I worked in management at Starbucks Coffee Company for 3.5 years in Chicagoland. I don’t think I would have hired me. I recall saying that I couldn’t drink coffee- that I had a physical reaction to it. And that was true for drinking crappy coffee. As it turned out, I *could* drink Starbucks Coffee. And drink it, I did. Anyway, over the course of those years I developed a great fondness for the ceo and founder of what we know Starbucks to be today, Howard Schultz. I have read his two books (Pour Your Heart Into It and Onward) and have always been inspired by his public speaking. The company itself is impressive with the difference it makes in so many different areas and he has such an earnestness about him. For the last three years I have had the pleasure and honor to attend the Starbucks Annual Shareholder meeting in Seattle. And I have never left any of those meetings without shedding an inspired tear.
A few months back when I was knee deep in numbers for the business plan (I now know more about volts and amps for refrigeration than I ever wanted to), I received an email from Starbucks about their Create Jobs for USA campaign with the Opportunity
Finance Network. The heart of the campaign is that people can contribute $5 which then translates to the Opportunity Finance Network granting $35 to a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) which then supports small businesses getting loans to be able to employ people and strengthen the nation’s economy. This was the first I heard about a CDFI. I did some research and found two in the state of Wisconsin that I can work with. And needless to say, I had a new reason to be grateful to Howard Schultz and the impact that he and his company has.
Next month I get to go to my fourth Starbucks Annual Shareholders Meeting. Back in August I found myself needing to come up with a double deposit for my apartment and made the extremely difficult choice to sell all but one Starbucks share. I knew it was my golden ticket to be able to be able to keep going to the meetings, to continue to be inspired by Howard, and keep on the cutting edge of innovation for WeatherVane Creamery. The other night I wrote Howard a letter inviting him to have coffee with me and consider being an investor. I know it is a radical idea. But you’ve never known me to have a radical idea before, have you?