Feb 21, 2018
Evan Hafer is
the CEO and Founder of Black Rifle Coffee Company, with annual
growth of over 750%, and a goal to hire 10,000 veterans. Listen to
Evan’s ideas on setting priorities, solving business problems, and
getting to ‘mission accomplished,’ in this conversation with Jim
and Jan.
Key Takeaways
[3:38] As Evan developed in
business, he put together structures that helped him get to
‘mission accomplished.’ First came learning from a book, then
understanding the wisdom of what he learned, and then applying it
through manpower and resources.
[16:10] The most important
lesson Evan has learned is that if you work long enough and hard
enough at something, you’re going to make a result. You have to
apply more energy than you’ve ever applied and when you think you
don’t have anything left, you go further. Quitting is not an
option. Failure is not a choice. It doesn’t exist. What gets you to
success is effective prioritization of work. Triage your
time.
[19:40] Civilians at Black Rifle
help the Special Operations veterans dial back their mission
urgency and work tasks into regular schedules and projects. Evan
has a goal to hire 10,000 vets. He is working on franchising and
corporate stores. He will start with 20 franchises in 2018 and will
ramp up to hundreds.
[27:06] Evan uses
cut-to-the-bone candor when necessary. Business is problem-solving.
Evan cuts the fluff and gets directly to the point. He doesn’t hide
who he is to appeal to people that do not support veterans or the
Second Amendment. He would rather people see him up front and buy
his products in authenticity.
[32:01] Evan explains some of
the effects of war on military personnel. An introspective veteran
becomes a warrior philosopher based on their experiences. He is
grateful every day to be here with his family when some of his
friends are no longer here.
[33:48] Evan reflects on how
service and combat reshape character. He urges people who have
deployed to use that experience in the greatest way they can, and
grow from it. You have to decide to fight and win. That’s the first
step. Embrace the positive and flush the negative.
[38:27] Define your success
criteria before moving into a specific objective. You might not
achieve the exact results; that doesn’t mean you have failed.
There’s always another solution to the problem. If you quit, you
have chosen to fail.
Facebook: Black Rifle Coffee Company
Check the More tab to look at
opening a franchise.
Instagram: @BlackRifleCoffee
Instagram: @EvanHafer
Twitter: @BlckRifleCoffee
YouTube:
Black Rifle Coffee
Website: BlackRifleCoffee.com
Quotable Quotes
“I always tell people I was an
OK Green Beret and I’m trying to be a good businessman but I pride
myself on being a great father.”
“I’m not going to be remembered
for my coffee. I’m going to be remembered by my children for being
a halfway decent guy.”
“You can’t control everything
that people write about you and you can’t control people when they
take creative latitude.”
“The single most effective gift
the military gave me, they gave to me when I was 18 years old and
that was confidence.”
“They instilled the dumb idea
that you can accomplish anything with the correct amount of energy
and the right team.”
“You start to really refine —
what does that mean, to have mission accomplished? Then you start
putting structure behind that.”
“When I left the military I
wrote … my mission objective … to emancipate myself from government
service and to become successful.”
“My work, my job, my company of
Black Rifle Coffee is quite literally just my value proposition to
my family.”
“Nobody controls my destiny but
me.”
Evan prizes spending more time
with his family to be a better father and husband.
“War will humble you. Regardless
of what mission you’ve had … or how … you’ve been trained …
Everybody is equal in a gunfight.”
“This is a customer service
issue. We’re not going to lose life, limb, or eyesight. We can take
care of these customers, make it right, and we’ll move
forward.”
“We’re not fighting Al Qaeda,
anymore, guys! Dial it back a little bit. Everybody doesn’t need to
be a Tier 1 Operator.”
“As soon as I pass the threshold
into my home, it’s all about family, and I just try to focus
completely all my attention, … on my family.”
“if
you work long enough, hard enough, at something, you’re going to
make a result.”
“[Profit can be,] how much will
this give me as far as individual freedom, down the road, or a
profit back into my account?”
“If you’re [prioritizing] on a
regular basis, you will be able to spend most of your time working
on the things that will pay off in big results.”
“At any point in time, we could
move from coffee company to direct action kinetic
operations.”
“War has been the single most
defining thing of my character and my life.”
“There’s not a day that goes by
in my life that I’m not thankful for being here and it has
re-prioritized my value system.”
“Embrace the positive and flush
the negative. … Every day there’s an opportunity to reinvent
yourself.”
“When I say failure, it means
that person has quit — quite literally — and that its a
choice.”
Bio
In 1995, Evan
Hafer was introduced by a
friend to great espresso. Intrigued, he began reading and
researching the art of coffee roasting, taking classes, and
traveling to cities like Portland and Seattle to learn more about
the craft.
Between deployments to Iraq --
where Evan served with Special Forces and later as a CIA
contractor, from 2003 to 2014 -– he brought along the boutique,
small-batch coffee he had learned to roast. The gospel of good
coffee was spread to his fellow service members; soon, they had
converted gun trucks and were grinding coffee every
morning.
After finishing his military
service and returning home, all Evan wanted to do was make coffee.
After meeting Mat Best, one of the founders of Article 15 Clothing,
Evan started selling his Freedom Roast on their site. Over 500 lbs.
were purchased.
In December 2014, he pulled the
trigger and launched Black Rifle Coffee. The company has
experienced exponential growth since opening. Today, they see
continued annual growth of over 750%. About one million pounds of
coffee are roasted a year. it can be found in over 500 retailers
internationally and 65% of employees are veterans.