08/05/2026
"Leya makes the best Coffee in her neighborhood. For years her friends told her: "ለምን የራስሽን ቡና ቤት አትከፍቺም?" Last year, she did. Six months in, she's working 14 hours a day, fighting with suppliers, chasing customers who don't pay, and arguing with her two waitresses. The coffee is still excellent. The business is killing her.
This is what Michael Ge**er calls The Fatal Assumption: believing that if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. They are completely different things.
Making great coffee is a skill. Running a coffee shop is a business. One does not teach you the other.
Have you ever started a business because you were good at the work and discovered the business itself was a different beast? Tell us your story below 👇