Drinking Coffee With Ben Jones

Where: The patio at Stumptown Wildwood in Portland, OR.
Who: Ben Jones, Coffee Consultant and a murder of crows.

Full video posted below, or watch and/or listen to Coffee People on:
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Recent contributor Ben Jones and I got together to drink a cup of coffee and chat about the article he wrote for Coffee People about his experience at Roast Summit present by Roast Magazine earlier this month (link to the column below).

One of my bigger takeaways from the words he submitted and our time together drinking coffee, was how optimistic he felt about the industry of coffee after attending the event. What he saw was a willingness to share and collaborate.

It was a viewpoint that I appreciated, as I tend to lean toward the cynical end of the spectrum, in particular, in regard to business relationships. Maybe cynical is too strong a word. Cautious will do. I do a good job of masking it, but one of the big reasons I believe in the value of the Coffee People podcast is because it allows for the sharing of many paths to success (or failure) for others to learn from.

Roast Summit by Roast Magazine is one event that brings coffee people together to share the stories and context behind them with fellow coffee people. From established pro to aspiring home roaster, there was something for everyone to learn, and a new perspective to try on, if only for a moment.

Read the article:

Facebook is no longer allowing small businesses like ours to post links without a subscription to Meta One (ranging from $8-20/month) that pushes more and more AI usage options to subscribers and content consumers. Coffee People Podcast (nor our ancillary efforts like Coffee People Are Sexy and Yeah, No...Yeah Coffee) doesn't use any AI to create content, research, or...well...do anything. We like making this thing.

We'll no longer be posting links, already a minor social component of our efforts, on Facebook. This really doesn't hurt us, as Facebook has never been a big driver of audience, customers, or supporters for Coffee People. It will, however, impact a few core fans from our earliest days, and for that we're bummed.

The reason I'm sharing this is that, across the board, small businesses are getting hammered by new expenses to do the same things. Meta already makes money off the data it is collecting from users on both sides of a post, and now they want to charge businesses for the privilege of allowing them to take and reuse the data. Insert your favorite meme about invasion of privacy here. They're also selling something—namely AI tools—that we're not using.

What's the Coffee Smarter advice here? It's for small businesses in coffee, and elsewhere. Don't just take on expenses because it feels like it is what everyone does. Break down what benefit a service offers versus what it offers you. If, for example, a majority of your business is driven to you through Facebook, a subscription may make sense. If not, where can you put that potential investment—be it $96 or $240 annually—so that it will better impact your potential return on investment?

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