Two guys and a cart

[HB]

It's not very often I click on googleAds, but one promising a "Master Barista Package" was too tempting. It led me to this site:

"The Master Barista Package consists of three 8 hour training days going over a variety of disciplines in drink preparation and system building. The Master Barista Package is a hands on training course with an informational packet focusing on the key points listed below for the business owner or employee of the coffee business. The majority of material will be provided hands on with the assistance of training material."

Three days for $2500. Hmm-m, I had no idea such training skills commanded over $100 / hour! Which brings me to the topic of today's entry: My "second career" fantasy of leaving the Information Technology business and going into the coffee business.

Maybe guys in the coffee industry like Peter Guiliano, Geoff Watts, and David Schomer fantasize about leaving their careers to become successful programmers, but I doubt it. Not that I'm complaining mind you. Software development has treated me well these last 20+ years. The job market is a little dicey and my ardent hope is that the better paying ones remain in the US long enough for me to reach second career retirement age. Steve Robinson is also in the I/T sector and travels frequently to countries like India and China that are embracing the profession with zeal and at a fraction of the US salaries. He intones, "Dan, read The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. You'll understand that the writing has been on the walls for a long time; you're ignoring it at the peril of your financial security." (paraphrased)

Steve's definitely more fiscally aware of his surroundings than I am. My goals are modest: Pay off the house, save for retirement, save for the kid's college as best I can, stay healthy (because any other trajectory is the financial equivalent of the old maps' indication of the edge of the Earth: "Monsters Be Found Here"). And yet we share the same second career fantasy: To kiss the I/T rat-race goodbye and open a cafe in the art / theatre district. We talk a good game over beers, but in the end, it's all talk and no cattle. He's addicted to stress, I'm addicted to the security of a regular paycheck.

Geoff Corey is the owner of Pheasant Creek Coffee. He's a former I/T guy, I think in the network business.


Reluctantly serves "sugar bombs"

He celebrated his shop's one-year anniversary not long ago. A regular clientele, free music entertainment on the weekends, stuff for the kids, even a chess club meets there regularly. He tells me of one guy that drives five miles in the opposite direction of work to pick up his morning coffee, passing a half-dozen Starbucks on the way. The outlook is promising. Long hours and satisfied customers are his reward, and he seems happier for it. He doesn't talk about his prior job much; apparently it involved project management and outsourcing, the modern-day euphemism for "you've been replaced by someone who's paid 1/4th your salary."

Maybe someday Steve and I will set aside the corporate shackles we willingly clamp on each morning. Maybe we'll start that cafe in the theatre district. Maybe we'll move our families to the beach and work a tourist cart as part-time baristas. OK, maybe not... it's still a nice workday fantasy though.

[cannonfodder]

When I have one of those days at work, you know the ones, 'hay Dave, did anyone email you about the email server being down?', I have to chant to myself, 'I love my job, I love my job'.

I have been thinking more and more about opening a cafe. There are just no cafe's in Dayton; I can only name two in the entire city. Maybe that is because the market has not been tapped, or maybe because the demographics will not support it. But it is hard to give up a very good job, steady paycheck and incredible benefits for the uncertainty of a cafe.

Maybe an early retirement then open that Cafe and Bakery I have always wanted. A traditional styled, black and white checkered floor, the small round tables with the red and white checker tablecloth's and old world style rod iron chairs and woodwork. A little Sinatra in the background with the aroma of fresh roasted coffee (I will have to roast my own) and the mornings baked bread. I love my job, I love my job...

[PheasantCreek]

Kind of reminds me of the cartoon, I think was "Life in Hell" by the Simpson's creator, that had the hourly schedule and what people think at work. "Opening a cafe" must replace the 3pm thought of the day for "winning the lottery".

While I am much happier opening the coffeeshop this is not get rich quick job. I don't talk about my previous IT work because it causes my blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels. After 17 years, I found the whole IT and corporate experience to be dissappointing on many levels. Built a lot of great teams, did great projects, won Forbes Best B2B in Oct, 2001. In the end, I had to dismantle these great teams because the executives couldn't run a lemonade stand without going into bankruptcy.

As for setting out on your own, plan, plan, more planning. Write a business plan and rewrite a business plan. The top ten reasons a coffeehouse will fail in no particular order:

#1 Failure to write a business plan
#2 Optimistic in business plan numbers
#3 Not enough cash to make it the first two years
#4 Absentee owner
#5 Location
#6 Location
#7 Location
#8 Quality
#9 Poor accounting practices
#10 Not watching the margins

I had two years of planning before I selected a site. I could have easily researched another full year to tighten up the plan and avoid a few other surprises. The first year was some seriously long hours but I am much happier I made the change. It really isn't a job, it's my house and friends drop by for coffee.

