old adages are just that

"if it is going to be...it is up to me."

sounds like the title of a self-help bestseller, doesn't it? actually, it may be. but i first heard it coming from the mouth of jim alling, senior vice president of this-or-that for starbucks coffee company. now, i don't know if they pay mister alling those six figures to come up with pithy one-liners to keep the rank and file managers reaching for the stars, or if he brings it along with him for free as part of the package, or if he is, in fact, lifting said one-liner from the end of an episode of oprah. no matter, it stuck in my mind. and i can remember when and where he said it. and i remind myself of that saying in times such as now when i am trying like a dog to put some legs on brown and get it to fly (consider that visual!).

i've been talking with a friend who has expressed an interest in brown's success in terms of possibly giving brown a funding boost and maybe even open a retail space. while i'm generally a cautious fellow when it comes to such possibilities, i have really taken a shine to the idea, since i do have cafe management experience with said large, multinational coffee chain, and i do think i have something to offer that would be rare in the central/south texas scene. so over the last couplethree months he and i have been swinging our attention toward making such a space a reality. and i have been letting the wholesaling side of the business--the only side there currently is and the only side that is bringing me any income--slide a little bit. well, as you might could guess, things don't always pan out the way one dreams, envisions, expects, hopes; and the retail adventure is still sort of in a nebulous state of affairs.

and so i am left with dwindling resources with which to live and the prospect of needing to make a living off of brown because the good Lord knows i ain't goin' back to no caffeinated green mermaid (i know, i know: she's a siren, not a mermaid).

if it's going to be, it's up to me.

so i am resolved to do two things. first, visit at least one potential client every other day in the hopes of garnering one new account a week over the next ten weeks. two, continue to explore possibilities for a retail space but NOT to do so at the expense of the only revenue stream i currently have. which reminds me of another old saying...

"oatmeal is better than nomeal."

thus, my life.

UPDATE: success. a potential client i had kind of been grooming for a few weeks has come on board. and i'm very, very happy because this guy's place would be perfect for the kind of high end stuff i love to do. he's agreed to carry three of my coffees: one will be kind of the utility coffee that can do double or triple duty on a number of desserts. i'm thinking a guatemala or colombia. solid but not flashy. the other will be more of a "rock star" coffee...like the kind that knock your block over at the cupping table and that would be a real eye opener paired with the right desserts. i have that harar horse lot or kenya peaberry in mind. (check out some of his desserts and tell me they wouldn't pair well with the citrusy components of an east african coffee.) the third coffee will be my single origin espresso from brazil. they don't do a ton of espresso beverages. mostly just shots for espresso martinis. but heck. it'll be one delicious shot in that martini.

so i'm pumped. one down. nine to go.