IAM827- President Provides Top-tier Coffee to Visionaries
Podcast Interview with Garrett Ramela
Garrett Ramela is the president of Common Sense Coffee which seeks to provide top-tier coffee to the visionaries of the world and shares in their accomplishments. His vision for Common Sense Coffee is to become the coffee of choice for visionaries, entrepreneurs, and changemakers who are building the future. Garrett is an avid learner and is working on his third master's degree studying artificial intelligence and business analytics at George Washington University. In addition to studying at George Washington University, Garrett earned a master's in finance from American University and a master's in the management of information technology from the University of Virginia.
- CEO Hack: Task manager- Monday.com
- CEO Nugget: Find a great team and nurture your relationship with them
- CEO Defined: Contributing value to the society
Website: https://www.commonsense.coffee/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/commonsensecoffee/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CommonSenseCoffee/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/commonsensecoffee/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/VisionaryBeans
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/commonsensecoffee/
Medium – https://medium.com/@commonsensecoffee/
Substack – https://commonsensecoffee.substack.com/
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Full Interview:
Transcription
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00:02 – 00:29
Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
00:30 – 00:38
Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Garrett Ramela of Common Sense Coffee. Garrett, it's awesome to have you on the show.
00:38 – 00:40
Garrett Ramela
A pleasure to be here, thank you.
00:41 – 01:25
Gresham Harkless
No problem, pleasure is definitely all ours. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Garrett so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Garrett is the president of Common Sense Coffee, which seeks to provide top-tier coffee to the visionaries of the world and shares in their accomplishments. His vision for Common Sense Coffee is to become the coffee of choice for visionaries, entrepreneurs and changemakers who are building the future. Garrett is an avid learner and is working on his third master's degree studying artificial intelligence and business analytics at George Washington University. In addition to studying at George Washington University, Garrett earned a master's in finance from American University and a master's in the management of information technology from the University of Virginia. Garrett, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
01:25 – 01:28
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for the great introduction.
01:28 – 01:43
Gresham Harkless
No problem. You're doing so many great things and studying so many great things. I love kind of like everything you know you have as a vision for Common Sense Coffee but I wanted to kind of start I guess a little bit farther back and hear a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with your business.
01:43 – 02:36
Garrett Ramela
Yeah absolutely. So you know I've always had this love for business and love for helping everyone. So, you know, back, it's been a little bit over a year now. And, you know, back when we were like sitting down and trying to come up with a business idea, we said, hey, we're really business-minded. We're really, you know, in the technology, what kind of business or what industry is right for the disruption that we could put technology in to just make it better, whether it's being more sustainable, more efficient, or just really provide more value to people. And we stumbled across the thing that we all drink every single day and that's coffee and that's kind of how we got started we said hey it's a really simple idea let's see if we can make it better and that's really how it all started we were we were at a like a backyard barbecue and we said, Hey, let's learn more about coffee.
02:36 – 02:57
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely love that. And I think that so many times we forget, like, I always say technology is kind of in every single industry and every single business that you have. But so many times, it isn't kind of looked at touched or integrated into each of these industries. So I love that you kind of had that idea of the barbecue. And of course, she kind of ran with it and started to build that business and everything you're doing.
02:57 – 03:49
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. And even, you know, you see So many businesses now that are only software-based or only technology-based and they're providing that service or that product just through digital channels. But I actually I'm an Elon Musk fan and he said something in a speech 1 day that was like hey, you know more people need to leave finance, leave law, and go into industries that need help, like farming and product-based businesses, and see how they can impact and have that cross-functional domain expertise to be able to make the industry better, the things that we need, but people aren't really paying attention to because they're not really lucrative industries like the software industry. But really take that, you know, a touch of IT and bring it into something that is not so fond of using technology. And that's really the big premise behind it.
03:49 – 04:17
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely love that. And the idea is it's not lucrative yet because I think a lot of times when you're disrupting these certain industries, sometimes it may not look like it's that lucrative and that's where you have your Amazons, your Teslas of the world that start to take over things and start to really change not just those industries, but many, many more. So I know you all are doing that as well too, and you're creating that environment to present that kind of visionaries and changemakers too. Could you take us through a little bit more about Common Sense Coffee? Let us know what you're doing and how you support the clients you work with.
