Want to Start a Coffee Hour in Your Community? Here’s How.

What if one weekly gathering could change the game for your startup community? In this episode, mentor Terri Lundberg sits down with Amie Tooley to talk about how to create and sustain a thriving community Coffee Hour—no matter where you live. Together, they unpack what makes these gatherings work, how to grow from a few people to a full room, and why ownership, engagement, and mentorship matter more than perfect planning. If you’re looking to start something meaningful in your region—or need a reminder of your own value as a founder—this one’s for you.

Join our coffee hour community at sprocketpaducah.com/coffeehour

🎙️ This episode is sponsored by Kentucky Fried Creative—authentic marketing for the Common Wealth, from the Commonwealth. From strategy to video to web, they help small businesses grow with clarity and confidence. Learn more at kyfriedcreative.com.

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Transcript

0:47

So what do you wanna cover today? All right, let's talk about how to help other people in the state to create their own coffee hour and create community within their own communities. That sounds like a really good goal because you do such a good job of leading our coffee hour. So if you were gonna take the footprint or the mole for coffee hour and try to hand it over to different areas, what's the first thing you wanna do to teach them how to do a coffee hour in their community? Um, the first thing that I would do to teach you how to do a copy hour in your own community. One, you need to gather the interested people. And so being able to find out who those people are and be real intentional about inviting them to come and participate and be a part of this conversation, just letting them know what to expect so that they will, you know, first have a community to even pour into. Well, you seem to really bring the people together. And when you approach the coffee hour each week, what's your mindset? What that's part of the magic that you bring? What kind of things can you pull out of them so they can bring the magic to their community? What my goal is through coffee hour is to identify for, let them identify what their needs are as entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur myself, I have some of that information. I know some of the things that, that they are needing to work on or what their next step might be. Um, but I look for them for direction and then I try to fill in some of those gaps. And so, um, it's a, a cross between. Addressing the needs that they've identified and then addressing those needs that they don't really know about yet that they're having, that they're going to have issues with maybe. Yeah. So you bring some really continuity each week. You must have some kind of template in your brain. What kind of template can you give them that they can just kind of follow the steps that you follow to bring that continuity to their community? So in thinking about what do we really wanna achieve through a community coffee hour, and so certainly networking is an important part of that. Now that could take up the whole time if you allowed it to. And so, um, starting with, so we do kind of have a template in mind, kinda an agenda if you will, where we start and let everyone get comfortable. We go through some announcements, we, um, give everybody an opportunity to share about where they are in their entrepreneurial ride. And then from there I'll give them either, um. Training on a certain topic or a guest will come and provide information on a certain topic, and then we try to always at the end, make sure that we have an action step. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And before we exit. Yeah. So I notice just attending coffee hour more regularly that our attendance can fluctuate and so. Especially when you start to that coffee hour in that community, I've noticed you've been able to grow that community. So if they're just starting out, I'm assuming they're gonna start with a small amount of attendance. Absolutely. So how have you been able to grow that? What, what kind of action steps can you give them to stay with it and believe in it? So one being intentional, making sure that you're gathering information from the people that are actually participating to make sure that it's, you know, useful information for them. Um. To making sure that they're involved. So I don't speak to them. I don't ask our guests to just, you know, present. Yeah. It's more of a facilitation. I'm, I'm working with the people in the room. They're a part of it, so they're invested in the conversation and in the topics, which helps them return and come back. They feel like they have, they're a part of it. Yeah, that's so true. I think that teaching them, like, you do that to. Bring that engagement helps people feel a sense of ownership of that coffee hour. So it's not Amy's coffee hour, it's the community's coffee hour. I love that. What are some other ways they can make their community own that? So they feel like. That's, that's us. That's who we are. I think too, being able to tap into your own talent, you know, we have so much talent here at Sprocket. We have so much talent in that room, and so being able to tap into those individuals and allowing them to come to the front of the room and share their knowledge with others, they feel like they have skin in the game and you know, then they see their colleagues up there doing the same thing, so it just. I don't know how to tie that up, but it, yeah, it works. It, it's, yeah, they, it, they come together like a patchwork, a quilt, I guess, and it's all weaved together. Similar to the mentor