Frog On & Live Your Values Out Loud!

Here at Frog Friendly Coffee, our motto is to live your values out loud! Why? Because believe us, it will make you happier and more fulfilled! Forget what others think of you, don’t hide behind a mask...start making your dreams a reality by being yourself and doing what feels right! 

We are all fallible, we all learn by mistakes. It’s the relationships and those experiences that come from that journey that makes life worth living. Life is so special that if you are not capturing it, and making those moments count, even the uncomfortable ones, and defining your character and your values to live your values out loud...you’ve just wasted that lifetime. - Karla Ferster, TedX 

At Frog Friendly Coffee, there were many hurdles to overcome, from big corporations and coffee plantations to figuring out how to ensure sustainability and even all the little, sometimes seemingly impossible, details. For Karla and Pedro, it was all a dream once upon a time, and the happy ending fills your cup.

Here are some tips on how you can live your values out loud and #FrogOn just like Karla and her frog family. 

You are perfect just the way you are!

One of the most important things to remember is that you are a unique person. Your dreams are your own, your values might differ from others but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live them out loud! If you feel strongly about something, then get up, grab a pen, start planning your road map to get there, and don’t forget to be kind to yourself. Set yourself a finish line for something small, and once you get there, celebrate and set another. 

I've committed myself to a journey that we started over 16 years ago, on a dream and my spirit Hermano, Pedro and I started this from developing our relationship through our trips to Puerto Escondido beau haka and always talking about what we could do. - Karla Ferster

Our coffee dreams of being in your cup! Our goal is to ensure it gets there, sustainably, and using the right techniques and practices that do as little harm as possible to our environment. Be kind to yourself, others and the environment. 

Dreams and goals give you something to work for

You won’t achieve your dreams by just dreaming… get up and start setting goals to make it happen! Ignore the naysayers and believe you can. When Karla started Frog Friendly, she knew nothing about coffee… nothing. She had the dream to bring the best coffee to people around the world and to create the most sustainable coffee company around. It didn’t happen overnight but with passion and motivation to live her values out loud and bring her dream to life, she managed to get the business to what it is today. 

Everything you do should be a reflection of your values and how you see the world. - Karla Ferster

Learn from your mistakes

Frog Friendly Coffee didn’t happen overnight, and it definitely wasn’t perfect when it started 16 years ago. There were, and still are, always things that can be improved. 

Failure doesn’t mean it is over, it means to try a different way. For us, it isn’t an option. We WILL keep trying until we find a solution to whatever problem we have. When pests threaten our coffee plants, we won’t use pesticides or treatments that harm the delicate cloud forest we love. We use what mother nature provides naturally, even if it takes a few tries to find the perfect solution. 

Our human nature is when something goes wrong we finger point, we immediately look for the best person to blame or the best scenario to sort of put that pressure over to… and that's something I've really worked hard at and I've suffered a couple of really big mistakes… I had to dig so deep to be able to own it without finger-pointing because I really believe that's the superpower, and take that deep breath to be able to navigate what's next and how do I recover from this. - Karla Ferster

Ignore the naysayers and negative nancy’s

There will ALWAYS be someone who gives off negative vibes like steam off of a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. People who don’t or won’t believe in what you are trying to do… but there are people who will. There is an old saying about surrounding yourself with the types of people who embody what you want to be. Find your cheering section to help you stay on track! 

It doesn't matter the detractors, the people that say, ‘oh you're crazy, you don't have the experience, you don't know what you're doing.” It's finding that inner voice, defining your character and I think the challenge of developing something for yourself, that reflects living your values out loud! - Karla Ferster

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

There is nothing wrong with putting up your hand to ask for help! With social media, it can be even easier to ask experts and find others who are going through similar journeys. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are today without help from our frog family and other people along the way.   

[The Coffee] was something that would bring us together, with this shared dream and this really deep purpose in ourselves that we wanted to leave a lasting legacy. - Karla Ferster

From Oaxaca, Mexico to Canoe, BC, we rely on people who share our passion for bringing our wild, organic coffee to the world. Even before Frog Friendly was born, there were the mentors, teachers, friends and experts who helped us learn and grow from a tadpole of a dream to the fully grown company we are today. 

My goal with Pedro, my spirit hermano, is to bring that together in that we are walking the walk and endeavoring to do business in a way that honors all those things that feel so special to us. Its source. - Karla Ferster

Never stop learning! Never stop dreaming! Reach for the stars and you will get there. Live your values out loud and proud with passion and kindness...Frog on!