CIE Workshop 6 Wrap Up

Entrepreneurship and Jargon busted on the fly – inspiration from Ground Rules Coffee

The story of Ground Rules Coffee certainly has flavour, zest, twists and turns, and plenty of St Paul’s flare. Co-Founders Brendon and Andrew are St Paul’s Alumni and Nathan is a St Paul’s Prep Parent. Our Sippers Coffee Shop proudly serves Ground Rules Coffee (designed by our staff) and thanks to the generosity of the guys, our Hospitality staff and students are the proud owners of a coffee cart and machine.

CIE Workshop six was focussed on being inspired by these entrepreneurs and learning about the keys to their success to influence our own. Their main ingredients are their creative and entrepreneurial thinking.

Brendon’s journey began with a passion for electrics, lighting, and solar, creating a successful and globally recognised, innovation focussed lighting company Ambi-fx Lighting with Andrew. Andrew and Brendon moved the company to Hong Kong where demand was high for the innovative lighting solutions. Sadly, they experienced lack of quality coffee when working in Hong Kong, so Brendon and Andrew saw an opportunity to partner with coffee specialist Nathan to import great coffee. They didn’t just design what they wanted, they listened to the people. Designing and delivering Hong Kong customer focussed coffee and service.

With Covid-19 in early 2020, Brendon and Andrew found themselves back in Australia for a longer period of time. They spotted an opportunity in the local coffee market to bring the same values as Ambi-Fx – lighting: exceptional quality, exceptional service, and exceptional value. They seized the opportunity to get Nathan on board and Ground Rules Coffee was born.

At the workshop, Brendon and Nathan gave several examples of traits that are common in entrepreneurial thinkers and doers and how they have been critical for their journey, overcoming obstacles, and business success.

Trial and error – getting it right takes effort, experimentation, taking on feedback and trying again to ensure you are delivering the quality and value your customers expect.

Never stand still – being driven to consistently deliver quality to customer based on their changing preferences, improving delivery of services, and continually pushing yourself and the company to improve.

Give first – These guys are all about generosity and no expectation of return, #givefirst. The Ground Rules vision is to educate the world on coffee production, demystifying the process and the product. They also focus on their community, how can they support those closest to them.

Flexible & Fun – yes there are a lot of sleepless night starting and running your own business, yes there are knock backs, failures, and getting burnt. If you can be focused but flexible and take the business seriously but not yourself, you will have fun and enjoy the achievements

Thanks for the inspiration and importantly the coffee!