12 Things I’ve Learned in 12 Months of Business

For those of you who have been following along, you know this has been a wild first year. Last year we opened our mobile coffee shop and got about 3 months of work in before we closed for winter, we re-opened in May, now it’s September. Technically we can celebrate 1 year but it’s really only been 8 months, but I digress, let’s get into it.

Owning your own business, let alone one on wheels, is no joke. I love our instagram grid and beautiful website but I want to let you all in on the candid difficulties that come day to day as well. Here is 12 things I’ve learned in 12 months of owning a business.

1. Plan Ahead, but Not Too Strictly

Allow me to elaborate. In business, you always need to be seeing around corners and preparing for the coming weeks. In doing this you get to keep up on things like inventory, schedules, wholesale orders etc. But you can be “too” organized. We have learned to keep up on the everyday things, but allowing time and space for the unpredictable. Things will break, recipes won’t work, the paint on your shop will chip, 3 gallons of cold brew will fall out of the fridge while you’re driving and shatter a brand new 60oz bottle of freshly made syrup and you’ll have to clean it all up before serving people, and other highly specific inconveniences. So long story short, be organized and prepared, but expect the unexpected.

2. Just Go with It

Piggy-backing on the last point, the only way you can enjoy, let alone survive business-ownership is to be a semi-easy going person. You will never ever ever ever ever be in control of everything. As soon as you can except that control is not an option, you can move along through your company much more smoothly.

3. Personify Your Business

Applying personification in how we speak about Antler has helped us make so many decisions for it. You can begin seeing what is right for your business, for example, say you built a restaurant that serves high end food and cocktails, after working in your space and living with the brand for a while you begin to separate your personal style changes with the business. Antler has become it’s own entity, we love harsh, white, industrial, coffee shops but we know Antler would never have a shop like that, so we listen to what is needed from the brand’s own perspective.

4. Be Decisive

One trait of mine that helps immensely with running a business is being incredibly decisive. I think Mari Kundo has helped us all with this over the years with the “Spark Joy” tag-line. If we are tasting new coffees to feature, putting together a new label, merch item, or trying a new syrup recipe, I have learned to respond immediately. If I have to think about whether I like, or dislike something, it becomes a “no”. If you are looking at a product or service you want to sell and have to say “hmmm I just don’t know” then do not invest in it, because if that is your initial impression, then that might be what your ideal clients think too. You want people saying “yes” without ever a second thought.

5. Surround Yourself with People Better than You

If you are like us and have a business in a small town with little competition, it becomes easy to get complacent with the quality and innovation of your products. We do everything we can to be around the people that are true “doers” and people who have been around the block a few more times than us. Online we exclusively follow the top of the industry shops, gear companies, and professionals. All of this allows us to hold ourselves to a higher standard, continue to learn, and progress in the innovation behind our own craft.

6. Be a Part of the Communities You Serve

Do not only be seen by your town in-between the times you clock in and clock out. Go to functions, socialize, network, and shop at other businesses. Businesses are only as good as the people behind them. When word of mouth is still the number 1 form of growth for a lot of us, you need to not only serve an awesome product, but be a person someone would recommend.

7. Don’t Settle for what Sells

Finding a good product at the highest resale and lowest input is a HUGE part of why businesses succeed, and this mindset needs to be a part of your profit equation. This being said, if we just sold things we thought would make money, we would be selling large iced caramel macchiatos, frappes, mochas, and lots of sweet things with vanilla. We are well aware that these goods on our menu would make us a lot more money than we are making. We not only want to serve the highest quality Latte that we can make, but we also want to be a brand that is sought after for rarity, consumer education, and pressing the limits on what works.

8. Be a Brand

Following number 7 up there, be sure that if you are selling a product that is similar to one that already comes from other businesses, ie. coffee shops, that people have a reason to seek out yours. Each town has multiple coffee shop/cafes, when we started ours we wanted to answer the question of “what is missing from our market?” and “why will people take extra time to locate our mobile shop, why is it worth it to them?”. Our coffee needed to be exceptional, consumers had to love the logo, colors, and brand story, we needed to stay exciting. You want your customers saying “I want an Antler drink”, not just “I need a coffee”.

9. Details are Important

To be totally honest with you, I am not at all a detail oriented person. I am the queen of “ehhh it’s fine”, but I am quickly learning that investing the time into the small things makes a big impression on consumers. Everything from written notes in online orders, custom boxes, seasonal decor at the shop, custom cups, latte art etc. All of these things build the experience people are looking for when spending money at a business.

10. You are selling experience

Wow we are on a roll, let’s piggy-back off of the last point shall we. Yes you are selling a cup of coffee, homemade candle, preset pack, jewelry, self-care goods, or any other number of small business concepts. The question you must ask is, “why are people going to pay extra for my product?”. I am sure it is high quality, but how do you convince someone of that, why wouldn’t I just go snag a cheap candle from walmart. The answer is, you are selling them a full brand experience, it is the same reason people take photos and videos of “unboxing” items that arrived. People go to coffee shops for an ambiance, for the feeling of getting to nestle into a corner and hear the barista who knows your regular order call it out and hand it to you.

11. Educate the Consumer

Okay yes yes “the customer is always right” is reiterated to us over and over, but there is a missing link in this belief. Constructive suggestion is always welcome, but what the business industry has failed to instill in us is that we are supposed to firstly educate the consumers and create a demand through them for higher quality goods. Use your company to model what the universal standard should be and you will find your people. You want your ideal costumer to be so used to the great cup of coffee they receive from you that they won’t accept anything lesser.

12. The First Time you Try is the Scariest

This is a good one to end on. The first time you try and buy a web domain is the hardest, the first time you try and build a wholesale account is the most confusing, the first syrup you make will be the most daunting, the first logo you make will probably suck, the first time you ship out a box you may do it wrong. You get the gist. You are 1 try away from things being easier. You are 1 decision away from a different life. The first time we set up the shop each season makes me sick to my stomach, the first time the generator broke down for a week I was the most stressed and miserable that I can remember. Since then countless things have gone unbelievably wrong. The difference is, we now look at challenges with open, semi-positive (lol) minds. We problem solve, we get through it, and we know it will happen again. The first time is the hardest, you only have to do it once, just once.