Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Sledge.
Hi Evan, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Hey there, I was just a regular college student trying to get through at TCU. I attended TCU and had a hunting and fishing business in Kasilof, Alaska. Every summer, I would head up to Alaska and run a multi-boat outfitter. Honestly, I planned on catching trout and salmon on the river the rest of my life. But figured having a degree would be a pretty good backup plan if something happened.
TCU was a great experience. I had a pretty unique experience. My GPA was a 2.98 when I applied to the business school, The required GPA was a 3.0. So, I didn’t get in lol. I honestly wanted to just quite college and go To Alaska fishing. After talking to the dean of the business school, they said that I couldn’t be a “business major” but could be general studies and take any business classes I wanted till I had enough credits to graduate with the general studies degree.
I chose to go the Entreprenurial major route and take all those classes. There was a specific professor, Michael Sherrod, who had a huge impact on my Entreprenurial journey. Michael wasn’t your typical teacher; he had done the thing and taught you how to think creatively and with wisdom. It was in Michael’s class senior year that we had to come up with a business. There was no test, just come up with your own money, start a business and go make some money.
My family has a small Distillery in Tolar, TX, so we started looking at how we can repurpose materials from the distillery. I came up with the idea to start taking the used whiskey barrels and bourbon barrels and aging coffee beans in them. As a class, we came up with about $380 to buy some green coffee beans to age them in the bourbon barrels. If this first batch wouldn’t have worked out, we would have been out of business. Luckily the coffee was awesome, and we went around school giving everybody the hard sell. We had a great product, but our focus was to be the best salespeople around.
After completing the class, I think we finished the semester with about $28,000 sales. It was one of the most successful businesses to come out of that class. I wanted to keep Whiskey Morning Coffee going. Everybody in the class choose to take real jobs instead, which I understood. We started building a new team for Whiskey Morning Coffee from the fishing guides that we worked with in Alaska and Montana.
The first year, we ran Whiskey Morning Coffee in the offseason of guiding in Alaska. The following year we set down and made a whopping $400 in the month of July. We said, “screw it,” and went all in on Whiskey Morning Coffee. I sold the Alaska business for a percentage of its value, and everybody quite their jobs. We had 6 months of savings to make this thing work. It was me, TJ Ryan, and Carson Becker, all or nothing.
WE went back to our selling routes and hit up any farmers market, gun show, or anywhere they would let us in to sell coffee. WE found that our niche was we make awesome coffee that is totally different than anything on the market. In the coffee world, you have three categories: 1. Cheap Folgers Coffee 2. Specialty Coffee 3. Flavored coffee.
We found that we actually had made a new category. WE were making high-quality coffee that tasted unique without using any flavorings or oils, just new ways of production. For instance, aging coffee beans in bourbon barrels, smoking the coffee in a BBQ smoker, grinding real cinnamon sticks, jalapenos, or lavender right into the coffee grounds.
We focus on running a lot of local events here in Texas. We might not be big, but we have a die-hard group of Whiskey Morning Coffee drinkers. Since beginning at TCU, we have still only put $380 into the business. God has blessed this business with 150-300% growth year over year. In 2023 we hit $780,000 in sales with 2024 projections of 1.2 million. It’s been awesome to see how this business has changed our lives, customers, and community.
It really is a blessing from God. Our plans going to forward is to keep asking him for direction/wisdom and keep roasting up them beans.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
You know, it has been honestly pretty smooth. We have had some challenges, though, such as trademark stuff and buying equipment for now instead of 3 years out. Or is it just the fact that there are a ton of coffee companies?
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are old fashioned and treat people right and love Jesus. At Whiskey Morning Coffee, we are a family, and that includes our customers. You can see this through all aspects of the business, especially in our customer service. If you have a problem, each customer has our direct cell phone number.
Check out our weekly podcast on Spotify: “Whiskey Morning Sunday Service.”
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is that we continue to directly impact our employee’s and customers’ live daily. And if we can do that while supporting our families, what more could you want?
Pricing:
- The Coffee runs $15-22/bag
- We have subscription options that give you a discount and free shipping
Contact Info:
- Website: www.whiskeymorningcoffee.com
- Instagram: @whiskeymorningcoffee
- Facebook: @whiskeymorningcoffee
- Youtube: @whiskeymorningcoffee
