Ethan said something to me this morning when I was making his breakfast that made me laugh...
He said "Daddy, I don't like peanut butter because it tastes like peanuts!"
OK, maybe it isn't so funny written in a Coffee Shop blog, but it was hilarious this morning. He actually thought peanut butter was a completely different substance than peanuts! LOL, it still makes me chuckle...
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving Week
Well, we have an appointment scheduled for today at 3:30pm to take a look at the drive through location with the Health Department. We will get their feedback on how many changes/upgrades will be required to operate there.
Tracy and I have been discussing the pros and cons of opening a second location so soon. I believe the drive through will capture a the commuter crowd on Pikes Peak Ave, but we are trying to go beyond the business model and determine how it will affect our family life, our stress levels, and the amount of spare time we have (our spare time has to be planned in advance, otherwise it gets eaten up by life's demands. It is critical that we set aside family time for our sakes and for the boys, especially).
Everything hinges on the Health Dept input. Once we determine if it is feasible, then we will have to think about it very seriously. Our shop is roughly at the break even point. If we can do some marketing and capture some of the commuters, increase our catering/delivery (especially to Premiere Global and Time Warner), increase our whole bean coffee sales via seminars and tastings, new and better signage, flyer distributions, print media advertising, etc, etc... If we can implement the above items and get our shop to the point of paying ourselves a decent salary, then we may not need the added stress and "time consumption" of a second location. I am the kind of person who just forges ahead and does things, and I will work half the night and only get a couple hours of sleep if necessary. Tracy keeps me grounded, and helps me to think about impacts to our lives beyond business... We are thinking, as well as praying, about this decision. We would appreciate your prayers as well, if you are so inclined...
We are going to be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and we will be open on Friday (it will probably be DEAD...) Holidays around the shop are SO VERY SLOW...
A photography website where I participate has a forum thread going called "Tell us something odd about yourself." Wow, what a wide open field that leaves for me. I could fill volumes! This is what I listed, although it doesn't even begin to tap into the odd things about me!
Weird diversity of jobs...
So far in my life (I'm 42) I have done the following:
Electronics Technician
Nuclear Reactor Operator
US Navy Diver
Instructor, certifying others to operate nuclear plants
Barista at Starbucks
Account Manager for entertainment Youth Fund Raising
Retail Sales Rep for Software Etc
Top Secret position at Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base
System Certification Tech, Semiconductor Industry
Quality Assurance, Semiconductor Industry
Quality Assurance, Bio-pharmaceutical Industry
Certified Weld Inspector (CWI)
Industrial Scheduler, using Primavera Project Planner
Project Manager (construction) for Specialized Ultra High Purity Environments (multi million $$ projects)
Project Manager, Sustaining Projects for Intel Fab 23
Landlord (own several rental properties)
I also have a full industrial wood shop and do custom furniture design and fabrication on commission.
Oh, when I was 16 I was hand picked to be involved in a first of a kind Junior Achievement Company (Madison County JA, Anderson, Indiana). 10 of us wrote a curriculum for 6 week sessions to teach computer programming to the public. We sold out of three sessions, with 20 participants in each session (cost was $99 per person, per session). It was very successful, and Wall Street Journal and other national publications did articles about us. I was selected out of the 10 of us to go to a conference in Cincinnati and give a speech to 3500 people about our company and its successes!
I currently own a high end retail coffee shop (which I designed and completed the construction myself), as well as a Photography Studio (specializing in weddings and portraits).
I am teaching Photography lessons as well as Photoshop lessons out of my studio. I also do graphic design on the side (paid jobs).
I recently came back to work at Intel and I am taking care of their site water chemistry control (lots of samples of different systems, lab analysis for water quality and chemistry control agents, followed by trend analysis and chemistry/biocide injection rate modifications to maintain system parameters).
I recently interviewed for a position as a Project Engineer for a local Mechanical contractor (they are completing a major expansion at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs - about an 18 month project). I have a meeting with them Monday afternoon to review their offer letter.
The crazy thing is that I have never been to college, but I have excelled in all of these areas. I also have never had to look for a job. Due to networking and my Project Management experience, I typically receive several job offers a week.
Pretty crazy...
Gotta run,
JD
Tracy and I have been discussing the pros and cons of opening a second location so soon. I believe the drive through will capture a the commuter crowd on Pikes Peak Ave, but we are trying to go beyond the business model and determine how it will affect our family life, our stress levels, and the amount of spare time we have (our spare time has to be planned in advance, otherwise it gets eaten up by life's demands. It is critical that we set aside family time for our sakes and for the boys, especially).
Everything hinges on the Health Dept input. Once we determine if it is feasible, then we will have to think about it very seriously. Our shop is roughly at the break even point. If we can do some marketing and capture some of the commuters, increase our catering/delivery (especially to Premiere Global and Time Warner), increase our whole bean coffee sales via seminars and tastings, new and better signage, flyer distributions, print media advertising, etc, etc... If we can implement the above items and get our shop to the point of paying ourselves a decent salary, then we may not need the added stress and "time consumption" of a second location. I am the kind of person who just forges ahead and does things, and I will work half the night and only get a couple hours of sleep if necessary. Tracy keeps me grounded, and helps me to think about impacts to our lives beyond business... We are thinking, as well as praying, about this decision. We would appreciate your prayers as well, if you are so inclined...
We are going to be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and we will be open on Friday (it will probably be DEAD...) Holidays around the shop are SO VERY SLOW...
A photography website where I participate has a forum thread going called "Tell us something odd about yourself." Wow, what a wide open field that leaves for me. I could fill volumes! This is what I listed, although it doesn't even begin to tap into the odd things about me!
Weird diversity of jobs...
