When is comes to community and serving the neighborhood well through the cafe, you'd be hard pressed to find a better example than Franny Lou's Porch, in Philadelphia, PA.
Blew Kind began her entrepreneurial journey in 2010 with Leotah's Place in North Philly then, moving across the street and renaming it, she established Franny Lou's Porch. All along the way Blew's goals have been to create an inclusive, loving and distinctly human coffee shop experience. With an emphasis on activism, health, and the history, art, and culture of the black community, Franny Lou's Porch has been a dynamic for peace and change.
In today's Founder Friday interview we are going to explore the genesis of Blew's coffee career and also that of her shop and the challenges, lessons, and experiences that she has had seeing this vision into fruition.
This was a fantastic conversation and I hope it inspires you.
We discuss:
Links:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/franny-lous-porch-covid-relief
Related episodes:
230 : Making room for Community in your Shop
139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka
183 : Exploring Diversity w/ Phyllis Johnson
116 : Understanding Gentrification w/ Dr. Stacey Sutton
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You've heard of FOMO, but what about the insidious FOLO? This is the Fear of Limited Options and is a big mental hurdle that most coffee bars have to leap over. If you want to run a healthy business and not have your menu built on a very shaky foundation then today's episode is for you.
We are going to discuss what is behind FOLO, why you don't need to fall into or follow it, and what to do instead.
Recommended episodes:
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This is going to be a deep dive into some foundational ideas related to your shop and the way it exists in your community. I wasn't planning this episode but I really felt a gut-level urgency about the message.
Thing is, if we want to build something that lasts and is resilient in the face of our resent and future challenges then prioritizing community what we should be doing. Do we we leave room for, or even really consider, the community when we set out to start and run our stores? What are the ramifications of not doing this and what are the benefits of focusing on it?
Today I am sharing some deeper thoughts that tap into the roots of the what and why of our profession and I hope you listen with an open heart.
Some things we will cover:
Conversational nature of your business
139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka
227 : Connecting with Hearts and Minds
181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge
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There is an abundance of stress to go around right now. I'd say it is likely the most tense and uncertain time I have seen in coffee in my 20 years of working in retail. Stress leads to more stress and as someone who is prone to stress/panic attacks etc I feel this reality all too well.
The question is, since it does not seem to be letting up, what do we do with it?
Today I wanted to briefly chat about not stressing about stress and turning the tables on it to use it to our advantage. Please follow the links below for more helpful resources and to listen to the great talk by Kelly McGonigal that was the inspiration for this Shift Break.
I love you all. You can do it.
Links:
TED Talk: How to make Stress your Friend by Kelly McGonigal
Related Episodes:
095 : Dealing with Stress in the Cafe w/ Wellness Counselor, Joe Sanok
111 : Self Care 101: Taking care of yourself while taking care of others
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Entering into a new role, or even just taking over a new cafe or team, is a daunting challenge. Many burn out and the experience leaves a bitter taste in their mouth and a lot of destruction in their wake. In the midst of the reshuffling during COVID there are a lot of opportunities to establish a new way of approaching management in the shop and in this episode I am going to be giving what I think may be some the most important practices to put in place to thrive as a new manager or to make your management new.
As I recorded this I got the feeling that it may be one the most essential episode in the KTTS library on the subject.
Please listen deeply and share widely.
I can honestly say that if you practice these things consistently you will have a very strong foundation for the rest of your career.
We will dig into and expound on:
Related and recommended episodes:
226 : The Art of being Indispensable at Work w/Bruce Tulgan
224 : Essentialism: Focusing on what truly Matters w/ Greg McKeown
028 : Why it’s Ok to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan
The One-on-One : How one meeting can dramatically impact your coffee shop's culture and morale.
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Not everything we do is fun. Actually, there are a lot of dirty, time-consuming, repetitive tasks that we have to do everyday on order for the cafe to function. Even though these tasks seem rather dull, we can transform them into something of great worth and in the process push ourselves and our businesses forward.
