Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mohit Mehra. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mohit, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
My introduction to the word “Risk” was in my graduation year of 1999, I read an article on Risk and reward and the 1st sentence of the article started with this saying, “The higher the risk, the higher the reward”. After spending a good 45 minutes and towards the end of the article it was clear to me that taking risks does not only apply in business, it applies in various aspects of your life. And time to time there is always a risk in everything we are involved in. I am sure there is risk in everything we do, however the article just made me focus more on the meaning of RISK. Taking risks defines your personality and helps you discover who you really are. That article stuck with me. I had just graduated plus I was in the last year before the Y2K getting ready to make some important decisions. Coming from a family business background and over achievers, it was like… “ok time is crucial, cannot delay issues, get into the family business and set your life”. It felt easy at that time. But as the time went by, business practices, growth, relationships with seasoned leaders did not fit in well with me. There was not only a generation gap, but also a realization of that I am the person in need and up against a different mindset of people which did not align with what I was capable of. There was a confusion, confidence was diminishing. I was limited to be creative and was expected to follow. There was no fire. Felt like I was a failure to the generation that I belonged in. I then realized, if I don’t change anything, nothing will change.. Graduating business school taught me that 3 things will always help you succeed.. Intelligence, Relations ( connections) and Hard work. Life taught me that unless you don’t take control ( RISK), your growth will be slow. I wanted growth, wanted to make a name for my self. Find what I am good in and focus on that trait which makes a difference. Talking about difference. I was dealing with everything different.. and then I asked my self that what was the difference between them and me.. ? The answer was simple.. I wanted to be globalized and they were happy where they were and not willing to adapt to the new times. This difference led me to take the biggest risk of my life. Be globalized. Leave the comfort of what I was blessed with and move on to understand the world and not be like a frog in the well. I was not abandoning what I had but simply giving up my comfort zone and start the lesson of life once over again. I decided to globalize my self, understand the business from different cultures, build strong relations and like Steve Jobs said, “connect the dots”. I lived a life like a candle between 2 hands.. I was heading towards getting away from under the umbrella and face the sun, jump into the ocean and start swimming to become an entrepreneur, meet and make new relations with keeping relations back home connected and above all be ready to face the true side of the world. This was the risk I was taking.. this is the biggest risk I have taken. The first step. Having supportive parents helped me.. But the risk was much higher and I knew that if I rolled the dice of this risk and win, my reward will be higher and better. It was important for my mental health and I was falling in love with taking a risk. I left India, travelled the world, laughed a lot, cried a lot, felt loved, felt lonely, took a job, started a business, made money ,lost money, fell in love, fell out of love, ate a lot, forgot to eat sometimes.. All this was because I took a risk.. Risk stayed in me and taking a risk made me whom I am today. Don’t know if it was a small or a big risk, but definitely a life changing one. And all my family is with me today under the same roof and its all because of the risk I took.
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?
From a very young age, I knew that I always wanted to be in business, working for myself. The world was not a monopolistic market but a competitive one. Ideas are no ones monopoly. Read a lot, studied a lot. My friends and my circle were in business.. so there were more talks on ideas. To be a business man, you have to be entrepreneur. I never wanted to be in a professional field. I love creating things. So why not be an architect? Why not be a business man and hire the best architect and build your dream. Freedom of Money is is good. But freedom of time is more better. If I have money, I am rich. If I have time, I am wealthy. My biggest trait or let’s say my biggest strength is that I fall in love with what ever I do and I do it sincerely with a lot of passion and commitment. So right from my 1st job that I had taken, I wanted to own a piece of that industry as I had put in so much of my time and efforts and be an owner of that business. Whether it was an hospitality job, the finance job, the sales job or the bank job, I wanted to create my world by owning the businesses’ pertaining to the industry I worked in. So after being fired a number of times and especially after the last place where I worked, I took a day’s break and made a decision. I religiously work 60-70 hours a week and If I am working so many hours for someone, why don’t I work the same hours for me. This was a good wake up call I was experienced, confident and ready for the next level in my life. I realized that if I do not start working for my dreams, I will always work for other peoples’ dream. The decision was made.. A story was being written.
I started working on a concept based on my experiences and education. Someone very important person told me that business is all about relations. I was all about relations. I had an heart. I cared. I wanted to create wealth and grow by providing a lot of care. My mantra for the rule of success was simple.. “give people more than they deserve to get”. I did that.. I am not saying it always worked. But my business took off, at first the relationships were not great .. But today we are great friends professionally and personally. Greed was not the motive. Caring was.My destiny was written, I was just playing the part. I wanted to walk far, hence I walked together. I did not want to walk alone, therefore I did not walk fast. This thought kept me humble and growing. My actions were louder than words. I adapted Rocketfellar’s strategy of controlling everything.. So my industry consists of Finance, Hospitality and Real Estate. I learnt a lot .. Challenged the system, went above and beyond. People dream, visionaries make it happen. I was a visionary.
I provide business consulting, value engineering in commercial projects, hospitality training and real estate services. I got myself certified as a chef, bar tender, barista, financial consultant and studied and practiced real estate and blended all of them to create my business. I have funded people and raised money when all the doors were shut, I have got people residential loans, their first house when there was no opportunity for them. I have created leaders and helped them be better business people. I have made a difference in peoples’ life. I am happy. Never seeked justice as I always knew, that justice is often delayed, but never denied.
