Moving My Business Online

I have always had a dream of owning my own business. During my years in college, I became extremely interested in all things coffee. It started out as something new that I would drink every once in a while because that’s what everyone else around me was drinking. However, it quickly went from a couple times a week treat to an everyday occurrence. I’m not proud of it, but I definitely formed a full-fledged coffee adoration during my years in college. I’m refraining from calling it an addiction because I do believe that I could stop drinking coffee anytime I want. However, that idea makes me sad. After spending a long time in the business world of marketing and advertising, and with the retirement age drawing near, I decided it was time to say goodbye to the corporate world and spend some time with my hobbies and passions. Consequently, I did something I have always wanted to do - I opened my own business. What’s more, I decided to open my own coffee shop in downtown Indianapolis. It was hard work to find a building with a location that I liked and to make the necessary renovations, but I definitely would say it was all worth it.

I quickly fell in love with my coffee shop and felt that the vibe fit perfectly with my style and the style of the employees I hired as baristas. One problem I ran into, however, was the COVID19 pandemic. When I learned that my business needed to be shut down for the foreseeable future due to virus lockdown, I was rightfully very upset. I felt that my coffee shop would end up closing completely as I could not keep up with my rent payments and other financial obligations. However, I saw that the world of e-commerce was skyrocketing due to everything being shut down. I had the idea that I could start selling some of my products online. Obviously, I couldn’t very well sell lattes and iced coffees online - however, I did have a decent-sized inventory of naturally and ethically sourced coffee beans that had begun to be frequently bought at my coffee shop, as well as merchandise like shirts, mugs, and other random trinkets.

Getting into e-commerce is really not difficult at all. Since I already had a small website setup, it didn’t take me too long to set up a store page under the same domain and start selling my different products online! I updated my social media pages to refer people to my website and let my customers know that they could order themselves something while they waited for my shop to reopen. All I had to do was invest in some packing supplies and shipping equipment.

I am happy to report that, with the help of my e-commerce business, I was able to stay afloat until the reopening of my coffee shop this summer! Looking back, it was a tough year; however, I learned a lot about e-commerce and how to adapt to abrupt changes in the market. Shipping out my products with all sorts of packing supplies and shipping boxes is not something I would see myself doing before this year. Now with the country reopening, I have continued to utilize my e-commerce shop as I keep things running smoothly in my literal coffee shop! It’s the best of both worlds.