Hi there!
My name is Marlynn, and in 2024, I turn 50 years old.
I’m SO stoked for this milestone! This is not just another Year of Yes — this is my golden year of YES! ABSOLUTELY! YES!
More moments to earn these wrinkly laugh lines!
More glittery greys that are now popping up on my head unannounced like sparkly party crashers.
More everyday magic. ✨✨✨
I’m so grateful for every extra moment I get to have more of this rich wild ride of life.
So I’m embarking on an impromptu new passion project that I started as a fun little thing just for me. Nothing to do with my business or my kids, just me. My growth. My healing. My journey.
The connection
Except, it’s really not just my journey. In the end, this lil’ project of mine is about all of our journeys, together.
50 Cups of Coffee is about the connections we make, the connections we keep, and the connections we need to remind ourselves to keep making.
Because these connections are so important, all of them.
I firmly believe we should take advantage of every moment we are alive in which we have the opportunity to connect with another human being.
At the grocery store. The gas station. At restaurants, the post office, the doctor’s office. And most definitely at airports.
I believe in the power of a smile from a stranger, and I’ll stop and chat with anyone who wants to talk.
Yet the p@ndemic changed me. I, like all of you, retreated into a smaller bubble for safety. And during that time, I shrank into a quieter, more invisible, more people-pleasing version of myself.
As we all had to rely more and more on online feedback in the absence of in-person connections, I let self-doubt, imposter syndrome, fear of failure AND fear of success shrivel my spirit and energy into a person I hardly recognized.
I allowed too many connections to slip away.
So now it’s time to bust out of that comfort zone. Let’s reclaim our power, you and me. And I think the best way to do that, is to sit down over a simple cup of coffee and conversation.
It’s what I have craved and been missing the most these past few years — real connection, real community.
While I’m doing this project to feed my soul, I hope it inspires you, too.
I hope it inspires you to reclaim the most important parts of you that make you, YOU.
To make that bold move.
To do the daring thing.
Or to simply reach out to someone you haven’t connected with in a long while, and reconnect.
Thank you so much for reading about my 50 Cups of Coffee project. ❤️
The inspiration
This fifty cups of coffee concept is not new.
A version of this appeared in the business book, What Color is Your Parachute?
In 2011, Mark Suster’s Why You Need to Take 50 Coffee Meetings sparked a movement in the business world.
Peter Thompson’s Inc. Magazine article How 50 Cups of Coffee Can Change Your Life, expanded on the concept to reach outside of your business goals.
Megan Gebhart documented her own 52 Cups project and turned it into a book.
I’m not here to re-invent the wheel. I’m here to learn from what has worked for others, and put my own spin on it.
How it works
I arrange for a coffee chat meet-up with 50 people. The 50 people can be friends, family members, colleagues, acquaintances, people I’ve met online, or strangers with whom I have some sort of connection.
We have coffee together either in-person (around the Portland metro area) or over Zoom. I will also have coffee chats with people in person in New York City (February), London (March), and Spain (May/June). Bonus: I buy the coffee!
I have three questions that I ask everyone I meet with, and each person gets these questions ahead of time. Otherwise, it is an open chat about you — what makes you tick, what are your deepest fears, what was the biggest lesson you’ve learned — things that will help others in their own journey.
And in turn, you can ask me anything. I’m pretty much an open book. I mean, my phrase for 2024 is “delightfully unhinged,” so you’re going to get the open book version everyday anyway, whether you ask for it or not!
I’m going to limit each coffee chat to 45 minutes. Trust me: this is for everybody’s benefit, because otherwise I could easily make chatting over cups of coffee my full-time job. And since this doesn’t pay, and I have two kids’ college to pay for, we’re going to keep things short and sweet.
I’ll write a post here after each chat and share each person’s answers to the three common questions, as well as my personal observations from the chat.
The goal
In the end, my goals are:
- To learn more about people I may already know, to expand our connection to a deeper level.
- To show everyone just how connected and alike we are. And just how magical our differences can be.
- To inspire and to motivate. I need the inspiration and motivation, and hope these chats inspire and motivate you as well!
- To enjoy some delicious coffee, to laugh a lot, to learn even more, and to make the most of every moment of this 50th year connecting with 50 amazing individuals!
Coffee time!
In the interest of safety, I’ll be reserving spots for people I know in real life, or are at least familiar with. If you and I know each other, and you are interested in being part of this project, and are okay with being featured along with a photo on this blog, send me an email at hello@fiftycupsofcoffee.com.
If you’re a stranger who has stumbled upon this project and read this far, and you’re interested in being one of the 50 cups of coffee, please read this Inquire page for more information.