Read the story of Shania Rozeboom, owner of Rainy Day Coffee, our featured maker in Volume 4.
When Shania Rozeboom was a kid, she had a pretend restaurant named The Rainy Day Inn, complete with construction paper menus. “As I grew up I realized I was bound to be in the service industry either owning a bakery or café,” explains Shania. “I decided to go to business school at Lake Area Tech and wrote many different business plans and had a lot of different ideas: Rainy Day Café, Rainy Day Bakery, and so on. A business was always there but it hadn’t taken shape yet.”
“During college I started working for Mike and Vickie at Watertown Confectionery, where they hand-dipped chocolates, made their own line of wine, and roasted coffee. One day Mike came to me and asked if I wanted to learn how to roast coffee. At that time I was only nineteen and knew nothing about coffee. But Mike was a great mentor and taught me where and how coffee was grown, the techniques of roasting, and pretty much all I needed to know about coffee before it even hits the cup. I got a taste of that satisfaction of producing a product myself, and I was hooked. I then moved onto managing a coffee shop where I was a barista, a roaster, and the baker. By then, coffee had snuck into my fascination and there was no letting go. I was reading books, I was experimenting with roasts, I was making up drinks on the coffee bar, meanwhile soaking up all the coffee, sometimes literally.”
Today, Shania roasts her own coffee line under a version of the name she came up with as a kid, Rainy Day Coffee. Along the way she felt God’s presence in the building of her business. “I am one of the most impatient people ever and I tend to want to take things into my own hands instead of slowing down and giving God the chance to show me what His plan is,” shares Shania. “I actually tried to start this business in May of 2018 when my husband and I first moved back to the area. I was desperately searching for everything I would need but nothing seemed right and it wasn’t what I pictured. I was so frustrated because I was thinking I didn’t have what it would take to start a business—something I had dreamt about forever. But, I couldn’t build it then. I decided to put coffee and business on the back burner.”
“Then almost a year later in April I got a random message—a God Thing—from a local owner of a shop asking if my idea of roasting coffee had fallen away. I had talked to him the previous year about setting up a roaster in his shop. I quickly responded with excuses like, 'I need more training’ and ‘I started a new job,’ but it was still a thought in my back pocket. I thought about it for three days and suddenly the roasting idea wasn’t just in my back pocket anymore. I thought I had put the coffee thing aside because maybe it was just a fad and not a passion. But throughout that year I realized I was still super intrigued by coffee. This time, very unlike a year ago, everything fell together–down to buying the roaster that I learned how to roast on from my old boss. I knew who could design my logo, where to get my labels made, where to purchase my beans, and so on. It was like within that year I was collecting all this knowledge and perspective I didn’t have before. Even now, if I get this feeling of being stuck or unsure of a decision I ‘freeze up.’ My first thought is that I’m lacking motivation but more and more I believe it is God slowing me down so I have time to create what I really want.”
Some of the biggest challenges Shania has faced are common for most entrepreneurs—setting her own schedule and working for herself. “Scheduling coffee around my full-time job means a lot of late nights roasting and early morning deliveries. Trying to balance when to do business, when to have fun, and when to take care of everyday life is an ongoing venture. Lately, I have been trying to be more honest with myself and realize I cannot do everything. I’m learning how to ask for help when I need it instead of stressing myself out.”
“Another challenge in working for myself means I am working for and by myself. I was used to that drive of working for other people and helping them get to where they want to be–that has always been easy for me. But when it came to myself, I slacked because I didn’t have that push. I would tell myself, “Oh I’ll get to that . . .” and I would put it aside. I had to change my mindset of how I looked at my business. I had to start imagining this version of myself that I wanted to work for, toward, and help accomplish her dreams. An example of this may be, ‘Ok I have to get this price sheet done because Shania is going to need it tomorrow’ or ‘I need to roast and package coffee tonight so Shania can deliver after work.’ I know, it may sound like I’m crazy and talking to myself, but it worked. I regained my motivation and have been working really hard since.”
Shania says the most meaningful part of building her business is the support. “The reason you start a business is because you think it’s a cool idea and you want to share it with others, but when people show up, buy your product, and rave to others, you see the reasons why you started this business unfold.”
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