04:17 – 06:50
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely So the overarching goal for common sense coffee is it's kind of twofold it's to provide top-tier coffee to the visionaries of the world and share their accomplishments So what we mean by that is a lot of coffee makers and coffee producers coffee roasters They really focus a lot on the coffee and not so much on the people who drink the coffee. And we're kind of taking a different approach. We said, hey, we're going to make great coffee. So we specialize in single-origin specialty coffee. So it's of good quality. But we're really focused on who is actually drinking our coffee. And we really want to target folks that are changing the world in some way.
Like we've done stories on physicians, we've done stories on authors, on real estate investors. Great people come from all walks of life, all industries, all different backgrounds. And a lot of things that really happen that are great is great things come over a cup of coffee. Like you can go and have a podcast and like we're doing today and drink coffee, you could buy a company and have a coffee with you during that meeting. So, you know, that's kind of 1 aspect of the business. And then the other aspect really deep with the technology roots is to really push the sustainability aspect further.
So we had this idea that we could reduce the carbon footprint in the coffee industry by using solar technology and powering an electric coffee roaster, which is now really becoming a first-to-market with some companies out there on a commercial scale. So what we wanna do is take solar energy, use it to roast our coffee, and then distribute it just like any other coffee roaster would today. Because of the coffee industry, a lot of people drink coffee, right? It's 1 of the largest, most consumed commodities in the world. But a lot of people don't know that for every pound of coffee that's consumed, on average, it produces 11 and a half pounds of carbon emissions, which is huge.
I mean, the problem is huge and no 1 really talks about it. I mean, there's, there's some trends now where people are like coffee producers are focused more on direct trade and sustainable packaging, but fundamentally the coffee roasting process is still really bad. It relies on natural gas or propane. And we see it as an opportunity to push it forward. And with the technology becoming better and better solar has really blown people out of the water in terms of what it can do over the last decade and 2 decades to where it's really becoming much more competitive against your natural gas and propane counterparts.
06:50 – 07:36
Gresham Harkless
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think when we first connected, we talked a little bit about like, obviously coffee, to me is very symbolic of getting that opportunity to kind of connect, build relationships, hear stories, things like that. And I love how you kind of drill down because I think so many times in industries, we get focused on the product and service. We forget that human aspect and that connection that you all are building is absolutely phenomenal. And I almost feel like that sustainability piece is an extension of that.
You mentioned the carbon footprint because I think the effect that it's having upon the world and the people within the world, sometimes we forget that you know when we're building businesses, when we're you know starting organizations, that we have the ability to really arm ourselves and the people that we serve with that information, but also the tools to make the world a ultimately better place.
07:36 – 08:14
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. And you know, our idea behind it is really, if we could be sustainable, and it costs relatively the same price to produce something, why not? I do not have the better option. Why not do what's morally correct over the alternative? Even though mass adoption is still using alternative methods. So we see it as a benefit long term. You know, we think it's gonna be much more profitable long term. And you know, if it is, then if you have an opportunity to buy a cup of coffee at, you know, a dollar compared to 2 dollars using, you know, the fossil fuel coffee, then it's much better to go to the sustainable route.
08:19 – 08:40
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. It definitely sounds like that's from the playbook of Elon Musk as well too, because if you're able to do it in a healthier way, and then like you said, I think people are starting to become more aware of how they can use their dollars to support certain causes or not support certain causes, you have that opportunity to create a better world by buying the same cup of coffee you might buy already. Why not do that over not doing that?
08:40 – 08:41
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
08:42 – 08:51
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your company or a combination of both But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
08:51 – 10:04
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely so I think I think you know 1 thing for me is the work ethic so I the passion so it's the mixture between the passion and the work ethic because you know if you work on problems that are challenging like what we're trying to do and you're passionate about it you're passionate about pushing the peg forward and even if you may be a failure and come out short in the end at least you're making progress. You know, I feel that when you blend those 2 together, that's really when you boost productivity, you become really happy about your work.
And it just makes it so even your team is inspired by the work that you're doing, because no 1 really, you can't really convince a lot of people to come together to work on a problem that's been solved, you know, 100, 200 years ago. They need something to inspire them that is challenging and that they're passionate about to be able to push it forward to the next generation of folks to be able to come in and help. So I always try to frame things and, hey, what is something that I really enjoy doing and something that is a little bit difficult outside of my comfort zone? And then when you put those 2 together, you become inspired to really, you know, achieve what you've set out to achieve.
