Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Lee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katie , appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Deciding to open a business was a big risk for me! I never really saw myself as a big risk taker in my 20’s. I always played it safe and stayed inside the lines. While owning a business was something I dreamed about, it wasn’t anything I thought I would ever truly execute. I remember graduating college with a fresh degree and no idea what was next. I was in a season of trying to figure out what my career path would look like and ultimately what I wanted to be doing. After a couple of years and roads that led me nowhere, I knew I had to find something that brought my spirit back to life. Long story short, I got a job in the coffee industry and fell in love with all it had to offer. The opportunity presented itself for me to open my own, and while I had a few minutes of hesitation and pondered the what if’s and the unknown that followed, I felt like this was what I needed to do. So, I decided to take a risk, to jump into the unknown and figure it out as I went along, and I’m glad that I did. I don’t think there’s many things in life that you can 100% indefinitely plan for, but I do know that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. So I took my shot. While it was scary and intimidating and I had my own doubts and fears, I was surrounded by so many family and friends cheering me on. I think we should take more risks in life. I think we should bet on ourselves and believe in ourselves a little more than we do. You can do hard things, and this has been one of the hardest things I’ve done, but also one of the most joyous and rewarding too.
Katie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Coffee Haven is a locally owned coffee shop. Our original location is in Sneads Ferry, NC and we also have a satellite location located in downtown Jacksonville, NC inside another locally owned business, The Grazing Tray. We take great pride in the craft of coffee, while also serving our community in whatever capacity we can. We believe in serving coffee & kindness, and our staff encompasses that with every cup they fill. At Coffee Haven our main goal is to give, to serve; to do good, one cup of coffee at a time. We try to pour with purpose everyday and truly want our customers to leave feeling like family. Coffee is the center of so many big and small life moments and conversations, and we love that we get to be shared with all those things.. As far as our menu goes, we offer a variety of espresso and coffee drinks, but also have something for those who may not be coffee drinkers, such as teas and smoothies. We promise we can find something for you and have the ability to customize any drink to your liking! We also provide a variety of baked goods, and try to support other small businesses with those items. We love to offer fun and unique flavors that we feature monthly depending on the season or holiday! We truly love the coffee industry and that we get to share that passion with those who love to drink it and the sense of community it creates.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
The advice I would give for managing a team and maintaining high morale would be, open communication. I am very big on creating a positive work environment and encouraging open communication among my team. If there are any issues, talk about them, acknowledge them and find solutions. I’ve found that when you take the time to communicate with your team as much as possible, it helps create a sense of belonging and builds respect and truly makes managing easier, especially when you are all on the same page. Communication is key and vital, keeping it as honest, clear, kind and respectful as possible.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Just recently, our commercial fridge went out in the shop, and if you are in the coffee industry you know how vital not only a fridge is, but the milk inside it. This was an unfortunate event and expense that I wasn’t exactly ready for. It took us about 2 weeks to get a new one ordered and in, making it a little difficult to get and store the average 60 gallons of whole milk we got delivered and went through in a week. While I could have simply hung a sign and temporarily closed the shop due to this situation, I chose to make it work. I had to go out every other day for about 2 weeks purchasing milk needed to get through about 2 days at a time and making space in our mini fridges to store them. I feel Iike this is a good example of resilience; and we don’t even know that we have it in us. As a business owner, sometimes you have to do things you really don’t want to do, but you do them anyway, because who else will do these things if you don’t?
Contact Info:
- Website: Coffeehavennc.com
- Instagram: Coffeehavennc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeHavenNC
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coffee-haven-sneads-ferry-2?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)