OshiCafe started as a dream. A small dream a year ago, after visiting a local coffee roaster, Acento Coffee Roasters, for the first time when they opened.

I remember walking inside for the first time and while the cafe was bare bones and empty, the owner, Luis, was so welcoming and warm, I ended up spending over an hour there just talking about coffee.

Luis has been in the coffee business for years, having lived in Australia and Mexico, and I loved every second I spent with him learning about coffee roasting, coffee beans, and the like.

But, where do I even start? It's not like any other small business where you can buy the supplies you need off of Amazon, slap something together, and turn a profit. There's a lot of logistics involved, like:

• Ethically sourcing your beans
• The roasting quality
• packaging and ventilation

And so much more, I can't put it all into a listicle.

However, I had been a serial entrepreneur for a couple of years already. There wasn't anything I couldn't do with a couple of days of research and study. So, after that fateful day, I started reading, watching, and studying coffee roasting, coffee profiles, and notes, and more to get ready for launch.

Because we are about to reach 3k followers on the OshiCafe Twitter (X) Page, I want to sit down with you all and talk about how to start a coffee business from scratch, NO GATEKEEPING!!

This is imperative, and if you skip this step, who knows what might happen? You may even die.

No, that's not going to happen, but what WILL happen is that you may burn out, get overwhelmed, and stop your business altogether if you don't have a clear coffee business plan in place right at the start.

I recommend having a 5-Year Plan for overhead, metrics, and contingency plans for EVERYTHING.

You can write this anywhere: Google Docs, a notebook, or even a napkin. The best business plans all fit on ONE SHEET OF PAPER. If you have too many plans for your small business with no overhead or contingency plan, you may crash out and stop.

You can have all the money in the world, and you could be the RICHEST man on the planet, but if you don't have good social proof, your business is going to go NOWHERE.

Social Proof is simply your content online that shows your processes and values to your customers and fanbase. This could be a number of things:

• Photos of your Behind The Scenes
• Comments and DMs to other customers and prospects, thanking them for their support!
• Screenshots and proof of philanthropic events, such as donating to a fundraiser for a Non-Profit

You need to reach out to your future customers and partners, telling them who you are, what you do, and what you can promise. Make sure you NEVER make a promise you can't keep, like saying you will make 5 flavors of coffee for your first run.

Trust me, you can't (unless you're Jeff Bezos)

I source and order my beans from the Genuine Origin website. This company ethically sources coffee for thousands of coffee businesses around the globe!

There are other ways to source your coffee for your coffee business, but you need to buy Green Coffee, not already roasted coffee.

After you roast your coffee beans, you need to package them and sell them 1-2 weeks after the roasting date!

To roast your beans, you need to drive your ordered wholesale beans to your local Coffee Roaster and have them roasted. Currently, Luis will roast a pound of coffee for $4/lbs. A really great deal, but every roaster is different. Speak with your local roaster and work out a deal that takes care of everyone.

If you decide you want to roast your beans in your own home, I recommend the Niasa Coffee Roaster on Amazon.

This roaster can do Light, Medium, and Dark roasts no problem from the comfort of your own home!

If you're looking to do things completely free with no costs to you... You can always go the Print-on-Demand route. While your coffee will lose a personal touch, you can still get your brand started and raise capital to move towards actual hand-roasted coffee.

Some Print-on-Demand avenues are:

• Printify
• Supliful
• Dripshipper

You roasted your beans, you packaged them, now it's time to take so many pictures of your product and post it so many times, your customers will be lowkey SICK of you, but NEED to get their hands on it.

Promoting NEVER stops, by the way. You need to be tweeting and posting on your socials at the very LEAST, four times a day. Let your customers know that your products are available and ready to buy!!

Your support will allow us to buy quality coffee beans for you, the best packaging, and an amazing experience!!