So far in my life (I'm 42) I have done the following:
Electronics Technician
Nuclear Reactor Operator
US Navy Diver
Instructor, certifying others to operate nuclear plants
Barista at Starbucks
Account Manager for entertainment Youth Fund Raising
Retail Sales Rep for Software Etc
Top Secret position at Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base
System Certification Tech, Semiconductor Industry
Quality Assurance, Semiconductor Industry
Quality Assurance, Bio-pharmaceutical Industry
Certified Weld Inspector (CWI)
Industrial Scheduler, using Primavera Project Planner
Project Manager (construction) for Specialized Ultra High Purity Environments (multi million $$ projects)
Project Manager, Sustaining Projects for Intel Fab 23
Landlord (own several rental properties)
I also have a full industrial wood shop and do custom furniture design and fabrication on commission.
Oh, when I was 16 I was hand picked to be involved in a first of a kind Junior Achievement Company (Madison County JA, Anderson, Indiana). 10 of us wrote a curriculum for 6 week sessions to teach computer programming to the public. We sold out of three sessions, with 20 participants in each session (cost was $99 per person, per session). It was very successful, and Wall Street Journal and other national publications did articles about us. I was selected out of the 10 of us to go to a conference in Cincinnati and give a speech to 3500 people about our company and its successes!
I currently own a high end retail coffee shop (which I designed and completed the construction myself), as well as a Photography Studio (specializing in weddings and portraits).
I am teaching Photography lessons as well as Photoshop lessons out of my studio. I also do graphic design on the side (paid jobs).
I recently came back to work at Intel and I am taking care of their site water chemistry control (lots of samples of different systems, lab analysis for water quality and chemistry control agents, followed by trend analysis and chemistry/biocide injection rate modifications to maintain system parameters).
I recently interviewed for a position as a Project Engineer for a local Mechanical contractor (they are completing a major expansion at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs - about an 18 month project). I have a meeting with them Monday afternoon to review their offer letter.
The crazy thing is that I have never been to college, but I have excelled in all of these areas. I also have never had to look for a job. Due to networking and my Project Management experience, I typically receive several job offers a week.
Pretty crazy...
Gotta run,
JD
Friday, November 16, 2007
Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Coffee
LOL
I was emailing back and forth with a friend from my photography/photoshop groups. He sent me an image he doctored up with a Nemo's logo that said "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Coffee". It got me to thinking that I should create a Nemo's Christmas card with that on it to send out this year...
Sounds fun to me...
I was emailing back and forth with a friend from my photography/photoshop groups. He sent me an image he doctored up with a Nemo's logo that said "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Coffee". It got me to thinking that I should create a Nemo's Christmas card with that on it to send out this year...
Sounds fun to me...
Nemo's Impact on Starbucks
Well, we have been open for just over six months, and we've finally seen our impact on Starbucks in the headlines. I found this in an Associated Press release today:
"SEATTLE (AP) -- Fewer coffee drinkers have been streaming into Starbucks Corp.'s U.S. stores -- news that overshadowed an otherwise healthy fiscal fourth quarter for the world's largest chain of coffee houses. The 1 percent drop in traffic at stores open at least 13 months marked the first time the company has seen such a decline.
The company released its earnings report after the market closed Thursday. Starbucks shares fell more than 9 percent at the open of trading Friday, or $2.25, to $21.90.
While sticking to its ambitious goal of having 40,000 stores worldwide, Starbucks plans to open 100 fewer U.S. stores in fiscal 2008 than originally forecast, one of several moves aimed at improving operations."
I am fiercely confident that Starbucks decline in domestic customer counts is directly related to the emergence of Nemo's Coffee on the scene in Colorado Springs!
Well, maybe that's a bunch of BS, but I do believe that independent retailers serving higher quality product than Starbucks has is beginning to put a dent in their sales. Starbucks is an amazing company and they will continue to do well, but as coffee consumers branch out and try the higher quality items available at Nemo's and other independents dedicated to quality of product and service, Starbucks is going to lose a small percentage of their customers that want something better...
We also reached another milestone at Nemo's yesterday... We exceeded $80,000 in total sales! Not bad for a brand new independent retailer that has done no advertising what-so-ever!
If you are in the area, stop by the shop tonight. We have a local author on site doing a book signing. She is a Christian author named Lonzie Symonette. She has published several books before, and this one is titled "Real Happiness Is Within Reach." Her previous books are "He Calls Me by the Thunder", "Everyday Soaring Since My Emancipation", "Lonzie's Fried Chicken Volumes 1 thru 7" (collections of Southern poetry and fiction), and "A New Slave Song."
Here is a quick bio from her website:
A Board Certified (APC) hospice and palliative care Chaplain, Reverend Lonzie is trained to journey with those who are facing the impact of life-threatening illness. She respects their "here and now" and offers an active presence according to their belief system. She is also an adjunct instructor at Fuller Colorado Theological Seminary. Her class lectures connect and bridge the gap between grief and loss, death and dying, the importance of sound relationships and an enduring faith especially when approaching the end of life. There are many spiritual issues that arise at the end of life, and Chaplain Lonzie has encountered many "in your face" experiences. "...Chaplain Symonette is one of the Lord's special prophetess...a woman who traffics in an area where the church needs to go. Our preacher tonight...is a trail blazer cutting new paths for the entire church..." states The Right Reverend John Richard Bryant, the l06th Consecrated and Elected Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is "...a sensitive and serious interpreter of life," said The Right Reverend Vinton Randolph Anderson, 92nd Consecrated and Elected Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Past President World Council of Churches. Welcome into the space of a published author, speaker, teacher, and preacher. One who combines life experiences with love for God and God's people.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord..." (Revelation 14:13a NIV)
A thought-provoking, humorous, and a dynamic speaker, her personal testimony entitled Real Happiness Is Within Reach explains how God helps her to cope. With humorous stories from her childhood in Miami, Florida, she highlights the importance of embracing and enjoying real happiness based on applying God's Word to our daily lives.
"Give it up! Your book will never be published," I was told. Even when all the doors had been slammed and pad-locked in my face, I talked to God about it. God said, [I am] "...opening doors no one can lock... I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut" (Revelation 3:7b-8a Msg).
