Light At the End of the Tunnel
Exactly seven months ago, I wrote a blog article about the uncertainty of our business. Seven months ago, I didn’t know what the future would hold for our company because I didn’t know we’d be hit with a pandemic. Everything happened so fast. No one ever dealt with something like this before. And hopefully no one will ever have to again. As a small business owner, what scares me the most is uncertainty. In the time of uncertainty, however, comes innovation and adaptation. We expanded so fast the last few years, that when everything came to a screeching halt, I worried everything would, similarly, fall apart so fast. To quote the brilliant Steve Jobs,“Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” Thankfully, that was not the case and we were able to adapt and continue to grow.
Seven months ago, we just happened to open up another coffee shop, our sixth location in less than seven years. But we weren’t even finished. We would soon be adding our first international location in Vietnam. I initially thought that the pandemic would be over within a month or two so I could travel to Vietnam and help open up our seventh coffee shop. But that didn’t happen due to travel restrictions that are still in place. Even without me there, we were able to adapt to the circumstances and train everyone via video conferencing. Soon our seventh location in Vietnam was up and running. Opening up a business locally is already difficult enough. But opening one internationally, where supplies and equipments have to be imported into the country, makes it a thousand times harder. I’m extremely fortunate that Waterbean’s amazing staff made it operational. I’m proud of everyone working for Waterbean Coffee because, without our staff we wouldn’t have been able to pull this one off.
After everything that has happened in the world and our community, Waterbean Coffee is resilient. We’re still standing strong. All locations are operational and customers continue to support us. We know the future is bright for our company. We will build on what we’ve learned and continue to share the joy that our coffee brings to the world.
I don’t know if this is coincidence or not. But seven months ago, the stay-at-home order was in effect for North Carolinians and we had to shut down our business for the very first time. Then in July, the seventh month, we managed to open our seventh location and today marks our Seventh Anniversary. I believe in business and in life if you work hard, stay true to yourself, put others first and never cut corners, everything will be okay regardless of the circumstances. Maybe a little luck will also come your way.
Each year at this time I like to reflect on our company’s progress over the past year and set new goals for our company to aim for in the new year. Even amidst the pandemic, I’m thankful to our loyal customers whose love for Waterbean helped us introduce two new additions to the Waterbean family this year. To our amazing staff, day in and day out you to make sure we deliver exceptional products to our customers. I’m very thankful for your extremely hard work. Regardless of how long this pandemic lasts, I’m now more confident then ever that we will not only get out of these difficult times stronger than ever before, but continue to be the biggest and fastest growing local coffee shop in the area. On that note, I’m thrilled to announce that our eighth Waterbean Coffee Shop is coming soon in 2021, along with more exciting adventures. Nothing can slow us down, not even a pandemic. As always, I would like to personally thank every single customer that has ever stepped foot in Waterbean and for making it your home away from home each day. We hope you continue to stay safe and support our local economy.
Tony
