The new years resolutions of the Chainergy coffee company

So here we are in a new year. Time to celebrate the fat that our blue ball has done another circle around its star, yay!

And as usual time to make new years’ resolution that we will fail to uphold. Right?

Well, No.

I hate new years resolutions. No one abides to their new years’ resolutions. Hence, I want to introduce a new, for me, concept.

New years dreams. I am putting on paper, figuratively speaking my new years dreams.

At 45 I am still entitled to have dreams, right? Yes of course.

And the best thing about dreams is that they give you a vision, something to strive for. So, to achieve dreams you need to actually do shit. And if your dreams do not materialize, you will have learned something from the process, right?

So, let’s get started. It’s not a long list but it is challenging enough that I hope I will learn a bit from the process.

This is the list, in no particular order.

Dream number 1: the Chainergy coffee company needs to restart breathing.

I started importing green beans as a side hustle. Side hustles are bullshit. They are only useful to people who want to sell you a side hustle methodology. And so is passive income: there is nothing like passive income, even renting a property requires knowledge and work.

You better concentrate on limited number of tasks at which you are good, rather than dispersing your energies in a myriad of ventures that go nowhere.

Hence this area will be a major focus.

I failed this business venture for a number of reasons, chief amongst which was the very low margins.

Hence to restart I need to increase either margins or volumes, ideally both. Sounds simple right? It is not.  

So instead of just importing green beans my plan is to finally go downstream. Roasting is the order of the day. I am going to bring to the European consumer the best coffee I can find and prepare.

And together with coffee I will also introduce a few other products that go together with coffee like Parmesan goes on Maccaroni. This will require some investment, some additional storage, and some better logistics. I am on it. And raising financing.

The Chainergy coffee company will strive to bring you the best alkaloids the world can produce. It has been a rough year and the new one already looks challenging. The mission of the Chainergy coffee company is to help you go through difficult times by bringing on your table and in your kitchen some liquid (and some solid) help you navigate this tough times.

What can I learn out of this? A few things: marketing, logistics and taking some risks. The last one is the most important. Stay tuned for more news on this one in the near future!

Dream number 2. It is all about finance

Bring financial knowledge where is most needed, at an affordable price. How do I keep my lights on? By working in Finance. This is what I have been doing for over 20 years, and in this VERY SLOW 2020, I stopped being an employee, although it was not my decision, technically speaking (Yes, I have been fired).

Ever since I have been fired, I have helped a few small companies with their financial management problems, and that’s what I will continue doing. The order of the day is FAAS. Finance as a service.

Start-ups and SMEs can ill afford to pay for the financial knowledge that they so desperately need. My vision is to bring it as a service, so that they will pay for what they need when they need it. And once they have scaled up, they can decide to hire their own financial staff. And I can help with the recruitment. Forget video CV and other fancy recruitment techniques. Let people who have been in the business long enough judge if a hire is what you need. Knowledge cannot be improvised. Reading a book is great, but to learn how to swim you need to actually get into the water. I have been swimming these waters long enough that I can tell a good fish when I see it. Recruiters catering to every possible industry and function just do not have the same expertise.

So GSE finanzberatung (as I call my for now single-person consulting practice. Yes, it’s German) is going to grow.

Dream Number 3. Double my podcasting.

The Chainergy coffee company podcast has been good fun and a bit of a hit and miss.

I mean it has not grown too much, to be fair. So what is the right thing to do? Well, a rational person would probably stop. But I never believed in the existence of the rational person ever since I was in university. And I trained in economics… And I am not too rational myself. So I am not going to stop. I enjoy doing this stuff, it has very little costs. But I am refocussing. The Chainergy coffee company podcast is here to stay, and it’s going to re-focus on being a global, industry specific podcast.

On the side I am starting another podcast in Italian. The aim of this podcast is to bring news from the foreign press (at my unchallengeable judgement) to my Italian audience. Only best quality sources such as the Economist, Al Jazeera, BBC, NZZ, FAZ and the likes. No Italian politics and no Italian press.

Dream number 4. Finally go on a long bicycle trip.

I need to get fitter, that’s a fact. And I always dreamt about doing a proper bike trip, something above 2000 Km. A typical new years resolution would be to go to the gym and exercise more.  And it would inevitably fail. Hence I told myself, Gennaro, you are bloody 45. When are you going to do this? This year. This year is the answer. The ideal time is June, when days are longer and I can maximize my time on the saddle. The itinerary is Switzerland to Northern Europe, I am still working out the route.

Hence, I will prepare for my trip starting, well, now. Great excuse to get more on the bike, lose weight and finally achieve something I have postponed way to long.

So here you have them, My 4 new years dreams.

I hope to realize at least 2 of them. And I am thrilled for the things that I can learn in the process. And conscious that I will get a few slaps in the face along the way. But that’s why I do it. If it would be safe and easy, it would not be fun.

Hope all my low-2-digits followers will have a great year and will restart dreaming. There is life to be had. So, let’s get down to business. Happy 2021 fellas.