From 9-5 to 365

Originally published on Linkedin on March 24, 2021

The Bakr Family

About three years ago I made a major leap of faith which completely shifted my life’s trajectory. I decided to put the security of an in-house senior corporate career on-hold while I followed my entrepreneurial calling to start an independent specialty coffee company. I did not pursue this dream because it was easier, because “easy” it was definitely NOT. I was drawn by a vision of living a more whole career that is not linearly defined by a single track, function, or measure of success.

My family encouraged me to embark on this new life adventure, but not all my friends were equally supportive. They did not understand why I wanted to leave the predictability of a stable career in my mid-40s, to pursue what they thought could be a journey with potentially disastrous consequences. To them, it was an unnecessary career move; an unforced error.

I evaluated my emotional, financial and business risk-tolerance, armed myself with a good business plan (I thought it was good at the time . . .), liquidated my stock to fund the new business and secured a safety net of cash to last us about 2 years without income. I went all in!

My plan was to pursue a dual career as an entrepreneur AND a Total Rewards & HR Systems consultant. Consulting provided me with the flexibility to balance all my new priorities. A multi-year sabbatical would have been a much easier choice to focus one one thing at a time. But a long sabbatical could have deemed me irrelevant or at least less relevant to a career that I had successfully built and enjoyed for over 22 years.

Construction of Duino in McKinney

I signed a lease on a new commercial space in mid-2018 and soon after, Duino Coffee was born and officially opened its doors on February 2, 2019. Concurrently while we were getting the new business off the ground, I reached out to my professional network to land amazing medium-term contract opportunities. In fact, I enjoy contract work so much that I could make a new full-time career out of it.

The overall plan worked! Duino became cash flow positive by the 9th month of operations, and I was earning enough income from consulting to maintain almost the same standard of living. This success was temporarily interrupted by COVID-19, which severely impacted both businesses in 2020 and early 2021. We weathered the storm, then figured out a way to continue growing with a bit of innovation, a dash of optimism and a whole lot of grit.

Duino- McKinney

The idea for Duino Coffee started as a personal passion, but soon it became a shared family vision that transformed all our lives. My wife ended up leaving her career as an interpreter to dedicate 100% of her time to Duino. Our kids also became incredibly involved, in fact our youngest child, Zain (9) already introduces himself with pride as “future owner of Duino”. Our middle daughter, Taline (13) is inspired by her new entrepreneurial experience and decided to build a specialty bakery after she graduates college, and our oldest daughter, Jenna (15) had her first ever opportunity to publicly display her original art at Duino.

The Bakr kids decorated Duino with words of encouragement during COVID

The Duino story continues to be written, but what a story it has already been! From humble beginnings in our first year, to rising-up to COVID-19 (and thriving) in our second year and continuing to build on our success in our third year. Duino is still a vulnerable startup business, but over-and-over again we rose-up to the challenges, and came out better, stronger and more resilient. We have larger-than-life plans, including better technology, more locations and new revenue streams.

So, in hindsight would I do it again? The last 3 years have been the toughest and most challenging ever! I came close to running out of cash several times, and the daily stresses of running a startup business and being a consultant are sometimes unbearable. I also had no idea that we would be starting our business in literally the worst business environment in generations. But despite all these challenges I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat! I took a big risk, and the rewards are now very much insight.