The Coffee Business We produce a product that’s not necessary for the sustenance of human life. That was the realization I had, sitting on the floor of our kitchen, crying with my wife one night the first winter our coffeehouse in the Granary District was open. We just weren’t making any money. We weren’t long term locals, so we didn’t have the support structure that comes with living/playing/schooling/worshiping/eating in a community for a whole lifetime. We weren’t ace-in-the-hole business people, either. We were really feeling our way forward as young entrepreneurs. A lot of our days felt like they were two steps forward and maybe one-&-three-quarters back. So we were sitting there on the floor together and my wife said...
It’s our goal that people would feel loved and cared for when they connect with Flag & Wire. Years ago, I used to help my friend Richard (an older guy and a mentor in my young life) do logistical work for a church campout every summer. Church campout makes it sound tiny, but in reality it was hundreds and hundreds of people camping for just one weekend (which makes it harder because you have to have your ducks in a row or it’ll be a total mess). Everybody ate together on this campout and there were all kinds of other considerations like firewood and parking and security and hot water. One year while we were getting ready for this big...
Every morning, I wake up excited. These are good days. It feels like this thing we’ve been working on (Flag & Wire) is really taking new shapes all the time and that’s incredibly gratifying for me! It looks nothing like what I imagined it might five years ago. Although we have goals and plans for the future, I know our vision will change again. But it’s really fun to watch this company get large enough to do some unfolding for itself. It’s alive! On a personal level, these are great days in my house. We’ve moved our family closer to the center of our business. It has been (and remains to be) hard and sad to not live as close...
