Got Coffee: Two women quit Lucrative jobs to Pursue life-long Dream
Amanda Carr | Copy Editor

The drive-through window swiftly slides open, revealing a pleasant smile. The aroma of fresh-roasted beans bursts into the car. A grinder hums in the background, competing with the frother’s shrill whistle. This is a coffee addict’s paradise, and Julie Baley’s dream.
“Coffee is what makes the world go around for me,” she said.
Julie spent 13 years working for FedEx. Like many women she was under stress, unfulfilled, and wanted to make a change. A passionate coffee drinker, she had a life-long dream to open a coffee shop of her own.
“I thought it was something I’d do when I retired,” Julie said. “I called my dad long distance and said, ‘Dad, guess what I’m going to do.’”
The very idea of quitting an $18.50 an hour job and giving up the security and the benefits that come with it while having two small children to care for would be enough to make most parents queasy. But her husband was supportive, and Julie had faith she could make it happen.
“After you’ve worked at FedEx,” she said, “you can do anything.”
Jitters just celebrated it’s second anniversary Feb. 5, 2003.
If quitting her job was a testing decision, finding a business partner was a breeze.
“There’s nobody else in the world I’d do this with,” Julie said of her business partner and long-time friend, Tammy Vaughn.
Tammy is also a former FedEx employee. She spent 10 years there before leaving to raise a family, and another 10 years in the child-care business.
The two met five years ago when Tammy taught Julie’s son, Colton, in her preschool class.
“Tammy was always teasing me about how much nicer the FedEx uniforms were than when she used to work there,” Julie said.
When Julie brought Tammy her first latte, flavored with hazelnut and Irish cream, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, she was hooked.
“I just said OK,” Tammy said.
Then the easy part was over. The pair jumped in with both feet and was immediately bombarded with one obstacle after another.
They bought out an established business that had only been open a little over a year and had already been through three different owners.
“If we’d known what we know now, we would have never done it,” Julie said.
They had to start by gaining the trust of their employees, college students and mothers for the most part, who had been overworked and taken advantage of by their former employers. The equipment was dilapidated. They were instantly out the cost of a new freezer and industrial blenders.
These types of expenses are to be expected, but they were not prepared for the $8,600 tax lien acquired by a previous owner.
Still they remained undaunted.
“All of that just taught us how bad we wanted to make it work,” Julie said.
With the immediate problems at bay, the new entrepreneurs threw themselves into learning to operate their business.
There are no typical days, but it’s always safe to expect an inventory emergency. The eight-by-eight-foot shop doesn’t have room for extra supplies.
Tammy estimates that 50 percent or more of their customers come by every day expecting their favorite drink to be available.
“It’s nice to see and get to chat with the same people,” Tammy said. “They become your friends.”
Has business affected their friendship? The unanimous response is “yes.” Both ladies agree that the venture has made them closer and more dependent on each other, and being able to trust each other is the key to their success.
“We have a friendship motto,” Tammy said. “There’s no problem a friend and a cup of coffee can’t fix.”
They agree that their division of responsibilities is well balanced.
“We both have our strengths and weaknesses,” Julie said. “But we complement each other.”
Julie keeps up with the bookkeeping, inventory and research, while Tammy handles marketing, advertising and training.
They depend on each other to help keep their families functioning as well, arranging their schedules so one of them is always available to be with their children. Between them they have four kids under the age of 11.
“Our families have become meshed,” Julie said.
“The kids are great and supportive,” Tammy said, “until it interferes with something they want to do!”
Tammy had to adjust to being back in the workforce after being home and at everyone’s convenience for so long.
“There are days when I feel like it’s too much, but there are more days when I just love what I’m doing and that makes it all worthwhile,” Tammy said. “This coffee shop is about me, and something I am doing. I’m very proud and feel like I am accomplishing something outside my family.”
The realities of business have been a bittersweet surprise.
“We didn’t expect it to be so difficult to actually run our own business. The expenses are more and the taxes are higher and more complicated than I expected,” Tammy said. “On the other hand, I didn’t know that it would be so fun and so rewarding.”
The rewards keep coming as Jitters services an average of 100 customers daily, excluding the regularly scheduled deliveries to various schools and businesses that Tammy orchestrates.
“Tammy is the delivery guru, she has set up an awesome system,” Julie said. “The teachers especially like it. ‘Coffee delivery day’ is their favorite day. We bring a lot of smiles with our deliveries.”
Jitters now delivers to three area schools, and now a fourth wants to get on the schedule.
One of the schools Tammy delivers to inducted Jitters into their Partners In Education program. Jitters donates gift certificates to reward teachers and staff members for their hard work and commitment. The PTA often offers Jitters products for door-prizes at meetings.
“For Valentine’s Day, the teachers are having ‘secret cupids’,” Tammy said. “I’ve had many phone calls about personalized gift certificates.”
The two friends talk excitedly about the future of their business. Their theme for the future is “bigger”. They have plans for a larger building with a patio and maybe a covered drive-through. They feel a sit-down location with more of a “hang-out” type atmosphere would allow them to spend more time getting to know their customers.
“We have overcome a lot of obstacles and we are still battling some, but we are happy,” Tammy said. “We love our little coffee shop, and money aside, all our fantastic customers and our constant improvement make it all a very successful venture.”
Where do they get the energy to juggle home, family and business? They laugh. ”From the coffee, of course.”

