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So, what happens when you have a dream but you don't have capital to work with? You get creative.
We have had a dream to build a coffee house since 2008 but have you looked up the cost of that dream? We originally wanted to build our coffee house in Oak Ridge, TN but there was no place we could afford.
We joined the Entrepreneurs of Knoxville (EOK) and got some marketing tips that REALLY helped us out a lot. Marketing is something we need to learn. Well, okay, running a newspaper and starting a coffee house is also something we need to learn, which is why this Kudzu Jungle site was born. What better way to learn than to make an adventure out of pursuing a dream and having to learn every detail of that dream as you go?
EOK has a program called "Hot Seat" and that's where you get up in front of other entrepreneurs and pitch your idea, and they critique it and help you improve your marketing idea. Our campaign to do a documentary and build a coffee house one cupcake at a time made me nervous. There was a banker out there in that crowd and most entrepreneurs seek loans. I thought we were going to be laughed out of there with our idea. Instead, we were embraced. We had taken our Tropical Pineapple cupcakes to the presentation. We got awesome reviews! We were told people would pay $2 each for our cupcake (but we are charging less). And to my surprise, the banker loved our approach to raising capital and offered to look at our financial plan.
From there, another EOK member took interest in our documentary and helped us fine tune our business plan. He then went with us to scope out a home in Clinton, TN to see if it's an ideal location for the coffee house. He really liked it, so we pursued that place and got a six month lease reduced so we have time to clean, paint, set up and get inspected. Talk about a blessing from the Lord!
Now we are going to build a coffee house one cupcake at a time and help other entrepreneurs.
We are an open source entrepreneur and coffee house project. Why are we going open source? We know hardship. Extreme hardship. How bad? Well, we lived in our car during the winter of 2010. Sometimes we parked at a rest area down in the Pigeon Forge area (because I was ashamed to be in Clinton) and when pride was swallowed, we parked at the Wal-mart parking lot in Clinton. Humility is not a strong part, but I'm learning to be thankful in all things.
Our work dried up for two months and we weren't expecting that, so we continued with our coffee house plans and had to work on gaurding our mouths so we didn't get angry over our situation. It's easy to be angry at God when things go wrong, but during those two months, we got closer to Him instead. I suppose it would have been better had we trusted Him at the beginning but we didn't. We were angry, afraid, embarrassed and doubted our coffee house dreams.
Since we have to learn as we go, and pay as we go, we had to find a fun way to budget. We budget in cupcakes instead of dollars. We plan out the projects, then determine how many cupcakes we have to bake and sell in order to raise the capital. We have to bake a LOT of cupcakes to raise money for our coffee house.
In addition to cupcakes, we are being creative in figuring out how to raise money as we go.
We hope you enjoy our documentary, our entrepreneur blog and our coffee house!
Colleen Crawford
From one entrepreneur to another, we want to offer a product and service that is valuable to you. At the time of this page creation, we are raising money for our coffee house documentary. The Web site is newly launched and we are in the marketing phase now. Therefore, your contribution to project will help us get started with our newspaper.
We have a one-time set up fee of $50 to feature your business and it will remain visible on our site until you ask us to take it down, or until the information you provided leads to a broken link or closed business.
As we get more and more visitors, we will spotlight your business on our front page so you get better visibility. For now, your spotlight page will be on our front page for at least a week. Should we not get another spotlight request, your business will stay on the front page until another spotlight is featured, but you will be featured for not less than one week.
There is no obligation to pay up front. We will consult with you at Our Little Coffee House, or via message communication, phone communication or at your place of business. If your company fits into the scope of our newspaper and coffee house, and you are satisfied with our product and service, we will bill you for $50. There are no monthly fees to continue being in the spotlight directory.
Your spotlight page can have images, video, audio, company information, product information, contact information, etc. You can also submmit changes to the page as needed.
Use our contact form to schedule an appointment! We look forward to meeting with you.
Contact Wesley & Colleen Crawford
Set up a Meeting
Send a Message
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Since we are approaching business without going into debt, we won't have our dream coffee house right away. We have our location picked out, which will be at 707 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd.; Clinton, TN. It's a cute brick home and our theme is "A home away from home."
As much as we would like to have a finished coffee house with our big picture dream, it is impracticable (and unwise) to go into debt. So, we are working slowly at building our dream. We raise the capital first, then we add a new feature to our coffee house.
Here is our projected development plan for our "Big Picture":
We began planning the coffee house in 2008. It took until December, 2011, for us to get property to locate the coffee house! Talk about a slow process to go into business. We have identified our core projects as follows:
COFFEE HOUSE:
NEWSPAPER:
ART GALLERY:
MUSIC:
ENTREPRENEUR MENTOR PROGRAM:
COMMUNITY HOMESTEAD:
AQUAPONICS GREENHOUSE:
TOWN HALL:
Starting in February, 2012, we will begin getting the property ready. We have to raise the money as we go. Project list includes:
Our first edition will introduce the coffee house to the public.
This is the launch of our campaign: "Building a coffee house one cupcake at a time."
We will offer a limited menu at this time:
Muffins:
Cupcakes:
Soups:
Beverages:
A full service, genuine coffee bar complete with a three-group espresso machine, locally roasted coffee beans, fruit smoothies, and all the trimmings and specialty drinks you would find in a coffee house.
We will have our full breakfast and lunch menu when we open the deli. In addition to the bakery items we already serve, we will also open for breakfast and lunch. We'll release our menu as we get closer to adding the deli.
An energy-efficient coffee house that includes a nice dining room, an art gallery, a music/radio station studio and offices.
A double greenhouse that will house a beautiful dining area with an indoor/outdoor koi pond; growing towers and a food storehouse for locally grown organic produce and other products.
Train facility, offices/work space for entrepreneurs, seed money.
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THE JUNGLE:
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Would you like your business to be featured here? This is one of 3 spotlights on our front page and your page, commercial, company info and other information about your business will be featured here for a minimun of one week. One-time set up fee with no monthly adverting fee!
Get details...
Would you like your business to be featured here? This is one of 3 spotlights on our front page and your page, commercial, company info and other information about your business will be featured here for a minimun of one week. One-time set up fee with no monthly adverting fee!
Get details...
Would you like your business to be featured here? This is one of 3 spotlights on our front page and your page, commercial, company info and other information about your business will be featured here for a minimun of one week. One-time set up fee with no monthly adverting fee!
Get details...
