Meet Danny & Stephanie Arellano

We recently connected with Danny & Stephanie Arellano and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Danny & Stephanie, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?

Risk is a scary word to a lot of people. It conveys jumping into the unknown, or, making a decision without knowing what the outcome is going to be. It’s safe to be in the “known” rather than the unknown. It’s comfortable to be in control of your future. As Christians, and as a faith-based business, we don’t necessarily believe in risks. At least, we don’t like to call it that. We prefer to label it as a “leap of faith.” Quitting my 9-5 job to pursue this business of ours took a huge leap of faith, but here we are almost a year in and we are still operating and revenue is still coming in!

Our ability to take risks comes from a deep sense of knowing who God is. We don’t believe in a God who takes risks, but in a God who is sovereign and in control of all circumstances. The Bible says that if we acknowledge God in all of our ways, He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5). It doesn’t say or mean that He’ll show us the right path to take or the right decision to make, but that He’ll make the path we’re currently on straight. This is so comforting! And a saying we tend to live by is that “God guides a moving ship.” With these two things in mind, it frees us to take “risks” or as we like to call them, “leaps of faith.” We know and believe that as long as we’re seeking after God and making moves, He will guide us.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

In a culture that’s saturated with cheap, sugary coffee, it’s been our goal to join the many in providing quality, specialty coffee to consumers! Our goal is to ultimately open a coffee shop but until then, we take the coffee shop to you! That said, Messenger Coffee LA was designed and created to bring the aesthetic and quality of specialty coffee shops in LA to those who either can’t drive to LA, or quite frankly, don’t want to.

We’ve been hired to cater birthday parties, weddings, baby showers, bar-mitzvah’s, corporate events, and even funeral receptions. We love coffee, and we love seeing others enjoy a great cup of coffee. We pride ourselves in providing an aesthetic and experience that people will love. Everything we do is thought out. Anything from the coffee beans we choose, the quality of water we use, the ratios we utilize – it’s all part of the experience.

We’re currently working on scaling and expanding our coffee cart business and hope to have more carts, more employees and more catering opportunities.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Knowing your business model, understanding financials and humility.

These are the first three things that come to mind and have been incredibly helpful for us. Knowing our business model helped us understand what we’re trying to do and how we’re getting there. Part of getting there is having an understanding of our financials. Things like ROI, KPI, COG – all things we didn’t know starting out but have served as a great reference point for growth! And humility – this is probably the hardest. Not starting a business thinking you know what you’re doing and thinking it’s going to be this great thing. Understanding that you need help and that receiving wisdom and guidance from others is important.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

Showing me how to be your own boss. Both of my parents (Danny) have always been self-employed and have started many different small businesses. They started a clothing company at one point, a trucking company, an office-cleaning business, a taxes and bookkeeping company, a property maintenance company, and more! Seeing them exemplified to me that you don’t have to work for the man, you could be the man.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.messengercoffeela.com
• Instagram: @messengercoffeela
• Yelp: Messenger Coffee