We recently connected with Hallie Dantzler and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Hallie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

I manage all of my own social media! I prefer to do it this way as it shows authenticity, in my opinion, and the passion behind my shop. I feel that if I hired out my social media managing I would lack a connection with our customers, be behind on trends in coffee shops, and never advance to the same level that larger shops are at. Results so far have been great! Being the owner and the social media manager becomes very busy on some days and I often have to sacrifice a couple tasks from one or the other until a following day. But I keep it real with our audience and they know 100% of the efforts and love out into my work every single day. My best advice for anyone that is considering being their own social media manager is: quantity over quality. 99% of the time we say that quality is best, but put that effort into your craft, you wouldn’t open a shop not having perfected your craft. Think of social media as practice, overtime the quality will be there. It is your best form of advertising so just start.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always had a passion for serving others from being a nanny, to customer service, to coaching, to home healthcare, to tutoring. Serving others by way of helping has been my life calling for as long as I can remember. I had one of my dream jobs in the healthcare field until one day I was laid off. I had been a barista years prior while completing my undergrad and have loved coffee beverages since at least high school. One of my other dream jobs was to be the boss and business owner. After being laid off, having no luck we with finding a similar position, and deciding to follow my dreams, I started an LLC that my husband and I were able to build from the ground up into a successful mobile coffee shop! We provide delicious coffee beverages and excellent customer service as many days as possible in as many areas around Northern Colorado as possible. We have been seen at some larger events in Fort Collins like Open Streets as well as at one of the biggest fall attractions, Fritzler Farm Park. We are available for private and public event bookings, we are open with regular hours outside of events, and we are always working to make our work better. Our focus is on sustainability. In our shop you will find more glass bottles than single use plastic, lots and lots of recycling, our plans for being as eco friendly as possible, upcycled items, composting, and quality equipment that won’t need to be replaced anytime soon. The shop has a clean, crisp appearance and you will always be greeted with a smiling face.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Small coffee shops are not Starbucks, cannot compare to Starbucks, and are in a completely different field than Starbucks. We all see Starbucks as the leader in the coffee industry, they are huge! You can go to shopping, have a Starbucks inside a store and then find another one in the parking lot. As a coffee shop owner, I had to learn to not compare our sales or story to a massive chain like them. We are small and able to connect with every single person as an owner and customer. At first I thought I was failing in my business when comparing numbers but I was looking at apples and blueberries as the same thing.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I have a bachelor’s and a master’s in healthcare. I had a career for years in the same field… Until one day I didn’t. I looked for about 8 months for a similar job or position to continue to utilize my degrees that I worked so hard for. Without much luck I decided to take a 180 and be my own boss by opening Hal’s Coffee. My career path completely pivoted!

Contact Info:

• Website: Halscoffeenoco.com
• Instagram: @hals.coffee.noco
• Facebook: Hal’s Coffee LLC

Image Credits
Melissa Rasor