What it Feels Like to Launch Your Passion Project

It’s official. I finally launched my passion project, Coffee & Convos, and I couldn’t be more excited!

It’s crazy to think that last year, this was just an idea. An idea with no real plan or no real direction, just something I wanted to do… Connect with people over coffee and share their story. I remember feeling so strange approaching even my own friends about this thinking they’d think I’m crazy. But luckily, they were all about it and helped be the first to sit down and officially have Coffee & Convos with me.

Well here we are, just a week after launch day and I can tell you now that this feeling is indescribable. I’m 100% sure that there are no words to explain what it feels like to launch your passion project. And I’d like to say I’m the perfect example of that. From just a few months leading to this, laying out the website details and coming up with a party to throw in lieu of celebrating the launch… It all already felt surreal.

Timeline breakdown of how it really feels

• 3 months: Stoked, envisioning some great things and will go smoothly
• 2 months: Ah, 2 months, no big deal… I got this
• 1 month: CRUNCH TIME
• 3 weeks: Scraps 1st idea, and starts over, stressed tf out
• 2 weeks: Took a few days/full week to clear mind.
• 1 week: Has a mini panic attack
• 5 days: Nerves start kicking in, finalizing all of the last details
• 3 days: Didn’t finalize last details so just finally getting to it and freaking out
• 1 day: HOLY SHIT IT IS HAPPENING
• 8 hours: Tired AF but still has shit to do and passes out
• Day of: EXCITED/OVERWHELMED/ANXIOUS… CRIES!

Launch Day in Retrospect

When I said I cried. I legit cried. Happy tears, though! And that whole day was just a whirlwind of events. From arriving at 7AM to do some fine tuning, to knocking out as soon as I got home and forgetting to hit publish to the site, then waking up to an overwhelming amount of messages in support of the launch… How could I not cry? 

I successfully launched and took one look at the website and thought – well damn, it’s out there and there’s no real going back. It was so exciting! Let’s just say I had a few solo dance parties in my room while preparing and I couldn’t wipe off the dopiest smile on my face. Then I headed to Heartwork Coffee Bar an hour before the launch party began just because I was a mess of nerves. Luckily, Nitty and Nancy showed up a bit early and helped keep my mind at ease.

Once the clock struck 5PM, the rest was such a blur, I honestly couldn’t think straight with so many familiar faces, then meeting new ones. I barely had any coffee, let alone the delicious pies from Pop Pie Co. I was so excited for, that I pretty much went through the whole event with an empty stomach… But had the FULLEST heart. There were a few moments I got some time to myself and just had a chance to observe everyone there… Folks enjoying pies and sipping on brews, bobbing their heads to the tunes from Aaron Wolf, and just chatting amongst each other connecting.

This was a dream come true for me. And I look back at it all a week and some odd days later thinking about how incredible this feeling is! It took a lot more work than I had imagined, but the outcome couldn’t have been more gratifying… Seeing others connect over coffee and convos. 

So when people ask me how it feels, this is what I have to say…

It’s an indescribable feeling that everyone in their life needs to feel at least once.

What it feels like to launch your passion project is a feeling like no other. And I encourage all of you, if you’re on the verge of launching your passion project… Don’t hesitate! Whether it’s relaunching a blog you’ve had, sharing your photography, or pursuing a new hobby… Just do it! Pursuing your passion, even if it isn’t paying the bills for you just yet and happens to be something you do on the side, is a great feeling. After all, if you’re passionate about something, you’d do anything in your power to do it no matter what, right?

So that passion of yours, the one that sets your soul on fire and gets you up early in the morning to work on or maybe keeps you up in the late hours of the night… Do it! Keep doing it! And when you’re ready to share it with the world, don’t second guess it. Watch the beauty that will unfold and the journey that it will continue to take you on – it’s definitely one worth taking!

I honestly had no idea this idea of mine would lead me to where I am now. Hanging around cool cats over coffee, sharing their story and having people connect with them. It’s the craziest thing having this vision come to fruition, and the best part of it all? Definitely the people! After all, without them allowing me to sit down and have coffee with them… Coffee & Convos wouldn’t be what it is.

So cheers! To more Coffee & Convos and following your dreams!

Shoutout to Ian (Fides Rex) and JonJon (JonnyGuapo) for some of these rad photos!