What's it like running a business by yourself?

The Small Business administration defines a small business as a business with no more than 1500 employees and and revenue that doesn’t exceed $41.5 million. I wanted to put in perspective the actual definition to all the businesses like mine that are also called a small business.
To me, a business with the above description seems HUGE not small. But it shows the comparison the company described above has to major corporations. I think it’s important to share this because there are a lot of misconceptions about small businesses or owning your own business.

There are many incredible aspects to running Tea Thoughts that I feel so fortunate about and I want to go over them and then share the flip side.

1. Making my own schedule: I’m not constrained to someone else’s schedule. I can easily fit in things I like/need to do like chores or working out. It feels very freeing and definitely less stressful. I get to meet my mom for lunch if I want or participate in an event during the day. Perhaps one of the most important things is being able to vend at certain events that I couldn’t before because I would have had to use vacation days.
   
   The flip side is that I don’t really ever feel off the clock. I feel like I need to respond to people via email and social media immediately. I’m in a stage where this feels essential because I need to keep customers happy and also get orders in. Obviously, I do take time and have gone on vacations but even then it is difficult for me to feel ok in unplugging. Early in the morning or late at night, if there is something I need to do, there isn’t really an excuse not to. During the day I will likely take work breaks to cook, clean or run errands which means I make up the time later. This allows a lot of flexibility but also makes it feel like I work from the moment I get up right up until the moment I get ready for bed.
   

2. Being my own boss: This is related to #1 but stands on it’s own. You can probably relate to having a boss that you maybe don’t see eye to eye with or someone above you that you don’t feel appreciated your work or ideas. As my own boss, if I want to do something, I can just do it without needing anyone’s approval but my own. It is a new level of freedom to be able to explore creative ideas that someone else maybe doesn’t like. I think this has benefitted my shop and my own art/creative projects. It shortens the time to accomplish things in some ways because I don’t have to get approval and can start on a project right away. If I mess something up, I don’t have someone else lecturing me, that’s up me to alone.
   
   The downside to being my own boss is also that there is no one else. I don’t have a team to rely on, I don’t have someone who has slightly more responsibility than me. I have the freedom to do what I want but I am also responsible for the outcome 100% no matter what it is. If there is an issue, I can’t delegate to anyone except myself. This often feels a little stressful and sometimes lonely as well. While I am able to do whatever I like, I also don’t have any help except for google. Everything I’ve built has been from my own researching and learning. While that does have an empowering feeling it has also been incredibly difficult at times. The last part is that because I’m my own boss, I am extremely hard on myself. In many ways, I feel as though my self worth is tied to the success of the shop.
   

3. I’m very lucky to run my own business: I AM very lucky. There are many things that needed to align for me to take this leap and they happened. Every morning when I wake up and open my laptop to start tasks, I can’t believe that I am still able to do this and for now, I will continue to do so. It feels like a dream come true that I get to do something that despite some difficulties, I truly enjoy. I think back to how unhappy I was in other jobs and try to stay as humble and as grateful as possible that I don’t have to work those jobs anymore. It’s not just about freedom, it’s also about control. Running Tea Thoughts allows me to feel a sense of control in my life that I didn’t have before. I feel like I’m building something meaningful where even when I was doing meaningful work, it wasn’t really mine. Tea Thoughts is truly mine and the opportunity to build something of my own is very special.
   
   It’s hard to show the flip side of this but there are some drawbacks. There is nothing guaranteed with Tea Thoughts, I am still at a stage where it could easily all end with a few bad months. While I am happier, I don’t have as many safeguards and I’m doing things day by day, week by week and month by month. Things can get very tight. While I am happy, it can sometimes be difficult for others to understand my choice of profession. It can be hard to turn down invitations from friends and family when I have a lot of work to do. It can be hard to get people to take me seriously instead of just as a “cute little shop.” I am grateful that most of my friends and family are very supportive.
   
   I wanted to share these things with you not to complain, but to be real. I think it’s important to stay true to me and I think that is possible while staying professional. I also have become friends with many of you so I feel comfortable to share.
   
