As you know, I’m opening a coffeehouse in my “up-and-coming” neighborhood. It should be open in just a couple of weeks, pending a health department review — something that I’ve been agonizing over for months. But there’s another part of this that bothers me. The potential for failure.
Granted, if one is worried about failure, starting a business isn’t the best way to cure that worry. But it’s more than that, really. There’s talk of a splashy grand opening “ceremony” (what the hell? I thought they only did that for public buildings like libraries and hospitals) — a speech, presumably made by me. Did I mention that I abhor public speaking? Really, all I have to say can be summed up in two words: “Thank you.”
Thank you to my father, my mother, my grandmother, my friends, my children, my neighbors, and the builder.
That’s it. No grand proclamations, no grandiose promises to the community. Just a simple phrase of thanks, and nothing more. Anything else seems insincere to me, like the “common man” speeches politicians make. Haven’t we had enough of that for a while? I’m not a politician, I don’t want to be anything more than someone who’s known for selling good food at a fair price, in a place where people feel good. Period.
I just want to serve coffee…and leave the speeches to someone else.
No tag for this post.
I adore you, Carol. It is going to be a fabulous place.
:: sniff ::
I knew someone would understand.
It’s your coffeehouse, right? Unless there’s a legal deal where you HAVE to givce a speech, I don’t see much point in it. It’s a business. If people want to know the story, they can ask.
Just me.
That’s how I feel about it, but I seem to be in the minority.
Carol, I just read about the coffee house — that’s so exciting!!! Don’t be nervous. Not much speechmaking will be necessary. Just give people good coffee and baked goods and they will give you money. I won’t be on the east coast any time soon, but when I’m in the area, I will visit.
I had three or four people ask me today about the “grand opening”…
Why do I have to do anything “grand”? Why can’t I just open.
Well ha ha. I did open the doors. Today. And it went just as I thought it would.
But they’re still bugging me about the “grand” part.
Sigh…