10:04 – 10:14
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
10:15 – 10:52
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, so actually a task manager. So there are all kinds of tools out there. We in particular use monday.com. We absolutely love it. It's a really great resource to be able to visualize the work that needs to be done. It puts accountability because you can assign folks to do the work. You put deadlines on there and when you bring it into a normal daily routine, things don't fall through the cracks. They may slip up and get delayed a little bit, but they're still on the little sheet that you're working on to be able to say, hey, this is like that lingering thing that you need to focus on. You need to dedicate your time to it.
10:52 – 11:02
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, so now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
11:03 – 11:32
Garrett Ramela
So without a doubt, it comes down to finding a great team. And to do that early, I think that's 1 of the most important things. I see a lot of folks who want to be like solopreneurs and just do everything themselves, not outsource anything, not give anyone responsibility. And I think it's incredibly important for CEOs to be able to realize that you can't do everything. If you wanna make systemic change in the world, you cannot do everything yourself.
Elon Musk may get the credit for a lot of stuff he does, but there's an entire team at SpaceX, there's an entire team at Tesla and the Boring Company that really help carry out this vision. As an entrepreneur, it becomes more about the vision and developing the strategic plan and then putting people in places and helping them realize their career potential, matching them up with their abilities to get work done, and really helping to nurture the relationship between them, the work in their organization that they're with that is super important because, without a doubt, you can't get anything done yourself if you want to make massive amounts of change in the world.
So really finding a great team from the beginning or as soon as possible. Do your due diligence but look for business partners. Look for great team members. Hire slowly and if you have to break ties quickly, break ties quickly, but at the end of the day, that person that you may have broke ties with may not have been a good person for the role or for your team, but they may be superstars and other, and other roles. And as a CEO, you have to develop a judgment to be able to put people in the right places and align business objectives with people's objectives.
12:48 – 12:57
Gresham Harkless
Awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Garrett, what does being a CEO mean to you?
12:57 – 14:10
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, so I think 1 of the biggest things is to lead the world in a much better place, had you not engaged in the activity that you're engaging in. So if you're in a for-profit enterprise, you should be contributing value to society in some way, whether it's, in my case, providing coffee to people, or in Bill Gates' case, where he provides software for people to be more productive, you know, you have to be providing value to the world. And I think that's fundamentally 1 of the most important things because if you do that as an entrepreneur, that's when people will pay you for your services or pay you for your products.
And that's when you can also employ people. So you give livelihoods to people and you benefit and make the economy better and push society forward. So I think, you know, fundamentally it's really given society value in some way. And you know, if you do it in a nonprofit or in a government type organization, where it's not so much a for-profit thing, but there's still there's still entrepreneurs in all those organizations. But, you know, when you provide value in some way that gives you purpose and that really I think is what encompasses you know being a CEO is all about.
14:10 – 14:24
Gresham Harkless
Garrett, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get ahold of you, find out about the coffee, and hear about all the awesome things you and your team are doing.
14:24 – 15:48
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. The first thing I would say to all the readers out there and listeners is, If you're thinking about starting a business, whether it's a non-profit or for-profit, do it. I mean, now is, you know, we're filming this in September of 2020, and I mean, the COVID-19 crisis is here, it's not going anywhere, so develop a side hustle. Try to shift the paradigm of consumption to producing and try to just be a blogger, make a website and just come back to it day after day, day after day with consistency. And you'll realize over the course of 10, 20 years, you're gonna have something that you are extremely proud of, you're extremely proud to share with your friends, family, your colleagues, everyone, and you're going to live a massively fulfilling life.
So I definitely would encourage folks to take more entrepreneurial risks. If you want to get in contact with me or anyone from our team, just go to commonsense.coffee. You can find all of our information there. You can look me up on LinkedIn, Garrett Ramela on LinkedIn. I'm highly accessible. So you could use any social media, any LinkedIn, email, call, text, anything. Just don't hesitate to reach out. I'm really available and I'm always looking to have chats with folks and just talk about how we can make the world better. So, highly encourages entrepreneurship collaboration and communication.
