One day, my friend invited me to visit this new coffee house located right outside of downtown Houston on Washington Avenue. I was amazed at the unique design of the place, the aroma of coffee, pastries and tea and the site of outlets sprawled everywhere throughout the building. It seemed like the ideal place to use as a “virtual office.” For small business owners having a place to get away from the home office is critical.

I was even more impressed when I ordered coffee from what seemed like a bright, young, hardworking college kid working a job to make ends meet and realized he was the owner. This is how I met Max Gonzalez, a mid 20 something entrepreneur, businessman and owner of Catalina Coffee. Max is an interesting person because you can hear his passion for his work in his voice.

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He personally built many of the counters, light fixtures, and walls that are visible when you are sitting in the coffee house. It took him over 9 months to do it as you will read in the interview. I have included several pictures of the before and after. Max represents the new breed of Generation X entrepreneurs.

He speaks with knowledge of his industry and he is confident about the future of his business, yet he is very humble. He often engages in conversations with his customers while he works behind the counter or in front of the counter cleaning tables. Even though it is his business, he currently only has one day off a week. His commitment is clear and his success has already begun.

We sat down with him and asked him the liberate10™…

LM: What drives you?
MG: Influence from my father and how he’s worked hard all of his life. Also when I was 19 years old, I walked into a Wal-Mart and saw a greeter that was like 70 years old and he looked liked he worked because he had to , not because he wanted to. I made a decision at that point that I was going to put a plan in place where I could live comfortably by the age of 35. It is not money that motivates me. As long as I can be where I want to be when I want to, it sounds like happiness to me!

LM: What experiences influenced your decision to start a business?
MG:I was working someplace I wasn’t happy. I’ve always worked hard, but at this place I kept running into road blocks. I really tried to make the place work and it seemed like everything I worked hard to do meant nothing. Instead of finding another job, I went out and wrote a business plan. I realized I have to work this hard for myself.

LM: What formal education and/or training do you have or had to get to start your business?
MG: High School and I took a certificate course from Texas A&M University and became a Texas master gardener. I worked for a company where I wore many hats at the time. It gave me a real good knowledge of a lot of aspects of business. I got the mindset that whatever needed to be done, I would do it.

LM: How did you get started?
MG: I spent 3 months writing a business plan and after it was finished it took all of 5 minutes to get it funded. I called up an old contact and presented the plan to him. All the timing came together at the same time. It took 9 months of construction. I had to figure out how to be the architect, the framer, the plumber, etc. I jumped in head first. I lost some money in the beginning, but it was a learning process. I learned how to deal with the City of Houston and contractors.

LM: How did you determine what product and or service to sell?
MG: I love coffee, there were very few places that I could go and find the type of coffee I was looking for. I worked in the industry for 10 years prior to opening my own coffee house. At the end of the day, I knew I could feel comfortable about moving this product because I sell all organic and fair trade coffee. I can also give a little bit more money back to my native country of Guatemala through my business. I use a lot of coffee from Guatemala. I don’t have any demons about what I am doing. I can’t sell anything I believe is detrimental to other people.

LM: What lessons have you learned from your first years in business?
MG: My first months I had to learn quickly. Everyday I had to do something to streamline my business so at the end of the day I could pay my employees. The clique no one said it would be easy is true. If you want to reach your goals, you have to sacrifice everything. I don’t know how many things I sold in the beginning to get this place open. You have to take things in stride. You have to be patient with yourself and the learning curve to take on a project like this. If you have a passion for what you do and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, you will be happy and your customers will be happy. I refuse to use anybody else’s standards. If you focus on your product, you can’t go wrong.

LM: Who were the primary influences in your life as it relates to being an entrepreneur?
MG: My parents. My parents got divorced, but both my father and my step father are in the same mindset that you wake up work hard and take care of whatever has to be done. They have both been influential on my work ethic.

LM: What has been your biggest success?
MG: Hitting numbers that were in my business plan that I didn’t expect to hit until next year. I am exceeding my business plan goals.

LM: What has been your biggest disappointment?
MG: No disappointments, nothing will go the way you planned. There are always going to be things that do not go exactly as you planned them to. You just have to keep moving forward. You cannot even think about disappointments.

LM: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
MG: Focus on what you want to do and don’t stray from it and you will succeed. I could probably help guide them through city permits. I wish everyone the best that is planning on starting their own business that read this.