Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Cothern. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
It’s tough to say if starting the business sooner or later would’ve been better. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have waited a bit longer and saved up more money for it, but I’ve also lived my life fully believing that if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never go for it because you’ll never be 100% sure if you’re ready. My business partner, Isaac, and I opened up Purrfect Tea in October 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic. I’d absolutely made things more difficult, but we both fully believed that the concept of boba was unique enough to pull us through and were still going strong. So if I had the chance to go back, I would probably spend more time saving money, but I can’t say I would start any other time than when I did.
Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’ve always known I wanted to do more with my life than just work for somebody else, but up until a couple of years ago, I never actually considered running a business. I’d never had boba until my partner and I vacationed in Florida and I fell in love with everything about it from the concept to the taste. I figured “We could bring something like this to Waycross” because there’s nothing else like it to this extent near here. Everyone is always saying that they want something new so why not bring them something new. So it started as a boba shop, then we introduced bubble waffles which were a huge hot. Who doesn’t like waffles? After a while we had to think bigger, keep growing. So the next logical step for us was food to go along with these sweet treats; this, came the wings, salads, and wraps. We tried being as inclusive as possible for people that can’t have dairy or don’t eat meat, especially in today’s society. That aspect alone is probably what I’m most proud of. Being able to serve everybody without anyone feeling left out.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
They tell you to not go into business with your spouse because keeping things professional is one of the hardest things you can do in that scenario, but I did it anyway. Isaac and I actually met while working at the same job and because close months before Purrfect Tea was even a concept. Even though he had started a couple months before and I had been there for almost 2 years, we were still making almost the same amount, something we both felt wasn’t right. It’s sometimes hard finding someone that matches your views and perspectives so perfectly. It’s one of those situations where we knew the other had potential, but it worked out so much better with both of us working together, and there’s no one else I’d rather be business partners with.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There are so many moments we’ve had to push through, it’s almost ridiculous. I think the biggest one was a few months before we started selling the wings. We were doing well as far as business goes, but at that point, it wasn’t enough. We had gotten behind on bills, but we couldn’t risk charging more for the boba or waffles and potentially losing customers because our products were too expensive. In a place the size of Waycross, we’re constantly thinking about things like that. There’s no such thing as “people will spend the money if they want it” especially with a small, up and coming business, so we had to keep things like that in mind. There was a point then that we had to seriously look at possibly selling the business or closing because bills don’t stop and we were struggling. So we though about seriously doing the wings which were like a fleeting joke at the time, but we knew that if we worked things just right, we’d genuinely be able to do it and that’s the main thing that kicked us off more than we ever imagined.
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