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

Janessa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Covid era shutdowns changed a lot of things for all of us… one of the biggest things for me was my coffee habit.

I was a coffee shop regular… For over a decade. I was spoiled from working in restaurants and very particular about my coffee but I thought “hey, I can survive a couple weeks with good old regular drip coffee.” But those weeks turned into months and finally I had enough!

It just wasnt working for me. I went through months of trying all the things, from french press to drip machines to the dreaded K-cup plastic pods but nothing made the same quality of coffee as my coffee shop and it was all a big messy stress to deal with coffee grounds cleanup every morning.

That is until the summer of 2020 when I was smart (and lucky) enough to reply to an email offering wholesale coffee options for small businesses who were working from home.

Through a series of emails and phone calls I was able to work my way into a wholesale account in a niche market usually reserved for hospitality industry. I mostly got in because hotels were struggling at the time, and they let me set up an account for my already existing surfboard and art company’s “work from home” office.

At first I thought I would just be ordering bulk cases of whole bean coffee and kcups for the home office, but then I stumbled across an option for “soft pods” which were described as 100% compostable single serve pods. I wrongly assumed they would work with my pod brewer.

Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) it did require a different kind of brewer, but that brewer was quite affordable so I went ahead and purchased one, and it changed my coffee drinking life forever.

Not only did the machine use these fantastic, eco-friendly paper pods, the brewer is pressurized and brews the coffee perfectly with the touch of a single button, kinda like a mini espresso machine.

It literally makes a frothy crema like a proper espresso machine and tastes even better than a coffee shop brew because it never gets over heated or clogged and doesn’t burn the coffee like some espresso machines are known to do.

I was hooked from the first drink, but it still took me months of daily enjoyment and sharing my new treasured beverages with friends and family who also agreed it was the best coffee ever.

They were all asking me how to get one, and since it required a wholesale business account to order them, I just naturally became a middle man for these orders and eventually realized, “wow! I think I have a new business!”

By March of 2021, I had fully developed a new website and launched it publically through my own organic social media chanels and word of mouth.

I am now also doing pop-up events on occasion and selling regular orders from the website and delivering orders around Orange County and LA to my personal friends and family.

The most exciting part of all of this (other than having delicious coffee on tap that’s super simple and affordable) is giving people an option to stop using the wasteful single serve plastic pods that pollute the environment and our bodies with toxic microplastics.

Not only do I get to offer eco-friendly and 100% compostable products and some organic options for coffee and tea, I have also partnered with other companies to offer my customers the best water filters and ionizers on the planet.

Since great coffee and tea deserves great water to start with, I decided to make it possible for my people to have access to the best drinking water in the world directly from their own tap at home… No plastic bottles involved!

Now that inflation has hit us all extremely hard I am also proud to say that my once astronomical daily coffee and water bottle tab has gone from $10-20 per day for me and my partner to less than a couple dollars a day.

We get to save money, improve our health and do right by mother earth while we are at it.

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 am trained as a traditional fine artist with a BFA in sculpture from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. I supported myself for many years working in restaurants and cafes before partnering with my hubby on a surfboard company. I also owned and operated a small retail shop before closing up to pursue my career in the fine arts as a gallery manager and website developer for artists and galleries.

My coffee business was born during covid when most brick and mortar businesses were struggling to keep their head above water, I saw the magic of the e-commerce world in action for my clients and decided I would build an online business model of my own.

Fifty Skies was born of pure love for an incredible product that offers eco-friendly options at affordable prices for frothy gourmet drinks that will rival the quality of any over priced coffee shop drink.

I continue to pursue my art career working in my studio and coaching, managing and mentoring other artists in the business of art. I have also recently self-published my first ebook for artists on my own artist website where you can see all of my archives and currently available fine art.
Coffee and Art are two main staples in my life and I am happy to share my passions with the world in person at live events and online through my websites and social media.
You can see me at @fiftyskies / fiftyskies.com and @janessabookoutart/ janessabookout.com

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I offer in person demos and tasting opportunities whenever appropriate and ask my existing customers to help spread the word.

Live events and sharing organic posts online have been wonderful as well. Recently I have seen an uptick in my sales from organic google search so my SEO work on the website must be paying off finally.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have don a lot of personal work, reading books and taking online courses to work on myself and my business skills but one of the most important was rewiring my brain on limiting beliefs around money.

I had always worked really hard to make just enough to get by and always spent every dollar I made.

Over the past few years I have shifted into a more abundant mindset, filled with gratitude for everything I already have even when I’m dreaming of ideas to do/be/get/earn more.

I have seen growth of money, community and opportunity in so many areas since making that shift.

I am no longer the “poor” little girl from Oklahoma struggling to survive in California.

I am a smart, powerful and capable woman. I have been here for almost 15 years and created a beautiful life. I’m not trying to win any contest or be the richest of the rich, I’m really just seeking to do as much good as possible in my limited time here on earth and I know making more money will help me make more impact.

One of my favorite mantras to overcome money fear is reminding myself of the fact that “I have plenty of money and much more is coming” and I even have reminders programed in my phone to help me remember how good I really do have it already.

I’m no longer avoiding thoughts about my money, I’m keeping track, making plans and growing it. I stay busy with work and always look for opportunity to earn more. I built multiple businesses and continue to invest in improving myself.

I also learned to quit complaining so much and instead started celebrating every dollar earned and every bill paid on time. Cuz even when things are stressful and busy, with a million projects and deadlines, it’s always better than being bored and broke!

Contact Info:

• Website: fiftyskies.com
• Instagram: @fiftyskies
• Facebook: Facebook.com/fiftyskies
• Linkedin: Janessa Bookout
• Other: Janessabookout.com DMZsurfboards.com