What happens when you mix a passion for empowering women with a love for coffee? If you’re entrepreneur Maruxa Murphy, you get Perky Perky Coffee, a company that fuses roasting small-batch coffee beans with helping women achieve their fullest potential.

In this episode, Kuda Biza and Alexander Star chat with Maruxa about building a business based on core values, how community can be the foundation of an entrepreneurial venture, and how it’s possible to navigate the drive to “have it all” as a woman in the 21st century. You’ll find massive takeaways in this episode about creating a business with minimal investment, cultivating community, and prioritizing parenthood while executing an ambitious vision. Listen to the end of the podcast to hear Maruxa’s incredible story of moving to the United States from the Philippines – it’s a part of this episode you don’t want to miss.

Here are just a few of the key takeaways Maruxa talks about in her interview:

For Maruxa, the three essential pillars of her life are coffee, conversation, and community. Coffee is a driving force for conversation, and a good cup of coffee can be an entry point for getting to know someone on a deeper level. These real, authentic connections lead to community, which Maruxa deeply believes is something needed in our world today. As she points out, we seek community in all kinds of ways, from social media to connecting face-to-face. If we were better connected, Maruxa says, many of the world’s problems could be solved by a deeper togetherness and a team-oriented outlook on improving society.

When Maruxa was pregnant with her first child, she was in the midst of a high-power career that she loved. As she became a mother, eventually to three little girls, she realized that navigating being both a parent and a professional woman came with a great deal of emotional labor. Entering motherhood required a shift in identity that isn’t often discussed. This hugely personal experience is one of the driving forces behind Perky Perky Coffee. As a company, Perky Perky seeks to inspire women to show up for their lives in ways that result in a huge world impact. To do that, it’s important to have conversations about these challenges that women face, and to ensure that women realize they aren’t alone in the process.

Building a billion-dollar business can be a powerful goal to pursue, but that doesn’t have to be every entrepreneur’s endpoint. It might be surprising to hear that Maruxa doesn’t consider coffee giants like Maxwell House to be competitors of Perky Perky Coffee at all. Instead, she’s built a small but mighty company with minimal investment, and success for her lies less in achieving huge numbers than in the social impact her coffee has on women’s lives. (And Perky Perky Coffee is still reaching $10k in monthly revenue, which is nothing to sneeze at!)

1:10: Introduction

3:55: How coffee, conversation, and community are the three pillars for Meruxa.

7:20: How Perky Perky Coffee is building a community of empowered women.

14:00: How Maruxa is building a business in a highly competitive market.

18:50: The history of Perky Perky Coffee since their launch in January 2017.

20:45: How building a brand is a bit like a dating relationship.

22:25: Maruxa’s alternative to seeking “work/life balance.”

26:30: How Maruxa struggles with self confidence (and doesn’t let that stop her)

29:00: Maruxa reveals her two superpowers.

31:00: Why saying hello to strangers can be powerful.

32:30: Where does Maruxa see herself in ten years?

35:15: How Maruxa is making this her era.

36:20: Maruxa’s amazing story of immigrating to the US from the Philippines.

1) Shift from thinking about balancing your life to integrating your life.

Conversations about living a fully actualized life are often fixated on achieving work-life balance, which is a logical goal on its surface. But as Maruxa points out in this episode, chasing this balance can easily lead to overwhelm. “Balance” quickly turns into having too much loaded onto both sides of the metaphorical scale that weighs our work and life commitments.

Instead of seeking this elusive balance, Maruxa cultivates a Buddhist-inspired practice of integrating all elements of her life. She focuses on the aspects of her life that are essential to her core values, and thrives in the places they intersect. This allows her to focus on what’s truly important while ignoring ego-driven desires for achievement that, in the end, don’t align with her values.

Think about what this integration might look like for you. If you focus only on the aspects of your life that align with your core values, what would remain? What would you let go?

2) Connect over coffee (or your beverage of choice).

A huge part of Maruxa’s inspiration for Perky Perky coffee was the connections she’s made over drinking cups of coffee – both with other people and herself. Take the time to reconnect over a cup of coffee, either with yourself and others. This could mean meditating, praying, or journaling, like Maruxa did, or deepening a relationship with a friend or acquaintance through a caffeine-accompanied conversation. It’s amazing what can be revealed through this simple practice, whether it’s a deeper self-knowledge about your passions and core values, or the opportunities and new ideas hashed out with another person over a latte. Integrate this practice into your regular routine, and see what comes out of it.

Want to try Perky Perky Coffee?

Use the coupon code TIME for free shipping on any order.

Connect with Maruxa Murphy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/maruxamurphy

Join the conversation across all platforms with the hashtag #ThisIsMyEra

“Go through both the hard stuff and the beautiful stuff together, and celebrate all of it.”

“Building a business is like getting a PhD in your own personal development.”