God Cries and An Angel Loses Its Wings

I'm thrilled that I've self-published my first book, God Cries and An Angel Loses its Wings. It's now available here on CreateSpace as a softcover book. I have a unique story (we all do, though)- I'm the offspring of a Jewish mother and Roman Catholic father who becomes a synagogue Cantor who then leaves the full-time clergy life to become a businesman and coffee roaster. Then, I return to the part-time cantorate. Now, I'm an author. 

I felt compelled to share my passion for helping my business friends grow their business and therefore their lives. The simple premise is that if you have passion for what you do and then share that passion with your customers, they will become your sales team.  With an ever expanding sales team, they will grow your business for you and allow you to grow your life.

Who Else Does That?

You've spent a lot of money on your business. You set your alarm at night and you're not surprised that you need to wake up 4 hours and 20 minutes from then. However, what makes you smile, hopefully, is that you are passionate about your business and your business dealings bring you great joy. I am privately embarrassed when I say to myself, "Wow, that's an awesome cup of coffee!" I spend almost every waking hour in my roasting room, roasting, grinding, and packaging coffee. Throughout the day, I exclaim, "Wow, that's an awesome aroma." Do you catch yourself smiling during the day because you love what you do? If not, find something that's fulfilling. If you still love what you do, I have another question for you to ask yourself daily: "Who else does that?"

If you ask yourself or your employees, "Who else does that?" and you realize that other businesses around your area have identical processes and products, then you need to reevaluate how you conduct business. Every day, I think about the Blue Ocean Strategy book that reminds you to create a business model that is unique. The Blue Ocean Strategy teaches us how to create a Blue Ocean all around us so that sharks (competitors) have a long way to go before they can imitate you. So, in addition to being passionate about our products and services, I also say with wonder and joy, "Who else does that?" If you ask that about many of your great products and the answer is "No one does that like we do," don't relax, but your competitors can't touch you, yet.

At Chazzano Coffee Roasters, we started with fresh roasted coffee, the core of our business. Then, customers asked us about if we serve tea. We found the freshest, high quality tea around with our tea purveyor, Zen Tea Traders. The next step to "Who else does that?" was with our organic milk from Thomas Organic Creamery. It's in the grass fed cow on Sunday, bottled on Monday. and delivered to Chazzano Coffee on Tuesday. It's impossible to get it fresher unless we lived on the farm. However, I was unhappy with our useful but incongruous purchase of hot cocoa mix from a huge company. Therefore, I asked my CBO (Chief Blend Officer), my wife Lisa, to come up with a few hot cocoa blends that are vegan and use the freshest ingredients. Who else does that? Not many, is the answer.

If you want fresh roasted coffee delivered straight to your office or home door, just a few hours after you order it, Chazzano Coffee Roasters does that. Who else does that? No one. If you want to experiment with 8 different ways of brewing coffee in the same cafe, Chazzano asks you to Drink for the Cycle. Try the same single origin coffee as a French Press, Iced, Vacuum Syphon, Espresso, Pourover, and Turkish. If you still have room for more caffeine, then try your coffee brewed with an AeroPress, Clever Coffee Dripper, or Moka Pot. Who else does that? No one.

Look around all of the services and products that your business offers and ask, Who else does that? Modify your products to set yourself apart from the competition. If you offer food products, are they the freshest around? If you provide a service, can you change the way you provide the services to benefit your customer without hurting your profit margin? Remember the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Just don't be insane.

Cover Art for "G-d Cries and an Angel Loses its Wings"

This is my first book. The title is G-d Cries and An Angel Loses its Wings. I've learned from various bloggers that the cover should be attractive for online sales. However, I understand from a design and aesthetic point of view that the image should not be too busy. It's an awesome piece of art, though.  

