NEW OFFICIAL WEBSITE

http://www.WendyLMFT.com<a

The Importance of Being Earnest.. AND FRIENDLY…

This past weekend I learned a few valuable lessons. Being Earnest is important. Doing it in a friendly (kind) way is maybe even more important! This necessity regarded not only the humanity as a whole, the business world, consumers, and friends, but also my romantic relationship.

I worked at Formula One with my fiance at his coffee truck. He owns his own mobile espresso bar business called Therapy Coffee and Tea. THERAPY
While it was fun weekend, it was also a lot of work, complete with its challenges.

It was by far the biggest event we have ever had as a couple. EEEEEK! Exciting! and TERRIFYING! In hindsight, My fiance did a great job, and was up to the challenge, but that did not mean it was easy. Being earnest is a core value behind what we do. Without passion providing the quality and volume of service would not have been possible. It’s imperative in the business world, and some would say even be cut-throat, but I am going to tell you why the friendliness is just as important.

To make it simple, I’ll discuss the issues that came up in chronological order.
First, the prepping stage. Wow, who would have thought you work all of those unpaid hours picking up equipment, renting tools, homedepot runs for flooring and water piping, grocery store runs for milks/sugars/stirsticks/etc, getting the coffee/tea we needed, branding cups/menus/the truck, hiring the right staff, and lastly brewing all of the coffee/tea/lemonade etc. all in a time specific manner for its peak freshness for the weekend. Moreover, that didn’t include his already scheduled gigs for the week and my own personal schedule for my therapy office, workouts, social schedules, and planning a wedding. Least to say, the question had to arise. What is our biggest priority. I had my list, and my fiance had his list. We both have been earnest since we each started this journey of creating our own businesses. It’s been special to see our own passions be manifested in the recent era of our lives here in Austin. However, when the schedule becomes one much like the one I listed above, it is really easy to feel stressed out, stretched thin, and unappreciated by the other person who is hyper-focused on their own moneymaking venture. Thus on a very personal romantic-relationship level, I learned we have to be earnest in our pursuits, but also remember that we each need the support of each other, and that means sometimes setting aside our own STUFF in order to be a friend to the other and offer a hand where or when it is needed. I think it is easy to become resentful in our own romantic relationship if we feel we are often giving more than receiving, but if we can reframe this and see A successes or a loss as a team success or loss, then we can prioritize together which of our to do list might be the most fruitful (not most important) step we can take together for the biggest team success. Sometimes it’s my (our) stuff (which feels really good). This time, I had to swallow, the step with the most potential fruit and success, was on his (again- OUR) path. So I had to be more Kind and friendly to someone I love so preciously and dearly. As crazy as this sounds, sometimes it is hard to be kind to that person, because they can see your crabby awful side, and you know they are committed to not going anywhere. That is the person, however, that deserves that extra love when it’s difficult.

Second, there was the execution stage.
I can not emphasis this enough: we could NOT have gotten through this alone. In 3 days Therapy Coffee & Tea made:
827 drip coffees
416 espressos
268 cold brew coffees
142 lemonades
104 cold brew teas
111 hot teas
1868 drinks served
A team of 6 very competent, fun people made all of those drinks. There was barely a moment where a break would have been a good time for someone to leave the group without it affecting our output. Our team was encouraging and we had each other’s backs.

Each person in the group had a role: 2 baristas, 1 person on brewing/water duty, 1 person on a register, 1 person backing the register to fulfill orders, and 1 person splitting the last two mentioned roles as needed. On top of Earnestness in their work to make each person they interacted with smile due to quality service and fulfilling orders with quality product in a timely manner, each member was also friendly. They passionately worked and they also smiled and were kind, which as a team and company, helped us KILL IT at F1! We also could not have done it with out the friendliness of the staff at Circuit of the Americas where F1 was held, or without being friendly and honest when we needed help. My fiance kindly asked police to escort him to a place where he could replenish water for the truck, and while they didn’t have to, they helped us out. With a smile our staff was able to get rides back to their cars that were 4 miles away rather than having to walk after working all day. Also, with a smile and some friendly spanish speaking, I was able to ask a family if they would let me park my car at their campsite to save me money as well as having to wait almost and hour for a shuttle to the far away parking lot. The family’s friendliness and hospitality allowed me to do my work earnestly and with a smile all day.

The future and Friendliness:
We could have earnestly pushed our company and cards on a lot of people, but instead, we decided to take the approach of just letting out product speak for itself since we are proud of it, and just go out and meet people with a friendly attitude. Who knows? Maybe we will make a great friend or connection, and strengthen our new Austin community? With this attitude, we met so many great people: a few guys who wanted to help us with signs and graphic work, someone who does delicious breakfast pastries to hopefully enhance our menu at a very low/wholesale cost, potential referral sources and catering clients, wonderful employees who we would trust and hire again, and new customers who love our product but mainly want to come back because of our friendly disposition that we can make their day better with a cup of coffee.

So LESSON LEARNED?
Take your busy life, and BE PASSIONATE … EARNEST… DRIVEN… Yes, sure.
But mostly???? Be Nice… Because Kindness. Friendliness. God’s Love. Service. Those are powerful things to put into the world. Let your attitude be your language to communicate.

Passionately serve people with kindness, and LET IT GROW.