In 1992 the camera ready lay-out for our first book, A New Slave Song was literarily cut and pasted on my dining-room table. We sold two thousand copies. We remembered the promise from God, "...Behold I have put before you an open door which no one can shut..." (Rev. 3:8 NAS). In 1994, the company's logo of a lock with a key in it was designed and registered. The world's largest publisher of Christian Bibles, Thomas Nelson (Word Press) opened their doors desiring a contract with LMS. After negotiations, the second book He Calls Me by the Thunder, a revision of A New Slave Song was published.
Many asked, "How did you get two books published in two years? In the same breath a second question followed, "will you teach me?" The answers to these questions developed into a self-publishing workshop. Another opened door of opportunity to encourage unpublished authors and to witness of God's goodness. We taught the workshop in the local community center. Soon the workshop became an Adult Continuing Education course on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) campus. LMS wanted an easy to understand, step by step workbook to give to each student. Rewrites and draftings of the workshop materials birthed a third book, You Can Do It Too! LMS taught from the "school of hard knocks", experience. Because of the grueling time requirements of teaching and the available, affordable desk-top publishing programs, we no longer present the workshops.
I went by the shop yesterday after working at Intel to check on an espresso machine leak. I took the panels off and located the leak at the middle group flow meter. The flow meter is a sealed enclosure with an impeller and sensors. I keep a few simple tools at the shop and I was not able to find any of them!! I'm not in the shop that often anymore, and I have no idea where things are. I ran down to Home Depot and bought a tool box and about $175 worth of tools. I can now work on just about anything at the shop and not have to worry about looking for the right tools. Anyway, I tightened the flow meter case screws which decreased the leak rate, but did not fix it completely. Maric Beverage Systems recently serviced that flow meter, so I will have to call them and have them fix it...
Gotta run,
Take care,
JD
"SEATTLE (AP) -- Fewer coffee drinkers have been streaming into Starbucks Corp.'s U.S. stores -- news that overshadowed an otherwise healthy fiscal fourth quarter for the world's largest chain of coffee houses. The 1 percent drop in traffic at stores open at least 13 months marked the first time the company has seen such a decline.
The company released its earnings report after the market closed Thursday. Starbucks shares fell more than 9 percent at the open of trading Friday, or $2.25, to $21.90.
While sticking to its ambitious goal of having 40,000 stores worldwide, Starbucks plans to open 100 fewer U.S. stores in fiscal 2008 than originally forecast, one of several moves aimed at improving operations."
I am fiercely confident that Starbucks decline in domestic customer counts is directly related to the emergence of Nemo's Coffee on the scene in Colorado Springs!
Well, maybe that's a bunch of BS, but I do believe that independent retailers serving higher quality product than Starbucks has is beginning to put a dent in their sales. Starbucks is an amazing company and they will continue to do well, but as coffee consumers branch out and try the higher quality items available at Nemo's and other independents dedicated to quality of product and service, Starbucks is going to lose a small percentage of their customers that want something better...
We also reached another milestone at Nemo's yesterday... We exceeded $80,000 in total sales! Not bad for a brand new independent retailer that has done no advertising what-so-ever!
If you are in the area, stop by the shop tonight. We have a local author on site doing a book signing. She is a Christian author named Lonzie Symonette. She has published several books before, and this one is titled "Real Happiness Is Within Reach." Her previous books are "He Calls Me by the Thunder", "Everyday Soaring Since My Emancipation", "Lonzie's Fried Chicken Volumes 1 thru 7" (collections of Southern poetry and fiction), and "A New Slave Song."
Here is a quick bio from her website:
A Board Certified (APC) hospice and palliative care Chaplain, Reverend Lonzie is trained to journey with those who are facing the impact of life-threatening illness. She respects their "here and now" and offers an active presence according to their belief system. She is also an adjunct instructor at Fuller Colorado Theological Seminary. Her class lectures connect and bridge the gap between grief and loss, death and dying, the importance of sound relationships and an enduring faith especially when approaching the end of life. There are many spiritual issues that arise at the end of life, and Chaplain Lonzie has encountered many "in your face" experiences. "...Chaplain Symonette is one of the Lord's special prophetess...a woman who traffics in an area where the church needs to go. Our preacher tonight...is a trail blazer cutting new paths for the entire church..." states The Right Reverend John Richard Bryant, the l06th Consecrated and Elected Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is "...a sensitive and serious interpreter of life," said The Right Reverend Vinton Randolph Anderson, 92nd Consecrated and Elected Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Past President World Council of Churches. Welcome into the space of a published author, speaker, teacher, and preacher. One who combines life experiences with love for God and God's people.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord..." (Revelation 14:13a NIV)
A thought-provoking, humorous, and a dynamic speaker, her personal testimony entitled Real Happiness Is Within Reach explains how God helps her to cope. With humorous stories from her childhood in Miami, Florida, she highlights the importance of embracing and enjoying real happiness based on applying God's Word to our daily lives.
"Give it up! Your book will never be published," I was told. Even when all the doors had been slammed and pad-locked in my face, I talked to God about it. God said, [I am] "...opening doors no one can lock... I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut" (Revelation 3:7b-8a Msg).
In 1992 the camera ready lay-out for our first book, A New Slave Song was literarily cut and pasted on my dining-room table. We sold two thousand copies. We remembered the promise from God, "...Behold I have put before you an open door which no one can shut..." (Rev. 3:8 NAS). In 1994, the company's logo of a lock with a key in it was designed and registered. The world's largest publisher of Christian Bibles, Thomas Nelson (Word Press) opened their doors desiring a contract with LMS. After negotiations, the second book He Calls Me by the Thunder, a revision of A New Slave Song was published.
Many asked, "How did you get two books published in two years? In the same breath a second question followed, "will you teach me?" The answers to these questions developed into a self-publishing workshop. Another opened door of opportunity to encourage unpublished authors and to witness of God's goodness. We taught the workshop in the local community center. Soon the workshop became an Adult Continuing Education course on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) campus. LMS wanted an easy to understand, step by step workbook to give to each student. Rewrites and draftings of the workshop materials birthed a third book, You Can Do It Too! LMS taught from the "school of hard knocks", experience. Because of the grueling time requirements of teaching and the available, affordable desk-top publishing programs, we no longer present the workshops.