15:48 – 16:22
Gresham Harkless
Nice, Well, I definitely appreciate you for collaborating and being on the show, and we will have your links and information in the show notes, but I definitely, you know, appreciate that reminder about kind of flipping that switch that we kind of talked about before, and I love that you mentioned that it doesn't have to, it can be a side hustle. I think that's a better way to say it because I think so many times we think that we have to create Tesla or SpaceX, you know, from our homes or from our, you know, jobs that we might have. But in reality, sometimes things, these great things that make a huge impact start out as side hustles. But the only way we can do that is to get started with consistency. So truly appreciate that, my friend, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:22 – 16:57
Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:02 - 00:29
Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
00:30 - 00:38
Gresham Harkless
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Garrett Ramela of Common Sense Coffee. Garrett, it's awesome to have you on the show.
00:38 - 00:40
Garrett Ramela
A pleasure to be here, thank you.
00:41 - 01:25
Gresham Harkless
No problem, pleasure is definitely all ours. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Garrett so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Garrett is the president of Common Sense Coffee, which seeks to provide top-tier coffee to the visionaries of the world and shares in their accomplishments. His vision for Common Sense Coffee is to become the coffee of choice for visionaries, entrepreneurs and changemakers who are building the future. Garrett is an avid learner and is working on his third master's degree studying artificial intelligence and business analytics at George Washington University. In addition to studying at George Washington University, Garrett earned a master's in finance from American University and a master's in the management of information technology from the University of Virginia. Garrett, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
01:25 - 01:28
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for the great introduction.
01:28 - 01:43
Gresham Harkless
No problem. You're doing so many great things and studying so many great things. I love kind of like everything you know you have as a vision for Common Sense Coffee but I wanted to kind of start I guess a little bit farther back and hear a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story? We'll let you get started with your business.
01:43 - 02:36
Garrett Ramela
Yeah absolutely. So you know I've always had this love for business and love for helping everyone. So, you know, back, it's been a little bit over a year now. And, you know, back when we were like sitting down and trying to come up with a business idea, we said, hey, we're really business-minded. We're really, you know, in the technology, what kind of business or what industry is right for the disruption that we could put technology in to just make it better, whether it's being more sustainable, more efficient, or just really provide more value to people. And we stumbled across the thing that we all drink every single day and that's coffee and that's kind of how we got started we said hey it's a really simple idea let's see if we can make it better and that's really how it all started we were we were at a like a backyard barbecue and we said, Hey, let's learn more about coffee.
02:36 - 02:57
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely love that. And I think that so many times we forget, like, I always say technology is kind of in every single industry and every single business that you have. But so many times, it isn't kind of looked at touched or integrated into each of these industries. So I love that you kind of had that idea of the barbecue. And of course, she kind of ran with it and started to build that business and everything you're doing.
02:57 - 03:49
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. And even, you know, you see So many businesses now that are only software-based or only technology-based and they're providing that service or that product just through digital channels. But I actually I'm an Elon Musk fan and he said something in a speech 1 day that was like hey, you know more people need to leave finance, leave law, and go into industries that need help, like farming and product-based businesses, and see how they can impact and have that cross-functional domain expertise to be able to make the industry better, the things that we need, but people aren't really paying attention to because they're not really lucrative industries like the software industry. But really take that, you know, a touch of IT and bring it into something that is not so fond of using technology. And that's really the big premise behind it.
03:49 - 04:17
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely love that. And the idea is it's not lucrative yet because I think a lot of times when you're disrupting these certain industries, sometimes it may not look like it's that lucrative and that's where you have your Amazons, your Teslas of the world that start to take over things and start to really change not just those industries, but many, many more. So I know you all are doing that as well too, and you're creating that environment to present that kind of visionaries and changemakers too. Could you take us through a little bit more about Common Sense Coffee? Let us know what you're doing and how you support the clients you work with.
04:17 - 06:50
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely So the overarching goal for common sense coffee is it's kind of twofold it's to provide top-tier coffee to the visionaries of the world and share their accomplishments So what we mean by that is a lot of coffee makers and coffee producers coffee roasters They really focus a lot on the coffee and not so much on the people who drink the coffee. And we're kind of taking a different approach. We said, hey, we're going to make great coffee. So we specialize in single-origin specialty coffee. So it's of good quality. But we're really focused on who is actually drinking our coffee. And we really want to target folks that are changing the world in some way.
