Starting your own business?

Ever feel like every coffee shop looks and feels the same? It’s a trend these days, where unique ideas seem to blur into one standard experience. But here’s the truth: while anyone can start a business, only a few make it a true reflection of themselves. This episode explores what it takes to bring authenticity into business, creating something that truly stands out.

Follow on Linkedin: Olivier Egli

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

My name is Olivier, and this is the Do Happy Work Podcast. Welcome everyone. My name is Olivier, and this episode was actually not planned. But you know how sometimes you run into situations that just call you, they just call for you to say something. You can't just sit quietly. And today, something happened that really brought out what I am all about. And so, what would be more sensible than just sitting down and sharing it with you immediately, fresh from the tap? Today, my wife took me to a new coffee shop. She had found out about this new coffee shop that had opened up in the neighborhood, um, and which she wanted to try out because we love to work from coffee shops like many of you. But here's what struck me something that I've been observing a lot, but this time it really, really hit home. The false entrepreneurship that we most of us abide by, you know, the one that does not really come from a sense of curiosity and playfulness and openness, the one that just kind of tries to abide by the rules, the one that's not really infused by peace, does the same thing everybody does. So you might find a new coffee shop, or you might even open and start a new coffee shop, but look closely. Your coffee shop most likely will look exactly like every other coffee shop on this planet. Because even though we're willing to risk the fact, our safety in putting ourselves out there and start our own coffee shop, we're not willing to go to the full extent of risk in putting our true self into the coffee shop. And so it goes that even though coffee shops do sometimes look differently in terms of decoration, in terms of offering, in terms of maybe the way the interior was designed and the vibe in general, but these are really just superficial things if you think in the grand scheme of what a coffee shop is really about. In the end, most coffee shops on this planet, even though they were started with a hunger and the desire and the fire to bring yourself out there, to expose yourself, to be your own boss, they end up just being outlets for coffee products. Maybe also a scone or two, maybe some pastry, maybe some tea, what have you. But at the very essence, the very bottom, they don't really humanize the person behind it. They don't really bring the individual's truth face forward into a space. And that's where we need to do a better job. And this is exactly what I am about. This is why I do what I do. I have this thing where I help people realign with their true self so they can find out what their truth is, what their purpose is. This is all great and good. But if then you don't action upon it, if you don't execute that purpose and you fall for the rules of engagement of the industry you're trying to break into, well then your purpose falls flat because now you're again just an agent of your industry. And that's where we need to do better. If we really want to do happy work, we have to understand that the work that we do is the expression of our peace. And our peace offering is a unique thing. It is not the reinterpretation of something that's already out there. It's not, it's not just the same coffee shop over and over, but this time in a different flavor. It means to encode your truth, that very thing that you found out about yourself, into a coffee shop so that it becomes an experience. And what I always say is that we humans who tap into our peace, we become agents of peace. And what does that mean? It means that we are now free to forward that peace as value in products, in offerings, in servings into the world so that other people can benefit from it. So that makes our coffee shop actually a place that spreads our very own understanding of peace. But that's not what I see happening. That's not what I see happening even in the places with the greatest backstories, with the most amazing mission statements. They still fail to go the full way, to go the full journey to the end where they're actually completely engrossed in their wild truth and bring that face forward. That is a problem, my friends. That is a real problem because it doesn't serve to hold the truth within yourself. It doesn't serve you to know all these things about yourself, but then to not bring it out as your art. That means that that art will suffer, that that art will go silently. It will just disappear and the fire will just burn out. Instead, what I always say is you have to consciously, that means spiritually and mentally, re-engage in your peace. You have to re-engage with your story. You have to become so free that you're not only willing to run your own business, to start your own business, but to make that business relentlessly and unapologetically about you, who you are, what you have to give, what your conviction is. Because without that, you are not getting on the road, and you might as well not start your business at all. I am here to tell you that risk taking, of course, it means you take a risk when you start a business. Absolutely. There is always the financial burden, there's the uncertainty of what's gonna be. This is all great and good, but risk without a plan of peace, that's foolishness. You should never put your neck out there without knowing that it's actually worth it. And if you have that sensation, that tingling feeling today that you want to start your own coffee shop, you have to first understand why. Because I guarantee you, you don't want your own coffee shop because you want to sell coffee. You don't just want to be an outlet for coffee products. Nobody wants to be that. That's simply not enough. We might as well just keep working for someone else. What we want is bring ourselves into the space where coffee is offered. So the coffee shop almost serves as a vehicle, as a vessel, as a container, as a space within which you are now bringing yourself into the world and make yourself, your truth accessible to others. And I will not get tired of sharing this story, this truth, because that's where business doing is failing us. That's what business schools