G-d Cries and An Angel Loses its Wings

I've written a book. Why? The reason is that I'm sad when I visit businesses and houses of worship struggling because they haven't understood the fundamentals of running a business as if their lives depended upon it. How many businesses have you visited where the staff is just not friendly? Or, the signage is filled with misspellings? Or, the bathroom stinks of something unholy? How many times have you heard a friend rave about their house of worship? Have you heard that friend rave about their favorite restaurant or coffee shop? My book is about simple ways to help you grow community, educate your customers/congregants, and make them feel like they have a share in your business. One thing that many businesses and houses of worship lack is enthusiasm. They are no longer passionate about their business and their customers are no longer enthusiastic about the business. One of your biggest goals is to teach your customers how to be your sales team. If they rave about your business to your friends, you don't need to spend large amounts of money for advertising and marketing. They are doing all of the marketing for you!

I'm learning how to publish my first book. As every writer and agent recommends, I am also writing a few other books at the same time. I am completely lost in the self-publish vs. finding a literary agent question. Even some of the best known authors self-published their first books. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Kindness and Respect on Thanksgiving

I grew up on Staten Island, New York. As a product of a Jewish mother and Italian Catholic father, I knew that I was Jewish by birth, but always felt close to the Italian side- my stomach has always been Italian. When I enrolled at Manhattan School of Music for vocal performance as a teen, I met my future girlfriend, fiance, and wife, Lisa, who introduced me to her lovely Conservative Jewish family. Vocal Performance morphed to Philosophy/Advanced Mathematics at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Even though I had studied French, Italian, German, Medieval French, Ancient Greek, and Russian, I didn't know a letter of Hebrew. In Annapolis, my true love for Jewish Music, and my path to the Cantorate, was born. At the same time, I began to study Hebrew with a professor at St. John's College, and attended an Orthodox synagogue that was a mile away from campus. The young rabbi at the synagogue had infinite patience with me and would answer every single question that I asked. The cantor had a gorgeous singing voice and great love for Jewish music. I began studying Hazzanut (Cantorial Music) with the cantor and fell in love with the cantorial way of lifting one's voice to G-d. Before all of this change occurred, my mother died, and my father mourned and then remarried.  When a child changes his lifestyle, it often feels like "a dagger in my heart" to the parents or extended family. The "dagger in my heart" was a phrase that my Aunt Rose, of blessed memory, said to me when I wanted to leave my family's home on Staten Island and move to Manhattan, closer to school.

My father, of blessed memory, loved his only son, his only child unconditionally. I drove him crazy by not getting to any event on time-or in his world, a half hour before the event. He didn't care that I didn't become a Catholic, but he did care that I became an observant Jew. When you begin to keep Kosher in a non-observant home, it separates you from the rest of the family. However, it doesn't separate you from the rest of the family if you have some common sense and family members who love you and respect you. My Italian Grandmother, Mary, of blessed memory, cooked every kind of non-Kosher food for me, and just for me. She would point to a dish and say, this is for Frankie. When I began to keep Kosher, I privately scrutinized the methods in which she made some of my favorite vegetarian dishes that I could enjoy from her huge arsenal of dishes, and gently moved her towards more "kosher" methods of cooking. She would still ask, "Frankie, why can't you have the pork?" I would start explaining about Kosher laws, and she would quickly cut me off with a smile, and say, "Ah, go scratch your ?*!*#!." (The censored word rhymes with crass.) My father, Nick, wanted to spend time with his only child, and so on Thanksgiving he would do everything possible to make me comfortable, kosher-wise. For Thanksgiving, he would purchase a huge Kosher turkey and go to one of the numerous Kosher butchers in Brooklyn for all of the side dishes. This enabled Lisa and me to enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Friends and extended family have often told me stories about how their families did not show respect for or acknowledge their vegan or kosher lifestyle. I remember the hurt that was infused in their words. But, in the Tamarazo family, even though there was a difference in opinion, there was no change in the great love, devotion, and respect that we felt for each other. This is why Thanksgiving is not about giving thanks while overeating exquisite food; I can binge eat any time and Jewish prayer includes a prayer of Thanksgiving three times each day. For me, Thanksgiving reminds me of the tremendous kindness that my father showed to me each Thanksgiving Day to make me feel loved and respected.