Like we've done stories on physicians, we've done stories on authors, on real estate investors. Great people come from all walks of life, all industries, all different backgrounds. And a lot of things that really happen that are great is great things come over a cup of coffee. Like you can go and have a podcast and like we're doing today and drink coffee, you could buy a company and have a coffee with you during that meeting. So, you know, that's kind of 1 aspect of the business. And then the other aspect really deep with the technology roots is to really push the sustainability aspect further.
So we had this idea that we could reduce the carbon footprint in the coffee industry by using solar technology and powering an electric coffee roaster, which is now really becoming a first-to-market with some companies out there on a commercial scale. So what we wanna do is take solar energy, use it to roast our coffee, and then distribute it just like any other coffee roaster would today. Because of the coffee industry, a lot of people drink coffee, right? It's 1 of the largest, most consumed commodities in the world. But a lot of people don't know that for every pound of coffee that's consumed, on average, it produces 11 and a half pounds of carbon emissions, which is huge.
I mean, the problem is huge and no 1 really talks about it. I mean, there's, there's some trends now where people are like coffee producers are focused more on direct trade and sustainable packaging, but fundamentally the coffee roasting process is still really bad. It relies on natural gas or propane. And we see it as an opportunity to push it forward. And with the technology becoming better and better solar has really blown people out of the water in terms of what it can do over the last decade and 2 decades to where it's really becoming much more competitive against your natural gas and propane counterparts.
06:50 - 07:36
Gresham Harkless
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think when we first connected, we talked a little bit about like, obviously coffee, to me is very symbolic of getting that opportunity to kind of connect, build relationships, hear stories, things like that. And I love how you kind of drill down because I think so many times in industries, we get focused on the product and service. We forget that human aspect and that connection that you all are building is absolutely phenomenal. And I almost feel like that sustainability piece is an extension of that.
You mentioned the carbon footprint because I think the effect that it's having upon the world and the people within the world, sometimes we forget that you know when we're building businesses, when we're you know starting organizations, that we have the ability to really arm ourselves and the people that we serve with that information, but also the tools to make the world a ultimately better place.
07:36 - 08:14
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. And you know, our idea behind it is really, if we could be sustainable, and it costs relatively the same price to produce something, why not? I do not have the better option. Why not do what's morally correct over the alternative? Even though mass adoption is still using alternative methods. So we see it as a benefit long term. You know, we think it's gonna be much more profitable long term. And you know, if it is, then if you have an opportunity to buy a cup of coffee at, you know, a dollar compared to 2 dollars using, you know, the fossil fuel coffee, then it's much better to go to the sustainable route.
08:19 - 08:40
Gresham Harkless
Yeah, absolutely. It definitely sounds like that's from the playbook of Elon Musk as well too, because if you're able to do it in a healthier way, and then like you said, I think people are starting to become more aware of how they can use their dollars to support certain causes or not support certain causes, you have that opportunity to create a better world by buying the same cup of coffee you might buy already. Why not do that over not doing that?
08:40 - 08:41
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
08:42 - 08:51
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your company or a combination of both But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
08:51 - 10:04
Garrett Ramela
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely so I think I think you know 1 thing for me is the work ethic so I the passion so it's the mixture between the passion and the work ethic because you know if you work on problems that are challenging like what we're trying to do and you're passionate about it you're passionate about pushing the peg forward and even if you may be a failure and come out short in the end at least you're making progress. You know, I feel that when you blend those 2 together, that's really when you boost productivity, you become really happy about your work.
And it just makes it so even your team is inspired by the work that you're doing, because no 1 really, you can't really convince a lot of people to come together to work on a problem that's been solved, you know, 100, 200 years ago. They need something to inspire them that is challenging and that they're passionate about to be able to push it forward to the next generation of folks to be able to come in and help. So I always try to frame things and, hey, what is something that I really enjoy doing and something that is a little bit difficult outside of my comfort zone? And then when you put those 2 together, you become inspired to really, you know, achieve what you've set out to achieve.
10:04 - 10:14
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
10:15 - 10:52
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, so actually a task manager. So there are all kinds of tools out there. We in particular use monday.com. We absolutely love it. It's a really great resource to be able to visualize the work that needs to be done. It puts accountability because you can assign folks to do the work. You put deadlines on there and when you bring it into a normal daily routine, things don't fall through the cracks. They may slip up and get delayed a little bit, but they're still on the little sheet that you're working on to be able to say, hey, this is like that lingering thing that you need to focus on. You need to dedicate your time to it.