My biggest trait of caring about people without being judgmental or selfish sets me apart from others. I take this as doing a good deed in my lifetime. I never give up on my weak clients. I dont treat anyone high or low. I treat them fair. I sacrifice my opportunities to create an opportunity for them,
The biggest incident that makes happy more than proud is in 2009, when I created this beautiful concept and this client decided to buy my concept. Not knowing that the client was ready for this venture or had experience or expertise in running this business, he struggled. 6 months or more.. I stood by him, taught him the business, made it profitable for him and uplifted him. That business established his entity and till today it is his most profitable and successful venture. The fact of being with him till the end was a very content feeling. I did not make any money, but the feeling of making him successful was priceless. I was one of the early birds in creating a small boutique artisanal grocery market. I was the first to serve draft and craft beers in a coffee shop. I master in project management and am a very good negotiator. In life we don’t get what we deserve, we get what we negotiate. I own brands like Mischief makers, The connection pizza and Bar, Fresh, Artista Rosso but my jewel is BarleyBean.. I am a marketing freak, a serial entrepreneur and a brand builder. When people decide to work with me, they don’t get a 24 hrs lease, they get a 25 years mortgage. Van Orton is my principal company which owns my finance, construction and hospitality companies under its umbrella. We hire great people and treat them right. I am in trenches with them and all along the way. This journey with them for me is called life.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
Yes I have bought a number of businesses’ in my life. Started them too and sold them. But there is this one business which I bought during my growing years whose story is very dear to my heart. It was a risk acquiring this business which I was willing to take. The biggest risk was, family was involved. So here the story goes. There was this coffee shop close to my office which I visited frequently to have meetings and enjoy a cup of coffee. I am an avid coffee lover. My passion for coffee actually started from there. So anyways, there was a gap when I was out of town, I did not visit the shop. When I came back, I went in to get a cup of coffee and realized that there was new staff members, there was no heart. and the quality was not the same. Nevertheless, I took my coffee and went back to my office. In 2 months the operations started going downhill. I liked that coffee shop. I wanted to help the owner. So I walked up to him one day and offered him help in terms of operations, finance and even partnership to get him back on track. The only ship that does not float is partnership.. I strongly believe in this. Even then, I offered him as I wanted to help. Initially there was a strong interest but sooner, the numbers on investment changed. The deal was not making sense. I wanted to help but I could sense greed. The ship was sinking. I believe, if the intent is good, half the battle is won. I just walked away. I got a call the next day where he wanted me to buy his business for $150K. My heart immediately said no and I politely declined.
In less than a month, I saw for lease sign on the door. The business was running. I reached out to the listing agent and expressed my interest in leasing. They wanted $50K for the equipment and I agreed as a part of the purchase.
the unexpected bonus came in now. Before signing the lease, the Landlord locked him out. They called me and said, the equipment is conveyed to you at no extra cost as a part of being a new tenant. The good Karma and intention paid off. I got the location actually free. My family invested $25K .. I created the concept. Opened the business in less than $30K and in less than a month.. Got my licenses and finally after a couple of years rebranded as Barleybean .. That was the best investment I ever made. That location was the first Barleybean location. It was worth around $100K at the time of rebranding, today its worth over a million. Acquisition and transition was smooth as butter. I learned a valuable lesson… “You don’t make money when you sell the deal, you make money when you buy”. A wise man once told me that, I have not acquired this location, the location has acquired you. He was right.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Lol…:) I always believed in this saying that, the only ship that does not float is partnership.. But there is another saying that we meet people for a reason. Many people come and go and some stay forever. My partner and co-founder in Mischief Makers and Barley Bean, Ryan Mosler is one of them. I got to know him when I was consulting his peer at a meeting and he was with his wife listening to me at the event where I was invited to speak on business consulting. He reached out to me couple of weeks later expressing his interest in opening a business at a location he had his eyes on. We met and saw the location and I immediately advised that the location was not a good one. I wanted to save him money and time. He wanted a business and was persistent on acquiring one. I was in a phase of rebranding. I showed him one of my existing locations and expressed my vision of rebranding and growth. Our minds aligned. I was about to sell my location but ended up being partners’. We co-founded Barley Bean. We were aggressive from day one. Worked well together. We fought , argued but always stood by each other. We opened multiple locations, diversified into Roasting coffee, travelled, had fun.. Took Barley Bean to a different level. Our imperfections made us perfect.
He is not a partner any more.. He is a family. there were times when we wanted to part. The beauty is that neither him or I never threw in the towel. We just never gave up. His is the backbone of the business. He roasts the best coffee in town. Today when we look back, we laugh. The fact we are still together is because of care. He has my support and I have his. We have seen ups and downs together but never left each others’ side.
Our personalities being different is the reason we are together. His medical challenges did not stop him from growing the company with me and my failure with locations during Covid did not stop me. He is a partner for life. As the saying goes. In sickness and health.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.barleybean.com
- Instagram: #barleybeanatx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarleyBeanATX
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barley-bean/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebeanatx
- Youtube: n/a
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/barley-bean-austin-4?osq=barley+bean
- Other: email: connect@barleybean.com BarleyBean is an award winning Cafe in Austin TX.
Image Credits
Photo Credits: Blaine Schultz & BarleyBean