NFA Finance

There’s something different about drinking a cup of coffee when your name is on the bag.

Not because the coffee magically tastes better.

It better be good either way.

But because you’re looking at something that used to exist only as an idea.

Modern Day Dealer Coffee.

A couple weeks ago, it was just another thought.

What if we had our own coffee?

What if Modern Day Dealer became more than automotive content?

What if I started taking some of these ideas I’ve carried around for years and actually turned them into products?

Then I visited a real coffee operation.

I saw the roasting.

I saw the production.

I saw how the bags get filled, how the product moves, how the entire business works behind the scenes.

And suddenly it wasn’t theoretical anymore.

I brought some coffee home.

This morning, I brewed the dark roast.

And I’m telling you right now:

It’s damn good.

Bold. Smooth. Strong without tasting burnt.

Exactly how I like coffee.

And while I was drinking it, I kept staring at the bag.

That might have been the moment the whole thing clicked for me.

This isn’t really about coffee.

It’s about building something that belongs to you.

For most of my life, I’ve been building businesses.

Buying cars.

Selling cars.

Fixing cars.

Making deals.

Solving problems.

Building teams.

Losing money.

Making money.

Getting kicked in the teeth.

Getting back up.

Doing it again the next morning.

That’s business.

But building a brand feels different.

A brand is bigger than the transaction.

A brand is what somebody thinks about when they hear your name.

It’s what they expect from you.

It’s how something makes them feel before they’ve ever bought anything.

And I’ve realized Modern Day Dealer has slowly become that.

It started around the car business.

That will probably always be the backbone of it.

But I don’t think the brand is really about cars anymore.

I think it’s about the person who gets up early.

The person who takes the chance.

The person working in the garage after everybody else went home.

The guy trying to build his first business.

The woman trying to change her life.

The entrepreneur staring at a problem nobody else wants to deal with.

The person who doesn’t necessarily have everything figured out, but keeps moving anyway.

That’s Modern Day Dealer.

And coffee fits into that world almost perfectly.

Because coffee has been there for a lot of my life.

Early mornings.

Long drives.

Auction days.

Business meetings.

Road trips.

Writing before the sun comes up.

Walking through the shop figuring out what needs to get done.

Sitting alone thinking about what the next move is.

A cup of coffee is almost always somewhere nearby.

So maybe this shouldn’t just be another bag of coffee.

Maybe the product should stand for something.

That’s why I like the line on the bag:

“We don’t just drink coffee. We build empires.”

Some people will think that’s just marketing.

I don’t.

An empire doesn’t have to mean skyscrapers and private jets.

Your empire might be a small business.

A paid-off house.

A shop with your name above the door.

A family business that lasts three generations.

A YouTube channel you built from nothing.

A little extra money every month that eventually buys your freedom.

An empire is simply something you created that didn’t exist before you decided to build it.

And that’s what has me excited about this coffee.

I have no idea how big this particular idea becomes.

Maybe we sell bags online.

Maybe we put it in dealerships.

Maybe it ends up in cigar lounges.

Maybe I give people a cup when they walk into a Modern Day Dealer location someday.

Maybe it grows into a legitimate coffee company.

Maybe it becomes something completely different than what I’m imagining today.

I don’t know.

And I actually like that.

Because I think too many people believe they need to know the entire outcome before they begin.

You don’t.

You need to make the first version.

Make the sample.

Build the prototype.

Take the meeting.

Make the phone call.

Print the label.

Put your name on the bag.

Then see what happens.

That is how almost everything worthwhile starts.

Not with certainty.

With movement.

That bag of coffee sitting on my counter today isn’t some massive business accomplishment.

Not yet.

It’s simply evidence.

Evidence that another idea made the jump from my head into the real world.

And I’ve learned something over the years.

Once you get good at turning ideas into reality, life gets a lot more interesting.

You stop asking:

“Wouldn’t it be cool if…”

And you start asking:

“How do we build it?”

That’s the mindset I want behind Modern Day Dealer.

Modern mindset.

Old-school values.

Build things that last.

Put your name on things you’re proud of.

And whatever you decide to build—

make it damn good.

For now, I’m going to pour another cup of that dark roast.

We’ve got work to do.

— Nicholas Francis
Modern Day Dealer

Build different.