Jack’s Blend

By Jack Groot

Jack Groot owns JP’s Coffee & Espresso Bar and On Track Coffee Consulting, based out of Holland, Mich. E-mail your questions to jack@ontrackcoffeeconsulting.com with “Jack’s Blend” as the subject line.

Q. I have thought about going into the coffee business for the last few years, but I've kind of held it as a dream because I don't know if I have all that it takes to open my own business. I get this kind of overwhelming feeling when I think about trying to proceed as well as getting scared. I currently work in a fairly large company in the IT department. I make a decent living and have family responsibilities (wife, kids, house payment). I don't want to lose what I have, but I feel like I could do so much more. How do I know whether or not opening my own coffee business, or even any business, is right for me? What can I do to minimize the risk of such a venture? Thanks in advance for your response.

Tom G.

A. Hi Tom,
There is a quote I love, “... some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night."

What you are asking are such great and common questions. First off, they're great because owning your own business can be a wonderful, exciting and rewarding venture. Common because many, many people would like to start their own businesses, but never actually pull the trigger.

I have always wondered about those kids that started out at 6 years old saying, “I'm gonna be a doctor when I get big." Not that this is so strange, but it’s the one kid who says it when he is 6 ... and 9 ... and 12 ... then 14, 16, 18, ... and then at 28 he's a doctor. How could he have known that? What made him so sure? And what made him a doctor? It doesn't seem fair that someone can know so certainly his whole life when I was stuck for so long not having a clue.

Although we're talking about owning your own business and Shakespeare was talking about something a little different, I think the mindset applies. How can someone know from the time he was 6 that he was going to own their own business? I know of maybe one person like that. The rest seem to have the same testimony I do. I was bored with my day job, thought I had more potential, had a vision in my head, did the research and hard work to make it happen and pulled the trigger. A risk plain and simple: calculated, but a risk nonetheless.

Let me reaffirm what I'm sure you know, but is a fearful border hard to cross; you'll never know for sure until you do it. There is the risk of failure, the risk of losing what you have worked hard to create, of having to suffer loss or a reduction in lifestyle for a period of time. But truly, is there anything worthwhile that doesn't cost? Anything worth having that you didn't have to pay for? Now, let me ask “you” some questions. Answer these and you may be closer to your decision:

• Are you willing to pay the price of failure, whatever that price may be? The price may be going back to a day job with a bigger debt load.
• Is your spouse behind you 100 percent? Financial difficulties caused by starting a new business could damage or wreck a marriage if your spouse isn't prepared to pay the same price. And long hours in the startup phase will make a family pay an additional price.
• Have you invested the time and/or money into researching the details of your proposed venture? You need a plan and it starts with education.
• Do you have or have access to enough capital to create your vision the way you want? The U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) reports that half of all small businesses started fail in the first year. By the fifth year 95 percent have ceased operations. One most common reason is lack of adequate financing.