How to Say Goodbye to 996? Young People Should Open a Coffee Shop!

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From 996 to 007!

Opening a coffee shop to escape the 996 work schedule is actually like a double-edged sword.

In conversations with current/former coffee shop owners, some who have persevered say it's truly exhausting - you could say it's trading 996 for 007. It's not what they initially imagined - spending days making coffee and chatting - it's even harder than 996, but they've persisted!

Some who didn't persevere say that failure isn't necessarily a bad thing, because the entire process taught them things they couldn't learn in a 996 life. Even if they have to return to 996 work later, their mindset has changed, and their abilities in dealing with people and work have grown significantly. Much of this is the stubbornness that many people have before starting a business or experiencing things firsthand - they don't listen to others' advice.

I remember a popular social experiment show late last year about challenge transformations, where one episode featured a protagonist who chose to open a coffee shop to escape 996 life but failed due to poor planning (opening in a community, starting business at noon, no promotion), unwillingness to cater to mass market (no delivery, waiting for customers), and the shop facing financial deficits.

However, when faced with suggestions from the show's transformation expert - such as redesigning the storefront to contrast with the residential area, opening earlier for breakfast, and adding delivery services - the protagonists only accepted a few suggestions and continued with their original approach. For this reason, the transformation expert lamented at the end of the show: "Have you really put in enough effort for this?"

Is quitting your job to open a coffee shop practical now?

Because there are many failed cases of opening coffee shops, quite a few people hold the view that it's a "futureless" endeavor. In reality, it's not that opening coffee shops/being a barista has no future - the future belongs to those who can continuously move forward.

If you want to do it, just do it! Although the coffee industry is competitive now, this doesn't necessarily mean opening a shop will end in failure. All entrepreneurship is a business, and coffee shops, which appear peaceful on the surface, are no exception. Nothing can succeed easily, so treat entrepreneurship as your new development, not as an escape.

How to properly open a coffee shop during the pandemic?

Before opening a shop, let's ask ourselves 8 questions (in order): Why do you want to open a shop? Who will run this coffee shop? What kind of customers do you hope will visit? What do you mainly want to sell to customers? What style will you adopt? Where will you open the shop? When will you open the shop? How much capital is needed to open the shop?

Nowadays, regardless of the type of entrepreneurship, we cannot let sentiment precede all practical considerations. In today's fast-paced society, people's reasons for needing coffee are no longer what they used to be - they don't necessarily have to go to coffee shops to chat with baristas; nor is it true that as long as your coffee is specialty enough, connoisseurs will definitely come.

Only by clearly defining target users can you determine product positioning, store positioning, and promotion direction.

During the pandemic, coffee consumption scenarios are no longer limited to coffee shops. More and more people hope to enjoy stable-quality products without leaving home, thus creating habits of ordering delivery and purchasing convenient coffee products.

If you lack sufficient professional coffee knowledge yourself, it's not recommended to directly challenge customers who demand specialty coffee, because when the owner themselves lacks persuasiveness, they cannot retain such target customers. So you must determine appropriate goals based on your actual situation.

If you have some coffee knowledge and skills, you could choose to open a small community shop + delivery + your own brand of convenient coffee products/merchandise. This can meet some customers' needs for ambiance while not lacking the attention and consumption of mainstream customers. Merchandise or your own brand of convenient coffee products can further penetrate into customers' daily lives, gaining more promotion opportunities.

During the pandemic, coffee shops need to be "small and efficient," while also requiring comprehensive standardized operating procedures to improve order efficiency. This not only reduces operational pressure but also strengthens risk resistance. Meanwhile, stable quality, continuous innovation, and reasonable pricing are prerequisites for sustained coffee shop operation.

If you're completely new to coffee, it's recommended to first learn through reliable coffee training institutions before considering opening a shop. If you only hope to hire others to manage after opening, invest capital as a partner without managing yourself, you'll be the only one at a loss - it's like pouring your hard-earned money directly into the sea.

All entrepreneurship is for growth

Although coffee shops may not seem large-scale and can be considered relatively low-cost among many entrepreneurial projects, they are still businesses, and there will inevitably be many unknown hardships behind them.

Success is, of course, the best outcome. If the final result doesn't meet expectations, it's not necessarily a bad thing, because it's all a good experience. Personally participating in the entire process and the encounters between people are inherently precious. Only through experience can there be greater growth.

Image source: Internet

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