Notes from Chris

Episode 1029

Not everyone starts a side hustle with dreams of endless riches and quitting their day job. Sometimes it's just a matter of filling a need. That's what led Louise and Paul Robertson to open The Cult of Coffee nearly three years ago.

Louise and Paul were frustrated with the difficulty of finding good coffee in their city of Aberdeen, Scotland. The few spots that did have finer roasts also had a bit of an elitist attitude in their service that left them feeling lukewarm. It was from that frustration that their own coffee shop was born, built from the ground up.

To begin, they needed a space. A search brought them to the corner of an old antique store in a busy area. They loved it, but the location needed some serious TLC. Thankfully, renovating a property from top-to-bottom was something they were quite familiar with … because just a year earlier they had completely redone a 17th-century cottage.

But they were busy! Paul and Louise were both working full-time. Plus they were also renting out that refurbished 17th-century cottage, and raising two small children.

In the end, they landed on the industrial interior design that works well for so many cafes, but opted to keep it light with bright colors, white tiling, and pale woods. They ended up stripping down nearly everything, keeping only the original windows, floors, and doors.

On those windows, and throughout the shop, they applied graphics with their logo, a mix of mysterious, almost occult-like, symbols — playing off their shop’s name, the Cult of Coffee. By the time the Cult was ready to open a year later, people passing by found themselves wandering in more with curiosity for what the shop was than for finding a place to buy coffee.

That uninformed curiosity might help explain what happened next. The plan from the beginning was to have The Cult of Coffee only serve coffee and cake. Louise and Paul wanted to be the best, and to do this as a small shop they needed to specialize. However, customers didn’t immediately see it that way. Coming in at lunchtime, they’d be surprised to learn that the shop didn’t serve meals, and that led to the occasional bad review online. Some insisted that The Cult of Coffee would have to expand its menu if it was going to stick around.

But Louise and Paul stuck to their principles. They weren't about to sacrifice their shop's identity just to cater to a handful of unsatisfied customers.

This dedication to their vision paid off. In May of 2019, The Cult of Coffee won The Scottish Cafe’s Best Coffee Shop in Scotland award, edging out other well-known and established coffee shops.

The shop’s strong community vibe helps drive people to return again and again. Customers get a real buzz out of being the ones who introduce their friends to “this place they’ve found.” And while The Cult of Coffee has a strong social media presence, they’ve done only minimal paid advertising or marketing. It’s nearly all been through word of mouth and connections.

Louise and Paul never intended to replace their day job income by opening a coffee shop. They wanted the additional source of income, but their vision was mostly built on their desire to see a shop like The Cult of Coffee in their area. Despite the slower growth, the cafe now generates what Louise used to make at her full-time job in 2016. While Paul still works full time, Louise now works just part-time in education, and handles the cafe’s managerial tasks. Thankfully, The Cult of Coffee has a strong team that can handle most of the shop’s daily operations.

The Cult of Coffee is not the story of a side-hustle turned multi-million mega-corporation. Instead, it's about throwing yourself into a project you believe in, to fill a need yourself when no one else is stepping up. It's about creating something that brings people together, giving them a place to sit back, relax, and sip on some fantastic coffee.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Sticking true to doing things their own way, Louise and Paul use social media but do not have a website. Learn more and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

  SEE ALSO:

• Coffee Lover Bets His Beans On Workplace Coffee Subscriptions: A corporate HR professional turns his love for coffee into a fully brewed hustle.
• “Mommee Coffee” Becomes a $20,000/Month Side Hustle: Tired of the guilt associated with consuming coffee while pregnant and breastfeeding, a biomechanical engineer creates a line of coffee bean options that keep Mom happy and baby healthy.
• Coffee for Firefighters Brings the Heat!: Three childhood friends brew up a quirky, perky performance beverage for firefighters in search of a 48-hour jolt.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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