MSU College Bowl team returns with 5-2 Record
For the Wichitan

Last weekend, the MSU College Bowl team competed in the annual ACUI region 12 College Bowl tournament at Texas A&M. College Bowl, heralded by its creators as the “varsity sport of the mind,” is an academic competition, similar to Jeopardy, in which two teams of four students attempt to answer trivia questions.
The team consisted of Camron Rushin (senior, computer science and mass communication), Rory Payne (senior, humanities), Britton Sauerbrei (sophomore, psychology), and captain Ronald Bailey (senior, history). The varsity squad was selected from the top-scoring players in the MSU campus tournament, which was held in November. Coach Tom McNeely, an instructor in the Intensive English Language Institute, accompanied the team.
The fifteen teams participating in the regional tournament were split into two divisions. Midwestern State and seven other teams, including Rice, Baylor and Harding, were grouped into division one.  MSU, after a series of hard-fought victories and nail-biting defeats, finished 3rd in the division, with a 5-2 record, losing only to Baylor and Harding.
The match against Harding was particularly close. After slipping behind 130 points, MSU rallied, nearly winning the game. The final score was 260-210. Bailey wasn’t too pleased with the team’s performance in the match. “That game was really close. We just made too many stupid mistakes,” he said.
Bailey earned a total of 405 toss-up points, and was the top-scoring player in the tournament. The second and third place players were from LSU and Arkansas, and tied with 265 points each.
Though the team didn’t quite make the final four this year, the players nonetheless enjoyed themselves. “I had a lot of fun,” Payne said. “The competition really created a sense of camaraderie on our team. I was also impressed with the sportsmanship the other teams displayed. The Hendrix team stayed at the same hotel we did, and after the tournament, I took my guitar over and we shared a few songs and laughs. It was a blast.”
Sauerbrei had a similar feeling. “It would have been great to have made the final four again – winning always feels good – but I thoroughly enjoyed myself just getting out of town, competing, and meeting interesting people. We met a Sri-Lankan student from the University of Houston, and we talked for nearly an hour about religion and literature.”
Next year, Payne, Rushin and Sauerbrei will leave the team, and a new squad will go to the regional tournament. Sauerbrei encourages students to play next year and try out for the team. “If you’re looking for a chance to have some fun, meet some nerds, and have the university pay for a weekend vacation, you should play College Bowl,” he said. “Besides, it may be the only chance you have to show the world that you know the genus name of fruit flies.”