Today we are going to talk about how becoming a work alchemist will help you to turn the every thing you do into gold!
Related Episodes:
098 : Loving the Closing Shift : Problems, solutions, and philosophy on work
121 : Working from Your Strengths w/ Strengths Finder Guru, Lisa Cummings
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Leadership is a HUGE topic and it is easy to get overwhelmed with the never-ending opinions and techniques that are available these days. It is cruel in a way because in a time where we need good leadership the most we want to find good resources but the choice of what voice to listen to is often paralyzing. Enter todays guest, Alain Hunkins.
Alain Hunkins is a sought-after leadership speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. His recent book, Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders launched as the #1 Bestselling New Release in Business Communication on Amazon.
Over his twenty-year career, Alain has led over 2,000 groups in 25 countries. Clients include Wal-Mart, Pfizer, Citigroup, General Electric, State Farm Insurance, IBM, General Motors, and Microsoft.
Alain has designed and facilitated seminars on numerous leadership topics, including teambuilding, conflict management, communication, peak performance, innovation, engagement, and change. Alain also serves on the faculty of Duke Corporate Education and has published over 400 articles on leadership.
In today's conversation Alain is going to give us some key insights from his bestselling book on how we can elevate our leadership and the leadership of our managers by creating better connection, communication, and collaboration with our teams and customers plus the habits necessary to make these best practices truly stick
You will learn about:
Links:
www.crackingtheleadershipcode.com
Related Episodes:
212: Refining your Leadership and Systems in a Crisis
179 : What you MUST Know About Employee Culture w/ Stan Slap
181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge
109 : Leadership Abandonment Syndrome : Lack of development in senior staff and what to do about it
224 : Essentialism: Focusing on what truly Matters w/ Greg McKeown
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We assume that if nobody is complaining and life seems to be going along smoothly that all is well. We enact the popular mantra of "Well, no news is good news!"
In reality though, "no news" is bad news. Why do we think this way?
Today we will be discussing why no news is bad news and what kind of mindset and actions we need o be cultivating in order to be in the know and certain about the true state of our coffee shops.
Related Episodes:
227 : Connecting with Hearts and Minds
Building a Culture of Feedback
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More than communication, we need connection! As we move forward through the current retail landscape the currency of connection with our guests and also our staff becomes more valuable. A focus on connection and conversational communication is what will separate the sustainable businesses from the unsustainable. Today we will be diving into the need for reaching the hearts and minds of our customers and staff and some practical tips that will help pull out out of the theoretical, utilitarian, numbers focused reality we are used to, and into the relational reality of what people experience in our stores and what drive resiliency and long-term healthy growth.
We will learn about:
Related Episodes:
009 : How to Approach Data and Metrics w/ Simon Ouderkirk
Building an Accessible Coffee Menu w/ Joe Marrocco
201 : Igniting your Curiosity w/ Cody Gough
030 : Casey Underkofler : Matching Your Service to Your Quality
035 : The Consumer Revolution w/ Kevin Sinnott
The BEST in commercial coffee equipment
Want the best plant based beverage for your coffee drinks?
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Nobody likes to feel bad. In fact in management we are somewhat obsessed with avoiding negative emotions, confrontation, and challenging our staff out of a sense of self preservation or keeping the peace. We believe that if things feel good in the short term then things will go well long term. That is not necessarily the case.
Today we are going to be discussing the approach of long-game management and why utilizing this way of leading will create long term stability, mutual respect, and ultimately a resilient coffee shop.
Related episodes:
125 : Confidence in Conflict w/ Kwame Christian : A framework for Compassionate Curiosity
104 : How to Deliver Difficult Feedback w/ Tom Henschel
052 : Solving Coworker Conflict w/ Tom Henschel
074 : The Life Changing Power of Good Authority w/ Jonathan Raymond
028 : Why it’s Ok to be the Boss w/ Bruce Tulgan
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