Spilling The Beans While Sipping Wine with Michael Datta
Fireside Chat with Wine & Coffee Banding Expert Michael Datta #07.10.20
Spilling the beans while sipping wine with Michael Datta was filled with fun and surprise! So you have an idea to start a coffee company but your not sure what it takes to make it happen.
We have a fun fireside chat with a serial entrepreneur who knows how to build global brands and not just coffee, he’s into wine, mountain bikes and Communications ( but that’s still secret squirrel stuff so stay tuned for that announcement!)
A true pleasure to do this interview with Michael because he’s so honest and truthful about his Journey as an entrepreneur. We are also very proud to have him as one of our Global Mentors. He’s a super dad hero fun Aussie dude who can rock a brand like no other in the global market. He’s energetic and just a full-on happy guy who loves to help people grow business. He’s a seriously inspiring and his story more so.
It’s taken us a while to catch this guy for an interview because he’s so busy launching brands, mountain biking, launching brands. Literally doing coffee and launching brands and on trying to grab him. He’s all over social media but he’s also hard to communicate with and still, he’s, of course, launching a communications brand! No Joke this guy is hard to get to, and so we are so pleased to get him for an hour of his time.
Can I just say, take this all in because it’s gold!
I know I get excited about stuff but, Michael will inspire you and trigger something that will make you squire and poke you like to make that thing you have in your mind a reality.
Having always had a passion to launch a tea brand as a secret side hustle dream, this kicked me up the bum! ouch!
A Journey of a thousand words is nothing till you give it a go
Listening to Michael talks about his journey as an entrepreneur and it’s inspiring to me to try to find a business model to fit my own Tea business idea. Perhaps you are the same.
We all had so much fun doing this fireside chat with Michael because all he talks about is what every man and his dog can totally relate to. but he’s just super fun to talk to and someone you can totally relate.
Michaels a dad and a hard-working passionate guy who just wants to help others find a market that is profitable. But he’s very purposeful about building a business that sits within his values as a person and as a business and family life. He has done this exceptionally.
Hey, but don’t get glazy eyed because fuck it’s not easy! If it was easy everyone would be doing it. But if your passionate enough you make it happen the rest of the story is yours to tell. This is precisely what Michael has done.
#Footprints from the Fireside Chat with Michael Datta
Vision
Michael delves into some really great topics like having a big goal to work towards helps you to work toward something, that vision. I was about to write that we all have a vision, but do we?
I really don’t like to generalise but I often find myself there. A vision is about having something to work toward, the big picture. What is the big picture that reminds you why you do what you do?
Do you ever use the words Vision or goals? We use the terms ‘vision‘ and ‘goals‘ to our own liking.
A Vision is a destination that one visualises and wants to achieve, but the path is unknown, a little bit like an adventure but you have a clear idea of what you want it to look, and feel like. This is where goals come into play.
Goals help you to plot the steps, and set the path for the desired destination and achievement of your vision, acting as milestones toward the overall vision.
See in the chat live chat how Michael explains what he did and how having that vision just helped him work harder and when he didn’t get closer to it early on in his business journey he found other ways that would back it happen quicker.
Get Hungry & Just Go For It!
As an entrepreneur, there are always stops that make it difficult at times and Michael talks about the mindset of not being not letting those the hard stuff stop you, and push through and be bold enough to make it happen no matter what. Just go for it!
Don’t listen to the naysayer’s voice in your head that say’s “man just stop now, it’s too hard”! No, keep going, but do your research to make sure you are on the right track. The people who say it can’t be done are just saying they wouldn’t, from their perspective that they couldn’t do it. Doesn’t mean you can’t.
Research
Another thing that really stuck in my mind was Michael mentions he was good with people and a researcher and that helped him to understand the market better.
The research was paramount to understand the customer better and the market globally, not just locally, go to the source see what is happening on other continents and how peoples behaviours change about your products depending on what external influences are affecting the market.
Tall Poppy vs Celebrating Wins & the Failures
Here I go again generating but having noticed this myself I recognise that Australians tend to have a bout of Tall poppy syndrome. And also something we discussed in this chat.
Tall Poppy describes the cultural phenomenon of mocking people who do well or are overly confident. One of our sports in the Australian culture is to”cut down the tall poppy” as soon as it starts to stand out of the crowd.
As common as it is in Australia, it also shows up in New Zealand, with Islanders, and in small in communities. Being an Aussie living in France now I see it a lot here surprisingly. Call it self-deprecating or promoting modesty it all the same.
Sadly it can stop people thinking out of the box. Doing something different or standing out and this mentality will stop entrepreneurship in its tracks. Or be the difference between thinking small and not taking the leap to create a global business.
When I asked Michael about this he talked about Tall Poppy. Having grown up between Australia and the USA what he learned what that the Americans know how to celebrate standing out and winning. They also know how to celebrate the failures which is all part of the journey.
Celebrating wins and identifying failures, the challenges, whatever it is, there is always something to learn. They are integral parts of the process.
But what makes Woohooo!!! and the royal F@#* ups moments such a crucial part of the journey?
It’s simply the recognition is good and bad.
What was the stream of events that lead to that event that created a good or bad outcome?
Then we can recognise much preferred. But recognising where you went right or wrong is important to do things better and more effectively in the future. It’s all part and parcel. Like Michael mentioned, “just don’t get stuck there on the negative and learn from it. Keep going that is the important part.”
Join Us…
We punch out all these fireside chat for you to learn from people who are in the trenches just as you are. If you are looking for a community come and join us over at our SandTracks Remote Coworking Community we would love to connect with you there. Our team has new Global Mentors are coming on board all the time and we are keeping to give you access to these incredible minds through the SandTracks CLUB.
Until next week let us know how we can help!