are not teaching us. That's what we don't ever read in business books. We always read about how to fit in, how to play the game, how to understand the rules of engagement and follow through and then and then win at it. But we never realize that the only game we have to play is our own. And then to be uh not involved in insurance or coffee shops or floral arrangements, that is just executionable. That's just the last phase of how and what. But the why. Why you should open this coffee shop. That truth lies within you. It is not out there, it's not found in statistics, in markets, in numbers. It's not found in a demand. It is found in the desire of yourself. If you are desiring enough of your own peace, then you should follow through and create a business that truly expresses that peace. Because otherwise, I'm sorry to say, you're full of shit. Otherwise, you're not even starting from a place of peace. Well, guess what? Your place is not going to be about peace. It's not going to be a peaceful place. You're going to be faced with the inevitable. You're going to be faced with the transactionality of the place. You're going to be bogged down with all the details about keeping your margins up and transactional sales endeavors and marketing and all these things. Trust me, I've been there. If you don't come from a place of peace and these things are just, you know, the executionables of your business, then they will drag you down. But if you actually come from a place of peace and your business is founded on a context of peace, these things will not bother you as much. Yes, of course, they're inevitable and some of them are tedious, but you will be able to see them in the light of what needs to be done. That brings me to the whole notion of competing and competition. Of course, if you don't come from a place of peace, if you're just creating a coffee shop that is basically just like any other coffee shop, just maybe decorated in a different way, or maybe just following an other kind of trend or another kind of style. The problem is that you maneuver yourself into a busy marketplace. You maneuver yourself into a so-called red ocean. And now you're one of many. And that is an issue because that means that you have willingly cast out the possibility for peace. You are now at war. And that's exactly what happens when we just keep reinventing the wheel. When we just give ourselves into systems and principles and structures and organizations that are already carved out, where we're just trying to find a different angle into them. That's not sufficient because if you're just a small fish that just, you know, just showed up today in a town that maybe already has three dozens of coffee shops. Well, your problem is that you are limited to setting your price right, to the things you offer, and to your opening hours. Are these three factors enough to keep your fire burning? Really? Because if you say so, then I will tell you you are lying. Or maybe you feel that way right now, but two, three, four years down the line you will realize it's not enough. Because to be in a price war, uh, to have to keep maneuvering your opening hours around what other coffee shops are doing. And then lastly, to have to constantly change or extend your menu options because of a demand that persists within the coffee shop industry that makes you a victim to the industry, that makes you remote controlled. How is it that you would want to be your own boss but still be remote controlled? That to me, that makes no sense. That's a paradox. You want to be your own boss because you have something to say, which means that you bring your own rules. You create a coffee shop the way you understand it. That means that you define those rules. Of course, I'm not saying that you have to become oblivious to uh people and their demands and desires. The how and the what is still subject to the world. But the why, the why is entirely connected to your heart. The why, that's what you must provide. If you let the world tell you what the why is, you have already lost your way. You might as well go back and be an employee forever and just stop having these dreams, dreams about being your own boss. But if the fire of purpose really set ablaze in you and you really feel like it needs to be channeled into a coffee shop or any other business for you know, for that matter, then you have to be honest enough in understanding that the why needs to be in your hand. You have to have ownership over your why. And even if it means that you will have to change how and what over time. But what I'm talking about here is more than just business operatives and you know, like little operational things. I'm talking about the big mission behind everything. I'm talking about the perspective, I'm talking about attitude, I'm talking about, you know, why you will tell people this coffee shop is essential. Why are you here? Most coffee shops have a hard time explaining to me why they are a necessity, what is driving them really at the very core. If it's just to benefit from the coffee money that exists, the buying, the purchasing power of a population in any given neighborhood or any given city, that's not good enough, friends. We need more. We need somebody who brings their understanding of peace through a coffee shop into our neighborhoods, and who is willing to engage with the community in such a way, because such a person becomes a true leader and becomes a sharing force of something that we all need. Because suddenly we don't just go because the coffee is good or because it's affordable or because the opening hours are, you know, fit with our schedule. We go because there's a deeper reason. And trust me, maybe you fight me on this tooth and nail, but you all want that deeper reason. You all secretly, in the depth of your heart, you long to have that mission that is just so personal and so extremely intimate that you know there's no second of you, and you don't have to fear competition because there's only one of you. So by all means, don't fool yourself. If you're toying with the idea of starting your business, look at the why first. Understand that a whatever business, whatever industry you want to go into, that's just the last bit of the puzzle. That's just the last piece. That's just you know the way you're gonna execute. But first, you need to understand who you are. What is that truth? And what would that truth look like in the context of such a business? Thank you so much for listening.