Episode 4: Prioritize Sales Training For Your Bottom Line

Sales down? That’s not your wholesaler’s problem.

Julie tackles this episode’s bottlenecks with two specific scenarios in mind: an owner-driven sales approach scrappy— but not in a good way— and, having a sales representative but not a sales plan. Both lack strategy, and you can’t sell anything without strategy.

Tune in for a dose of Julie’s tough love and sound advice on training your sales team, a non negotiable. Instead of sitting around and commiserating about the beverage alcohol category down, let’s get to work on sales training!

What you’ll learn in this episode:

- Julie's 20 hour a week rule of thumb

- The value of engagement with accounts that fosters relationships and promotes reordering

- Tactics for identifying and building relationships with key accounts

- A checklist of quick wins for your sales department

Best For:

Owners and operators of beer, cider, seltzer, kombucha, spirits, THC, and non-alc brands who want to drive revenue... so, every one of them.

Submit your bottlenecks here.

Episode 3: Do More With Less Featuring Hunter Oetinger of Reuben’s Brews

Beverage marketers increasingly need to do more with less. Not to mention every department in the company relies on the materials they create. In this first interview episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, Reuben’s Brews Marketing Director Hunter Oetinger schools Julie’s listeners with digestible, easy to implement marketing strategies for small teams to make bigger impacts. 

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Tools and SOPs for automation and streamlined communication within your marketing team, with your external vendors, and across the entire company

• Suggestions for gauging and maximizing marketing ROI

• Advice for ballin’ digital marketing on a budget 

• Reminders about the power of outsourcing 

Best for:Owners and operators of beer, cider, seltzer, kombucha, spirits, THC, and non-alc brands who want to optimize the capacity of their small team without burnout.

Submit your bottlenecks here.

If you’ve been ghosting your email list (or haven’t even started one), it’s time for a wake-up call.

Welcome back to This Is Not Your Hobby, the podcast for beverage business owners who are done guessing and ready to grow. In this second episode, host Julie Rhodes gets into another massively underutilized— but wildly effective— sales tool: email marketing.

Julie breaks down how to use her 3 R’s of Great Email Marketing—Relevance, Rhythm, and Relationship—to build an email strategy that actually sells… without annoying your audience or spamming their inboxes.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to level up your current newsletter game, this episode delivers a smart, actionable framework to help you grow your list, create better content, and build brand trust through email.

💡 Spoiler alert: Email still has the highest ROI of any marketing channel. Yes, really.

Let’s stop winging it. Let’s get to work.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why email marketing isn’t dead—it’s just been misused

• The 3 R’s of Great Email Marketing: Relevance, Rhythm, and Relationship

• How to start building and maintaining your recipient list (no shady tactics)

• Ways to use email as a sales tool, not just a megaphone

Best for:Owners and operators of beer, cider, seltzer, kombucha, spirits, THC, and non-alc brands who want to grow a loyal audience and drive real sales through email—without sounding like a robot.

Submit your bottlenecks here.

If you're a small beverage brand stuck in a love-hate cycle with social media, you’re not alone, and you’re in the right place.

Welcome to the first episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, the podcast for beverage business owners who are done guessing and ready to grow. In this kickoff episode, host Julie Rhodes tackles one of the most common marketing bottlenecks: building a social media content strategy that actually works.

She breaks down why the algorithm isn’t your enemy (even if it feels that way), and how her 3C Rule—Clarity, Consistency, and Connection—can help you create engaging, ongoing content without the burnout.

Let’s stop winging it. Let’s get to work.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why social media feels overwhelming—and how to make it manageable

• The 3C Rule for creating a content strategy that drives results

• How to build connection without chasing trends

• Why social media is a business tool, not a personal diary

Best for: owners and operators of beer, cider, seltzer, kombucha, spirits, THC, and non-alc brands who want to stop spinning their wheels on social media and start getting traction.

Submit your bottlenecks here.