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Permalink Reply by Paul Yates on November 28, 2009 at 3:43pm

This is my "Primary Aim", as taken from the notes I made while working on my business plan. As a reference point, my community finds itself in need of a "quiet" venue, as much as it needs great coffee.

"Providing peace, tranquility, and comfort, for ourselves and those we serve - one cup at a time. Promoting quality, integrity, harmony, and community - one customer at a time."

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on November 28, 2009 at 4:22pm

Nice, very nice, I would want to visit based on that alone.

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Permalink Reply by Mike M on December 5, 2009 at 9:50pm

I was watching an entrepreneurship speaker series by Guy Kawasaki, and his recommendation was not to write an extensive mission statement. Instead, he suggested that businesses write a mantra due to the fact that mission statements are seldomly remembered.

Extrapolating a bit, I think his contention is that you should be able to walk up to an employee of a business and say, "What is this business's mission statement?" and they should be able to answer correctly, and it should mean something to them.

For example, the FedEx Mission Statement is:

FedEx Corporation will produce superior financial returns for its shareowners by providing high value-added logistics, transportation and related information services through focused operating companies. Customer requirements will be met in the highest quality manner appropriate to each market segment served. FedEx Corporation will strive to develop mutually rewarding relationships with its employees, partners and suppliers. Safety will be the first consideration in all operations. Corporate activities will be conducted to the highest ethical and professional standards.

As an example of how instead it use a Mantra, it could use, "Peace of mind." This alludes to the fact that you can trust FedEx to deliver your package on time and you are guaranteed peace of mind by using their service.

Nothing wrong with a longer mission statement, but I agree that a mantra could be used in its place and incorporate the principles of a mission statement sans the length.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on December 7, 2009 at 6:40pm

Once upon a time, I had a really nice Mission Statement for the company. It was succinct and really summed up everything we were about.

But it was never the way we described the company and I would have to look it up in one of the old Employee Manuals in order to recite it for you.

Today, the company has been operating with the simple slogan: "Love, One Cup At A Time."

But even that isn't how I communicate our basic mission.

We want our customers to leave feeling "stoked" that they came to see us today.

That's our mission: "Stoked Customers." Pure and simple.

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Permalink Reply by Mike M on December 7, 2009 at 10:48pm

haha I like that, "Stoked Customers."

A perfect example of a mission statement that doubles as a Mantra!

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Permalink Reply by Cash Reynolds on December 8, 2009 at 7:14am

Joseph, great topic. A good thing for us all to think about and re-visit from time to time. My business philosophy is to look for the win-win situation and then give more than I expect to receive. My mission is to help people make money and to have fun doing it! So, I guess the way I would state my business mission is to simply "Help people make money"! I hope that having fun, adding to the quality of my client's business life and contributing to the experience of their customer, the end consumer, are direct results of the way I carry out my biz mission but the core and focus of my business mission is simply to"Help people make money!"
What do you think? - Cash [_]o

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on December 8, 2009 at 4:17pm

I see we have a similar history/background. I checked your site/profile and noticed you photographed next to my favorite Branding coach Laun. I'm not sure if I spelled his name right. I took business training from His team with Dillanos Coffee at the Seattle Coffee Fest a few years back.
As to your mission, "Help People Make Money" I think you have more going than that. As a former man of the cloth you have served people in deep and personal ways. I remember one of Laun's seminars where he spoke about how easy it is to teach someone to make coffee and how that is not really the point of it all. In that vein I believe that making money is a by product and not a goal to good business. I do agree that what you teach will ultimately help and should give your clients the tools they need to be successful. I think he went on to say it's about building community. The more I write in response the more I want to expand on or adjust my mission statement. Maybe that is the lesson here. Not to be static or still, especially in this wonderful world of coffee. Coffee is mostly water, people are mostly water, when water is still it grows mold and is soon toxic to us.
I'm getting so far out there and esoteric, forgive me if I stray off the point here.
I need another cup of Joe. ;)

--
Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.


Cash Reynolds said:

Joseph, great topic. A good thing for us all to think about and re-visit from time to time. My business philosophy is to look for the win-win situation and then give more than I expect to receive. My mission is to help people make money and to have fun doing it! So, I guess the way I would state my business mission is to simply "Help people make money"! I hope that having fun, adding to the quality of my client's business life and contributing to the experience of their customer, the end consumer, are direct results of the way I carry out my biz mission but the core and focus of my business mission is simply to"Help people make money!"
What do you think? - Cash [_]o

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Permalink Reply by Derryl Reid on December 8, 2009 at 4:32pm

Here is ours
"To maintain our passion and believe in what we do. Achieve sustainability while being socially, environmentally and ethically responsible; be more than a "just-for-profit" entity."

When I get lost in the day to day grind, It does help me to look at our mission statement, it brings everything back into focus!

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Permalink Reply by stephanie crocker on December 13, 2009 at 10:13am

Our goal is to provide unique and high quality pastries and desserts to wholesale and retail clients.
We desire to provide a positive work environment that fosters the growth of our team members.
Our core values in our products and production can be expressed in the following order of importance:
1. Quality
2. Consistency
3. Efficiency
We will be creative in every aspect of the business, direct in our approach to succeed, and have fun along the way.


Ours is a little long, but the part that we always refer to is the ranking of quality, consistency, and efficiency which really informs us on decisions. For example, we make a new cookie that tastes good. it sells so we have to make it consistent. then we figure out a way to make it more efficiently (batch size, etc.) But always quality is the most important thing.

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