   My advice is that if you’d like to start your own business, do it! But don’t expect it to be easy, you have to really love it because it’s a lot of work. In the near future, I will be offering a guide (for US shops) who want to get started. I helped a friend who opened an Etsy shop recently and it was really fun and rewarding to share my knowledge with her.
   
   I also kept this relatively brief but wanted to know, is there anything you want to know about what it’s like running Tea Thoughts? If you have a question you’d like me to answer, leave a comment and I will respond!
   
   As always, thank you so much for your support of Tea Thoughts! My business wouldn’t be what it is without you!

Tea Thoughts Turns 6!

Where did it all start?

It’s hard to believe but I started Tea Thoughts almost 6 years ago! It was May 2016 and I took the leap to finally start an etsy shop. It’s something that I had wanted to do all throughout college but was scared and intimidated by what came with starting a shop. By this point, I had been writing a little on my blog for a few months and decided to have both the blog and the shop.

My shop was called Tea Thoughts Shop, but at the start it didn’t really involve too many tea related items. I was doing a whole range of things that helped satisfy my creative itch. I created custom paintings, calligraphy pieces and even did some wedding items like place cards. I also started making cards by hand, mostly using tombow pens. These cards had tea puns on them and eventually I decided to do more tea themed items to match my blog.

You can see some of the designs I created, I’ve always loved a good pun! I love looking at these photos to show myself how far I’ve come in my designing and lettering skills but am still super proud of what I created back then too.

Running a business of any type is a lesson in research. I was looking up so many different things and teaching myself whatever I thought would help me be more successful. I would watch every free webinar about social media and blogging. Eventually, I taught myself how to use illustrator and started doing more digital designs. Going down this path helped me create designs that I could print on items at a larger scale. One of my first projects was pins! I always enjoyed collecting pins and since they had seemed to come back in popularity, I gave it a try.

Below are a few more shots of my earlier products and first attempts at digital designs!

As time passed I continued exploring new ways to create things for tea lovers and have grown my product offering significantly. Over these last few years, I’ve accomplished many of my goals but because I am still not quite where I want to be I haven’t really celebrated my Shop Birthday all these years. I think a few times, I might have done a sale but seeing how other shops recognize their Shop Birthdays as a big deal made me realize something. It IS a big deal. I SHOULD celebrate another year where I’m still running Tea Thoughts. You know when you’re younger and teachers ask you what you want to be when you grow up? I didn’t know it then but this is that path. I want to be running Tea Thoughts and I AM! So I want to take more time to recognize this!

Lessons Learned

I’ve learned many lessons throughout running Tea Thoughts and I’m honestly still learning all the time but here are some really important things I want to share especially to those who may want to start their own business.

• You’ll be surprised what you can google : Pretty much everything I’ve learned from illustrator to setting up an LLC was found through google searches. If you have other resources, great! But if not, there are so many resources free and available.

• Stay True to yourself : In the world of social media and trends, this is really difficult but I think there is always a way to keep parts of yourself when following a trend. The most important thing to remember is that there are no other yous and that is your greatest asset in all aspects of life! It’s also personally easier to relate to someone who I find to be genuine.

• Be Kind : Everyone you interact with is going through their own struggles and you may not know it so I find it best to approach everything gently and with kindness when possible. Put good into the world. Help others when you are able. One thing I realized is that there aren’t many people out there who are willing to take a chance on you which is why I try to support other businesses whenever I can because it’s what I would have loved when I started out and even now!

• Under Promise, Over Deliver : In terms of my business, this is probably one of the best pieces of advice I can give. When you say you’re going to send one product but maybe you’re able to include something for free or customize it in some way, do it. It’s a small effort that will go a long way and it always feels good to have a customer who is happy with their order!

How am I celebrating?