I went by the shop yesterday after working at Intel to check on an espresso machine leak. I took the panels off and located the leak at the middle group flow meter. The flow meter is a sealed enclosure with an impeller and sensors. I keep a few simple tools at the shop and I was not able to find any of them!! I'm not in the shop that often anymore, and I have no idea where things are. I ran down to Home Depot and bought a tool box and about $175 worth of tools. I can now work on just about anything at the shop and not have to worry about looking for the right tools. Anyway, I tightened the flow meter case screws which decreased the leak rate, but did not fix it completely. Maric Beverage Systems recently serviced that flow meter, so I will have to call them and have them fix it...
Gotta run,
Take care,
JD
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Recent comments and response...
I received the following comment on my Six Month Assessment post from a couple of days ago. I thought I would post it, along with my response... Feel free to let me know if you have questions, and I will do my best to answer them.
take care,
JD
bill said...
JD,
Been following your blog for a while now and this summary made me wonder: what is the end game for Nemo? You have had good initial success, but I'm pretty sure the idea was to have a business that supported you and your family, but now you have gone back to work to support it (and your family, of course).
You've hit "break even" twice (which is good) and have growth strategies (also good) but...
I guess what I am wondering is where does Nemo need to be for you to get what you were looking for? What volumes are you looking at to allow you to quit again and do the shop full time? When does the effort of starting Nemo make sense financially?
And thank you for your service, too. I grew up not far from Toledo - never realized there was a sub named after the town...
November 12, 2007 3:16:00 PM MST
JD Anderson said...
Hello Bill,
I'm glad you have been following the blog...
What makes sense? Well, to have $20,000 a month profits after tax makes great sense to me, but I know that is not realistic. To put the six month assessment in perspective, we did not expect to hit the break even point until 12 months of operation. You mention that we hit the break even point several times, and that is correct. I set up our budget so that we would have different milestones, each requiring an increase in revenues to get to the 'new' break even point. Your comment makes it sound like it might all be somewhat frustrating. It is not at all... We are six months ahead of schedule. We still have a significant chunk of our original capital investment left, and we could begin paying ourselves a personal income instead of me working. However, we would rather save that capital for a rainy day, rather than use it up paying our day-in and day-out personal expenses. Thankfully, I have the ability to land jobs in the $30 to $40 per hour range and that allows us to cover our personal finances, take care of one of our rental homes that is currently empty and undergoing some remodeling, etc. Going back to work full time is not a setback, but just one of those things that we decided would be a smart move in the long run.
So, to answer your questions...
We are thrilled with how Nemo's is performing. We have some future plans set in place to continue to grow our revenues. Our budget is now stable without any forthcoming increases (we signed an 11 year lease, so that is stable), other than typical cost increases due to rises in utilities, vendor product costs, etc. Even after Nemo's is profitable, I may continue to work for some time and save that money. We would like to invest in additional real estate, and it takes $$ to do so. I would love to see Nemo's at the point of paying our personal finance responsibilities, and my salary going towards future investments, possibly additional Nemo's locations!
So the short answer is "It all makes sense as long as you have somewhere to live and some food to eat". The long answer is a little more convoluted, and who knows what difficulties, or blessings, could pop up along the way. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to jump in with both feet, make the best decisions that you can, and hang on!
EDIT 11-14-2007 It just occurred to me that you meant numbers...
Our current budget, which is worst case (no more incremental jumps over time0 requires us to have approximately $690 in sales per day. That is gross sales before product costs are taken out. And, that is based on a five day week. It may sound like a lot if you are a small independent, but we have not even started to tap into the potential market around here. We averaged a little over $690 per day last week. We had a weak Monday, followed by a $750 Tuesday so far this week. I will be watching our numbers over the next month or so to see if we are consistently hitting the break even point or not. My wife was a Starbucks manager and worked in stores that averaged $30,000 per week in sales. My end goal is to average $7500 weeks on a consistent basis.
Gotta run,
JD
take care,
JD
bill said...
JD,
Been following your blog for a while now and this summary made me wonder: what is the end game for Nemo? You have had good initial success, but I'm pretty sure the idea was to have a business that supported you and your family, but now you have gone back to work to support it (and your family, of course).
You've hit "break even" twice (which is good) and have growth strategies (also good) but...
I guess what I am wondering is where does Nemo need to be for you to get what you were looking for? What volumes are you looking at to allow you to quit again and do the shop full time? When does the effort of starting Nemo make sense financially?
And thank you for your service, too. I grew up not far from Toledo - never realized there was a sub named after the town...
November 12, 2007 3:16:00 PM MST
JD Anderson said...
Hello Bill,
I'm glad you have been following the blog...
What makes sense? Well, to have $20,000 a month profits after tax makes great sense to me, but I know that is not realistic. To put the six month assessment in perspective, we did not expect to hit the break even point until 12 months of operation. You mention that we hit the break even point several times, and that is correct. I set up our budget so that we would have different milestones, each requiring an increase in revenues to get to the 'new' break even point. Your comment makes it sound like it might all be somewhat frustrating. It is not at all... We are six months ahead of schedule. We still have a significant chunk of our original capital investment left, and we could begin paying ourselves a personal income instead of me working. However, we would rather save that capital for a rainy day, rather than use it up paying our day-in and day-out personal expenses. Thankfully, I have the ability to land jobs in the $30 to $40 per hour range and that allows us to cover our personal finances, take care of one of our rental homes that is currently empty and undergoing some remodeling, etc. Going back to work full time is not a setback, but just one of those things that we decided would be a smart move in the long run.
So, to answer your questions...
We are thrilled with how Nemo's is performing. We have some future plans set in place to continue to grow our revenues. Our budget is now stable without any forthcoming increases (we signed an 11 year lease, so that is stable), other than typical cost increases due to rises in utilities, vendor product costs, etc. Even after Nemo's is profitable, I may continue to work for some time and save that money. We would like to invest in additional real estate, and it takes $$ to do so. I would love to see Nemo's at the point of paying our personal finance responsibilities, and my salary going towards future investments, possibly additional Nemo's locations!