I love my job! How many can say that these days?

-G

[cannonfodder]

You are one of the lucky few. Being IT for a large restaurant supply company, I see business come and go. I use to GM a business and as a member of the management staff here, I see a lot of terminal business mistakes made by others.

I like how you emphasize the business plan. You would be surprised (or maybe not) at how many people sink their life saving into a new business with no plan. They go into it on a wing and a prayer hoping for the best. Insufficient planning, lack of vision and insufficient funding are what I see most often. If you are broke after creating the business, chances are you will not last one quarter, it takes money to make money.

At least I can play Barista at home...

[Marshall]

Maybe someday Steve and I will set aside the corporate shackles we willing clamp on each morning. Maybe we'll start that cafe in the theatre district. Maybe we'll move our families to the beach and work a tourist cart as part-time baristas. OK, maybe not... it's still a nice workday fantasy though.

I had a summer job in college at a "business machine store," which meant in 1971 that we sold typewriters, desktop electronic calculators and (whoopie!) the first Sharp hand held calculator ($450 for four functions and no memory). One of the two owners had been a mid-level sales exec for SCM, then a giant of the business. He used to talk to me about the "Fearsome 40's." This, he explained, was when you were making great money and had ratcheted up your lifestyle to take advantage of it. This was just the point when the promotion pyramid drastically narrowed and most people realized they were not on track for top management. That's when "they had you." At that point you had to take any assignment, move wherever you were sent, suffer any boss you were given and endure any indignity or risk losing all your material gains. That's when he bailed and opened his little store.

I always remembered those talks as I reached my late 30's, saw the demands for billable hours and business production reaching ever higher, and bailed into a solo practice. I just didn't want those golden handcuffs to get any more golden. Sure, I took a cut in income and often missed the security of 100+ lawyers smoothing out the ups and downs of business flow. But, it was the right decision for me.

You really have to know yourself well to make these kinds of decisions (and it helps a lot if your family buys into it). I love coffee and coffee people, but I didn't leave 6-day weeks to take on 7-day weeks. And I don't think I could stay interested in running a single small shop month after month. Plus, I'm a sucky roaster.

[HB]

I love coffee and coffee people, but I didn't leave 6-day weeks to take on 7-day weeks.

Some say that the best way to wring the pleasure out of a hobby is make it a career.

[another_jim]

Some say that the best way to wring the pleasure out of a hobby is make it a career.

The big difference between a hobby and a job is in a hobby one can do whatever one wants, whenever one wants, while in a job one has to do whatever needs doing, and do it right now, whether one wants to or not, and whether it's ones assigned task or not.

I know in a small business, the owner has to hold the second attitude so deeply that it projects to the employees; otherwise the business fails.

So sometimes I wonder why people would ever be so crazy as to make jobs out of the things they enjoy doing.

[mattwells]

I will drop in my .02

This is something that I have thought alot about recently. I am in my early 20's and have no clue what career path I want to take. When I was young, I invested most of my money from summer jobs, at the advice of my grandfather, and have a good amount of start-up money. I was seriously considering starting a coffee shop in Athens, my hometown. I talked to local owners, and decided it was not right for me to do right now. I still plan to open some business in my future, just not right now. I graduated college with a useless humanities degree and alot of computer skill. Worked briefly in high level internet design, and then got a job with Borders (where I work now), so that my wife and I could have insurance. Now I am starting law school, but still have the desire to start some business later on in my life.

I don't know if it will be a coffee shop, but I love everything about them (including working in them), so it is still a strong possibility.

I started rambling a while ago, but I have many friends who have lost all passion for something they loved by opening a store that did that. After they lost the passion, the stores quickly folded. The trick, I think, is to keep your passion alive even when it is your job.

Matt

[HB]

When I was young, I invested most of my money from summer jobs, at the advice of my grandfather, and have a good amount of start-up money.

Smart man. I didn't get much financial advice from my family, but an older friend suggested that I put half of each raise towards retirement, investments, etc. instead of boosting my lifestyle. You don't miss the money you don't "see" as much. This approach dilutes some of the effects of the "fearsome forties" Marshall described.

[k7qz]

Tangential to the subject of Dan's blog and nothing to do with coffee, but the responses regarding the IT field reminded me of a book I read a few months ago by Thomas Friedman entitled "The World Is Flat". Almost mind boggling- I had no idea of the goings on in your field Dan. If you guys have not seen it yet it's worth the read.

Sorry for the detour!