"And we continue growin', one day at a time"
- 2Pac, "One Day at a Time"
April 2nd. No April 3rd. I'm quietly sit down in a kinda small restaurant / coffee shop near my place in Berlin. There is a great atmosphere; I love that place actually. It's called 'Bitte!' and it's located on Glogauer Straße 6 in Kreuzberg. Here is their Facebook page. It serves Mediterranean style food; I came to have a lunch there earlier today and I can tell you it was great. I ate a spinach w/ feta pie and my friend got a plate of roasted potatoes w/ goat cheese. We both loved it. Oh and on an important note: the meal costs only 3. something €. Ok it's Berlin but still, this is cheap. And homemade, and above all: really super good so. This is a must see (or a must-eat) believe me.
That being said the place is beautiful. Small but simple, like raw. There are only minimal furnitures like wood tables and benches, few flowers and cactus here and there, few boards on the wall and people are super nice. The place seems to be run by young women. We talked to one of them and she comes from Greece (we guessed that one right due to the accent in english and because of the mediterranean thing).
Anyway I love that kinda stories where you can come from somewhere else to a big city and only few years after you're able to launch your own restaurant / coffee shop. That's a dream to tell. When things like that are possible in a society that's great. And we should all encourage that type of entrepreneurship, exploration, discovery etc.
They have few books on a shelve. I borrowed one: The Monocle Guide to Good Business. Wow I knew the Monocle Magazine (and I kinda loved it already) but the book's great. Well it's published by a publishing house that I generally love too: Gestalten (based in Berlin too by the way). The last book I bought from them for instance (only few weeks ago) was The Outsiders. Amazing book too I couldn't advise it to you enough. Back to Le Monocle, let's order that book. I want it at home and especially wanna take time to explore and digg deeper into each one of the company they mention.
The Monocle Guide to Good Business (Extended Version) from Gestalten on Vimeo.
I'm really more than excited by one thing nowadays: people who do things that last! The kinda ambition where the company will be there in few centuries, still independent, to claim proudly 'Since 2014'. It could be seen or perceived as obvious from the outside but I can tell you that from where I come from (well those past few years only in fact) it's an important shift. My (still short) professional experience was mainly made by web-based startup. And let's say that long-term-ish thoughts are not a major part of their founders DNA. It's not a critic (well it could be but it will be part of another writing session) but it's a fact. You try to build something, you try to grow, and normally you end up by selling it. Well those are the success factors that will be celebrated by the industry: a launch, a round of funding, an acquisition. And the key is that word: speed!
Slowness isn't part of the value chain. The funny thing is that one: slowness is less and less part of any value-chain; of any industry, world, culture you name it. Well except maybe Luxury (w/ a big L). On my mind that's the essence itself of what luxury is: time!
Well, I honestly plan to live in that world for the next 60 years. I start to think I have time. And I wanna take that time to make things right; really right.