Allergic to Flop: Building Noli Coffee After Two Tech Layoffs with Bri Broadwater

About This EpisodeThere is a particular kind of professional grief that does not get named enough. The version where you survive a layoff, take the severance, take the deep breath, try the next contract, and discover the next contract is also the wrong fit. Your nervous system already knows. You just have not said the thing out loud yet.Bri Broadwater knows that grief intimately. She was laid off twice in 18 months, once from Salesforce, once from a short tech contract that was supposed to last a year and ended after a few months. Instead of going back for round three, she found a ten thousand dollar coffee stand for sale on Craigslist, bought it without a loan using savings, sold stock, and wedding gift money, and named it Noli, short for nolite timere, Latin for "have no fear." Today she runs Noli Coffee solo in Bothell, Washington, five days a week, and she builds it in public on TikTok under the mantra "allergic to flop."This is not the polished founder version of the story. This is the version where Bri talks honestly about the financial gap between profitable and her old six figure salary, the partner who is carrying more than either of them planned, and what it means to run a business in a body that does not always cooperate. It is also the version where two women, twenty years apart in age, compare notes on what it actually takes to start over.What You'll HearWhy the second layoff is often the one that lets you stop pretending you want to go backHow Bri funded an entire business without taking out a single loan, and exactly which buckets the money came fromThe honest gap between "my business is profitable" and "I am back to my old corporate salary," and what living in that gap costs your relationshipWhy building in public on TikTok is a tightrope, not a strategy, and how Bri decides what to shareWhat it actually looks like to run a business as a woman with a disability, and the workplace policies Bri wants to build because of itWhy your grandmother could not get a credit card and why that history matters for the leap you are considering nowThe "do one hard thing every year" framework that took Bri from stand-up comedy to a coffee standThe exact piece of advice Bri would tell herself one year ago (it has nothing to do with marketing)Key TakeawayStarting over does not mean you failed. It means you are finally trusting yourself in the way that you have always needed to. Starting over is not a failure. It is just a redirection.— Bri BroadwaterTimestamps00:00 — Layoff to Coffee Stand00:58 — Meet Noli Coffee02:37 — A Day Running Solo04:46 — Two Layoffs in Tech08:23 — Saving From Destitution11:40 — Why Coffee Why Now13:26 — Starting a Podcast18:35 — Drive Through Decisions21:00 — Funding and Location Risks24:34 — Support and Money Strain29:27 — Advice Without a Safety Net30:36 — Extending Your Runway31:45 — Highlight Reels vs Reality32:19 — Starting Out in Your 30s35:08 — Women's Progress and Choice37:58 — Age Advantages and Comparison41:20 — Allergic to Flop Strategy42:47 — Building in Public Boundaries44:50 — Entrepreneurship with Disability48:48 — Romance Goblin and Growth51:45 — Find Noli Coffee53:39 — Lessons Learned and Mentors55:32 — Networking and AI Systems59:12 — Starting Over Message59:59 — Final Thanks and WrapConnect with Bri BroadwaterNoli Coffee on InstagramNoli Coffee on TikTokVisit Noli Coffee: 10610 Woodinville Dr, Bothell, WA 98011Hours: Tues to Fri 6:30 AM to 2 PM, Sat 8 AM to 1 PMConnect with Jenn FastFollow Jenn on InstagramEmail: [email protected] about starting your own podcast? Grab my Start Strong Podcast Launch Mini-Course (free).I record and edit every episode of The Comeback Show on Descript. It is the tool that made this possible.If this conversation made you feel less alone in the middle of your own leap, share it with one woman in your life who needs to hear that starting over is survivable. And if you have not yet, subscribe and leave a five star review. That small act helps the next woman find this show. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comebackletter.substack.com