The road doesn't just get longer, it narrows.
In my "professional" opinion, especially in coffee, not only is the road to success long, agile, expensive, heartbreaking and romantic all at the same time, but above all, it narrows with time.
As baristas, we all start at the bottom, somehow, somewhere, we get just another job, and whether it's the experience, or the people, or the coffee, we fall in love with the romance that is becoming a barista. Then, like all other professions, we strive for a better job, with a more progressive company, a more stable company, more money, more opportunities for growth, just more, more, more! At some point, the day comes when we wake up and realize that the job we're in isn't enough, we've now reached the glass ceiling, which can mean a variety of things; for example; maybe we've gone from barista to trainer, trainer to shift lead, shift lead to manager, and manager to ... there are endless possibilities in coffee, but what people don't talk about is the business side of things. Folk get crazy behind the almighty dollar, I know, I've been there, I've been the "man", the bad guy, the business guy, the yes man, and I've done well at it. If you do your job well, shouldn't you be the first to get the promotion, the opportunity to learn new things, to grow? In a perfect world, yes, in the business world it seems as though that the mindset is "if it's working don't fix it", etc.
So, what's my point right? Let's say that you're a great barista, great trainer, great manager, and like me, you want to learn all areas of the industry, as a business owner, wouldn't you want to promote that person to green bean sourcing, or roasting, or whatever if they have the passion to learn? Or, are you going to try and keep that person in their current position because they do the work that it would take 2 or 3 people to do and pay less for it? I guess that's up to the owner, and now what do you do as the employee? Do you go else where? Do you just do more and more in hopes for a change? Do you stop doing so well because you resent the decision? I guess that's up to the individual.
When I was growing up, I was told that if you work hard, love what you do, are honest, admit when you're dishonest or wrong, learn from your mistakes, and treat people well and above all take initiative and do more than your peers, that I can do whatever I want to. I still believe this, above it all, above all my dissapointments, above all the hard work and no pay off, I still believe what my mother told me, now, just to find the job to agree to help me do this, that is willing to help me grow, right?
I've thought I had found this before in my life, sometimes, most of the time, I am the one to screw it up, self imposed crisis, misplaced ego and pride, maybe too honest and blunt; and on the other end, I've also been pigeon holed into what I'm "good" at and never moved from that position because perhaps I am doing too good there to move to another position.
Either way, this is what I mean that the road narrows. In coffee, knowledge is never ending, education is never ending, and this is what I absolutely adore about the industry. However, now that I have all of this experience, as a barista, as an educator, as a manager, sales, wholesale training, competing, etc., the next step for me, my hopes for myself are to learn roasting, learn about green bean sourcing, taking trips to origin and continue to manage, educate and compete! Seems logical, right ? Does this mean that I want to be a roaster? NO! I just want to know how to do it! Why that is important to the coffee, what it does to the molecular make up of the bean, how it effects the taste, how to identify defects, and most importantly, how to taste the roast profiles properly, identify opportunities for change, to make the end cup better, not to become a roaster; I just want to know how. I want to go to origin and learn more about the process of growing and harvesting coffee, what micro climates, region, and farming practices do to the bean. I want to learn how to grade, judge, and source green coffee because it's important to how the roasting will be done, and most importantly how to the end result, how the coffee will taste! And etc., etc., etc., !!! It's like an architect that knows how to a contractor and all facets of that industry, not because they want to do the manual labor, but so they know how, they can relate, and therefore, makes them a better architect, right!?
Here's my point. If I am an employer, am I going to take that passion, that drive and help it grow? Or, am I going to go with the sure thing, and keep the barista a barista because I am afraid of them going to the competition? Afraid of them outgrowing my company and looking elsewhere for work? Am I going to offer them more money so I don't have to have turn over and train a replacement? These are all business decisions, not people decisions.
This is how the road narrows. All shops want a passionate, talented, efficient, friendly and hardworking baristas
The road narrows, because I have been told, I am too qualified for a position. The road narrows because the fear of the new employers is that because of all of my assets, I might get offered a job from the competition. The road narrows because they ask, "would you be happy as a __________?", "are you sure this won't be less challenging for you?", etc., etc., etc.,
The road narrows, for people like me, because I don't know when to keep my mouth shut, my experience might be my detriment.
The road narrows, because I continue to believe that if I work hard, if I am passionate about what I do, if I learn from my mistakes, I can do anything I want to, and what I want to do now, is walk the narrowing road to success and smile graciously at the ones that said, "you can't", the ones that said "you won't", and most of all the ones that said, "you're good at this, don't worry about that".
The road is long and narrow, and God damn it, I'll tight rope walk that bitch all the way to where I want to be, even if I'm still learning what that is, but mark my words, I'll be brewing, drinking and serving the entire way ...
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