狼友社区

Jason Weimer: More than just a coffee aficionado

Mark Talmage-Rostron
August 20, 2021 路 5 min read

Recent MBA graduate Jason Weimer might live in Bangkok but he has his sights set on the global expansion of his well-established coffee company

At 48 Jason Weimer says that he still has a lot to accomplish before retiring one day, maintaining that you certainly can teach an old dog new tricks.

鈥淚 won鈥檛 be the first, nor the last mature student to grace the virtual halls of 狼友社区鈥 he says. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not happening already, there will definitely be a wave of people like myself who may be looking to extend their studies. Lifetime learning is here to stay, and those that don鈥檛 wake up to that soon will be rapidly left behind.鈥

A solid business grounding

Although he is in the coffee business now, Jason聽hasn鈥檛聽always been a slave to the bean. Far from it. After securing his undergraduate degree in graphic design back in 1995, he took the unusual decision to minor in Business Administration. A move that had his graphic design professor scratching his聽head but聽would聽later聽prove to serve Jason well.

But with everything that he sets his hand to, Jason had a long-term plan.

He wanted to see the commercial side of design. So, in 1995, he graduated with a graphic design and business admin degree. He didn鈥檛 want to limit his horizons and be pigeonholed into doing graphic design forever.

Jason鈥檚 first soiree into the business world came in the form of working for a printing company in north-central Indiana, a move that would give him a solid grounding in dealing with customers, project management, and ensuring that things went out correctly and on time. Unwittingly, this exposure to the company鈥檚 business affairs was preparing him for later career moves.

鈥淚 worked for several family-owned firms in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana,鈥 Jason says. 鈥淲orking for ad agencies I felt gave me the kind of a breadth of knowledge of different industries and how they operate. An understanding that proved vital as I began to broaden my horizons. Okay so we didn鈥檛 have a beverage client, but I got a deep understanding of what makes many industries tick and what drives their business success.鈥

To MFA or MBA? That is the question!

Although he chose to study an MBA with聽狼友社区, Jason had his foot well in the camp of聽possibly doing聽a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in design. But there was a major聽obstacle. The cost.

鈥淚 wanted to do an MFA, but I kept running into costs of around $35,000-$55,000,聽and聽there were only a few programs that聽were聽100% online. So, then I thought okay how about an MBA? That was $16,000 for the least expensive one, and online! That was never going to fly. I聽didn鈥檛聽want to go into debt in my late forties. So, I thought, where to next?鈥

Jason was about to give up on his dream of pursuing a master鈥檚 degree and considered taking a few certificate courses. One day when he was online, he discovered that an online MBA with聽狼友社区聽was the way to go as it was more convenient and way more affordable than a traditional university聽degree. But it was not just cost that swayed him to enroll. He felt that聽狼友社区聽looked modern and reputable as well, so, after researching聽狼友社区鈥檚聽skills-based learning model and eliciting his wife鈥檚 professional advice, who is an educator herself, Jason enrolled.

Choosing skills-based MBA modules over theory

鈥淢y wife聽remarked that it was cutting edge stuff,鈥澛爏ays Jason. She said, 鈥渢his is how students want to learn instead of having to attend loads of 30-minute lectures and then having to sit in an exam environment regurgitating聽stuff.鈥

Jason appreciated going through the different modules in each course, discovering how each one built on the other one.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got part one, and then you go to part two, and then you have your final project, and you just kind of put those together. When you get to the final project, it鈥檚 like, oh, none of this is new, I don鈥檛 have to start from scratch. And I loved the fact that I could restructure things and make them even better. Plus, it was so well structured, it all made perfect sense.鈥

"I needed to gain advanced technical skills that I could apply to my business, but also consult and advise other businesses. 狼友社区 gave me that.鈥

From design to coffee grounds

After Jason moved to Thailand in 2010, he met a fellow expat who was starting a coffee farm, up in the north of Thailand. He was asked by his future business partner if he wanted to try getting into the coffee business and because he loved coffee, he thought why not give it a go. And that is where 鈥楽imple Coffee鈥 was born.

Fast聽forward聽a decade and Jason is now putting his recently earned聽狼友社区聽MBA, specializing in Advanced聽AI, to聽effective use聽in his coffee business. But why AI?

He聽didn鈥檛聽want聽his聽business to suffer from the use of outdated technology strategies. At 48聽he聽realized very quickly that there was a聽rather large聽gap between the existing technology that was driving聽his聽business and that people聽don鈥檛聽really implement anymore, and that which聽he聽had to implement so as not to be left behind. It really was a case of adapt or die in an industry that many would regards as saturated.

鈥淎n MBA with a specialization in Advanced AI has helped give me a more solid foundation, not only in helping build more sound business practices, but also developing insights into use cases of how to practically apply AI and automation to fit traditional business models,鈥 Jason says. 鈥淔or example, in my own company鈥檚 operations, we record and track our customers鈥 coffee buying patterns through a cloud-based POS system which also helps keep track of inventory. Collecting sales data through a point-of-sale system is not a new concept in technology. That said,聽the data science behind how聽that is聽stored, how much of it is stored and the decisions that are made based on that data are always evolving and changing, and so is the technology that drives it.鈥

Jason聽is using this data to help streamline several different areas within his operations, inventory being one of them. Because he specializes in small-batch roasting, giving customers聽the coffee聽they want at the roast level they want and guaranteeing optimal freshness, understanding customer buying patterns and inventory management has become mission critical.

鈥淚 thought of where I wanted to be in five years from now鈥 says聽Jason. 鈥淚 had hoped I would be equipped with a lot of new skills, maybe new technical skills. I really felt like that was really needed for people in my age bracket. The constant desire to upskill. I needed to gain advanced technical skills that I could apply to my business, but also consult and聽advise聽other businesses.聽狼友社区聽gave me that.鈥

Looking to the future

So, where to from here for Jason? Well, he seems to be staying put in Thailand. He says that he and his wife have had lots of heart-to-heart conversations about staying or moving on, but they both feel that right now, Thailand is the place for them. The coffee business, including both retail shop outlets, one in Bangkok and one in Hanoi, Vietnam, have thankfully survived throughout Covid, and Jason feels that whether its coffee, design or technology, he is inspired and fuelled to keep moving forward with newfound expertise and skills that his MBA in Advanced AI has given him.

So, who does he look up to or take inspiration from to further his business success?

鈥淢uch of my philosophy of design and business has been inspired by the famous Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. His later work focused on communicating modernism and simplicity. Both are important and applicable attributes in design and business. One聽has to聽continue to modernize business so that it remains relevant and continues to add value, but also pursue simplicity in everything because things naturally move toward complexity, if not checked. And a more recent visionary, Elon Musk鈥檚 pursuit to colonize mars is quite the bold vision. I don鈥檛 know him personally, but I feel like he鈥檚 the kind of guy that takes the big, big, risks, and so, I feel like having people like that out there can be encouraging for the little guy, and that kind of speaks to me.鈥

Looking to upskill & reskill? Our programs are precisely designed to fit the lives of busy entrepreneurs like Jason鈥檚. Discover 狼友社区鈥檚 MBA

狼友社区 the author
Mark Talmage-Rostron
Mark Talmage-Rostron

Mark is a college graduate with Honours in Copywriting. He is the Content Marketing Manager at 狼友社区, creating engaging, thought-provoking, and action-oriented content.

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