When Susan Miller risked everything to help her son launch Bold City Brewery from the ground up in Jacksonville, she admits she didn’t even know if his beer was any good.
She took a big risk when she quit her job and helped finance her son’s dream here. It wasn’t out of a sense of motherly duty, or even because she shared the same vision.
So why’d she take the leap?
Because she knew her son better than anybody, and the risk didn’t seem so big when she considered his likelihood for success.
“We work long, hard hours,” Susan Miller said. “But it is wonderful. I am so proud of him and what he’s been able to do.”
Mother and son knew that going into business together would make or break the Miller clan. The key, they say, was separating the Brian-and-Susan business relationship from the mother-and-son relationship.
Outside earshot of one another, they describe each other in remarkably similar ways. Both say that laying down ground rules on who makes what decisions has helped keep the peace. They both say Brian sees the black-and-white necessities of business, and Susan forces him to see the gray nuances.
Screenshot from Bold City Brewery