AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING.
“There is no doom so black or deep that courage and clear sight may not find another truth beyond it.”
― Stephen R. Donaldson
I've been thinking a lot about the business of coffee lately, in both broader aspect of the industry as a whole (we'll address this in another post) and in the context of my personal business. Much of this has been driven by a succession of recent conversations with friends, on industry panel discussions and with economics masters students. What spurred me to write was one simple statement;
" I don't know how I feel about you telling me that FCP will end."
All things will end, entropy is still the undefeated champion of the universe. Its rare though that we know with foresight when this will happen, and rarer still when a business is concerned. This is where the masters student enters the picture. I'd been taking part in a short study for him on strategic thinking in businesses with an atypical outlook. FCP fits the bill due to both its business model within the sector, and the fact that I've eschewed the economic norm of expansion and growth. This conversation gave me clarity on something I'd known for a long time, Full Court Press will not continue past its current lease of 7 years.
Needless to say he was intrigued by this, the standard 5 or 7 stage models have business constantly growing and developing through various challenges, or else face the risk of dying. If they survive this and reach maturity, then cashing out is the end game. For him a business that had a finite limit, a pre-set maximum life was interesting, after all how would I leave with out an exit strategy? How can you sell on a business which is closing of its own volition? This was his real point, if the common goal of entrepreneurs is to make money through growth, maturity and cashing out and its through this that a businesses ( and also the entrepreneurs) success is measured, then how do we measure the success of FCP? Is it by these terms a failure? In short Yes, but that doesn't bother me at all.
At the heart of my friends earlier statement was a discomfort with the concept of me walking away from everything I'd been working towards. But again this is thinking in the same way as the economics major, as if FCP was a project working toward a grand denouement, when in reality this is a constant process. FCP gives back to me every day, through the impact its allowed me to have on the staff that pass through, mentoring them and helping them to realise their goals when they move on. Through the time its given me to spend with a growing family. Through the freedom to be involved with the SCA and BGE. Through the extended family of diverse people that any good shop creates. Through a dedication to raising awareness of the sensory qualities that coffee is capable of. Through giving me a platform to speak out when its needed.
So in three years FCP will end, an economic failure by conventional standards but i'll face this doom in the knowledge that I have taken my success from other sources and look forward to the new truths I'll find in life after its gone.