about

Welcome! My name is Kat and my day job involves running Quokka Coffee in Western Australia. I started this newsletter to make the ordeal of running a business a little more bearable. I think the act of writing is inherently selfish—one I perform gleefully in my spare time—but sharing it with the rest of the world under the guise of 'small business wisdom' makes me feel less guilty about it.

why trust a stranger on the internet?

I've worked in hospitality since graduating from college in 2014 (a mixed arts/comms degree if anyone's curious) and despite multiple attempts to leave the industry it always seems to drag me back, kicking and screaming only a little.

I know how to make coffee with my eyes closed but what makes me happiest is serving that cup to someone and making sure they start their day right. I realized I could make a business out of it because I got very good at training people with zero experience to do exactly those things day in and day out.

The company's survived its first year in business, during which I've been proud to pay my staff, suppliers and rent on time. (Trust me, that's not an easy flex.) If I'm not at the shop slinging shots or writing this newsletter, I'm probably helping people out through Square's Super Seller Programme.

credits and housekeeping

Molly Young's always delightful Read Like the Wind. Casey Newton's tech world deep cuts at Platformer. Vaughn Tan's limited-run The Uncertainty Mindset. Always and forever: Colin Harmon's 'What I Know About Running Coffee Shops.'

Subscribe and gain access to the rest of the newsletter and be the first to read new issues as they become available. Your support in whatever shape or form feeds our souls and our work just enough that we remain 'on the verge of hunger'—making everything taste all the sweeter for it.