A talk to fire up Secondary school students to tackle their task of turning £30 into more. And sharing with them the secrets of my success.

1. How To be Inspired in Business Karen Mercer, Co–Founder of My Coffee Stop

2. Just a bit of Background... My Coffee Stop is a little shop at the end of Platform 1, Enfield Chase Station. Two people run it, myself and Gunter Hollenstein. We serve quality coffee quickly within 30 seconds from the moment you order.

4. Our Coffee & Cake is really good BUT.... My Coffee Stop is about more than coffee & cake, it’s about creating a pleasant space in the world and being a positive influence!

5. We opened over 1 year ago, in February 2009.

8. In that time, we’ve been in... The Enfield Gazette, The Enfield Advertiser, The Enfield Independent & several other North London papers.... On television on the BBC News... On several radio stations, including Radio Enfield, Radio 2 and Smooth FM.

22. We are an Award Winning Business We are the winners of the North & West London Business Award for Innovation, sponsored by HSBC We are the winners of the Enterprise Enfield Green Business of the year award, sponsored by the RSA Trust We are the runners up in the Enterprise Enfield’s Start-up Business of the year award We were shortlisted for the Linked In – European Business Awards for Innovation

23. Photo by Andy Barnes

24. And Now!

26. Yeah! Londoners in the Smooth FM, Love London Awards have voted for My Coffee Stop as one of the two best loved neighbourhood coffee shops!

27. How did we do it? Our ethos is....’Heart is at the Heart of our business, our business without a heart will die.’ This means that every decision we take in our business is made with financial and moral considerations. We realise that we have a responsibility to our local and global communities. We made the conscious decision to support two main causes through our business.....

28. Chickenshed....... We support Chickenshed through our Book Swapping Service....

29. Book Swap @ My Coffee Stop... Now regular event days, involving local businesses!

31. Our Next Book Swap Event... Is on Wednesday August 4th from 7am to 10.30am Local Photographer Daniel Davies will be taking Guerilla Portraits... Free three minute session portrait sittings...for a suggested minimum donation to Chickenshed of £1. Free Fairtrade Divine Chocolate tastings! Free Book Swapping put only a donation of what you feel you can afford into the Chickenshed collecting tin. And you are of course invited!

33. Fairtrade... We are the first coffee shop in North London to be awarded membership of the British Association for Fairtrade Shops...

34. All our Coffees, Teas, & Hot Chocolates are Fairtrade In our first year we have expanded our Fairtrade range so that we have the widest range of Fairtrade products of any coffee shop or independent shop in the Enfield area. We are members of the Enfield Fairtrade Steering Group and actively help to promote Fairtrade within the borough.

36. We’ve created our own Muffins.... So that we can use Fairtrade Sugar & other Fairtrade ingredients...

37. & Our Own Cakes...

38. The work we have done has... Made our business more attractive to customers... Brought us greater enjoyment & happiness... Recognition of our ideas has increased our profile... This recognition has given us the confidence to create even bigger projects, to contribute to the global and local communities...

39. Fairtrade Fortnight &Chickenshed... Fairtrade Fortnight ran from February 22nd to March 7th, this year. We organised three exciting projects...

40. An Art Competition... Enfield Primary School children were invited to imagine an amazing and special Fairtrade Food creation, using at least one Fairtrade Food ingredient! The top nine entrants that were shortlisted were invited with their families to have a Fairtrade tea party with the Mayor of Enfield, which we catered for and all the short-listed entries were exhibited at My Coffee Stop, for the whole of Fairtrade Fortnight.

41. Chickenshed & Fairtrade... Chickenshed Theatre went into Enfield Primary Schools and presented performance/workshop experiences about Why Fairtrade is so important. This is a My Coffee Stop initiative connecting & supporting local & global communities.

42. The Big Swap @ My Coffee Stop We held our usual Book Swap event but with a twist People brought along unwanted books and bought books by putting money in the tin for Chickenshed. There were Free Divine Chocolate tastings And Tea with a Tenor, where Enfield Tenor, Geoffrey Strum sang while we gave out free Fairtrade Tea.

43. We’re in the business... Of making your journey better....not just on the train....but through life too....we hope to affect people’s lives for the better, even if they’re not our customers...that’s the ethos of our business.

44. Now it’s your CHANCE!!! You are going to get into groups Each group will be given £30 You will take this £30 and turn it into more money The group that makes the most money will be proclaimed The Winners And will WIN a PRIZE!!

45. It’s a CHALLENGE.... How are you going to do it?

46. One Key Ingredient to Success?

48. PASSION

49. Passion in Business? Yes, believe in what you are doing! Yes, make sure you follow your heart! Yes, do something that you care about! Yes, enjoy what you’re doing!

50. PASSION Will give you the drive to ensure your success!

53. Share your ideas. (No such thing as a bad idea, as even if you don’t do that particular idea, it could lead to another idea, from someone else).

54. Work as a team and share your ideas...

55. And very importantly allocate each other roles in your team. You need to have a leader, or you’ll get lost, you need someone over looking the finance, someone for the marketing and so on.

58. THE END! Now Go and BE INSPIRED! GOOD LUCK!