This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Coffee Lover Bets Beans on Workplace Coffee Subscriptions. Hello friends, what's up? Welcome back to Side Hustle School. Chris Guillebeau here, your host. Today we're gonna talk about a corporate HR professional who turns his love for coffee into a fully brewed side hustle.
And in fact, this year I'm gonna bring you some remixes of some of our best stories over the years, especially the early years, which was a long time ago. If you weren't listening back in 2017, then you've never heard these stories, they're completely new. If you do happen to have an incredible memory, one that's much better than mine, well, each story is being rerecorded, like this is fresh, and will also include some new updates in some cases. So without further ado, in this story today, coffee is a need for a lot of people, of course. Are you a coffee drinker or a tea drinker?
Pretty much one of those. Coffee or tea is as close to universal as it gets. I've traveled all over the world and in so many cultures, Eastern, Western, throughout Africa, throughout Asia, Latin America, elsewhere, like something we all agree on is like, we need to be fueled up, all right? So it's perhaps not surprising that we have a number of side hustle stories over the years about people meeting this need. Let's hear today's, this is about Ben Martinez, the coffee lover who creates workplace coffee subscriptions.
It's coming up right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]
Ben Martinez had it all. A prestigious position as VP of HR at a thriving tech company in Salt Lake City, a track record of success and recognition in his field. But after 20 years in corporate America, something was missing. His true passion lay in rich, delicious, fresh coffee.
In fact, over the years, Ben had built a significant social media following of 20 to 30,000 people across platforms, sharing his coffee adventures and brewing experiences. Living in Salt Lake, he had noticed a peculiar problem. In a city where coffee was kind of counterculture, due to the large LDS population, most businesses relied on stale K-cups or bulk ordered coffee alongside office supplies. And that's where his solution came in. What if he could create a quality focused, quality first coffee subscription service for workplaces?
It would be affordable, convenient, and ensure employees had access to freshly roasted premium beans. The subscription model then would also provide predictable monthly revenue. Now, Ben's journey wasn't without challenges. His initial attempt at home roasting proved frustratingly inconsistent when dealing with large quantities. After several failed attempts to find the right partner, he finally connected with a small roaster who shared his vision for delivering those fresh quality beans as quickly as possible.
He named his venture Sumato Coffee, derived from the Japanese word meaning smart, stylish, or slim, and reflecting his intentional approach to providing, well, great coffee. While maintaining his full-time job, Ben enlisted friends and partnered with an agency to develop the brand. He kept costs low by using simple packaging with logo stickers rather than custom printed bags. Now, one of the biggest difficulties was shipping. Coffee beans have around 14 days of peak freshness, so speed was crucial.
Ben implemented a sophisticated shipping system that connected directly with his roaster, enabling them to roast and ship orders within 48 hours. The market validated his concept before he even officially launched. His social media following generated around 100 pre-orders from businesses nationwide. And then came the pivotal moment. Artemis Health, a local tech company, requested 70 bags of coffee for a unique marketing campaign.
They planned to send personalized packages to potential clients along with handwritten notes requesting meetings. This large order pushed Ben to officially launch, and the pressure was on to deliver all orders within the promised 48-hour window, and he succeeded. The strategy proved incredibly effective for the client. They got an 80% email open rate and a 40% conversion to consultations, and they went on to order 300 more bags. As Somato Coffee grew through organic social media marketing, Ben learned valuable lessons about authenticity.
When he tried using automated Instagram engagement tools, the results felt inauthentic and ultimately didn't align with his values. He discovered that personal, consistent engagement, though more time-consuming, yielded better results. By August 2017, just six months after starting Somato Coffee, Ben had enough confidence in his ventures to leave his corporate job and launch his own HR consulting company. His side hustle to his side hustle, you might say, this move gave him the flexibility and security to grow Somato Coffee intentionally. The business was soon profitable, and Ben saw a bright future ahead for his quality coffee venture.
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You know, here's the thing about coffee shops and coffee suppliers. There are so many of them, right? In lots of cities, there are coffee shops on every corner, and there are all kinds of coffee brands, and we've had multiple coffee stories over the years, but yet, somehow, more of them keep popping up. So it doesn't mean that the demand is unlimited, but you don't have to be first to something. That's kind of what I'm saying.
You don't have to be the first person to think of coffee, right? A lot of people have thought of it, but there are a lot of successful coffee businesses. So when you're thinking about your next side hustle, it doesn't have to be the most original idea. It can be just a twist on something, or here, there was a market that was underserved. So if you think about that, if you think about problems and solutions, that's often an easier way to go about developing your first side hustle than thinking about originality and innovation and how can I create the next, you know, whatever the product is that's never been invented.
So I'll leave you with that today. Thank you for listening. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. I'm so excited to bring you stories this year, new stories, remixed stories, archival episodes, Throwback Thursdays, question and answers from our listeners, questions and answers, I should say, and, of course, so much more. As always, the best is yet to come.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
