Copycats

If you've been following my blog you've figured out that I'm highly skeptical of business models built on following the latest trends and having the latest equipment. I've included mild criticisms of manual brewing, $20,000 espresso machines and extravagant leasehold costs. While I haven't expressed it in my blog, I've been personally dismissive of some of the coffee luminaries written and blogged about, but now I think I'm wrong in directing the criticsm at them and not giving them enough credit.

I read all the time, every spare minute I can, always non-fiction and mostly business/finance related. I don't know how I've overlooked it but recently I started reading ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37Signals. It is a spectacularly simple book filled with excellent advice that would benefit every business. The Chapter that inspired this post is called "Don't Copy". The chapter articulates beautifully what I've struggled to get across, that is the idea that copying someone else's work/ideas/business model is not only lazy, but dangerous because you don't need to understand anything to copy an idea. Skipping the knowledge/skills/understanding necessary to successfully model Intelligentsia, Square Mile or Stumptown and simply parroting their words and actions is dangerous and foolhardy. In addition, your business will always be playing catch up because you are never leading, always following and satisfying yourself by creating a lesser model of what you admire. I can think of a dozen companies that are modelling the leaders, but just aren't quite as good at convincing us they're in the same league. They may very well be as good or better at delivering excellence, it's just that perception is everything when you're trying to displace an incumbent.

Remember: Mud Flaps follow the Big Wheels

Instead, try to admire, learn from and most importantly understand what industry leaders are doing, but use it as inspiration to carve out your own space and be the best version of your business. That first and foremost means the most profitable version you can be. Spend your "coffee time" learning how to be rigorous in your management and application of sound business principles. If you are walking into Intelligentsia, taking mental notes and copying the menu boards on your iphone, to replicate in your hometown...you're dead. You are missing the 99% of the work behind what gets presented to the public. The back office.

Despite what is portrayed to the public, the guys making money for Intelli et al are not wearing vests and serving capps in black and white videos, they are costing, analyzing P&L statements and negotiating better deals from vendors. Even companies like Stumptown, Square Mile and Intelli will be displaced by new inspirational leaders and only sound management will keep them on top. Losing your "cool factor" is inevitable and truthfully beyond control, losing your profitability is completely within your control.