Grounds For Optimism: I Have a Bean coffee featured in Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune wrote a wonderful piece on the story behind Second Chance Coffee Company, makers of the brand we named "I Have a Bean." Enjoy!

Getting a job is one of the toughest parts of post-prison life. But a tiny coffee roasting company in Wheaton is doing what it can to give former offenders a fresh start.

By Joan Cary
Special to the Tribune
October 14, 2009

In 2007, three Wheaton men, Pete Leonard, Ron deVries and Dave Scavotto, met for their weekly breakfast and came up with an idea for a small business that would provide fresh coffee and fresh starts.

Fresh start: Each had witnessed the plight of former prisoners in the job market.

Fresh coffee: Each enjoys a cup, although Leonard was more passionate about it than the others.

In August, after 2 1/2 years of brewing over it, they opened Second Chance Coffee Co. with two primary goals: to roast the best and freshest coffee, and to give former prisoners a chance at reliable employment.

"Starting a small business in a down economy and hiring ex-offenders? I'd say hard. Very hard," said Leonard,

Announcing a fresh new name for Second Chance Coffee: I HAVE A BEAN

When some people thought the name Second Chance Coffee implied that the beans were recycled, the founders knew it was time for a name change. The name Second Chance stemmed from the mission of the company - to help ex-offenders help themselves by providing gainful post-prison employment, job training and a community of acceptance. The company positively impacts the spiritual, social and economic condition of their employees, their families and the communities in which they live. All that and they make what many people say is the smoothest cup of coffee they have ever tasted. (It's so smooth, most of their customers drink it black.) Second Chance wanted us to create a memorable name that they could monetize, like we had done for frozen yogurt franchise Spoon Me and the chain of laundromats we named Stuff a Sock in It. After reviewing dozens of names, the top contenders were narrowed down to Happy Joe Lucky, I Dream of Coffee, Thank God It's Coffee, and I Have a Bean. We felt that I Have a Bean made the biggest emotional connection and had the strongest potential to make our client rich through the sale of t-shirts, mugs and coffee canisters. The client agreed. The tagline we created, "Inspired Coffee" helps set the tone that the company is inspiring people to live better lives. We are thrilled with the package design, which was created by Carrie Dufour and her talented team at Sloat Design. We snatched up www.ihaveabean.com for $9.95 and the site and brand officially launch on June 1st. Until then, follow them on Twitter, at I Have a Bean.

Tweet My Words (before someone nabs your name)

Hurry and register your name on Twitter before someone else hijacks it and tweets your words. It's free to sign up and takes all of 17 seconds. Even if you don't have the foggiest idea of what Twitter is or how you could possibly use it to get business, do yourself an enormous favor and secure your brand name (and personal name) on Twitter right now before someone else takes it. You can figure out how to use it later. Unlike domain names, Twitter names (e.g. eatmywords, spoonme, ihaveabean, monalisastyle, fusionlaw, halogenguides) don't cost a dime and are snap to get. I was a Twitterphobe until we got a client, Cha Chang, who "tweeted" a question about needing a naming firm and got a "tweet" back from one of her "followers," who referred her to Eat My Words. Cha-Ching! Since then, I've used Twitter a few times a week to blast out 140-character-or-less business updates, links to blog posts, and informal surveys. You can do the same and more... tweet special offers, ask your customers for feedback, and let them know about new products. Here's how some of our clients are using Twitter to engage their customers. Click on their name to see their Twitter page and postings...

Spoon Me "Tweet your favorite Spoon Me combo!"

I Have a Bean "We have a lease! We hope to be roasting by the week of May 9th"

Solemate "Solemate is now #4 for Movers and Shakers on Kindle!"

Fusion Law "Cal-COBRA Employers Get a Break http://tinyurl.com/dbrcoe"

Eat My Dust "On beautiful days and nights like these, don't forget 2 open the windows and shut the A/C (or heat) to save energy and increase air quality."

Please let us know when you sign up. And be sure to follow us at eatmywords.

To learn how B2B marketers are using Twitter, read this excellent article.