On a disillusioning break

Sort of obvious by now, still I thought it's better to spell it out.


Sell Coffee, not your soul

Coffee dreams

I have been thinking what is it I am good at? While I cannot just go off and start the physical SYB cafe right now, I can at least do the only thing I know how to do to keep the idea alive. And that is to write. Write about the idea, put my thoughts down in an interesting way, so that at least those of you who still believe that this venture will ever take a step outside my mind, get some value for putting your trust in me. And yes I do realise that I have some promises to live up to, before I can start drawing pretty pictures on this site.

For right now let me leave you with the feeling that you get when you sit with a nice cuppa coffee in your hand, a book by your favourite author and sit by the window side reading and sipping, not caring for the world which passes you by.


And yes I do know some of you don't like reading, while others don't like drinking coffee, don't let that stop you from imagining the way you feel, when you can let your hair down, relax and feel at peace with the world.



Sell Coffee, not your soul

Few tidbits

What do you guys think about Begin Space? Looks like they started out as a small idea like ours and have gone quite some distance. Definitely worth a visit by our team, as soon as we get some time.

Which reminds me, I have to apologise for the slow movement on this site, the house hunting scene in Cambridge is not as easy as in London. It is so freaking competitive there!! Everything about the city reeks competitiveness actually! Or at least that was my first impression, I do hope I am wrong.

Oh and I have to mention here that my friends from Delphi really really surprised me, when they gave me hand painted coffee mugs as my good-bye gift! Thanks guys! You guys are the best! There are also two different books that I have been given, one about starting a cafe, and the other about starting a start-up business, both I think are exactly what I needed. This should give me a kick to keep my venture and the idea alive!





Sell Coffee, not your soul

Cafe on top of a hill!

 Some breath taking views of this amazingly located cafe in Athens! Words to follow shortly

Can you imagine sitting here like on of the ancient Greek Gods sipping the beverage of your choice!

 And finally the Frappe!



Sell Coffee, not your soul

Doodles at office...

Sell Coffee, not your soul

Timout spends Timein hidden cafes!

Check the list created by London Timeout. Don't forget to check out the comments section, because there are so many more listed there!!




Sell Coffee, not your soul

The Bean-diagram

Since many of you wanted to know the goals and aspirations of SYB, I thought a graphical representation of the same would be useful.
Here at SYB virtual world,

• We promote coffee, art (of any form) and revolutionary thinking
• We aim to build a global network of people who have something in common with our ideas, and would like to make a difference

Members of the SYB society will be valued for their contributions towards

• Cafe and art reviews
• Sharing your creations with us - You could provide links to your own work of art or tell us what you want to create
• Helping us spread the idea/concept of SYB far and wide

 I hope the above outline makes our immediate objectives more clear. We think that the only way we can create an impact and make a real difference to the world is when we all work together.


Sell Coffee, not your soul

Inviting birds of the same feather!

SYB invites people who love coffee, art and/or revolutionary thinking, to join us and share our space. You can review your local cafes, and art shows. You can tell us your views on the future of the universe. Yes we are that varied! We love creativity and we love the process of creation. We want you to share your fantasies and whims with us and others who are inspired by the power of your imagination.



The only requirements:


1) You want to change the world!

2) You don’t mind writing about your plans and ideas!

 

Sell Coffee, not your soul

Do you have the beans?

Do I really have the beans?!!


I don’t know, but will sure find out soon. The latest development in my life is that I will be moving to Cambridge in the UK, by end of next month.(I don't yet have a technical job there, but sure have lots and lots of ideas to take SYB to the next level!)
 Anyways this does mean new opportunity for SYB! New cafes, more members, more scope of art related discoveries and yes Cambridge has the highest number of start-ups in the UK, so you never know!

Also I found out that there is a centre for Entrepreneurial Learning in Cambridge, and they hold free seminars every Tuesday evening. I do hope I can take full advantage of all of this. I will keep you guys updated on this topic as and when I find out more.