10:52 - 11:02
Gresham Harkless
Awesome, so now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
11:03 - 11:32
Garrett Ramela
So without a doubt, it comes down to finding a great team. And to do that early, I think that's 1 of the most important things. I see a lot of folks who want to be like solopreneurs and just do everything themselves, not outsource anything, not give anyone responsibility. And I think it's incredibly important for CEOs to be able to realize that you can't do everything. If you wanna make systemic change in the world, you cannot do everything yourself.
Elon Musk may get the credit for a lot of stuff he does, but there's an entire team at SpaceX, there's an entire team at Tesla and the Boring Company that really help carry out this vision. As an entrepreneur, it becomes more about the vision and developing the strategic plan and then putting people in places and helping them realize their career potential, matching them up with their abilities to get work done, and really helping to nurture the relationship between them, the work in their organization that they're with that is super important because, without a doubt, you can't get anything done yourself if you want to make massive amounts of change in the world.
So really finding a great team from the beginning or as soon as possible. Do your due diligence but look for business partners. Look for great team members. Hire slowly and if you have to break ties quickly, break ties quickly, but at the end of the day, that person that you may have broke ties with may not have been a good person for the role or for your team, but they may be superstars and other, and other roles. And as a CEO, you have to develop a judgment to be able to put people in the right places and align business objectives with people's objectives.
12:48 - 12:57
Gresham Harkless
Awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Garrett, what does being a CEO mean to you?
12:57 - 14:10
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, so I think 1 of the biggest things is to lead the world in a much better place, had you not engaged in the activity that you're engaging in. So if you're in a for-profit enterprise, you should be contributing value to society in some way, whether it's, in my case, providing coffee to people, or in Bill Gates' case, where he provides software for people to be more productive, you know, you have to be providing value to the world. And I think that's fundamentally 1 of the most important things because if you do that as an entrepreneur, that's when people will pay you for your services or pay you for your products.
And that's when you can also employ people. So you give livelihoods to people and you benefit and make the economy better and push society forward. So I think, you know, fundamentally it's really given society value in some way. And you know, if you do it in a nonprofit or in a government type organization, where it's not so much a for-profit thing, but there's still there's still entrepreneurs in all those organizations. But, you know, when you provide value in some way that gives you purpose and that really I think is what encompasses you know being a CEO is all about.
14:10 - 14:24
Gresham Harkless
Garrett, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get ahold of you, find out about the coffee, and hear about all the awesome things you and your team are doing.
14:24 - 15:48
Garrett Ramela
Yeah, absolutely. The first thing I would say to all the readers out there and listeners is, If you're thinking about starting a business, whether it's a non-profit or for-profit, do it. I mean, now is, you know, we're filming this in September of 2020, and I mean, the COVID-19 crisis is here, it's not going anywhere, so develop a side hustle. Try to shift the paradigm of consumption to producing and try to just be a blogger, make a website and just come back to it day after day, day after day with consistency. And you'll realize over the course of 10, 20 years, you're gonna have something that you are extremely proud of, you're extremely proud to share with your friends, family, your colleagues, everyone, and you're going to live a massively fulfilling life.
So I definitely would encourage folks to take more entrepreneurial risks. If you want to get in contact with me or anyone from our team, just go to commonsense.coffee. You can find all of our information there. You can look me up on LinkedIn, Garrett Ramela on LinkedIn. I'm highly accessible. So you could use any social media, any LinkedIn, email, call, text, anything. Just don't hesitate to reach out. I'm really available and I'm always looking to have chats with folks and just talk about how we can make the world better. So, highly encourages entrepreneurship collaboration and communication.
15:48 - 16:22
Gresham Harkless
Nice, Well, I definitely appreciate you for collaborating and being on the show, and we will have your links and information in the show notes, but I definitely, you know, appreciate that reminder about kind of flipping that switch that we kind of talked about before, and I love that you mentioned that it doesn't have to, it can be a side hustle. I think that's a better way to say it because I think so many times we think that we have to create Tesla or SpaceX, you know, from our homes or from our, you know, jobs that we might have. But in reality, sometimes things, these great things that make a huge impact start out as side hustles. But the only way we can do that is to get started with consistency. So truly appreciate that, my friend, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:22 - 16:57
Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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