To celebrate, I will be releasing one product on May 5th. This is a special product that I think truly encompasses my progress and my roots in terms of tea. In Persian households, you’ll likely see tea being brewed from morning until evening. You will find the brewing vessel to be a modern version of the samovar in most cases, two tea pots on top of each other. The bottom teapot is a larger metal kettle and the top teapot is a smaller ceramic teapot. Sometimes both teapots are metal but growing up, the top was usually ceramic. These teapots all have a similar shape, short and round with the sides jutting out a bit. They often are lighter glazed or white and more often than not will have some floral designs. You can also read more about my tea roots here.

What will be in the shop birthday release?

In honor of this teapot, I created my own floral version and had totebags printed with them! Besides the design being fitting to my tea roots, this totebag is something I would have only dreamed of having in my shop when I first started! Products like these often have a larger minimum order and cost per piece and it just wasn’t a reality for me when I started. This totebag signifies to me the progress I’ve made and it’s also really cool! The totebag has two types of straps, an outide and inside pocket and a zipper! Due to the complicated nature of the design, these are digitally printed. Digital printing is more eco friendly but the toss up is that if you wash the bag often, the design will fade over time.
Birthday Special!
-As part of the special release, if you purchase a totebag, you will also get a free matching pin with the same teapot design.
-I will also be including a tea gift in the first 15 orders of the totebag! So far I have tea from white2tea, teawala, bitterleaf teas and the qi for these prizes! My Tea Places has also kindly offered to sponsor some tea !

How can you celebrate with me?

1. If you read this post, let me know what you thought ! Leave a comment or just say hi!

2. Share with any fellow tea lovers, this post or any information about the Shop Birthday

3. If you’d like to support the shop directly, you can purchase a tote bag on May 5th

April Shop Update Preview!

How is it almost April already?! In many ways I felt like the start of 2022 was steadily moving on and I was grateful for the time but now it feels like it’s moving at lightspeed! I’m in a difficult spot shop update wise because April won’t have as much of a pulled together theme as some of the other months.

I have so many projects in the works that will be releasing later this summer/fall that April will be a shop update of a few items that have surprised me and came in early! But just so you have a look ahead, here are some of the things that are in the works to be released for the rest of the year:

• 4 new pairs of socks

• 2 zipper pouches

• Tiger Gaiwan Pin

• Tea tins

• Wood Coasters

• Countdown to Summer & Coutndown to Fall & Countdown to Winter /Advent

• 2 new wax stamps

There are several other items I want to design but they haven’t been started yet (ex. 2 more rings), all items listed have been started or already on their way to me!

Ok, now back to April. While these items don’t have an overarching theme to connect them, I am so excited about them anyway! So far, this shop update will include enamel mugs, tea leaf ring and a metal moon gaiwan bookmark!

ENAMEL MUGS
These enamel mugs or “camper” mugs as you may have seen them be called are an item I wanted to bring to the shop for a while. Way back when, I had glass mugs and then I brought the highball glasses last year. I wanted to bring a mug that was able to take a colorful print and that isn’t as breakable as glass! I also wanted to bring something everyone can enjoy regardless of where you are on your tea journey.

These mugs will have two designs but 3 versions.
Designs 1- Tea leaves with tiny, yellow osmanthus flowers. The body of the mug is white with yellow on the rim and handle
Design2- The terrarium design. Version one is on a mug with a white body and silver rim. Version 2 is on a white mug with blue on the rim and handle.

TEA LEAF RING
This is a ring that features an open body, green stone and leaf all designed by me! My thinking was to have something simple and elegant with a small pop of color with the green. The difficulty with rings is that everyone wears different sizes and as I am still a very small shop it would be difficult to purchase tons of different sizes at this time. I opted for a ring that is resizable. Just as it is, the ring is a size 6 but it can be pinched closed slightly to be a size 5 or opened slightly to be a size 7. It seemed like 6 was one of the most common ring sizes which is why I chose it and the resizable nature allowed it to encompass 2 other sizes as well.
The ring is made of stainless steel. I chose this because after doing a little research it seemed that stainless steel can be very durable as well as cost effective. I wanted this ring to be accessible for everyone as well as having it look it’s best for as long as possible!

