Building a business starting with your values can be a great way to help you reach success. Importantly a value based business can help you to keep going as you start your business, because it is driven on passion. I had an inspirational chat about this with Fi and Casey who started Girls Who Grind Coffee. Apart from being a huge fan of their work, their value system and the way that they want women to be respected throughout everything they do is wonderful to see.
I chatted to Fi and Casey about the journey that they took to get where they are today. They met when their children were young, bonding over all things coffee related. Casey Lalonde was originally from upstate New York where she fell in love with the coffee roasting process, and Fi O’Brien was from Melbourne where she worked in design and cafe ownership/management. It sounded like a match made in heaven. In the podcast they talk about their working partnership and how you can make one work for you.
Download the podcast to hear all of their tips and discover more about their journey:
Starting a value based business
Starting a value base business can really help you to focus on what is important to you. If you are confused as to what exactly values are, think about the things that you care about. You might feel passionate about women’s rights (like Fi and Casey), environmental issues, alternative energy or vegetarianism. Starting from the point of view of your values can help you to build your business around your passions. The reason this is so helpful, is that on the tough days it helps you to keep going, as your passion around the subject drives you forwards.
Sharing your values can help you to connect to your audience and customers. Storytelling can really act as short cut to explaining what you care about. Think about highlighting the stories of the people who manufacture for you, or the way that you create your packaging using recycled materials. All of theses things show your audience that you have a value system built into your brand.
For Girls Who Grind Coffee, Fi and Casey want to show that women have every right to be at the forefront of coffee production from growing to roasting and selling. Often products like tea and coffee are picked by women and sold by men. Fi and Casey’s branding connects to their audience so well (myself included) as you buy into not only the great tasting coffee, but also the story behind the brand.
Think about your branding
Girls Who Grind coffee are an excellent example of brilliant branding. From the black background to the images of women on the packets. Fi explains in the podcast how they relate to the tasting notes, and how the images change with each batch of coffee. They share how when you are entering a market that is saturated with what you do already (like coffee) you need to think about how you can be different and stand out. You need to be passionate, practical and open to change. Sometimes you need to get going and improve as you go along. A great example is Fi’s first idea for the name Girls Who Grind Coffee. She originally planned to use the name as a festival for women working in the coffee industry, and instead thanks to her meeting with Casey, it turned into the company they have today.
What are you passionate about?
Think about what you care about. What gets you jumping out of bed in the morning and losing yourself in. Is it your love of coffee, women’s rights or environmental issues? Think about how you can build your own values into your business and brand.
If you have an idea for a business and don’t know where to start, Back Her Business and Crowdfunder want to help more women become entrepreneurs. This is something that I care passionately about, as often women have dependants who rely on their income as well. A woman starting a business benefits the whole family! You can find out more here: Tell me more!
To help you get started and as an accompaniment to the podcast you can download the free worksheet below. And to find out more about Girls Who Grind Coffee and order some of their delicious coffee head over here: https://www.girlswhogrindcoffee.com
