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Expect the Unexpected

No matter how prepared I thought we were before we opened our doors, I was surprised and shocked. I’ve discovered there’s no business plan out there that can cover all the things which can go wrong when you open a shop.

Most of the time spent in the first few months of starting a business is putting out fires. This is especially the case when it is your first time doing so. Unexpected bills from annual council inspections, compliance to local food regulations, fire statements, annual pest control, staffing problems (which was a long ongoing issue for years until we finally got a solution – more details in future post!), appliance breakdowns… the list goes on.

Initially I thought we were just going to open a coffee shop and make some coffee, cook some food, talk to customers, clean and then go home. I suddenly found myself learning about electrical safety boards on YouTube, fixing tap leaks, posting job ads and interviewing people. I became a food safety supervisor, cleaning expert and manager all at once – so many different hats to wear!

The benefit was that I was forced to learn many new skills that I could use in life (which I’ll be sharing about in later posts). The downside was that it can be very stressful because you had to learn FAST.

Patching up a corroded wall caused by long-term exposure to acidic coffee grinds to meet council requirements

The business is like a train that doesn’t stop. My job is to keep it oiled and patched up so that it keeps on moving. If it breaks, we are out of business. Some days as I went to sleep, I would become anxious that the fridge motors might break down and that we won’t have anything to sell the next day. Fortunately I remembered this quote:​

“90% of the things you worry about never actually happen“

I slowly trained myself to not worry about the things I can’t control and just focus on the things I CAN control. That saved my sanity early on.

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