MOON GAIWAN BOOKMARK
I was reading a book one day and thought about how many of you I have interacted with that are avid readers and I decided to give a bookmark a try. I have had paper bookmarks in the shop but wanted to try out something else. These bookmarks aren’t unwieldy at the small size of 2 in X 2 in and are made of copper so they have a really nice color. They all come with a white tassel and they are modeled after the moon gaiwan!

One Month In

Happy 2022!

December marks the first month of me working Tea Thoughts full time and I wanted to write some reflections about it! If you were unaware, at the end of November I left my full time job for a number of reasons. Instead of diving right back into the job search I decided to give Tea Thoughts full time a chance to see if I could make it work. Coming off of a pretty successful October update it seemed feasible if I could keep it up!

There were a few things that I was hoping for in running Tea Thoughts full time - time, growth and happiness.

Time

Working any job is time consuming. You end work or come home from the office and feel as though there are little hours in the day left. I was using my free time to work on tea thoughts in addition to answering emails during the day and posting on social media. Any holiday with time off or a weekend was exciting because I had the entire day to work on the shop. Going full time I knew that I would still be busy but I planned on giving myself more of a break and not work into the nights and weekends. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in December. I was really anxious to make my first full month count and also had a few holiday markets planned that would take up nights and weekends.

I am a creature of habit and like to create a routine to stick to. My days usually start at 6 or 630 with meditation and/or a workout depending on whether it’s a rest day or not then I get into the good stuff. Sometimes I may take an hour or so during the day to see a family member or run and errand but then I am back at it until it’s time for afternoon tea break and cooking dinner. As I’ve expanded the shop and it’s products I do have several manufacturers that I communicate with in China and due to the time difference I am usually up later at night to be able to capture some time with them. On the weekends is when I thought I would take more of a break and I have. I still do work that needs to be done like photos, content, designs etc but am more willing to use the day to hang out with my loved ones. This is hampered still with covid so I am probably glued to my computer more than I normally would be. Moving forward, I hope to set stricter boundaries and allow myself more rest once I get in the rhythm of things.

Growth

January is a notoriously slow month for sales which makes sense because everyone is exhausted from the holidays. I can’t exactly measure my growth just yet because I need more time to pass. I will report again after this month or maybe next! The main goal of growth though would be that because I have more time to work on my shop, I can get more done. I can share about my products more. I can get my products in more shops and produce more products in general and slowly grow to a more sustainable size!

Happiness

I won’t go into specific reasons but I was unhappy at my job and it was having real consequences. It was affecting me mentally and physically so I needed to make this decision for myself. I was hoping that while running a business is stressful in it’s own ways that how I felt would improve. I am happy to report that after a full month, I can’t remember the last time I was this happy. I will admit that the holidays might have contributed to this. The happiness feels more like a freedom. Stresses still exist but they are different and I have more control over them. I feel fortunate to be in this position. I can run an errand when needed, take time when needed etc. The issues I’m dealing with are my own and not from others. Most important, I feel as though I‘ve worked myself to the bone the last several years trying my best to build up Tea Thoughts and I’m finally getting a real chance at it. I don’t know what the future holds but I’m grateful already for the short time I’ve had. It was a mental reset that I needed. I feel like my work wasn’t wasted. I have so many projects brewing and everyday I wake up with a grateful heart and determined mind!

I hope to continue to be able to share more on social media and on the blog about the shop and behind the scenes.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me!

Tea Thoughts and BFCM

You may have noticed that I haven’t shared any sales coming up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I’ve been running Tea Thoughts since 2016 and I have done these sales before. I did them because I felt I HAD to. I thought that if I didn’t participate, my customers would write me off and I would lose out. I felt like every year, I would read blog posts about from businesses and how amazing these shopping holidays were and that it would be silly not to participate. What I noticed however is that I ended up selling my product at a price that wasn’t good for my business. This was especially difficult when I was even smaller than I am now and had less products.

