Why I Started a Coffee Company That Will Never Make Me a Dime

Years ago I started a coffee company that will never make me a dime. That was the point from the start.

Three Avocados is a nonprofit. 100% of the profit funds clean water in developing countries — not a percentage, not "a portion of proceeds," all of it. So far that has added up to more than $200,000 in projects, and clean drinking water for around 100,000 people across eight countries.

People sometimes ask why coffee, of all things. The honest answer starts in 2010, on a trip to Uganda.

I went without really knowing what to expect. What I found was hard to unsee: a level of poverty I had no idea still existed on this earth. I came home changed, and convinced that a healthy business could help fund the response to what I'd seen. Coffee was just the vehicle. The water is the point.

Here's what surprised me, though. It didn't only lead to a nonprofit. It changed how I saw the business I was already running back home. Once you've watched what profit can do on the other side of the world, it gets hard to see it as only a number on your own P&L.

That's the whole idea behind how I coach now. Build a healthy, profitable business — and then let it be for something. The profit isn't the finish line. It's fuel: for your family, your team, your community, and causes you may never see the full impact of.

I'm a Christian, so for me this traces back to a belief that what I've been given is meant to be stewarded toward something bigger than myself. You don't have to share that faith for the principle to hold. A business built well, when used correctly, can be one of the most powerful forces for good there is.

If you've ever felt that your business should be for more than the number at the bottom, that instinct is worth following.