He Drinks 12 Cups a Day, But This Coffee Founder Says Relentless Grind Is the Enemy of Real Progress
Terra Kaffe founder and CEO Sahand Dilmaghani shares how he brewed up success for his high-end coffee machine brand.
Terra Kaffe
Raise a mug to Sahand Dilmaghani, founder and CEO of Terra Kaffe, a company that’s revolutionizing how we drink coffee by creating high-end coffee machines and roasting the beans that go inside them. Sahand — who says he sometimes will down 12 cups of his product a day! — recently joined me for an exclusive webinar with Entrepreneur Plus subscribers, and the insights he shared were so valuable that I had to share them with all of you.
Listen to highlights from our conversation on a special episode of How Success Happens—and prepare to get jacked up on inspiration. Then read on for a breakdown you can use to brew your own success in three, two, one!
Subscribe now: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Three Key Insights
1. Stop Grinding and Create Space to Think
When you’re in survival mode—launching, fighting, bleeding for your business—the last thing you want to hear is to slow down. But Sahand swears by it. “I think you need to create passive time to actually plan,” he told me, “and it’s really easy to say that and it’s really hard to do that, but even if that’s 15 minutes, 30 minutes time blocking where you have passive time, that you don’t have a strict agenda, which actually allows you to zoom out, I think is critically important.” The key is working backward from where you want to be, then mapping out the milestones it’ll take to get there—whether that’s a fundraising target, a product launch, or a new retail relationship.
Takeaway: This week, block 30 minutes of calendar time with zero agenda—just you, a notebook, and your long-term vision.
Subscribe to the How Success Happens newsletter for more insights and inspiration.
2. Perfect Is the Enemy of Done
Sahand learned early on that “perfect is the enemy of good and perfect is the enemy of done.” Sure, he would have loved to have a perfect product and hit the market with a massive advertising budget, celebrity endorsements, billboards—the whole dream launch. But that wasn’t the reality, so instead he knocked on doors with two prototypes, gathering feedback and iterating. “It’s not about making the right decisions,” he explained, “it’s about making the decision and moving forward.” The bigger picture matters, but sometimes zooming in on the next step in front of you is just as important as zooming out to see the destination.
Takeaway: Identify one “perfect” thing you’ve been waiting to execute—and do a 70% version of it this week instead.
3. Reframe Chaos as Puzzles, Not Disasters
Sahand lives by a powerful philosophy: “You don’t need to have everything solved. You need to believe everything is solvable.” He’s navigated countless crises that would make most entrepreneurs’ heart rates look like an EKG, but instead of seeing them as insurmountable obstacles, he reframes them as puzzles to solve. “It’s hard to have a very clear recipe for navigating problems,” he admits, “but there’s a certain amount of—you just have to get used to it after a certain amount of time.” When you treat challenges as solvable problems rather than herculean efforts, you unlock resilience you didn’t know you had.
Takeaway: The next time you face a setback, ask yourself: “What would it look like if I treated this like a game instead of a disaster?”
Related: How ‘Dirty Jobs’ Star Mike Rowe Found His True Purpose Deep in the Muck
Two Great Ways to Learn More
- 1. Follow Terra Kaffe on Instagram @terrakaffe and visit their website, terrakaffe.com, to explore their premium coffee machines and specialty roasts.
- 2. Here’s a great Entrepreneur.com article that’ll help you overcome the mental hurdles of perfectionism getting in the way of progress.
One Question to Ponder
Here’s what I’m wondering, and I’d love to hear from you: What’s one “perfect” goal you’ve been sitting on that you could execute at 70% capacity right now? What would it take to actually do it this week?
Send your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com, and if we love your response, we’ll read it on a future episode of How Success Happens. Let’s hear your story!
About How Success Happens
Each episode of How Success Happens shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It’s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.
Raise a mug to Sahand Dilmaghani, founder and CEO of Terra Kaffe, a company that’s revolutionizing how we drink coffee by creating high-end coffee machines and roasting the beans that go inside them. Sahand — who says he sometimes will down 12 cups of his product a day! — recently joined me for an exclusive webinar with Entrepreneur Plus subscribers, and the insights he shared were so valuable that I had to share them with all of you.
Listen to highlights from our conversation on a special episode of How Success Happens—and prepare to get jacked up on inspiration. Then read on for a breakdown you can use to brew your own success in three, two, one!
