I’m Matt, founder of Calioh Coffee. Before this, I was a firefighter. I entered the coffee business with no industry experience and built a café and roastery—learning plenty of lessons the expensive way. That’s why I started this community. Too many people open a coffee shop because they love coffee, then discover how much they don’t know about running the business. You can work incredibly hard, serve a great product, and still have no money left at the end of the month. And when an owner closes their doors, their hard-earned lessons often disappear with them. The next person signs a lease and starts learning those same lessons all over again. We need to stop doing that. Here, I’ll share what I’ve learned, what we’re working on, and the mistakes I’d avoid if I were starting today. I hope you’ll share yours, too. Collectively, we know more than any of us does alone. The video below is a good place to start. It’s my introduction to the problem that brought us here: coffee shop operators working hard but not making money. Introduce yourself in the comments. Are you planning a shop or already operating—and what’s the biggest thing you’re trying to figure out?