Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jay Lim, founder of 528 Creative Coffee Collective, located in Ottawa, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
The Shop @ 60a Lebreton is home to more than just a coffee shop… it's also an architecture firm. In 2019 we found an old garage and converted it into the 5:2:8 Creative Coffee Collective, Ottawa's newest independent coffee shop. While we loved coffee shops, we were always looking for something different. So when we started our shop, we decided to have a weekly rotation of different roasters from across the globe. Every day we feature a different brew from our curated roaster selection.
While most people come for the coffee, they stay for the architecture. Inside the Shop, we also run our architecture firm is called 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design (because we work 25 hours: 8 Days a week). We had always been digital nomads, and we would often meet in coffee shops to do our work or meet clients. When we grew bigger, we needed a creative office. When we couldn't find one…we built our own. We have a saying: "Architects only need two things Creativity + Caffeine".
Tell us about yourself
I grew up as a first-generation immigrant who was taught to work hard and save. While I still kept that mantra, I knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial in the future. Early on, I studied and worked in Venice, Toronto & New York but finally ended up in Ottawa. After working corporately and seeing how brutal it was on young architects, I knew I wanted to improve things. In 2018, 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design started, and it quickly spun off to the 5:2:8 Creative Coffee Collective in 2020.
The two companies work collaboratively. Our coffee staff is known as the S.T.E.A.M Team because they come from Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture & Math streams. As an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, I wanted to introduce my students to the Architecture industry early on. The coffee shop enables undergraduate students to work part-time and collaborate with the architecture team during quiet times. Once they graduate, their work experience allows them to transition to the architecture firm right away!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I’m most proud of growing a team and building our companies during tough economic times. I’m also very proud of all the team members who have worked with us. They are truly what makes the Shop, so fun to work at.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The hardest thing is feeding other people before you can feed yourself. As an entrepreneur with a growing staff and business, the revenue goes to other people before it ever gets to you. Making sure our team was taken care of during the pandemic was imperative and the priority.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- No one will believe in you until you believe in you.
- Most people do not recognize opportunity because it usually goes around looking like hard work-Edison.
- You have to be the hardest worker in the room.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Courage isn’t the absence of fear. Courage is seeing fear and moving forward anyways. Horizons don’t have Limits, just like you.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.528coffee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/528CreativeCoffeeCollective/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/528creativecoffeecollective/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/creative-coffee-collective-417b17208/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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