Budding entrepreneur Martin’s mind started percolating when he spotted an empty corner in his local community centre, HaverHub, and the opportunity to set up a coffee shop in his home town of Haverfordwest was born.
“I’ve been making coffee for about 10 years or so now; I spotted this empty space in the foyer that was ideal for a café – so I decided set one up! It’s the perfect space for people to come together, and enjoy a good cuppa at the same time.”
Nestled in the town’s old post office, a lively programme of gigs, theatre and cinema draw in the crowds, bringing with them a steady flow of customers to Martin’s first class coffee shop in the corner.
With next-to-no business experience before setting up shop, Martin knew one thing – how to make a good cup of coffee. Undeterred, he took on the role, becoming one of the 7,000 or so Baristas across the UK running their very own independent coffee shop.
His love of coffee soon became a full time job, with Martin often taking the work home with him after switching off the milk frother.
“The work doesn’t end when I leave the shop. I go home and have to do everything myself – from accounting to graphic design, I’m constantly using the internet, so a really good connection is important to me.”
Running his own business, Martin now manages the entire enterprise from home, managing the coffee shop’s finances, stock control and planning all of his own marketing using a range of online tools – and, making this a whole lot easier, his trusty Ogi ultrafast broadband connection.
“When I started I had no real idea how to run the business side of things, I just knew how to work the coffee machine. Having an ultrafast connection at home gives me the confidence to keep working long after the coffee machine is switched off.”
Martin signed up to Ogi 150, offering 150Mbps download speeds, almost triple the average 52Mbps download speed he was used to – and has never looked back.
“It’s so important to me and my business – it’s almost like a digital caffeine kick at the end of the day.”
