Looking for advice on how to start small, gain experience, and scale up a coffee/ third space business

Hi all,

I'm looking for any advice on starting small with a coffee business, but as the title suggests my real focus/ passion is into making a community hangout space/ third place business.

I have a passion for coffee, and I recently took a trip to italy where I was really inspired by the coffee culture and the third space culture they have there. One place really stood out to me. The coffee was inexpensive and great quality, the place was decorated with a bunch of art, plenty of cozy places to sit and tables for laptops, it looked like almost all the glassware & furniture was thrifted, and it kinda gave me a vision on what I wanted to replicate.

Anyways, I'm looking for advice on how to start small, so as to gain experience running my own business. I have 3 years of experience working as a barista and a passion for coffee, but in my mind the main purpose for the business is that it serves as a third space where people can come to hangout, study, play games, and what not. Great inexpensive coffee, food, drinks, hopefully live music and events eventually, are the products that draw people in, but the main purpose or "problem" the business solves is it creates a third space for people to hangout at.

How can I start small? It seems that with a business like this there's a massive upfront cost of all the equipment, leasing the building, renovation, employees, marketing, product itself, etc. etc. I'm not intending to try to turn this thing into the next Starbucks, but I'm looking for ways to start small and gain experience running and managing my own business without the massive upfront cost and risk that goes into a coffee business like this.

Any coffee shop, restaurant, bar, live music venue, etc. owners willing to share their story on how they started out? Anything is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!