28 Tyler Geel, Co-Founder of Insomnia Coffee Co – Hillsboro, OR

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On this episode, I interview Tyler Geel, the co-founder and owner of Insomnia Coffee Company in Hillsboro, OR. Tyler started Insomnia in 2007 with his long-time friend Evan. Since then they have grown to 4 (soon-to-be 5) locations, and have become a household name in the Hillsboro Community. Insomnia is known as Hillsboro’s Living Room by many, and when you hear what drives Tyler and Evan it is not surprising that they have been able to build a company with such a strong brand.

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“If you are chasing money that is the fastest way to not get it.” – Gary Vaynerchuk . I think one of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur is being patient. You have to make sure that you have your goals and sights set on something deeper than monetary gain. . We touched on this topic and several others in my conversation with Tyler Geel (co-founder of @insomniacoffee). . I Had a great conversation with @mr_geel yesterday. If you have never heard about how Insomnia Coffee came to be you are going to love listening to this episode when it comes out next week. . Stay Tuned

A post shared by Chris Kiefer (@pursuitofpurpose.pod) on Jan 23, 2019 at 5:33pm PST

Questions asked on this episode:

1. Where are you from and how did you land in hillsboro?
2. At what point did the thought of creating a coffee shop happen?
3. How many other careers/jobs did you have before starting a coffee company?
4. What surprised you most about being a business owner?
5. What point did you realize that you were gonna make it.
6. How do you and Evan move forward when you disagree?
7. How did you and Evan meet?
8. People always talk about pursuing your passions. Were you “passionate” about coffee in the early days or were you guys just trying to start a business? 
9. Tell me about your family?
10. Do you ever have disagreements within each other’s families?
11. Did you have spouses/kids in the beginning? 
12. How do you balance working and being a dad/father?
13. What do you say no to? Do you think that saying no is really a skill that successful people are better at than unsuccessful people?
14. What is vacation for you, what does it actually look like?
15. What is something that not many people know about you?
16. What’s next for you?

“Don’t Follow Your Passion” by Mike Rowe

Quote mentioned in this episode

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

Warren Buffet

Book recommendations

• E-Myth: Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it by Michael E.Gerber
• Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
• We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Movie Recommendations

La La Land (2016) directed by Damien Chazelle

Contact Tyler

Instagram: @mr_geel