10 things we’ve learned since opening

We’re one month old! It actually seems like longer considering the entirety of our journey and how incredibly supportive everyone’s been in such a short period of time.

We opened our #sofashop doors September 26th at 9am. Jeronica and I walked out to cut our grand opening ribbon to a line full of people down the block! We had no idea how many people to expect. (Of course, we were excited to serve even one person in our very own coffee shop!) And to our surprise, people came! Many stood in line for up to three hours to support and celebrate Nirvana Soul. It was a dream come true!

Everyday since has brought new adventures and necessary learnings. We’ve had every possible emotion in this shop. In the first couple of weeks, we were super inefficient. There were no processes, we didn’t take much time to train the new baristas, and we weren’t serving just coffee, we were also serving waffles, which kind’ve made us a restaurant out of nowhere and brought along its own set of challenges.

Some nights, it would take us over five hours from closing just to clean and prep for the next day. For at least a week, we couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to get out of here. 

But we soon discovered that we were woefully understaffed. (Jeronica and Dap have worked every single day since we opened, as a result.) Our fear when initially hiring was that if we brought on a ton of people, and business was slow, we’d have to let all of those people go. In these COVID times, many essential workers are without employment and we didn’t want to add to that if we could help it.

Well, people showed up and showed out! We’ve had people come from Fairfield and Fresno, Sacramento and San Leandro, the Eastside and Southside, and more. The line is moving much more quickly now too as we become more efficient and add to our team. And the patience and kindness of our neighbors is truly unmatched. Our city is just so beautiful!

Opening up shop was a giant milestone for Nirvana Soul, but the journey continues as we continue to build a company that can last the test of time. Part of that is sharing it all with you – the good, bad, and ugly. So, here are 10 things we’ve learned in one month of being open:

1. Respect and support what you each bring to the table

We drove each other nuts the first couple of weeks. I’m not sure what happened, but all the sudden we became obsessed with who was doing what – or rather, who was not doing what. Prior to opening, we might’ve had a few head buttings, but for the most part, everyone stayed in their own lane. Jeronica knows coffee, Dap knows finance, and I know marketing.

Well, things got real blurry real fast. In the opening rush, everyone was doing everything! And at that point, it became more about how so-and-so was not working as hard as another so-and-so. We know. Hella petty.

We had to check ourselves. Just because we see someone working differently than us, it doesn’t mean they’re not working as hard as us. And really, if we expect this business to last, we need to trust each other. Life lesson.

2. Efficiency is everything

We touched on this one a little already, but to go a little deeper, we needed to quickly figure out the most optimal way to get things done. Without closing or opening instructions, for example, everyone was just winging it. Once we wrote these out, we had about 20 different things we were supposed to be doing every night to ensure we could leave at a reasonable hour.

We don’t always use the list, but now we know what needs to be done. And this is only one example of the many things we needed to build processes around. Just knowing sets you up for success. Without efficiency, it’ll be much harder to get to the next level.

3. Thank your friends and family

So, heads up: your family did not sign up for this. You pulled them in. They love you, but this is not their jam. This is a short and sweet lesson to never let up on how grateful you are for your friends and family. We called on ours for so many things. We needed so much more than we realized: short notice store runs, early morning help with the door, unloading milk into the fridge, organizing our break room, keeping the flowers up, feeding us, etc. 

This entrepreneurship life isn’t for everyone, but it certainly will require a ton of support from everyone. It’s been a blessing to have our friends and family here with us.

4. Stick to your values

This is a bit of a tough one because setting boundaries continues to be a challenge for us. Jeronica and I want to be here for everyone. We want to speak at all the schools and do all the interviews and be mentors and supply coffee and do it all smiling and happy because we know how hard it was for us to get here. 

We’ve had to check in with our values a few times throughout the last month, and we haven’t always made the right calls, but we’re trying. We feel awful every time we say no to someone – be it in hiring, collaborations, or whatever – but we know we simply can’t do it all. We want to be inspired and to show up fully and joyfully in every aspect of our lives. Not every opportunity is meant for us, and we’re learning to be okay with that. 

5. You can’t be all things to all people

The amount of support we’ve received over the last month has been both special and inspiring. For weeks, there wasn’t a day that would go by without a customer crying tears of joy at being in a black owned coffee shop in Downtown San Jose.

We’ve been asked a few times why we painted “Black Owned” on our wall. The sad truth is, until recently, “Black Owned” has come with stereotypes and consequences. We wanted to change that, knowing that some people wouldn’t understand or agree with it. What we can say is that we have been overwhelmed by the amount and diversity of people who celebrate Nirvana Soul for everything that it is, and we’re truly grateful for that.

6. Tell your own story

What an interesting time it is to do just about anything! At our fingertips are so many tools to get our own story out into the world. We started with this very blog (on Medium) sharing our desire to open a coffee shop. Then we continued to share all of our starts and stops from our pitch party to grand opening and everything in between.

Back then, we didn’t have any media outlets reaching out to us. We didn’t have to watch our words or fear them being taken out of context. Because we’ve told our own story this entire time, we always had our own words to fall back on. The lesson here is to trust yourself. Your story is good enough without all the extras. You have to trust that.

7. Make your own rules

In our rush to keep customers happy and the line moving quickly, we might’ve picked up some bad habits. And by might, I mean, definitely did. Also, when you’ve been in the coffee biz as long as Jeronica has, you bring along some ideas and practices you’ve picked up from shop to shop.

We quickly had to learn that we get to make our own rules around here. If we want something done a certain way, we get to decide. How empowering is that?! It also means we have to own all of those decisions and lead by example, but we’re up for the challenge. 

8. Prioritize culture from the start

We lost a barista within three weeks of being open. It was sad and humbling, yet completely necessary. For years, we’ve been a small team of just Jeronica and me. My husband joined us and then there were three. We have a shorthand. We understand each other’s moods and quirks, and we allow a ton of grace because of it.

But hiring a team of people who aren’t family is different. Employees have requirements that we must keep in mind no matter the circumstances. Happy employees are the best employees, and it takes work. It takes development, empathy, checking in, and creating pathways to success. Losing a barista was the valuable lesson we needed to get our shit together and to do better in creating an environment that supports everyone’s needs.

9. Relax

Do you know the saying “Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously”? Well, we needed someone to tell us that. The pressure was so real opening up our shop! Never did we imagine that the news would want to talk to us or that a tweet about our business would go viral. We had been in constant contact with our followers on social, but sometimes it’s like you’re posting into a void. You just never know what to expect in real life.

All of this left us a little tense. We’re typically light-hearted people, but with more eyes on us than we anticipated, we were pushing ourselves to impossible ideas of perfection. Fortunately, we got a few wake up calls (including #8) and we’re back to our usual joy-filled selves! We’re going with the flow now.

10. Real recognizes real

You know what? People genuinely want to see you win. I know everyone likes to talk about the haters and letting them be your motivators, but that just doesn’t make sense to us. Let’s talk about the lovers! Let’s talk about all of the amazing people in this city and beyond who have our backs!

We say it all the time, but we are so grateful. We’re living a dream right now! We worked so hard just to get to this point and to know that there are so many people who see everything we’ve put into this business is such a blessing. All we wanted to do was to succeed by being ourselves, and while we still have a very long way to go on this adventure, we’re truly happy that we get to keep it real with you.

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There’s so much more to come! Coffee is restocked (finally) and we’re open everyday in Downtown San Jose. We look forward to seeing you physically or virtually soon!

- Be’Anka