A few months ago, I took a surf and coffee trip to Costa Rica – it was some serious research. I’ve been to Costa Rica many times before, but this trip was going to be so different. Instead of just hanging out in the surf towns as I had in the past, often staying in one place for weeks in an attempt to dial it in, I would be visiting the coffee growing regions, touring plantations, and learning first hand about some of the challenges facing coffee growers.
Instead of just chasing the swells, my schedule was built around joining Costas Verdes for their last tree planting of the season, meeting with Beverly Kitson at the David S. Kitson Library in Nosara to learn about the challenges of education in that area, and heading to San Jose to have lunch with a group of Nicaraguan student refugees who were forced to leave their country due to the recent political turmoil.
What was amazing was that there was still plenty of time to surf, I just added so much more to my experience. Meeting with locals who were so committed to helping their communities, and the world, was inspiring, and having a company also committed doing something good (even one that had yet to define what ‘good’ would mean) had opened these doors for me.
I came to realize that just having the mindset of starting something that matters would draw in all of these people who are rooting for you to succeed, because your success would be theirs too.
Drink Coffee. Plant Trees.
Whether Twin Fin Coffee decides to plant more trees, buy more books, or help more refugees (or, in time, all of these things) is almost irrelevant. The seed has been planted and the commitment has been made that this company will do it’s best to do something that matters.
UPDATE: For now, we’ve decided to plant a tree with each bag sold through support of a group called One Tree Planted.
Back in 2012, after Tom’s was a huge success and he had proved that a business can be built around giving, Blake Mycoskie put out a book titled ‘Start Something That Matters.’
I picked up a copy from my local library when the idea for Twin Fin Coffee was just beginning to gel and we had decided that the company would be committed to giving back to environmental and educational programs in the areas we love to surf and visit.
‘Start Something That Matters’ is an easy read, but it’s a great story as well as a step by step guide about the early days at Tom’s and how their new business model would go on to influence people’s view of how business could be done.
For me personally, it has been interesting how just taking this view of what our business is all about has already influenced our actions and experiences so much. By reaching out with this in mind I’ve already met some of the most amazing and inspiring people.
We can’t wait to see where this all goes, and I hope you’ll join us for the ride.
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