today's email is the story of trying to start a coffee shop in a small Vermont town:

maple leaves turning to flame juxtaposed against the deep evergreens

apple trees in the U Pick orchards heavy with honeycrisps

pumpkin spice everything

people that drive for hours and hours just to experience autumn in the greatest autumnal place on earth and spending their tourism dollars

but it's also about SEO. Obviously...

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How A Search Becomes A Purchase

You've been thinking about it for a long time and you're finally admitting to yourself: you really want to start a coffee shop. Maybe it's the memory of all the time spent in warm coffee shops, drinking hot chocolate next to a window where the snow falling outside dampens the noise and the dazzling lights of the city. Maybe it's the idea of building a space where the community can come together, listen to a curated Spotify playlist and work on English 201 essays or that quarterly report the boss wants or even the next great American novel. Maybe you just really really fucking like coffee.

Either way, it's an idea that you can no longer banish as you're drifting off to sleep or standing beneath the hot water of your morning shower. Fine.

So what's the next step, what will make this dream more real, more tangible? Probably putting in some research.

How the hell does one start a coffee shop anyway?

On your lunch break, eating microwaved leftovers of barbecue chicken and broccoli with a diet coke, you casually browse to Google and type in

how to start a coffee shop

Let's see what that looks like...

A bunch of sponsored posts--you skip those and focus on the organic results cuz you KNOW BETTER.

First result is a Forbes article--could be good, but what does Forbes know about coffee shops, aren't they an investment magazine or something?

Next up is something called "Webstaurant Store" but that brand is kind of dumb and you don't really vibe with it, you think, and so you scroll by--maybe you'll come back to them if nothing else looks good.

pos.toasttab.com -- oh yeah! You've seen that brand when you get those asian fusion tacos from the food truck by the library, or--wait, doesn't that coffee shop by university use toast on their... cash register thing?

So you check it out.

Why yes, I am thinking of starting a coffee shop, you say to yourself. A checklist sounds helpful.

And, oh--look, there's a download right at the top of the page. You can get your checklist and take it with you or print it out or whatever.

Just fill out some info blah blah, cool! Let's see what the page has to say tho.

You're immediately hooked by the first sentence:

Wow, that's interesting, you think, and continue scrolling to the first section:

$80k to $300k, damn! That's serious money, but maybe with an SBA loan + some seed money you can make it happen.

Okay! Dream is still alive, it's nice to have some cold, hard numbers to chew on.

Then there's a section on what those costs mostly break down into. Useful! Okay.

The rest of the article you quickly skim through. It's high level stuff like "create a business plan" and "find a location."

Haha. No doy.

Not a bad article, it gets the gears turning but it was a lot of surface-level information.

Two days later you're sitting on the couch watching reruns of the Simpsons, trying not to think about how straight and steady time's arrow is--this show has been on the air almost as long as you've been alive, and god damnit, the grains are flying into the bottom chamber of your life's hourglass at an alarmingly swift pace. Wouldn't it be great to retire somewhere warm, somewhere relaxing, where life is slow and you can hear the sound of the ocean no matter where you are in town?

You wonder how much money you can make running a coffee shop... so you hit up Google:

"how much do coffee shops make?"

Oh look, it's that toast site again.

You click on it, the first result.

Wow, higher profit margin and lower overhead?

Amazing! Sign me up, you say, and the dog looks at you without lifting his head.

It's okay buddy.

Immediately after that on the page, is another download:

Highly relevant! You think "this will come in handy real soon."

Below the top section is exactly the information you came to find out, with dreams of flip-flops in winter and the freshest ceviche...

Dollar signs in your eyes, you scroll down further.

A quick recap (and a link to) that other article you read about starting up a coffee shop.

You forget about TV as you dig in--this is a pretty meaty article with lots of tables, a lot of numbers to ponder on. At the bottom of the article is a list of curated related links that you're definitely going to bookmark and revisit as you make your forward on this journey.

Several Months or a Year Later; Time Is a Flat Circle...

The days have been good to you.

You got money together from friends and family to buy all the equipment you'll need. You found a perfect building to rent or buy, along with a helpful grant from the state to open a business that'll be a boon for the community.

Everything is moving steadily forward and it's time to sweat the small stuff.

What're you going to use for the cash register?

Probably some fancy iPad + card reader type situation.

Wait, didn't you save an article about this?

You go back through your notes--oh yeah! That toast website had an article about best coffee shop POS systems (you're still a 10 year old kid at heart, and you still laugh every time you see POS lol).

You give it a quick read and realize "that toast site" is actually a point of sale solution (aka cash register)--oh, and they also handle payroll?

Damn it, that's handy.

You don't even have to read the article. This site has had its shit together from the very start. They are clearly experts in this space--they've already been so helpful. You navigate to the homepage and click "Get A Demo."

You become a customer and pay them $70/mo for twenty years.

Then sell the business and retire in San Diego.

Fin.

Buy Domains, Fund A Coffee Shop

Yes, there was a kernel of truth in this 2nd person POV business email (NO ONE else is doing this shit, you are reading one cutting-edge B2B email newsletter. Take note Jay Clouse and Justin Welch and... others)

I am trying to purchase a piece of real estate that will eventually become a coffee shop, a dream of mine for a little while now--it's how I discovered the Toast articles (a friend sent me one--shout out Phil!) and fucking amazing they are at capturing readers at various points on the buyers journey (aka TOFU MOFU and BOFU).

I'm looking to raise about $25k, which is the last little bit I need to make things go forward and I thought, well hey, I've got this ginormous list of aged domains--a reasonably valuable asset, why don't I do a super discount and see if I can raise some funds and in return people can scoop up some aged domains for various SEO-related shenanigans for way cheap.

I believe they call that a WIN WIN. So here it is:

​Look through my amazing aged domain list and find yourself 10 names you like. You can get them for $100 each. 10 domains for $1k.

use them to build a mini network

use them to build 10 AI test sites

use them to build a bridge to Terabithia (too soon!)

use them to start 10 niche sites

you can sort by niche or by keywords and traffic.

Either way, it's a good deal, you won't find names for this cheap almost anywhere. Limited time offer! There are bound to be some cases of overlap but I'll take them off the sheet as soon as they come through as purchased.

Thanks!

​

Wrapping Up My Thoughts About Toast and Their Content.

I was really impressed with Toast and their very helpful content.

Google is too, btw:

They are doing everything right. This email was about just HOW WELL they are serving up appropriate content and leading the user through a journey of discovery, education, and--ultimately--purchase.

The headlines contain the main keyword phrase.

The subtitle contains a hook that engages the reader (and also contains very keyword-rich content right up front).

The first paragraph either has a hook that pulls you further down the page, or gives you the information you came to the page to find right away.

It's perfect.

I also love the article's focus on getting your email address. Right beneath the title there's a very relevant "give us your email in return for this optin bait," and then again halfway down the page there's another tempting "give us your email for a thing" thing.

The content is not a 3,500 word monster of stuffed surfer keywords or AI content--it's short, focused, and very relevant to what you searched for.

If I was advising a SaaS company (which is a thing I do sometimes) I'd point to this company's blog and say "just do it like this."

So, if you're reading this: just do it like that!

~

that's it for this email.

hope you liked it! I'm curious if you did, hit reply and LMK what you thought--it was definitely different but: good to mix things up, right?

Right?

also, I didn't forget about the MEMES, dawg, you can click here to check out this week's memes.

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