So the short answer is "It all makes sense as long as you have somewhere to live and some food to eat". The long answer is a little more convoluted, and who knows what difficulties, or blessings, could pop up along the way. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to jump in with both feet, make the best decisions that you can, and hang on!
EDIT 11-14-2007 It just occurred to me that you meant numbers...
Our current budget, which is worst case (no more incremental jumps over time0 requires us to have approximately $690 in sales per day. That is gross sales before product costs are taken out. And, that is based on a five day week. It may sound like a lot if you are a small independent, but we have not even started to tap into the potential market around here. We averaged a little over $690 per day last week. We had a weak Monday, followed by a $750 Tuesday so far this week. I will be watching our numbers over the next month or so to see if we are consistently hitting the break even point or not. My wife was a Starbucks manager and worked in stores that averaged $30,000 per week in sales. My end goal is to average $7500 weeks on a consistent basis.
Gotta run,
JD
Monday, November 12, 2007
Veteran's Day
I want to take a minute and thank all of our veterans, both past and current, for their sacrifices and service to our country. My brother finished his third tour in Iraq last week and is now home safe at Ft Drum in New York. His time at home is well deserved, having completed two 15 month tours in Iraq with only a couple of months between the two. He has a son that is a toddler, as well as a new baby daughter he had not met. I am very happy that he is home with his family.
Here is a photo of my brother Aubrey:
Our neighbor will be returning to Colorado Springs in December, following his third 15 month tour in Iraq. I wish him well during his final weeks there. He has a wife and two kids who are looking forward to his safe return. And photos of George:
I spent nearly 12 years on submarines in the US Navy as an electronics technician, reactor operater in the nuclear field, and as a US Navy Diver. Here are some photos of the two submarines I served on, the USS Memphis SSN-691 and the USS Toledo SSN-769:
Our Pride Runs Deep
USS Memphis - a photo I took topside during an emergency personnel transfer off the coast of Portugal
Uss Memphis - a couple of my shipmates (Perez and Willis) topside in St Croix, USVI
USS Memphis Underway
USS Memphis Greece
USS Memphis Greece2
USS Memphis passing throught the straights of Gibraltar. I am one of the people topside in this image...
USS Memphis Floating Drydock
USS Memphis Torpedo Loading
USS Memphis Pt Everglades Florida (Ft Lauderdale)
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo Underway
USS Toledo Underway2
Here is a photo of me back in the day, and one of me now:
Tracy and I have three boys and I teach them to respect those who serve, no matter what. I also teach them to love their country, no matter what.
I wish more people would do the same.
JD
Here is a photo of my brother Aubrey:
Our neighbor will be returning to Colorado Springs in December, following his third 15 month tour in Iraq. I wish him well during his final weeks there. He has a wife and two kids who are looking forward to his safe return. And photos of George:
I spent nearly 12 years on submarines in the US Navy as an electronics technician, reactor operater in the nuclear field, and as a US Navy Diver. Here are some photos of the two submarines I served on, the USS Memphis SSN-691 and the USS Toledo SSN-769:
Our Pride Runs Deep
USS Memphis - a photo I took topside during an emergency personnel transfer off the coast of Portugal
Uss Memphis - a couple of my shipmates (Perez and Willis) topside in St Croix, USVI
USS Memphis Underway
USS Memphis Greece
USS Memphis Greece2
USS Memphis passing throught the straights of Gibraltar. I am one of the people topside in this image...
USS Memphis Floating Drydock
USS Memphis Torpedo Loading
USS Memphis Pt Everglades Florida (Ft Lauderdale)
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo conducting Seal Team ops
USS Toledo Underway
USS Toledo Underway2
Here is a photo of me back in the day, and one of me now:
Tracy and I have three boys and I teach them to respect those who serve, no matter what. I also teach them to love their country, no matter what.
I wish more people would do the same.
JD
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Nemo's Six Month Assessment
Well, we have been open for just over six months. It has been an amazing ride...
We negotiated free rent for awhile when we signed our lease, and we were able to reach the break even point in about 2 1/2 months, which is exceptional!! That is based upon a 'no rent' scenario. We continued to build sales, and we were able to reach the break even point again, with rent included in the budget. Once again, that was great performance and ahead of schedule for any given retail endeavor.
On the personal side of things, our personal savings dwindled to the point that I went back to work full time about a month ago. We were without personal income for the most part from December 2006 until October of 2007. We have learned how to be frugal, and how to make the most of everything we have available to us. It has been a really good experience. Me going back to work has reinstated our personal income, but left a huge void in the schedule at the shop. We promoted Robert to Assistant Manager and increased his hours to full time, plus some (he is working about 45-50 hours a week). We also hired James and Vanessa. These coverage moves have significantly increased our labor costs, dropping us below the break even point yet again. I am excited to say that last weeks' sales reached 103% of our break even needs, including both rent and our increased labor costs in the budget. I'd like to see that kind of performance consistently, and I'm sure it will happen. Any way you slice it, Nemo's has performed beyond our expectations from the start. We have built our revenue base on quality products, excellent customer service, developing a sense of community at the shop, and by marketing the studio to various groups and events to get people in the shop and to drive sales. We have done all of this by word of mouth, and to this date we have not spent a single penny on advertising or marketing!
So where do we go from here...
We have done a great job of capturing the local business community as walk in customers, as well as growing our night time business with the photography and Photoshop classes, and by offering the studio space as a meeting room for other groups. We have grown comfortable with this level of sales, and meeting the needs of our current customer base is no longer a challenge. It is time for us to take Nemo's to the next level.
