Stephanie McKenzie - Visit Reflection

Stephanie McKenzie, the owner of Metro Coffee at UWT, gave a talk to TINST 475. Stephanie took over Metro Coffee at age 24 in 2009 after her boss got cancer. Throughout her talk she focused on the many lessons she learned and skills she improved through all the difficulties that were involved with taking over a business with little management experience.

After her boss’s exit from the company due to cancer, Stephanie began transitioning to sole proprietor. During this transition, Stephanie had an agreement with her mom that allowed her to afford keeping up the business. There were, however, disagreements later about how the details of this agreement, and Stephanie spent 9 months in legal proceedings with her mom. Recently, Metro Coffee was broken into twice. For such a small business with one location, a break in can have a large impact.

Stephanie faced countless challenges, including the ones outlined above, as she learned how to operate in her new role as company owner. For each of these, she told us valuable lessons she learned. During the long period involved in legal proceedings, she learned to carefully review financial agreements she made, especially ones that could directly impact personal relationships. Break ins cannot always be avoided and will always be difficult, however, Stephanie has learned how to handle them better and maintains a sense of humor throughout, saying, “I only cried for one minute the second time.” These experiences culminate in her current perspective of being much more comfortable with running Metro Coffee due to her attendance at the school of Hard Knox.