The nice thing about this hobby is that you will always have something new to learn. I no longer brew for personal consumption as I have focused on competition and experimentation - as such, I give away 90% of what I produce successfully and have no issues with dumping the failures.
I haven’t brewed a beer for four years when I make a large batch of Eisbock that has won several Gold medals with an average score of ~43.5. I still have some of this in a keg and it gets better as it ages. I have been experimenting with mead, makgeolli, and most recently purchased 900 pounds of ‘Golden Bosc’ pears. I just sent off two pear ciders for judging (I appreciate the feedback) - one a ciders was straight pear and the other a really nice pear/ginger combination.
From my experience, I’d provide the following advice: manage temperatures, manage sanitization, manage water quality and water chemistry, and accept failures as part of the learning process.
The one aspect of this hobby nobody enjoys is cleaning and sanitizing. I focus on developing strategies to simplify and optimize this process. I have a sump-pump-based system that I put in a 5-gallon bucket that spray cleans empty kegs, I keep a keg full of a SanStar mixture that I pump with CO2 into and out of kegs for sanitization (test it regularly for pH and don’t keep it too long), and there are similar other tricks you need to find.
The final thing I recommend is keeping outstanding records. Details are important. When I started, I developed a strategy for detailing the recipe, the process, SG, FG, temperatures used, comments about anything and everything, with thoughts about how to improve the recipe in the future.
The hardest thing for me is to decide whether to just make a small experimental batch of a new recipe, or produce a 10 or 15 gallon batch. The large batches reduce errors as measurements don’t have to be as precise. In regards to my recent 900 pounds of pears used for cider, I couldn’t turn down the $200 the farmer wanted for the 900 pounds of pears.
This isn’t very well written, but hopefully gives some input that is useful.