Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Scott Coleman, CEO of Glory Cloud Coffee Roasters, located in Sparks, NV, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Together: "We Make Life Taste Better" in every way. Thanks to our Arabica Q Grader [like a wine sommelier only more rare ~400 in the USA], we provide the finest hand-craft roasted coffee (from the holy grail of green coffee beans), extravagant loose-leaf teas and herbal drinks from the best Fair Trade ethically sourced ingredients available on the planet. We are here to provide you with the best products, educate you about coffees and teas, get you excited about amazing health benefits, and make your beverages more flavorful and aromatic to improve your life and flavor pleasure.
Tell us about yourself
I had a few key people start the business surrounding the coffee and tea industry while also having great sales and customer service skills. We started this business to offer a fantastic product with the best customer service available. Our motto is: Honor All.
Most of our founding team left big corporate roles where we had little freedom to create, explore, change, or dream. We felt stifled, so we were excited to go somewhere together and start something new. The product came later when on vacation in Portland, OR. My wife and I were visiting our daughter, looking for new jobs, and considered moving there until we discovered how awful their traffic was and how grey the weather was. We found the coffee guy there. He was from Reno and looking for his big break in the coffee business. That didn't happen. So, we brought him back home a few months later.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I learned several billion lessons and matured myself greatly. But, I believe my biggest accomplishment was in networking, building relationships, and making thousands of new friends while on this journey as a first-time business owner, which started when I was 52!
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Caring for the overall vision of what we want to accomplish in caring for the team, guests, and products while not getting lost in every little detail of operating the business.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Get a ton of wise counsel on your new business from accountants, lawyers, bankers, and entrepreneurs. See if you have funding sources that won't strangle you in the future. Make sure you dig into proof of concept and pro formas. Will this work? What will we do and be to make us different and successful?
- DO NOT hire anyone until you have the resources available and absolutely must have them. Trust your gut about the person BUT verify multiple times in discussions, interviews, and more wise counsel from advisors. Also, family and friends are usually a bad idea to bring in.
- Network, advertise, and market like crazy to your niche [very specific target audience]. Know who they are and sell what they want and the problem you solve for THEM. It's not about you. It's about your buyers.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://glorycloudcoffee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glorycloudcoffee
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glorycloudcoffee/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GloryCloudCoffe
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmichael-coleman/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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