Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Clayton Prickett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Clayton, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Success is not an overnight achievement. It requires a lot of patience, diligence, and research. It’s crucial when starting a new venture to learn from industry experts, develop the necessary skills, and practice the craft to achieve success.

I was able to create Boogie Beans Coffee Co by drawing from nearly a decade of industry experience. Once you understand the necessary systems and processes that make a business function, it’s really just a matter of putting the right pieces in place, and, as soon as possible, you should delegate the lower leverage actions so that you can focus on the ones that bring the most value to the company. Delegation is crucial, but when you’re just getting started, you’ll have to wear all the hats, so developing your business accumen is super important.

Steps to sarting Boogie Beans involved securing the name, acquiring licenses and permits, identifying the target market, establishing branding guidelines and expectations, building a website, and creating the social channels. It is also important to prove your concept before investing a bunch money and seeing it flop. There’s also tons of resources out there on the internet that can help you with this process.

A lot of capital is needed for a brick and mortar location so I wanted to start with a less capital intensive approach. I chose a D2C eCommerce dropshipping model because the costs are more incremental rather than all up front. The key is to create a minimum viable product for as little cost as possible, figure out the logistics, market the product, sell the product, and then split that income between marketing and R&D, front-loading the marketing budget so you can keep selling the product and get cash in the bank, and using your R&D budget for improving the actual product.

As it pertains to execution and running the business, I like to follow the 80% solution rule which basically states that if I have a solution that solves 80% of the problem, I’ll go ahead and execute and on the solution and improve what I need to along the way. It really helps overcome my inner perfectionist and move things forward when I’m feeling stuck.

Starting a business isn’t for everyone. There’s a lot that goes into it, there’s a lot to understand, and it can be really stressful at times, but I enjoy the challenge of it and I enjoy the industry I’m in, so, for me, the pro’s outweigh the con’s, and I despite the struggle, I find it quite fulfilling.

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 come from a family of entrepreneurs. Both my mom and dad have successfully ran and operated their own independent businesses, so I have some great role models to look up to. My parents didn’t put too many restrictions on me growing up and they taught me a lot about the value of hard work as well as the importance of creative problem solving. Since I grew up watching my parents work in their businesses, I’ve always had an interest in starting one.

While in college, I spent quite a bit of time in coffee shops reading and studying before I ever started working in the industry. In 2015 I decided to get a job in specialty coffee as a barista, and although I’ve explored working in other industries, my heart was always pulled back to coffee. There’s a lot of aspects about the specialty coffee industry that I really enjoy, but what I appreciate most is that it is so community oriented. It embraces diversity and helps celebrate the different cultures and communities that support the industry as a whole.

Generally speaking, I identify as a creative or an entrepreneur, but I have a diverse range of talents and interests, and Boogie Beans Coffee Co was born from a culmination of many of those things. I’ve always wanted to start a business. I love coffee, I love product and web design, and I want to help people, so I decided to put those interests together and bring this business to market.

Although selling exeptional coffee is a priority for us, we’re more interested in the lives we can change by doing so. For every sale we make, we pledge to give 10% to foundations supporting the artistic and personal development of inner-city youth.

I’m grateful for my upbringing and the impact it has had on my success as an individual, and I want to make the opportunity to succeed more accessible to underprivileged and underserved communities.

If this mission resonates with you, feel free to check us out over at boogiebeans.coffee on Instagram or just type boogiebeans.coffee into your url bar and enjoy some great coffee made for a great purpose!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

As a person who had few financial reserves and difficult access to capital, I had to figure out a practical way to start a business without much money. Thankfully I have been in the industry for a while so I had a lot of connections, and I enjoy ux/ui design so I was able to dramatically cut down the cost of the branding, website, and product design.

I understand all of the logistics, manufacturing, and fulfillment processes of producing coffee from my time working as a coffee roaster, but the overhead costs of starting and maintaining that type of operation was inaccessible to me, so I decided to work with a local roaster who agreed to do the production and fulfillment, which is still our mode of operation until we vertically integrate those processes.

Every time I went to a coffee shop, I would try their coffee selections as a means of product research and development. My primary objective was to determine who consistently produced the highest quality product in my local market and try to partner with them, and I eventually came to a conclusion on which roaster I preferred. Thankfully, I already had a relationship with the owner of the company, so it was just that much easier to solidify a partnership.

From that point, it was mostly figuring out how to properly route the orders so they could functionally manufacture and fulfill the orders on a regular basis. This process can look different for different manufacturers and depends on the types of systems each party uses.

It is important to note that when you outsource product manufacturing and fulfillment, you increase the variables that you don’t have much control over as opposed to if it were in-house. For example, our manufacturer is going through some internal, procedural, and locational changes which added pain points for both of our operations in the interim, but they are doing it to have more functional oversight and quality control, which in the long run is good for both of us. However, had this transition taken longer than expected, it could have impacted order flow and other operations in a more severe way, so it’s important to count the cost, but as for now, for me and my business, it makes sense, and the pro’s outweigh the con’s.

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

The road to success is paved with failure.

When I was 19, my roommate and I started a screenprinting business. I was young and didn’t have much experience in the way of getting clients, but we did manage to take on a couple projects, however, we were both short-sighted, lacked the appropriate skills, and ultimately sold our assets and cut our losses.

My first lesson: Don’t do business with your friends, and if you do, make sure you get your agreements in writing.

A few years later, I decided I wanted to create my own clothing line. I put all the work into creating a website and telling everyone about it and marketing a presale, however, I didn’t have any experience in the industry, the costs to create an MVP were WAY out of my budget and no one was interested in giving me money, I went on to have several other business ideas that I worked towards, but they were all in industries in which I had no experience or connections.

My next lesson: If you want to build a business, do it within your network and within your area of expertise.

Then I started Boogie Beans Coffee Co, taking to heart my first two lessons, and as I’ve been running this business, I’ve learned some more lessons.

When you are operating in your field of expertise, life is a lot easier, and way more enjoyable.
Be persistent, but know when to course-correct.
Curb your expectations and extend your time horizon for success.

Just remember, don’t be too hard on yourself. To fall down and get back up is resilience in a nutshell, and as an entrepreneur, you have to get used to that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.boogiebeans.coffee
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boogiebeans.coffee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boogiebeanscoffee
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claytonaaron
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/boogiebeans_

Image Credits
Clayton Prickett, Jean Louis Aubert, Adriaan Venner Scheepers