This is the final episode of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

This is also the final episode of the podcast for 2021. The MAP IT FORWARD Podcast team will be taking a few weeks vacation and returning in late Jan 2022. The MAP IT FORWARD Podcast team, together with Lee Safar and Sara Alali would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season and a successful year ahead in 2022.

In this episode of this SWAPCAST, Lee and Sara take a look at the clarity and confidence that came from Sara understanding the numbers involved in creating and running her cafe and how that clarity is helping her prepare for, and adapt to, the global inflationary environment of the next 24 months.

THAT Boutique Cafe has been a MAP IT FORWARD Consulting Client for over 12 months

This is the 7th of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of this SWAPCAST, Sara and Lee go into the detailed process of hiring a team for Sara's new business, luxury boutique cafe @THATCafe.co based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The process includes a step-by-step account of how they hired a full team that was aligned with the values, mission, and vision of Sara's business in the middle of a labour shortage and pandemic.

THAT Boutique Cafe has been a MAP IT FORWARD Consulting Client for over 12 months

This is the 6th of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of this SWAPCAST, Sara and Lee discuss the infrastructure planning that went into building the foundation of Sara's new business, luxury boutique cafe @THATCafe.co based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This planning included creating hiring plans, inventory plans, customer acquisition plans, sales plans, financial forecasting, and much much more.

THAT Boutique Cafe has been a MAP IT FORWARD Consulting Client for over 12 months

This is the 5th of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of this SWAPCAST, Sara and Lee explore how they created and developed a Customer Acquisition Plan for the launch of Sara's new business, Luxury boutique cafe @THATCafe.co based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They discuss why having a clear understanding of who THAT's customers are, has made it easier to make most of the other decisions in the business.

THAT Boutique Cafe has been a MAP IT FORWARD Consulting Client for over 12 months

This is the 4th of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of the SWAPCAST we explore the importance of defining culture in a business (which is more than just your work environment) no matter how small or large your team is. Sara gives us insight into how the culture of her cafe @THATcafe.com was been structured from the foundational company vision of "Celebrating People".

This is the 3rd of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of the SWAPCAST, Sara explains the process of translating each of the defined values that stem from "Celebrating People" for her boutique luxury cafe @THATCafe.co in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia into real-life actions that demonstrated to all stakeholders what the values of the company stood for.

This is the 2nd of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

In this episode of the SWAPCAST, Sara goes into detail about the process required to establish the building blocks, i.e. the vision, mission, and values, of her business - boutique luxury cafe, @THATcafe.co, in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. Sara and Lee discuss how the foundational mission, “Celebrating People” became a guiding principle for making decisions about fit-out, supply chain, staffing, and more. They also discussed how this statement was challenged building out a cafe during a pandemic.

This is the first of an eight-episode SWAPCAST between The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD hosted by Lee Safar and The MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast hosted by Sara Alali.

Sara is getting ready to open her new luxurious cafe, THAT @thatcafe.co Cafe in the booming specialty coffee scene of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early January 2022. Over these eight episodes, we’ll explore the journey Sara took deciding to build a world-class cafe right before the world went into lockdown at the beginning of 2020 and the challenges that come along with each decision as the economic fallout from the pandemic start to put a strain on the coffee value chain.

In this episode of the podcast, Sara and Lee discuss how Sara went from deciding to open a cafe in 2013 to finding the right business model that lead to finally building her cafe that will open in January 2022.

We have a really exciting swapcast coming up with the host of our MAP IT FORWARD Middle East Podcast, Sara Alali. Sara is getting ready to open one of the most beautiful cafes in the world with a business model that has a demonstratable vision focused on "Celebrating People"! The cafe will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in the eight episodes of this swapcast, you'll get an insight into the process that Sara went through to create this enchanting space and how she managed to put together a full team of employees at the time of major a labor shortage.

Historically, the coffee industry has been an industry that follows trends and encourages hero-worshiping of barista champions, social media influencers, etc. Brands encourage this behaviour because it allows them easy access to you through sponsorship. Trends come and go and those who chase those trends are left reacting to business rather than being strategic about it. Creating a Customer Acquisition Plan and building strategic relationships with suppliers, staff, and consultants that can help you to breathe life into that plan is a way to be an outlier in an industry that's suffered for decades with razor-thin margins and bad business models trying to keep up with what's new. Building strategically means you'll build with confidence.

December and January are traditionally a time to reflect on the year that's passed and set intentions for the year ahead. What better time to audit the professional (and personal) relationships in your life and question how they've served you and you've served them. Are they still relevant? Do they need work? Is it time to invest in them to keep them growing or have you outgrown each other? In this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD, we'll explore the delicacy of confronting these questions.

In preparation for another challenging year in 2022, we're entering the planning phase with our consulting clients and shifting the narrative to a different kind of success that we're all very much looking forward to. We may not be able to avoid the economic chaos 2022 is predicted to serve up to the global economy, but we can prepare our mindset to experience all the challenges we face with joy and with the grit necessary to achieve success and grow thoughtfully and significantly in the ways each of us chooses valuable.

As we wrap up 2021 for our consulting clients and mastermind groups around the world, December gives us a chance to acknowledge the wonderful success our clients have achieved this year and the very real exhaustion that comes from all the grit and hard work needed to achieve that success.

Hold on to your hats kids! If you thought 2020 and 2021 were hard years, I suspect that 2022 is going to give us all a run for our money and there are some very clear reasons why. Check out this episode of The Daily Coffee Pro by MAP IT FORWARD for some insight!