When you work for a company, it is typically not your job to be concerned about growth. It is normally your job to show up, clock in, do your thing, and clock out. Health of the company is not in your hands, beyond what you can control by doing the best job that you can. I've been thinking quite a bit over the last couple of weeks how to grow Nemo's from our current state. I have mentioned several ideas in the blog over time, but here is a synopsis of where we are headed. I honestly believe we can more than double, or even triple, our current sales quite easily, if we implement the following ideas:
1. Purchase the drive through location one block east of us, and capture the commuter crowd. US Bank commissioned a traffic study for Pikes Peak Ave several months ago and we have 80,000 cars driving by DAILY. Right now, we are capturing a whopping ZERO PERCENT of that commuter crowd. Our shop sits back from Pikes Peak Ave, with poor visibility and poor signage. Our shopping center is easy to get into, but difficult to leave. The traffic light at the exit of our parking lot takes forever... No one likes to sit at a light waiting and waiting and waiting to get out into traffic and get to work. The drive through location has high visibility, easy access, and an easy departure back onto Pikes Peak Ave with no traffic light delays. We are still pursuing this opportunity and will keep you posted via the blog on major developments.
2. Initiate and grow our delivery/cater service. We expected to develop quite a few regular customers from the Chidlaw Building directly behind us. The building houses 2000 employees. As it turns out, very few of the employees have the opportunity to leave the building during their shifts. We do get a contingent of their work force in our shop, but it is an extremely small percentage of the workforce that has the opportunity to come over. They have asked us, to the point of nearly begging, to bring coffee, pastries, breakfast burritos, sandwiches, etc to them. To accomplish this, we would need to purchase some type of cart to bring product to their building and sell it at their workplace. We would also have to increase our staffing to prep the product, and deliver/sell it. We were to the point of initiating this service when I went back to work full time. It fell by the wayside while the staffing dynamics evolved with me missing. The existing and new staff had to develop new routines and become proficient at running the shop without my contributions. They have done so, and now it is time to start stretching the limits again. We will be having discussions this week with Premiere Global and Time Warner to set up a delivery schedule and get this program moving. I think we could easily add $300-400 in sales per day through this program.
3. Whole Bean Coffee sales... While I was doing the construction in late 2006 and early 2007, Tracy was extremely busy selecting our product line. She researched both local and national vendors, ordered product samples, did quality/taste comparisons, and chose the best of the best as our product line. The high quality of our products has been instrumental in our success so far, but we have not marketed whole bean sales at all. We have a few consistent whole bean customers, but we do not even have a whole bean menu or price list developed or displayed. Our product is far superior to any offerings from local roasters (that might ruffle some feathers, but no offense is meant... we just like our product better than everything we tried locally. There are some great products offered by local roasters, but we believe our source is better...) In order to build our whole bean sales, I want to approach it in a way that builds a community feel to it, just like everything else we have done. In order to accomplish this, we are going to start having in house coffee seminars and tastings. We will be educating our customer base in a social environment. We will be preparing various coffees by different methods (french press, brewed, espresso, chem-ex, etc). The seminar will include information regarding the coffee growing region, process, as well as information about roasting. We will do these seminars in a sitting environment, and treat it as an interactive class, with foods that compliment the coffees. We will then offer a 10% discount on all coffees that were highlighted and sampled at the seminar. I don't think it will take long to create a strong following for our seminars, and I think we will see significant whole bean sales growth. I am also going to have my friend (Neil Dana) cut us a new menu board and get it powder coated (you can see old posts in the blog to see the development of our menu board system, including custom cutting of the boards from sheetmetal, and being powder coated). Getting the whole beans out in front of our customer base will also help to drive sales.
4. I am not ready to spend any money on advertising yet, but we are looking for some 'free' advertising. We have made some acquaintances in the radio industry, and we are going to start providing free product to them. They can drink our coffee, and they can also offer our coffee as prizes for the daily call in games they do. It will be a very small cost to us, and it will get our name on the radio. I am also going to get some signage made that I can post along Pikes Peak Ave. A couple of hundred dollars invested in sandwich board signage along Pikes Peak Ave should get a few commuters in the store. Once again, it would be an insignificant cost, but may have a positive effect. The third plan is to do some flier warfare. The demographics study from last year shows that there are 18,000 daytime workers that commute into the area within a one mile radius of our shop. It will not be expensive to have 10,000 fliers printed. We intend to visit all of the offices/businesses in our area, starting with the ones that are located closest to the shop. We will take fliers into the offices to leave in the lobbies/front desks, and we are also going to place fliers on the cars in the parking lots. It is time for us to branch out and get our name/location out to the multitudes that are just beyond walking distance. This will be especially effective if we get the drive through location in operation.
We have some other ideas that we are working on, that I'll discuss more later. The ideas are not fully developed, and I'm running out of time for this session.
to wrap things up, we are very pleased with how things have gone during our first six months. It is time, though, to step up to the next level. As we begin to implement these concepts, I'll keep you posted on how things are working, what difficulties we encounter, and how it is affecting our revenue growth. And overall, it is important to thank God for this incredible opportunity. It is our hope that all we do gives glory to God. We want to impact people in a positive manner, and i think we are doing that. The way we see it, Nemo's belongs to God, and we are just stewards. I believe that if we continue to approach our business model in a humble and grateful manner, and continue to seek God's will in our personal and business lives, that He will make great things happen.
Before I go, I want to thank Brad Ewing and Unseen for playing in the shop Friday night. They are incredible musicians, and it was wonderful to listen to them play. We look forward to having them return again early next year...
Take care,
JD
We negotiated free rent for awhile when we signed our lease, and we were able to reach the break even point in about 2 1/2 months, which is exceptional!! That is based upon a 'no rent' scenario. We continued to build sales, and we were able to reach the break even point again, with rent included in the budget. Once again, that was great performance and ahead of schedule for any given retail endeavor.
