Starting with coffee and then expanding business – Image by Pexels from Pixabay
I am sure no one is following this or believes what I say after so many false starts. Online courses, music promotion, editorial publicity, websites for artists, organising artshows, how to guides and carboot sales with help organising homes.
Now I have a chance to focus on one thing – a business – and to test my ideas to increase its profitabililty and to share about the processs.
In December 2020, over the time of my 50th birthday, I did a week-long course with Oxford Innovation, also called Access to Finance and this sparked some inspiration but i had received conflicting information when I completed the Launchpad MSc on Entrepreneurship who were geared towards people forming partnerships and public limited companies. They advised against remaining a sole trader.
Then I revisited the Business Basics Workshop in person last week and this provided the nuts and bolts I have been seeking out since 2020.
Before 2020, I was doing a weekly radio show, working for a local record company and before that I worked for a music PR company. However I have not done or earned much since 2020. Seeking out this information is like driving the wrong way and all the signposts showing in the opposite direction.
This has inspired me to take on this venue as a business and to work on ways to make it viable and to increase profits and social value to the community. I will be able to walk down each day and could start by making coffee and experiencing life in the cafe. This would free up the staff member to work with me on gradual changes.
The venue currently opens from 10am to 4pm but is licensed until 10.45pm each evening. With residents around about, this would need to not spill over.
Currently the business makes a small profit with 80% of turnover spent on costs, wages, pensions and utilities, rates, rent and insurance. There are items I can take on, such as marketing, via a free social media and SEO course am starting on Hubspot. I considered other courses but they are prescriptive and will not fit around my commitments.
I then plan to open space for showing artwork, selling merchandise, showcasing local visual artists with original upholstery and furnishings and having live entertainment such as storytelling, poetry and singer-songwriters. This could lead to live streaming and artists earning via pay per view if this proposition hasn’t been wiped out by Tiktok.
There is space at the back for artists to draw the harbour, sea and castle views out of the windows. There is also space outside but it is currently very messy. I am finding out if next door neglected space could be used and rented or bought.
Could the kitchen be reduced and the coffee area provide heating facilities for food? Alternatively, could people come for drinks and bring or order food in to replace the kitchen with more seating and access inside to the facilities and outside? Or performance space could be downstairs and disturb residents less.
There could also be space for people to rent to sell things to clear out their homes. Could the kitchen equipment be sold on the marketplace and food sources from other businesses?
Could only Cornish produce be sold so the menu would be subject to seasonal availability?
Social clubs
Raising the value to the community could include room for meetings, speakeasies and social clubs. For example, a meeting for women starting up businesses or a chess or scrabble club. There is plenty of room for enterprise.
I believe there is a journey and ideas and action lead somewhere exciting.
Sophie Sweatman 