“Every day is a great day, some days are just better than others.”

Is a saying Mark, the owner of Coffee Club Beerwah is known for. This is my second episode of the podcast ‘JJ Live’, and I was delighted to interview Mark, a positive, friendly coffee shop owner who has done more than you think.

I interview Mark from the Coffee Club Beerwah, Mark has opened himself to many professions including a bank teller and policeman. A passion for business led him to buy into a franchise with over 80 employee’s offering fast food. Marks business was eventually bought out by Mcdonald’s, which led him to buy a supermarket. After being selected for a scholarship management program Mark immigrated to Australia, and the Sunshine Coast was his first stop to the present day.

The experience of being his own boss was in need of a break and he worked for other people for 17 years to understand the process of business in Australia. Mark is now the manager of The Coffee Club in Beerwah, I would say the friendliest most welcoming coffee club on Sunshine Coast. Mark shares a great amount of knowledge on what success is, advice for young people and tips for small businesses. We also talk about the search for balance in life, and how you can choose to be happy almost every day.

Mark has been a bank teller, a fast food restaurant owner (previously in competition with Mcdonalds), a supermarket owner, and has served the New Zealand Police Force for over 10 years.

In this interview, Mark shares his thoughts on what success is, advice for young people and tips for small businesses. We also talk about the search for balance in life, and how you can choose to be happy almost every day.

Questions:

1. There’s a concept I’ve taken on from a previous interview, and it’s this idea of having multiple lifetimes, its sounds a little crazy but basically when you move to a different country, state or city, marry or remarry, you live another lifetime,
2. I’ve only had one lifetime, even though I was born in England I was only there for 8 weeks, can you tell me about some of your lifetimes?
3. Mark from what I understand, life seldom turns out the way you plan, Tell me a little bit about your chosen career, where did you start out, and was different to how you imagined it turn out for you.  – and then you made your way here?
4. What do you consider to be your most challenging experience.
   You moved over here, to the Sunshine Coast from New Zealand (I’m presuming), do you believe lifestyle is an important part of a career choice?
5. Throughout your lifetimes to where you are now, you’ve been quite successful, how would you define success?
6. You say quite often, ‘every day’s a good day, some are just better than others’, and you can see that you embrace that because this coffee club particularly has a very welcoming feel, what is the drive behind everyday when you come to work here?
7. If you did it all again, would you do anything differently?
   Do you have any advice for young people trying to navigate their way to find a career?

Specific suggestions about business.

” I wanna shift gears a little bit and talk about the specifics of your job.”

1. What are the advantages and disadvantage of running your own business?
2. The Coffee Club is a well renowned business, what qualities do you look for in an employee?
3. Coming back to lifestyle, what impact has owning a business had on your family life?
4. What advice would you have for someone starting out in business?