On the personal side of things, our personal savings dwindled to the point that I went back to work full time about a month ago. We were without personal income for the most part from December 2006 until October of 2007. We have learned how to be frugal, and how to make the most of everything we have available to us. It has been a really good experience. Me going back to work has reinstated our personal income, but left a huge void in the schedule at the shop. We promoted Robert to Assistant Manager and increased his hours to full time, plus some (he is working about 45-50 hours a week). We also hired James and Vanessa. These coverage moves have significantly increased our labor costs, dropping us below the break even point yet again. I am excited to say that last weeks' sales reached 103% of our break even needs, including both rent and our increased labor costs in the budget. I'd like to see that kind of performance consistently, and I'm sure it will happen. Any way you slice it, Nemo's has performed beyond our expectations from the start. We have built our revenue base on quality products, excellent customer service, developing a sense of community at the shop, and by marketing the studio to various groups and events to get people in the shop and to drive sales. We have done all of this by word of mouth, and to this date we have not spent a single penny on advertising or marketing!
So where do we go from here...
We have done a great job of capturing the local business community as walk in customers, as well as growing our night time business with the photography and Photoshop classes, and by offering the studio space as a meeting room for other groups. We have grown comfortable with this level of sales, and meeting the needs of our current customer base is no longer a challenge. It is time for us to take Nemo's to the next level.
When you work for a company, it is typically not your job to be concerned about growth. It is normally your job to show up, clock in, do your thing, and clock out. Health of the company is not in your hands, beyond what you can control by doing the best job that you can. I've been thinking quite a bit over the last couple of weeks how to grow Nemo's from our current state. I have mentioned several ideas in the blog over time, but here is a synopsis of where we are headed. I honestly believe we can more than double, or even triple, our current sales quite easily, if we implement the following ideas:
1. Purchase the drive through location one block east of us, and capture the commuter crowd. US Bank commissioned a traffic study for Pikes Peak Ave several months ago and we have 80,000 cars driving by DAILY. Right now, we are capturing a whopping ZERO PERCENT of that commuter crowd. Our shop sits back from Pikes Peak Ave, with poor visibility and poor signage. Our shopping center is easy to get into, but difficult to leave. The traffic light at the exit of our parking lot takes forever... No one likes to sit at a light waiting and waiting and waiting to get out into traffic and get to work. The drive through location has high visibility, easy access, and an easy departure back onto Pikes Peak Ave with no traffic light delays. We are still pursuing this opportunity and will keep you posted via the blog on major developments.
2. Initiate and grow our delivery/cater service. We expected to develop quite a few regular customers from the Chidlaw Building directly behind us. The building houses 2000 employees. As it turns out, very few of the employees have the opportunity to leave the building during their shifts. We do get a contingent of their work force in our shop, but it is an extremely small percentage of the workforce that has the opportunity to come over. They have asked us, to the point of nearly begging, to bring coffee, pastries, breakfast burritos, sandwiches, etc to them. To accomplish this, we would need to purchase some type of cart to bring product to their building and sell it at their workplace. We would also have to increase our staffing to prep the product, and deliver/sell it. We were to the point of initiating this service when I went back to work full time. It fell by the wayside while the staffing dynamics evolved with me missing. The existing and new staff had to develop new routines and become proficient at running the shop without my contributions. They have done so, and now it is time to start stretching the limits again. We will be having discussions this week with Premiere Global and Time Warner to set up a delivery schedule and get this program moving. I think we could easily add $300-400 in sales per day through this program.
3. Whole Bean Coffee sales... While I was doing the construction in late 2006 and early 2007, Tracy was extremely busy selecting our product line. She researched both local and national vendors, ordered product samples, did quality/taste comparisons, and chose the best of the best as our product line. The high quality of our products has been instrumental in our success so far, but we have not marketed whole bean sales at all. We have a few consistent whole bean customers, but we do not even have a whole bean menu or price list developed or displayed. Our product is far superior to any offerings from local roasters (that might ruffle some feathers, but no offense is meant... we just like our product better than everything we tried locally. There are some great products offered by local roasters, but we believe our source is better...) In order to build our whole bean sales, I want to approach it in a way that builds a community feel to it, just like everything else we have done. In order to accomplish this, we are going to start having in house coffee seminars and tastings. We will be educating our customer base in a social environment. We will be preparing various coffees by different methods (french press, brewed, espresso, chem-ex, etc). The seminar will include information regarding the coffee growing region, process, as well as information about roasting. We will do these seminars in a sitting environment, and treat it as an interactive class, with foods that compliment the coffees. We will then offer a 10% discount on all coffees that were highlighted and sampled at the seminar. I don't think it will take long to create a strong following for our seminars, and I think we will see significant whole bean sales growth. I am also going to have my friend (Neil Dana) cut us a new menu board and get it powder coated (you can see old posts in the blog to see the development of our menu board system, including custom cutting of the boards from sheetmetal, and being powder coated). Getting the whole beans out in front of our customer base will also help to drive sales.
4. I am not ready to spend any money on advertising yet, but we are looking for some 'free' advertising. We have made some acquaintances in the radio industry, and we are going to start providing free product to them. They can drink our coffee, and they can also offer our coffee as prizes for the daily call in games they do. It will be a very small cost to us, and it will get our name on the radio. I am also going to get some signage made that I can post along Pikes Peak Ave. A couple of hundred dollars invested in sandwich board signage along Pikes Peak Ave should get a few commuters in the store. Once again, it would be an insignificant cost, but may have a positive effect. The third plan is to do some flier warfare. The demographics study from last year shows that there are 18,000 daytime workers that commute into the area within a one mile radius of our shop. It will not be expensive to have 10,000 fliers printed. We intend to visit all of the offices/businesses in our area, starting with the ones that are located closest to the shop. We will take fliers into the offices to leave in the lobbies/front desks, and we are also going to place fliers on the cars in the parking lots. It is time for us to branch out and get our name/location out to the multitudes that are just beyond walking distance. This will be especially effective if we get the drive through location in operation.
We have some other ideas that we are working on, that I'll discuss more later. The ideas are not fully developed, and I'm running out of time for this session.
to wrap things up, we are very pleased with how things have gone during our first six months. It is time, though, to step up to the next level. As we begin to implement these concepts, I'll keep you posted on how things are working, what difficulties we encounter, and how it is affecting our revenue growth. And overall, it is important to thank God for this incredible opportunity. It is our hope that all we do gives glory to God. We want to impact people in a positive manner, and i think we are doing that. The way we see it, Nemo's belongs to God, and we are just stewards. I believe that if we continue to approach our business model in a humble and grateful manner, and continue to seek God's will in our personal and business lives, that He will make great things happen.
