Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in the coffee industry but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jill McGaghey, co-founder of Hasty Coffee, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We make Canada’s first instant specialty coffee - instant that doesn’t taste like instant! We believe that you shouldn’t have to choose between quality and convenience. So we made a coffee that makes that possible!
Our customers have primarily been people working from home, camping, traveling, and hiking. We’ve also been honored to hear of people using our coffee during hospital stays, during the newborn stage, during emergencies, and when they may not physically be able to brew coffee on their own. We love being able to make life a bit easier for people through a great cup of coffee.
Tell us about yourself
Our company founders are Ben and Josh McGaghey (brothers and best bros), their parents Greg and Lee, and me, Jill (Ben’s wife). I like to say that I (Jill) am the motivator behind Hasty! All jokes aside, Ben and I were newlyweds and living where coffee wasn’t always accessible. Ben had worked in the specialty coffee industry for a while, so I decided against his will that he was my personal barista.
Through being tired of making coffee for me all the time and seeing a disconnect in different areas of life where it’s hard to have good coffee, Hasty was born! We are motivated daily to make coffee more accessible to all coffee drinkers.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
We were set to launch summertime 2020, working hard for a year before that. Then, the pandemic hit and changed everything. We couldn't do our big startup plans anymore and had the choice to either wait, scale down, or give up.
We chose to scale down and put all we had into this company, just hoping it would work. On the first day, we sold more than we had projected for the first month! This meant it took us a long time to catch up on orders, but it also gave us hope and excitement for this company's future!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
We are busy - way busier than we thought we’d be! So balancing a personal life can be tricky. And we love what we do, so sometimes conversations can become just about coffee, lol! But on the flip side, we are so lucky to be able to work with our family, doing what we love.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Build and nurture a community. We are so lucky to have support from our family and friends, and during hard times in the company, we’ve really needed them. We’ve also met some of the best people through the entrepreneur and coffee world, and it’s a gift to be able to cheer each other on, brainstorm, brag about each other, and have the general feeling of solidarity.
- Stay in your own lane. If you worry about what everyone else is doing, you won’t focus on your own growth or excellence.
- Take risks. Anytime we’ve had to take a big risk, there’s been a lot of growth through it. While it’s good to welcome the calmer, comfortable seasons at times (you can’t go full throttle all the time!), know that whenever there’s risk, there’s potential for huge growth!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.hastycoffee.com
Instagram: @hasty_coffee
Facebook: @hastycoffeecompany
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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