Any great business is only as good as its people, and we have come to the next phase in our exciting plan where we need to start putting our team together.  As I see it, the key to taking any enterprise from the drawing board and breathing life in to it is to understand what is the essential lifeblood for that business.  In my many years, I have worked in so many different kinds of jobs.  My first job was in our very small town's McDonalds.  During college, I was a security dispatcher for campus security.  I've taught at the high school and college levels, worked as a secretary but my longest tenured job was at Barnes and Noble, holding almost every job they had from bookseller, café barista, department leader, community relations/bookfair organizer, head cashier and others.
     In every instance, the most important skill that determined success in any given situation was the ability to relate to people, to be able to understand what people needed and to respond to that need in such a way as to make them feel a connection however brief. 
​      I have written the job description and if I were to describe what it is that I am looking for, I would say it is that person who is able to speak to the brain surgeon and the tradesman but more importantly be able to build the environment where they will speak to each other.  The link for the job posting is below, and if you can think of someone who may be a good fit for the Coffeehouse, I hope you will encourage that person to apply.  We won't exactly have the theme song from Cheers playing in the background everyday but we look forward to learning your names and being part of the great Hardwick community.
​                                                     https://www.ziprecruiter.com/job/7cb1c157

     It sounded like so much fun a few weeks ago - picking everything out - paint, cabinets, counters, tile and all new fixtures.  But when it came right down to it, it was actually rather intimidating.  Will these cabinets work for everything?  Will this refrigerator/freezer fit in the space and hold all that we need it to hold?  How will everyone like the paint color?  Can we get it all done in the time frame we had hoped?  And, of course, the big one - can we make all these decisions fit in to the budget we had initially set for this project.  As the choices piled up, so did the pressure.  Someone asked me the other day if I was nervous about the whole thing, and the answer is most assuredly yes!  But that is kind of the fun of it, isn't it?
     Today, I can say we have made most of the big decisions we needed to make, and I am so excited for the day when they will all be put together.  Because these items are already checked off the list, we will choose to love them and make them work and there is a certain amount of relief that comes with this stage.  I count myself blessed to have chosen to work with Ron Keddy as our contractor.  He makes great suggestions, accommodates my requests and has a great team.  When my daughter, Bridgette (who was there to help answer questions from the DIRECTV and Comcast technicians) accidentally locked her keys inside her car, with her 2 little angels still inside :( the Keddy men sprang into action and soothed a frazzled mother's nerves until help arrived to free my grand-babes.  They are gentlemen first and contractors second.  Even the Comcast tech, Nate,  stopped his work to lend a hand!
     These are the kind of people we cannot wait be with when we open.  Every time we are at the building, we meet someone new who is just as nice as the last.  So, Hardwick, I hope we have made some good decisions that you will like but I have a feeling that you are a pretty flexible group, and we look forward to meeting more of you!