You’ve probably read that people inflate their prices so that they can afford these deep discounts. I can’t speak for other businesses but I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s like free shipping, I would make a bet most places that offer free shipping likely inflate the product prices to afford it because free shipping, even at a higher minimum is a killer!

Last year I decided that I would only participate in Small Business Saturday and I would provide deals that wouldn’t hurt me. The truth is, while my prices are likely higher than purchasing from a big brand it’s because I am ordering/making small amounts because I’m still growing versus their orders of thousands and thousands of pieces making the price per piece lower. I already try to provide prices that are fair and in line with other brands selling similar items whenever possible. I also have several volume discounts standard in my shop for things like stationery already. I try to also offer bundle deals now and again!

Deep discounts on an item or two for a flash sale is usually fine or if I really need to get rid of stock but discounting everything like 40% -60% or more would really hurt Tea Thoughts. So…I’m not going to do it!

I do love the spirit of Small Business Saturday though and I’ve decided to offer a couple deals as well as using my platform to raise up some of the small shops and retailers I’ve featured on my blog in the past!

As always, I appreciate your support! That includes orders, kind notes, encouragement, sharing my products and following along on my social channels!

If you need a gift for yourself or someone on your list and want a little treat, check out what will be happening on Small Business Saturday! None of these items will require a code but they are only valid for Saturday November 27th!

Small Business Spotlight: The Tea Practitioner

The Tea Practitioner is a Canadian Based Tea Company serving up a variety of teas! I have always wanted to try their teas and I finally made a purchase recently. You can see the teas that I bought below plus some zhang ping shui xian and and I was also gifted one extra tea, a ceylon silver needle. My absolute favorite of these teas (even though they were all yummy) was the yellow rose cliff tea. A lovely roasted tea that is perfect for the cooler weather. I reach for any tea that I think tastes good in the winter but there is something so nice about a more substantial tea that is more like a meal and that roast does the trick for me!

Please check out their interview below and also their shop!

1) Can you give us a little introduction about you/The Tea Practitioner?

The Tea Practitioner is made up of two like-minded food and beverage focused individuals - Sierra Joseph-Quon and Brendan Roth. With Sierra’s certification as a Tea Sommelier through the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada and chef background, as well as Brendan’s vast knowledge of Food, Beverage and customer service, together, the pair wants to share their enthusiasm for one of the greatest beverages in the world.

2) When did you start drinking tea?

Sierra: I started fairly young, about 10 years old. Tea is such a huge part of Chinese culture, and my dad would always share pots of Jasmine green with me growing up.

Brendan: I've been drinking tea the English way, black tea with milk for as long as I can remember, but discovered the vast world of single origin teas a few years ago.

3) What inspired you to start The Tea Practitioner?

I've always wanted to start something that puts my passion for tea to the forefront, all the while curating a menu, and testing and sharing recipes utilizing my professional food and pastry skills. This was the perfect platform to merge the two together.

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

On most days I'll start by drinking matcha. Either hot, over ice, or with some sparkling water. It's just a great routine to practice, as well as a huge mood booster to start my day off on the right foot. In the afternoon or evening, I'll have a cup of oolong or white tea, prepared gong fu. At night, I drink herbal tea. Lately lemon ginger or hibiscus.

5) Do you have a current favorite tea from the shop or outside of the shop?

Yellow Rose Cliff Oolong has been my personal favourite. Such great mineral quality, and so floral and sweet. We also really love drinking the Hira Hoji Bancha. It's such a nice fall tea, and the tea leaf material is very reminiscent of the autumnal season; fallen leaves crunching under your feet!

6) Do you have a process for choosing the teas you offer?

Our primary objective is sourcing directly from producers around the world, highlighting their regional specialties. We try to curate a diverse selection of teas for Torontonians, Canadians, and North Americans alike. A lot of this is a reflection of our personal tastes as well.

7) Is there anything upcoming for the holiday season or beyond for The Tea Practitioner that you're excited about and want to share?