Before I go, I want to thank Brad Ewing and Unseen for playing in the shop Friday night. They are incredible musicians, and it was wonderful to listen to them play. We look forward to having them return again early next year...
Take care,
JD
Thursday, November 8, 2007
New Single Day Record!
We finally went over $1000 in sales for a single day yesterday! We hit $1006 by having a decent day of walk in sales, along with $340 in catering for the El Paso County Health Department and $40 in catering for the kids' school...
Gotta run...
JD
Gotta run...
JD
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Nemo's Update for this week
Hello Everybody...
So far, I have taught three Photoshop lessons in the studio. The first was a meet and greet, and to set some goals for the group. We also looked at five different black and white conversion techniques. The next was a Basic instruction group, and we went through the entire workflow to open an image, do some basic adjustments to optimize the image, and then how to resize for web display. Last night I taught an advanced class on a very difficult tool in Photoshop. The tool menu calls it the pen tool, but it is actually a bezier curve tool, just like the ones in vector based illustration software suites. We also did some text illustration effects, using layer styles as well as manual manipulations, and we did some custom coloring of black and white comic book line art.
Our next photoshop discussion for the advanced group will be Complex Masking. I have not set a topic yet for the next Basic group, but I think it will be different sharpening methods.
If you are interested in digital editing of photos, restoration of old photos, graphic illustration, etc, feel free to check out our Photoshop group:
Our Basic Instruction Group is geared towards people who have bought a digital camera, and really don't know what to do with the images! If that is you, then this instruction group is for you!
This has absolutely nothing to do with Nemo's Coffee or Nautilus Photography, but I'm going to put these photos in here anyway, because I think they are really cool. A web acquaintance at DPChallenge has a friend who has a grand daughter that works for NASA. She provided these recent photos for everyone to see (click on the image to see it larger):
As for the shop, we had our first month of sales over $14,000 in October! We also set a new record for highest customer count for a given month. We did not have any record setting individual days, but the whole month was nice and consistent. We are hoping November will be even nicer, and "more consistenter".
We are still pursuing the drive through concept. We need to set up a walk through with the Health Department and see what their input might be. The drive through sits on an existing car wash location, and the previous owners paid a land lease to the car wash. The car wash is currently in foreclosure and ownership has reverted back to the bank. We are checking into that to see if we can solidify a land lease with the bank, as opposed to waiting for a new owner. On the other hand, Tracy's parents said they might buy the car wash so that we can operate the coffee shop rent free... How cool is that???
Don't forget!!! Brad Ewing and Unseen will be playing live on Friday November 9!! You really don't want to miss this show. They are absolutely amazing.
We started our two month long gallery exhibition of work by the Photography Meetup Group yesterday. We received some really amazing works by a number of people. If you are local, stop in and check it out. For those of you who are not local, I'll take some photos of the shop with the artwork hanging and post them here.
Nemo's Coffee is quickly gaining the reputation as the Center of the Colorado Springs Universe for Photography and Photoshop instruction, as well as related events. I can't even tell you how excited I am to be a part of this and to have a facility that can support these areas of interest. It is exciting...
Gotta run...
I hope everyone is doing well.
JD
So far, I have taught three Photoshop lessons in the studio. The first was a meet and greet, and to set some goals for the group. We also looked at five different black and white conversion techniques. The next was a Basic instruction group, and we went through the entire workflow to open an image, do some basic adjustments to optimize the image, and then how to resize for web display. Last night I taught an advanced class on a very difficult tool in Photoshop. The tool menu calls it the pen tool, but it is actually a bezier curve tool, just like the ones in vector based illustration software suites. We also did some text illustration effects, using layer styles as well as manual manipulations, and we did some custom coloring of black and white comic book line art.
Our next photoshop discussion for the advanced group will be Complex Masking. I have not set a topic yet for the next Basic group, but I think it will be different sharpening methods.
If you are interested in digital editing of photos, restoration of old photos, graphic illustration, etc, feel free to check out our Photoshop group:
Our Basic Instruction Group is geared towards people who have bought a digital camera, and really don't know what to do with the images! If that is you, then this instruction group is for you!
This has absolutely nothing to do with Nemo's Coffee or Nautilus Photography, but I'm going to put these photos in here anyway, because I think they are really cool. A web acquaintance at DPChallenge has a friend who has a grand daughter that works for NASA. She provided these recent photos for everyone to see (click on the image to see it larger):
As for the shop, we had our first month of sales over $14,000 in October! We also set a new record for highest customer count for a given month. We did not have any record setting individual days, but the whole month was nice and consistent. We are hoping November will be even nicer, and "more consistenter".
We are still pursuing the drive through concept. We need to set up a walk through with the Health Department and see what their input might be. The drive through sits on an existing car wash location, and the previous owners paid a land lease to the car wash. The car wash is currently in foreclosure and ownership has reverted back to the bank. We are checking into that to see if we can solidify a land lease with the bank, as opposed to waiting for a new owner. On the other hand, Tracy's parents said they might buy the car wash so that we can operate the coffee shop rent free... How cool is that???
Don't forget!!! Brad Ewing and Unseen will be playing live on Friday November 9!! You really don't want to miss this show. They are absolutely amazing.
We started our two month long gallery exhibition of work by the Photography Meetup Group yesterday. We received some really amazing works by a number of people. If you are local, stop in and check it out. For those of you who are not local, I'll take some photos of the shop with the artwork hanging and post them here.
Nemo's Coffee is quickly gaining the reputation as the Center of the Colorado Springs Universe for Photography and Photoshop instruction, as well as related events. I can't even tell you how excited I am to be a part of this and to have a facility that can support these areas of interest. It is exciting...
Gotta run...
I hope everyone is doing well.
JD
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