This wasn’t a brand campaign. This was a group of friends (in a shared industry) organizing on social media to have some fun. It represented everything that great social media is about, but more importantly, how an online community can come together.

We never become who we think we’ll be. At every age, we push ourselves to be and do better. I don’t need to look back as far as a decade. This past year is enough to show me how unexpected life can be.

On this October 1, to commemorate my birthday, I’m looking back at some of the moments in Year 23, and how they helped me get closer to being my hero.

If I was surprised at the line the first time I visited, I was even more surprised this time.

At first, I had chalked it up to the experience. Before Covid-19, customers could enter the brewery and hang out.

But no. It turns out that most of the people in line were really in it for the beer. They thought it was worth it to travel all that way and wait for an hour just to pick up a few cases.

My interest was piqued.

For many small businesses, there are two primary means of growing online. One, set yourself up as an Amazon seller, of which 36% rely on Amazon as their only sales channel. Two, go direct to your consumer with a platform like Shopify.

So what are some of the differences between these two options?