We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erica Dimiele a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Erica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Grit and hard work. My parents instilled that in me and my brother from a very young age. Growing up with two extremely hard working parents who worked and still work, I learned from a very young age that it takes hard work to maintain a life – both personally and professionally. I remember my mom, who is my role model, saying to me from a young age, “The world doesn’t owe you anything”. I will never forget that. I’ve been working since the day I turned 16, and prior to that, both my parents emphasized the importance of volunteer work before my first paying job, of which I did a lot of both domestically and internationally. In a self-obsessed, self-entitled society where the proclivity is to look inward and ask what the world can give us, looking outward and asking how others can be served before yourself, working really hard for what you want, and having grit are rare. Laziness, lethargy, idleness, doing the bare minimum, and just getting by abound. That is a way to go. That is the path of least resistance. Working hard, having grit, staying the course, having the “staying power”, and doing hard things is what I think it takes to be successful. It’s not giving in or giving up when things get hard or uncomfortable. I believe that’s when you should lean into your craft and your business more. It’s all in your mind. One of my favorite quotes as it pertains to work is the following: “Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary, and He gives us hands and strength to do it. The enjoyment of leisure would be nothing if we had only leisure. It is the joy of work well done that enables us to enjoy rest, just as it is the experiences of hunger and thirst that make food and drink such pleasures.” – Elisabeth Elliot, “The Glad Surrender”
Erica , 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?
After being a Hoarding Cleanup Expert on A&E’s TV show “HOARDERS” for 2 seasons and owning a Hoarding and Crime Scene Cleanup business in Washington for 5 years, I sold that business for profit and excited successfully in 2019. When I moved to Texas from Washington in September 2022, I wondered where I was going to get my iced espresso drink from every morning. Hailing from the coffee mecca of the nation, I’m what one would call “a coffee snob”. I really just love, enjoy, and savor good coffee that is actually made right.
In Washington, mobile and drive-thru coffee stands abound; they are quite literally on every corner. That’s when I started really dreaming of bringing that concept here to Texas; a market that is not tapped into with this concept and not saturated. I’ve worked in and managed drive-thru coffee stands in Washington and worked many customer-facing roles throughout my career, and owning a drive-thru coffee stand has been on my heart and mind for the better half of 10 years. When I saw the untapped market for it here in Texas in early 2023, I decided to finally send it! My first job as a barista was 18 years ago, and it’s a craft I’ve practiced over the course of 18 years. Along with being a barista and bartender for countless years, I also opened and owned a successful business by myself for 5 years and sold it for profit on my own, so I knew I had what it took to open Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar here in Texas.
Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar is a drive-thru and walk-up espresso stand located in Godley, Texas. We serve gourmet hot, iced and blended espresso drinks, teas, frappés, energy drink Italian sodas, food and more. What I believe sets us apart in our market is our coffee from our local Fort Worth Roaster that we are proud to partner with and serve to our customers, our unique and deliberate branding, our vast and unique menu offerings, our passion for the art and science of delivering the perfect cup of coffee – hot, iced or blended (perfect coffee-making is a science!), and our commitment to partnering with and showcasing local small businesses within our community. Coffee is the catalyst we’ve chosen to connect to people – the business we are really in. The people business. Our customers are truly the heart of what we do each and every day at Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar and it is an honor and privelage to serve our community. It’s not lost on us that we would be nothing without our customers, and there isn’t a day that has gone by or will go by that we will ever forget this. We are passionate about connecting with people and serving nothing but good coffee.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth! You only have one chance to make a first impression both by the way you posture & present your business in your market and also the way you present yourself both physically in person and on the internet. In our industry, word of mouth is huge. The best compliment we can receive from our customers is when they send people they know our way! A referral to us is the best compliment we can receive.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
An authentic connection, just not just a transaction. I know for me as a consumer of products and services myself, when I feel like someone genuinely cares about my experience with them, I go back. I want to spend money there. I want to show them my support by giving them my business. No one likes to feel like just a number; just a transaction. As we continue to build and posture ourself in our market, the main point I’ve emphasized and will forever emphasis is that at Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar, each customer matters to us. They have become not only our customers, but friends of the heart. We spend more time with our customers than we do at home! People want to connect with other people. People want to feel seen and heard. That is what we aim to do at Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar. Yes we are serving coffee, and hopefully the best! But what matters, along with serving a consistent, quality, and superior product, is that each customer who drives through or walks up to our coffee stand feels like they have found their people; that they’re in good company. Always. At Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar, we understand that our concept is fast-casual service, as we are a drive-thru or walk-up espresso bar. However, whether you spend a few minutes, or an hour with us (if there’s no customers behind you and you want to stay and chat with us – hehe!), what we want is for you to not just feel like you’ve done a transaction with a business, but that you’ve had an authentic connection with another person who cares.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cowboycupcoffee.com
- Instagram: cowboyscupespressobar
- Facebook: Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar
Image Credits
Cowboy’s Cup Espresso Bar