We've got a collection of gift boxes that we've just curated, as well as a new blend called Spiced Hibiscus Punch. It's a blend inspired by the Caribbean, traditionally drunk during the festive holiday season. It's great with some brown sugar and rum over ice, or on its own. It's a great holiday punch bowl beverage.

Small Business Spotlight: Topaz Tea Co.

When one of my dear customers, Shaylee reached out to me about her new endeavor Topaz Tea Co, I knew I had to do a spotlight post! One of the fun things about being a small business and using social media to communicate with people is that you get to forge connections and friendships, like I did with Shaylee! Shaylee has so sweetly cheered me on and now it’s my turn!

Normally, I purchase the items in my small business spotlight because that is my way of supporting the business I’m spotlighting in addition to sharing about them. To be transparent, the 3 teas I was given from Topaz Tea Co were gifted to me but I will definitely be back for more.

Topaz Tea Co is launching on 10/15 and you can use code TOPAZLAUNCH for 15% off from 10/15 to 10/17! You can check out all their offerings on their site now though!

I was gifted the Evening Zen, Pumpkin Spice Chai and Beauty & Balance. It’s really hard to choose my favorite. The evening zen and beauty & balance were both brewed before bedtime and gave very different feelings. The evening zen was definitely more chamomile forward and mellow. The beauty & balance was nice and tart due to the hibiscus. I loved them both and I think choosing between then would depend on my mood before bed. Sometimes I just need something mellow but sometimes I want something with a strong punch of flavor even though I want to go to sleep. Last but not least, the pumpkin spice chai! I made this on the stovetop adding a little honey and milk. I used a bit too much water but even still I got a nice pumpkin flavor that wasn’t too overwhelming :)

Want to learn more about Topaz Tea Co?! See what the founders have to say!

1) Can you give us a little introduction about you/Topaz Tea Co?

We're a team of two (Shaylee and Alison), launching our first business. Officially, we've been working on launching Topaz for a few months, but it's been a dream of ours for quite a bit longer. We really became friends through our shared exploration of tea, and it has become something sort symbolic of our friendship as well as our individual journeys. Because of that, we began dreaming of having our own tea shop long before we had the knowledge or experience to really give it a shot. Topaz Tea Co is the culmination of a lot of work, a lot of learning, and a lot of love.

2) When did you start drinking tea? 

Both of us are sort of late arrivals to the tea scene. Because of our upbringings, neither of us had even tasted tea until adulthood. Prior to the age of 24 or so, Alison's experience was limited to tisanes and the occasional Starbucks chai latte. Shaylee had sipped a small selection of tisanes as well, but only for medicinal purposes, until she took the plunge at age 26 and tried Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea bags for the first time. Shortly after that, we were trying new teas together as fast as we could get our hands on them.

3) What inspired you to start Topaz Tea Co?

We’re both rather ambitious, so as we fell in love with loose leaf tea we decided we wanted to learn how to make our own. As we considered the idea of creating tea blends, we immediately started dreaming about opening a tea shop together despite now living across the country from each other. With our own past experiences with being new to tea culture, we also wanted to create a space for other beginners to find answers to their tea-related questions and feel a sense of solidarity as they embark on their tea adventures. We’re both very passionate about tea, as a beverage and a philosophy, and while we have a lot yet to learn we’re eager to share what we do know so that others can enjoy the beauty that tea has to offer. 

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like?

Shaylee: Honestly, I haven’t really established a ritual yet, but I do try to make each drink special. Each morning, I choose teaware that fits my mood for the day, and then select a tea to match. I try to remember to inhale the aroma before I take a sip, and when I do remember that deep breath can be magical. In the future, I plan to incorporate aspects specifically related to witchcraft for more intentional tea sessions.

Alison: A lot of the time I’m drinking tea on the go, or while multitasking elsewhere, so my personal rituals tend to be a bit scattered and hectic. However, the part of the process I enjoy the most is selecting and brewing my tea. Aroma is a huge part of the tea experience for me, so I always try to be present and mindful during the brewing process when the complex aromas are changing and growing so rapidly. 