For now I am scared, excited and going through rapidly changing mood swings every 10 minutes or so!






Sell Coffee, not your soul

Building blocks of the model

Entrepreneurship comes from within most of the time. It is not something you are specifically taught in schools and colleges. Although there are colleges who claim to be 'teaching' you to be an MBA, I seriously do not think that these institutes by default help you in becoming one. And yes this is a personal view, but well this is a personal blog so the opinions are mine, though I will be glad to listen to different view points.

For me the 'urge to create' is the first step to be enterprising. Next would be the 'urge to learn' and soak in information from wherever and who ever. Third would be an 'eye for opportunity' and the ability to think out of the box (is that an MBA jargon? who knows!). And fourth important and perhaps the most crucial bit to distinguish yourself from being another arm chair expert is to be confident enough to 'take the plunge'. To implement your idea. If you ever wonder why a person with a brilliant idea cannot start his/her own business, you can probably make a list of 100 reasons. But I am also fairly certain that 50% of these reasons are excuses and not reasons. The other 50% however are critical aspects or issues which if not given fair amount of consideration may most definitely cause your the whole enterprise idea to go down the drain. 

Which is why I am building this virtual model for SYB so that I can do some simulations before taking it to the physical level.(And given that my specialisation is modelling, simulation and controls, maybe I know no other way to go about problem solving!) By doing so I aim to:

-Get time to study the basic domain of coffee, cafes and running a shop in more detail

-Give the 50% of the worrying issues enough consideration so that when I take the plunge, I can reduce my chances of failure by some amount

-Gain knowledge and know people from the field of art and coffee, who will be both my consumer as well as supplier

-Understand and study the working of a successful, efficient, sustainable small scale business.

-Understand the target market and gain some e-presence in the field.

So what will be the model behind SYB?

Vision:

To establish a medium to support, promote and discover the power of 

thinking, dreaming, inventing, creating, learning and educating.

Virtual vision: same as above.

Medium: 

A cafe, which sells great tasting coffee and confectionary and at the same time use the cafe space to

demonstrate works of art/ideas of new upcoming artists in all fields, hold workshops and perhaps even

encourage buying and selling of art pieces.

Virtual medium: To have an interactive website which will store our ideas and learnings about the business and at the same time give out information (in terms of links, sites, address as well personal reviews) about different coffee shops, enterprises, arts, artists and performers. It should attract people from different backgrounds and hope to establish a common platform for them to interact and talk about common interests.

Marketing ideas for the cafe:

There are several of my own and some inspired by other places we have been to as well as some from friends and colleagues. To name a few

-Free wifi in cafe

-Writings on the 'wall' (Could be digital writings so that it is easily modified)

-Theme evenings

-Take away cups

-Holding clever quip of the day compitition

-Printing the winning quip of the month on the cups

-With permission from artist, printing art on coffee cups -- as suggested by FK

-Having a cool face recognition system at the entrance of the cafe, which will recognise the face of the customer if he/she is a member of the cafe and projecting a welcome message for him/her on the wall -- as suggested by Punit (update: customer who have their laptops with them can use the wifi in the cafe to to hook onto the cafe network and project thoughts on the 'wall')

Marketing ideas for art promotion and forming a common platform

-Have a membership to the cafe available, and with the help of a simple form, gather information in what kind of art or experiences each member is interested in, and what art group would he/she like to join given the opportunity.

-The cafe will also hold regular competitions for different art form and maybe aim at publishing compilations of art.

-Help in connecting the right people with the right people and the same time know customers better.

Coming up as part of the business model :

-The revenue model

-Food industry rules, laws and certification

-Target audience, location

I guess I need to have a marketing idea for popularising the blog as well but I have always been bad at selling myself or my writing having grown up with the idea that if I am good people will come to me. But obviously times have changed and it needs more effort and some shedding of ego to get it rolling. This is probably the first step to success of SYB!

Sell Coffee, not your soul