Young boy in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico

Most of us think you will succeed when you do everything right. The problem is the best companies make mistakes and are not perfect, so how do they rise from the ashes?

Take a moment and see what you can learn from a coffee cooperative in Mexico. See if there is something for you to take away from their story that can make your business brand more robust and more profitable.

Last month I traveled to Mexico and Guatemala, covering Coffee Farmers of the coffee cooperative Just Coffee. You may not realize it, but coffee is the number 2 commodity traded globally, right behind oil.

Commodity

The problem the farmers were having problems before they formed in 2000 was the price of the coffee. So you see, the buyers were exploiting the small farmer. Most coffee farmers around the world have a two-acre farm.

What had happened in Mexico and much of the world was the exploitation of the farmers was putting them out of business—avoiding exploitation why some of the coffee growers like Edmundo Ballinas Domínguez crossed the US border illegally. He worked on the golf courses here where I live in Atlanta.

As you hear in the video, due to the cooperative’s changes, he is sending his two daughters to nursing school to get healthcare for his family. Before the cooperative, his daughters would not have gone off to school, and he would be in debt to save his family due to a lack of healthcare insurance.

Migrant Workers

A migrant worker is someone who pursues work. They are not people that look for entitlements without work.

Many people around the world migrate to survive. But unfortunately, many people are forced from their land due to their race, becoming illegal immigrants.

Fair Wage

What I realize more and more is that many people who buy services do not care about the people they are purchasing. Instead, they want the lowest price. As a result, people were missing honor, dignity, and respect.

I also have discovered treating people fairly; I will work harder and even go that second mile.

Listen to Carmina Sanchez talk about how not just being paid a fair wage but being flexible so she can be a good mother is important to her.

Everyone has a story.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HHFAHnJkBc]
Listen to how Adrián González talks about not just how Just Coffee is blessing him but he is excited to be a part of something that cares for others.

The Key Ingredient

Robert McKee, the world’s best-known and most respected screenwriting lecturer, believes that executives can engage listeners on a whole new level if they toss their PowerPoint slides and learn to tell good stories instead.

What is a story? It tells why and how a person’s life has been changed. Here are some key things you must have in a report for it to grasp the audience.

First, you need to have a crisis of some sort. Blake SnydeSnyder’s Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’lYou’ll Need talks about how you need something to overcome in the story. Then you help your subject overcome the crisis.

What makes you like your protagonist is how believable they are. I often see how screenwriters will have a crisis that the actors are to overcome, and then they have thrown into the mix a flaw in their character. To overcome their problem, they must also overcome their weakness.

Some of the best storytelling I have read is in the Bible. King David is an excellent example of a lovable character with many flaws.

What is critical to the great Bible stories is GRACE. Grace is where a character gets a second chance. This second chance is crucial because they genuinely don’t deserve it.

What is THE essential ingredient to a successful business–GRACE. When you are known as being gracious, you know that you are working from being humble and appreciative. You don’t take people for granted.

Listen to what touched Joshua Ediger in the stories of the coffee growers that he is now telling their story. His comments are what they call word-of-mouth advertising.