I've spent the last 2.5 years as a coffee and coworking entrepreneur operating multiple brick and mortar locations. My business partner, Jayson, and I were left with two options during the pandemic

1. Give up
2. Make it work

Here's some ways we're getting creative

We both made the decision to choose option number two while working from home during the onset of the pandemic.

First, we identified the low hanging fruit. We asked the question, "Where could we generate more revenue within the current operations?"

Given the fact there was no craft coffee roaster Winter Park, we made a decision to invest in a zero emission coffee roaster. We felt confident in our ability to leverage existing local relationships and supply other businesses with their coffee.

My business partner Jayson has focused his time on securing local wholesale accounts. This generates immediate cash flow for the business in larger quantities than selling single bags of beans.

We're able to take this cash flow & reinvest in the business. We're first investing this money in a Head Roaster to pioneer the operations of the roasting program. He's been crushing it.

Secondly, as @harleyf has been talking about, there's a massive shift to customers looking to support local businesses through online e-commerce channels. I spent my time transitioning our website to @Shopify to allow customers to purchase our new coffee beans online.

Third, we installed the @ReChargePayment app in @Shopify and created our Craft Coffee Club. We love MRR (monthly recurring revenue) biz models and this allowed customers to support our roasting program with a monthly subscription in return for a new bag of craft coffee each month

Fourth, we'll use cash flow generated from wholesale accounts to reinvest into paid online channels such as FB & IG to grow the business outside of our local town.

These channels take time & capital, but we're looking at this thing as a long term plan. As we continue to feed FB & IG channels, they'll get smarter over time. We'll optimize our funnel & offerings as we go.

This is one way we're getting creative during the pandemic.

As for our coworking spaces, we've got some work to do. While our mountain location is thriving in Winter Park due to the increased amount of location independent jobs, only a portion of our Denver location members are choosing to come into the space during the pandemic.

We believe coworking spaces will thrive in the long term with the massive shift to remote work. Loneliness will set in for some people WFH, and these people will crave a physical community. But in the short term, we're getting creative to make up for lost revenue.

Projects I'm Exploring To Make Up For Lost Revenue

One project I'm creating is a paid online community for entrepreneurs to help each other thrive. EntrepreneurHQ is a curated online community for entrepreneurs to make new connections, learn from each other, share strategies, and grow together.

Essentially, I'm working to replicate the connections that naturally happen inside physical coworking spaces — only in an online setting at http://theentrepreneurhq.com 

Secondly, I'm building http://Productively.co  with a goal to help others work more productively in a world full of distractions.

For now, I'm selling my personal productivity Notion templates and running Productive Cycles (group coworking sessions on Tuesday & Thursdays for EntrepreneurHQ members) as a way to help people work more productively, but I'm also building an app as we speak.

And finally, I'm taking slots for Zero To Blog, a 4 week crash course for people who want to set up a blog & newsletter in 2021 (even if you have zero experience.)

The first roundtable training will starting Feb. 1st, 2021.

DM me on Twitter if you want to create a blog / newsletter this year for a no brainer price. Only accepting 4 more spots in the first cohort.

The only thing I know how to do when my back against the wall is to double down, work hard, sell, and deliver results. And I'll keep throwing things at the wall until I find something that sticks... but one thing I won't do is give up.

Who else is getting creative to make things work right now?