove that you've got workers' comp insurance, but two, show how many W-2 employees you have, and that's how they determine the reimbursement. So if you have 50 or fewer W-2 employees, uh the reimbursement is 100%. If you have 100, uh between let's say 50 and 100, over 50 and less than 100 W-2 employees, the reimbursement is 50%. So you're gonna upload that information um with the application. And again, probably takes 10 to 15 minutes. Getting those documents might be um take a little bit more. So once you submit, uh, there's an approval process. Usually the state says it takes up to 21 days, so you might expect between two and three weeks once you apply to get that approval back. Once you get the approval, now you're ready to take the training. The approval is good for a year. So if you apply now, you're good for the whole rest of the year uh to go ahead and take that course. So it's not like you have to apply, take the course immediately. You can take it uh up to a year uh ahead of time, meaning you've got a whole year to take the training. So you'll take the training, um, you'll get all of the information included. My courses include all the tools, templates, dashboards, uh, follow-up support. Uh, these are Zoom meetings where there's a lot of time for QA as well as you know covering the specifics uh of the class. And at the conclusion of the training, then you submit for reimbursement and you get uh the training costs back. So it's simple, fast, and it removes that financial barrier uh to training your brewery team. So let's talk about some of the frequently asked questions, commonly asked questions that breweries may have. So the first is do breweries qualify? And the answer is yes. Almost every Massachusetts brewery qualifies, um, provided you hit that under 50 W-2 employees or under 100 uh W-2 employees. Uh, can you apply for multiple courses? Yes, you can. You can stack this training and select multiple courses at the at the time of application. Is the application difficult, time consuming? It's not. It takes about 10 minutes. I'll guide you through it too. That's the other thing is if you want to jump on a quick zoom, we can go through it together. Uh, happy to do that. Uh, another question, you know, what if I have never done this before? And the short answer is most breweries haven't haven't done it before. So you're not behind, uh, but this is your chance to catch up, take advantage of this resource. Uh, does the program run out of money? Um, not typically, but approvals will slow down during busy periods. So the recommendation is to apply early, apply now, why wait? It's not doesn't cost you anything, and you don't have to take the training, you simply make applications so that uh you're approved if you find the courses that you want to take. So now is the perfect time to apply. We're coming up at the end of the year. We want to start the new year on the right foot. Um, you know, I think January is a great time to really refocus on your financials, cost of goods sold, payroll, tax obligations. What are we doing now? What are we going to do into the new year to improve financial results? So, also these grant approvals do take some time, right? Two to three weeks. So if you apply now, you can start training in early January, February, whenever it's most convenient for you. Starting off with a plan, the new year with a plan, is imperative. Most breweries that I work with don't have a financial plan, or it's not completed, or we had one, but we didn't quite use it. So it's essential. Gotta have that financial roadmap. Uh, it's super important in order to get where you want to be financially. So we've got free money on the table, we've got training that makes your brewery more profitable, we've got tools and systems that reduce stress and improve financial outcomes. So we don't want to let another year go by without getting control of those numbers. So, with that, the next steps are book a call with me and I'll walk you through the entire application. I'll help you choose the right course, show you the information to upload, answer any questions that you may have about the course content, timing, reimbursement, and then you'll be ready to enroll and start training as soon as January. So I really want your brewery to be more profitable in the new year. And the simplest place to start is with training that's already up to 100% paid for. The state wants you to build a stronger business. I want to help you build a more profitable brewery. So check out the Workforce Training Express program, choose your course, and reach out if you need help. And here's to a healthier, more profitable year ahead. Thank you for listening to the Craft Brewery Financial Training Podcast, where we combine beer and numbers so that you can improve financial results in your brewery. For more resources, tools, guides, and online courses, visit Craft Brewery Financial Training.com. And don't forget to sign up for the world famous Craft Brewery Financial Training newsletter. Until next time, get out there and improve financial results in your brewery today.