deck, you know, you have everybody that comes with that subject matter expert, their subject matter expert in their company, and that's, I find one of the benefits, the, the major benefit of the mentor deck is that specificity of knowledge that they bring that. We wouldn't otherwise have unless we tap, were able to tap into that. Oh, absolutely. Community Coffee Hour brings the same thing just with a, a little bit different mindset in that these are typically solopreneurs. A lot of them are about to become members or, or emerging members of our community, and. And they're working to be one of those mentors. So I kind of feel like it's our incubator for Future Mentor Deck. Absolutely. And even the collaboration that those individuals are doing together, you know, they are, you're a solopreneur and then you, you connect with another one, and then you work together and collaborate, which just makes the projects go that much better. Man. I love that part about it. Just watching everybody chatter about and share information. Even with the session this morning, people sharing the different things that they know. So everybody's knowledge grew collectively. That was cool. Absolutely. So, Amy? Yes. Tell me about your experience with the Mentor Deck. How has it helped your business? Oh wow. How has it helped my business? I. I often have thought about where would I be with really without the mentor deck. It has been absolutely incredible. What I think any entrepreneur, the biggest challenge is that you don't know what you don't know. So there, for me, that's a big fear. It's this huge fear of the unknown. I don't even know what my next step needs to be. I don't necessarily know what my next question is that I need to ask. And so to be able to come together with another person and say that out loud. To another entrepreneur and say, I don't know what I need to do next, and just get some guidance. Just have someone hold my hand while I look around the corner and see what is around that corner. What are the options, what might be coming around the corner. You know what I love about what you said there is you felt a level of comfort and trust. Mm-hmm. So. What brought you to that level? Why were you able to just enter the mentor space and, and feel like I could trust these people with sharing those fears? Well, it didn't start with just immediately jumping into that space. You know, I started by going to coffee hour first. I was an attendee at Coffee Hour, and I got to know the space, the entrepreneurs. Uh, then you go onto Mentor Deck and you see that some of those very people around that table that you're. Hearing these nuggets of wisdom just drop from, and you're like, oh, they are available on the mentor deck. I can connect with them immediately. And so you make that connection and you already, I already have that trust in that individual, so I, I know that they're gonna help steer me, right. I know that they are aligned with my values, much like sprockets, and so it works beautifully. So can you share a, a moment where the mentorship has helped you really shift your business? Take that next step. Absolutely. So when you're going, trying to go from fee to free, or excuse me, when you're trying to go from free to fee, that can be a, um. A scary time and if you don't really know how valuable you are, you know, sometimes you need someone to remind you of that and to to pour that confidence back in you. That has definitely been something that I've been able to receive through the mentorship, to be able to be reminded of my value and my worth so that I can then turn around and be able to actually profit from what I'm trying to do. I think a lot of times it's really hard to see yourself in that light because we have to deal with all those self-doubt. So I love that there's a champion. There are several champions in there. Yes. Holding up the mirror and saying, look, this has value. Absolutely, yes. So, Terry, tell me what it has been like serving as a mentor. It has been really rewarding. At this season of my career, my goal was to make my work meaningful, and you and other people are certainly doing that. I love the light bulb moments. I love sharing your success when you share the, the wins that you've had. I feel so like I've getting to share that with you. I know that it's like I'm holding onto your little coattails and pushing you up and, and it's so fun to be part of your celebration. I love that so much. So that's what. I think is the most meaningful thing is getting to celebrate. It's like it's your birthday and I get a piece of cake too. I love being able to text you little pieces of cake. I love being able to, whenever I do something that I said that I would do, and then I can take a picture of that and send it to you and get my little pet on the back. That feels good today, and I can find just the right gift to send it back. Yes. What would you say to someone who is thinking about becoming a mentor? Don't hesitate. There there's no reason. And, and actually I feel like if someone has some experience or some knowledge, wisdom, it's your duty to share that. Especially people that are in our, our Western Kentucky region, A lot of times we're forgotten about on this end of the state. And if we can help lift each other up by sharing knowledge, we should do that. That we owe that to each other. We owe that to our, our region. Of Kentucky, so don't, don't wait. No one will die and you be a mentor and you can help someone and, and you'll find that you benefit as much if not more from that person that you're mentoring. What I love about mentoring is that you grow by trying to help other people grow. Absolutely. Yes. A hundred percent agree. Mm-hmm.