By day, we’re marketing geeks. Computer nerds. Quirky writers and artists. And damn proud of it!
But after hours, our team members shed their marketing capes – and pursue all kinds of cool Hobbies, Interests and Talents (we call them HITs for short).
Forget glitter and decoupage glue. Here’s how Richard Bush, Haley Marketing’s CTO, gets “crafty”:
HIT: Roasting Specialty Coffee
Back Story
I have a serious passion for freshly roasted coffee, which is hard to find in Buffalo; not so hard in larger cities like Seattle, New York and San Francisco.
About three years ago, on a whim, I Googled “home roasting.” As it turns out, you can roast green coffee at home (who knew?). I gave roasting a shot and found that I really enjoyed it. So much so, that my wife and I started a commercial micro-roastery, Craft Roasting Company, that we run on the weekends.
Why do I love roasting coffee?
It is the antithesis of most of my day. I write code and think in routines and algorithms most of my waking hours. (Yes, I actually like that!) However, creating something with your hands that you can see, touch, taste and smell, requires an entirely different set of skills – and provides an entirely different kind of satisfaction.
Roasting coffee has also forced me to manage my time more carefully (starting up a business is extremely time-intensive), and it’s a great complement to the large amount of brain work I do.
Don’t judge.
We operate our business from our home, so I had all of our equipment delivered there when we set up shop. When our commercial coffee roaster arrived at the house on a flat bed truck, the driver delivering it said, “Wow! You guys really like your coffee!”
Yes we do.
