It's Official! Mood is Now Open for Business!
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I am stoked to be writing this post right now. The day has finally come - Mood Artisan Coffee is officially open for business!
A lot of friends and family have been asking me how I feel, especially in the last few days and weeks leading up to the launch. And to be honest, I am so ready for this! I'm ready to share my coffee with all of you, I'm ready to share my thoughts and my recipes and collaborate and do all of the things plus more things I haven't yet thought of. I'm most looking forward to all the feedback on my coffee. After all, Mood's values centre around approachable coffee. I want to know what you all think!
Getting to this point has not been easy. But I would not trade in any of these experiences because it has helped me grow as an entrepreneur and as a person. It has also humbled me in more ways than one. No one ever warns you that entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. Although I have the most supportive family and friends, the truth is that not many people could relate to what I was going through in the midst of building my business and brand from the ground up.
Another thing people don’t tell you? Owning your own business is the most rewarding feeling, and I’ve barely even begun! I remember the day my product labels arrived. After calling and emailing almost every single printing press in Toronto, I finally found one that could create what I needed without robbing me blind. Holding those labels in my hands and placing them on my first set of sample packs gave me chills. Until that point, all I had was roasted coffee in plastic bags. Now I had a product. Suddenly this was real.
A common question I get asked is about my green coffee and where I source it from. I would wonder the same before I entered the industry. I use a B-Corp Certified importer based in the US and ship my green in from them. The bag sizes range from 35-70kg (approximately 75-150 pounds). I once tried to lift a 70kg bag of green on my own and it didn’t go well at all. I should probably add that I fractured my knee earlier this year (unrelated to coffee lifting) so I sometimes question my sanity when I do things like this. Hopefully I’ll learn one day (probably not). Rest assured, my knee is completely fine now and I’m deadlifting like a boss at the gym these days, all in the name of being able to lift heavy coffee.
Anyways, I have about a million stories I could tell you about how I got to the present moment – Mood’s Official Launch! But I’ll save those for another day. Before I close out this post I have a few people I need to specifically thank: Les, Jamie and Calvin from the Canadian Barista Institute and Matt from Louie Coffee in Liberty Village (great coffee shop). Thank you for taking me in when I was an outsider and giving me a great foundation to launch off of. I will be forever grateful.