We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justin McLaughlin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justin below.

Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job

What was the most important lesson/experience I had in a job that has helped me as a business owner? That’s a loaded question. There are lessons from pretty much every job I’ve had that have helped me as a business owner; a lot of the assistance comes from looking at jobs as learning opportunities.

Some specific examples- in college I worked for QuikTrip; I learned about the importance of having sound internal processes and procedures as a business. Also, I worked for Seattle’s Best at DFW airport as a barista- there I learned barista skills and how to operate in a fast-paced sales environment. It was also my first intimate experience learning about specialty coffee. After graduating college, I’ve worked at a call center, worked as a teacher, and now work in municipal government. There are nuggets from all of those jobs that have carried over and helped me as a business owner. I really think it’s about having a mindset that’s focused on continuous learning, as well as looking for ways to apply gained knowledge.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into coffee roasting because I love coffee, and I want to see more diversity in different aspects of the specialty coffee industry. I started to consume copious amounts of coffee after having children. My wife and I had twins in 2016, we were sleeping a max of 3-4 hours a day in the beginning stages. Coffee became a crutch for me, it helped me survive lol. I then started wondering: what made the difference in the cost of coffee, what made Starbucks coffee worth the price, what did Arabica beans mean- those types of things. Since I was in high-school, I liked doing “hustles”, I sought to find my hustle in the coffee arena. Coffee roasting became my thing!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My life, like many folks, has had series of ups and downs. The toughest thing I’ve ever faced was the death of my big brother. My brother committed suicide September 7th, 2010. My brother battled mental illness most of his life, he got tired of battling it. His suicide forced me to work hard on my own mental health; it made me confront his death, and many other issues head-on, if not I would have succumb to depression, anxiety, and addiction. I probably would have lost my family, and would be in a much worst place overall. .
Since my brother passed, I’ve lost two grandfathers, my godmother, two uncles and my little cousin. My mom has not had much of a presence in my life since I was a child, she’s battled her own set of demons. I was sexually assaulted as a child, I’ve been homeless before, I’ve also been incarcerated.

I don’t share these stories to get sympathy, or have folks feel sad for me. I share them because I want people to understand that with faith and hope you can do great things, despite the obstacles against you. Humans are very tough, we can’t lose our hope and allow disparaging situations to destroy us.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The initial funding for Xenia Roastery came from my personal savings and a car accident. The personal savings part meant that I had to say no to a lot of things, stay disciplined, and stay focused on a vision. On the way to work one morning, I got into a car accident and my vehicle was totaled. When I got my money from the insurance company, I used the money to buy a cash vehicle and saved the rest anticipating that I would need the money one day. Saving money and levering the funds from my car accident provided the down payment capital needed for a SBA loan. I used a SBA to scale my roasting abilities from working out of my house, to commercial quantities.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.xeniaroastery.com
• Instagram: @xeniaroastery
• Facebook: @xeniaroastery
• Youtube: Xenia Roastery