My "Why" Approach
I believe cities bloom in the presence of opportunity. This is why I can't sleep at night and why I can't wait to get to work each day. Without a doubt, the more we pour into our community, the more we will get out of it. Success is a two-way road I love to race down.
About my business.
We opened Reverie Coffee Roasters in 2013 with the help of a very supportive and thirsty community. In the last 9 years, we’ve managed to expand and relocate our flagship location, opened and closed two beautiful remote cafes, and we recently announced the acquisition of our newest location. Reverie Roasters at Mojos is located on Bethel College campus in North Newton, KS and will re-open to the community on January 10th, 2022.
My objective at Reverie is to curate opportunities for our business while helping others in their roles. This occurs within our cafes, our kick-ass scratch bakery, wholesale commercial coffee roasting plant or service company. But our success cannot have been achieved without the help of several great people.
The way I lead is by offering trust rather than asking for it, which has taken us to great places in our business. As we grow, we pivot to accommodate our needs. I am very much a learn as I go type of guy, so operating on the fly is where I am comfortable.
Our wholesale roasting business has grown double digits in back-to-back years. We grew nearly 60% in 2021, roasting just shy of 65,000 pounds of green coffee. And we’re slated to have an even better year in 2022.
My Vision for Wichita
A vision is what we see ourselves as in a future state of success. So if I am looking into the future of our great city, I see immense change in how we view literacy. I believe Wichita is the Literacy Capital of America. Why? Because the need is much larger than most imagine and we are working to fix this.
There are a few dozen successful organizations on standby ready to help kids and adults, English speaking or another language, to assist in conquering this problem. But the real issue we need to fix is the narrative around literacy. What do you think the typical response is to the literacy problem? More books! But this isn't a solution that has led to better reading. The problem has only increased in recent years.
Wichita Literacy was created to help fix this problem. Finding those in need is the first step. Showing them that learning to read can change their lives only for the better is the message we need to share. And those of us who are fortunate to read this all have part in spreading the word. We all know someone who needs help. We just need to know how to help. This is what Wichita Literacy is here to do.
If you are wanting a cause to get behind, help us cure our literacy problem in Wichita. When you fix literacy, you are working to build a stronger and higher paid workforce. You are helping to cure issues from within households by closer interaction with families. You are creating more engaged citizens who are informed, confident and committed to helping others. There are many great causes in Wichita to support, but none can help fix more systemic problems than curing illiteracy. Becoming The Literacy Capital of America is the most powerful tool we can use to improve the overall health and quality of life for our entire community.
What can you do to help? Because we need it, for sure. Go to WichitaLiteracy.com and read up on the problems and some of the solutions. Start talking about this problem as if we know how to fix it, and then start talking to others about how they can join in. Wear the Wichita Literacy or Read More branded apparel, or display one of the stickers. All of these ideas are ways we can start to live in our vision; to become what we believe we are. And eventually, one day, we will look back and wonder how we could have ever let ourselves get to the place we once were.
What I'm Reading
I suggest you read each day. Before starting my company, it was rare for me to read a single book in an entire year, except the year I read every Anthony Bourdain book.
I can't start my day right unless I get out the paperback and bust out a few chapters. I have my ritual. Wake up, care for the pup, pour over of our latest bean from Reverie, sit in the old leather recliner and read (porch swing if the weather is nice).
Here is my current cover. What are you reading?
Recent Reads
2020
*Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
2019
First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
A Lapsed Anarchists Approach to Managing Ourselves by Ari Weinzweig
Option B by Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant
2018
A Lapsed Anarchists Approach to Being a Better Leader by Ari Weinzweig
A Lapsed Anarchists Approach to Building a Great Business by Ari Weinzweig
2017
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
ProBlogger by Darren Rowse & Chris Garrett
Learned Optimism by Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph. D.
Not Taught by Jim Keenan
Turn This Ship Around by L. David Marquet
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
Originals by Adam Grant
Give and Take by Adam Grant
It's Okay to Be The Boss by Bruce Tulgan
2016
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
*Denotes currently reading the book
So what's next?
What are you going to work on? Have you started thinking about how you are going to change our city? Let me know what you are up to. I'd like to help.