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

Shaylee: It’s hard to choose a favorite because everything I have in my tea drawer is so delicious, but my top three go-to teas are Lavender Earl Grey from Hackberry Tea, Ya Bao Silver Buds from Curious Tea, and our Lavender Berry blend at Topaz Tea Co (can you tell I like lavender?).

Alison: I love mint in my tea blends, so my favorites would probably have to be Hackberry Tea’s Pomegranate Mojito (which is unfortunately no longer being sold), and our own flavor, Vanilla Mint. I also love just about every chai I’ve ever tasted.

6) Where do you draw inspiration from for your blends? 

More than many other senses, scent and flavor are tightly tied to memory. Think about walking into the kitchen as a child and smelling your favorite meal cooking--for most of us, smelling that same dish again, in any context, can transport us back to those happy childhood memories. This is part of why there are certain seasonal flavors that get so popular every year, such as pumpkin and turkey over the holidays. These sensations can remind us of the past, and help us to create new memories in the present. When we’re thinking about creating new flavors, the question for us is always “How can we use these scents and flavors to make us feel a certain way?” You’ll notice if you read some of our product descriptions that we like to mention some of the moods and memories that we are trying to evoke with that blend. 

7) What are your hopes for the future of Topaz Tea Co?

It would mean a lot to us if Topaz Tea Co became a place that was known for helping people to learn about and explore loose leaf tea for the first time. We’ve worked hard to create blends which provide familiar and accessible flavor combinations, while still celebrating the unique flavor of our teas and other ingredients. Many of these blends would be a fantastic early step into the world of tea. We’re also working hard behind the scenes to develop a lot of short and easy-to-understand articles to help people learn more about tea, from tea science to tea history and culture. As we grow, we hope to provide more and more options that are appealing to just about anyone; delicious, interesting, and made with love. 

Small Business Spotlight: The Silk Tea Co

I’m so excited to share the incredible MJ of The Silk Tea Co with you! I’m currently sipping on the Zen & Tonic herbal blend as I write this. I first found MJ on Instagram and while I’m not usually a blended tea fan, I decided to give The Silk Tea Co a try because I heard so many raving reviews and also MJ is just a lovely person. Not only is she blending up tea, she’s supporting causes she cares about as well!

Check out this reel I made showing off her beautiful packaging!

1) A short intro about yourself/ The Silk Tea Co

Thank you for inviting me to this interview. So honored to have this opportunity to share a bit of my journey with you, Nazanin, I’m very grateful for all you do for our tea community. 

I’m MJ Pham and I’m committed to leading a business for social good. I identify with being a maker — a maker of beauty, unforgettable moments, and transportive experiences. My current medium is tea. I founded The Silk Tea Co in the midst of the uncertainty and fear that came with the COVID-19 lockdown in New York City in April 2020. I want to empower all of our tea drinkers to travel the world with just a sip, while giving back to communities in need.

I create powerful and luxurious teas found nowhere else. Each blend is inspired by desire and ancient cultures. I’m so fortunate to have the joy of dreaming up all of our luxurious tea blends and the excitement of running a very small business. As a former U.S. diplomat and news reporter who’s won two national U.S. journalism awards, I’ve worked at the intersection of identity, culture, narrative, and history my entire life. As a first-generation Asian American, I’m honored to own this business as a woman of color. 

2) When did you start drinking tea? 

The role of tea in my life is ancestral. I grew up with tins of loose leaf tea from the local Asian grocery stores in Springfield, Massachusetts. My mom is a refugee from the Vietnam War and I was fortunate enough to be born in the US, thanks to the kindness of the Skruches, strangers who became family to us when they sponsored my mother to this country. 
Tea brought my mom the comforts of her native Saigon. As a child, it was something that connected me to my mother tongue and one of my cultures. Today, it still connects the both of us to our roots. Growing up, trà sen, or lotus tea, as well as trà lài (jasmine tea), were always available in our kitchen. I witnessed how these teas marked the passage of time and solemnized important Vietnamese rituals, including weddings, the lunar new year, and paying respect to our ancestors. 

Yet, it wasn’t until I was studying abroad and learning Mandarin at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China that my tea journey took a more serious turn. I discovered the beauty of the famous 龙井茶 (Longjing cha or dragon well tea) straight from local farms thanks to the community of professors and friends I encountered there. Every day I would bike around West Lake and go past a number of gorgeous tea fields, marveling at the beauty of it all. My classmates and I visited the tea museum and learned more about China’s incredible tea history. I fell in love. It was just before I turned 20 and I could finally appreciate the wonderful experience of steeping tea — the boiling of fresh water, the fragrant steam, the ritual itself. And I was able to finally taste a rich range of flavors that unfurled — a lovely floral bouquet in the tea, a certain grassiness, a slight astringency, and a sweetness I’d never before appreciated. 

While I’ve inherited a respect for tea with my own culture as a Vietnamese-American, it was in China that I first took a deep-dive into tea. 

3) What inspired you to start The Silk Tea Co?

My love of travel and desire to make others feel their best, wherever they are. Tea has made me feel so welcomed and seen in so many countries. Saudi Arabia comes to mind, especially. That’s where the inspiration for my Desert Rose blend comes from, and there’s a greater story behind it (two incredible women!). 

I began The Silk Tea Co because I was craving teas that I couldn’t find online. I thought to myself, Well, if I’m going to make my own teas, I should find a way to share them. It’s been such an adventure since, and I’ve been so humbled and touched by the outpouring of love and support in our community. This is truly the greatest reward I’ve gained since starting this business — the warmth of new friendships, the incredible stories people have shared about our teas helping them and their loved ones through difficult times, surgeries, cancers, and more. There’s no greater honor than gaining the trust of each Silk Tea collector.

While I work in tech full time today, my passion is always centered around the table — and how we can come together. I’ve always been interested in food and I’ve spent a few years discussing gastrodiplomacy before. How are we connected? What do we have in common? What nourishes us? Tea connects each one of us; it’s rooted in the survival of humanity and civilizations. With The Silk Tea Co, it’s such a joy and honor for me to craft exquisite, luxurious blends that bring the ancient magic of tea alive with a modern twist. 

4) What does your personal tea ritual look like? 

There’s something freeing in the flow of tea, the pouring out of one’s self, the filling up of a cup, to replenish your own or to nourish another. I’m very experimental in how I brew. While I don’t adhere to any particularly strict brewing practice, I care deeply about the quality of the tea leaves and the blended ingredients — if I’m drinking a blended tea — and of course the temperature of the water. I like to say, once that’s all accounted for, brew however suits your life and flow. And I’m always experimenting with blends at home, too. 

5) Do you have a current favorite tea?

Can I share a secret with you? Lately, I've been savoring a delicious, highly-prized aged oolong that I will share with everyone in the coming months as part of an upcoming product launch (!!). Every tea drinker has a certain palate, and mine loves highly oxidized teas.... 

Also, as the season changes, I've been drinking a lot of our own On the Rocks tea blend — made with sliced whole vanilla beans from Madagascar, a Rwandan black tea as well as two oolongs, one a dark pearl oolong from Taiwan and the other a jinxuan oolong cultivated in Thailand. I love how versatile it is, it's lovely hot, iced, and as a latte. Kenny Wu from @mr.yumtums just made scones with his On the Rocks tea blend, and I'm excited to craft more blends with food and culinary delights in mind.  

6) Where do you find inspiration for your blends? 

It all comes down to the feelings I feel in the places I go and have been. Sometimes these blends are inspired by a certain nostalgia, and sometimes they’re inspired by a certain idea I have about a place, an interplay of fragrance and flavor, and sometimes, even by a person. I’m inspired by so many places where I’ve lived and visited — Cambodia, Vietnam, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Morocco, and Italy to name a few. These have truly shaped the arc of my tea drinking practice and my tea making journey. With each blend, my aim is to curate a sense of wellbeing for our Silk Tea collectors, and to empower them to travel the world with just a sip while making a social impact with their purchase.

7) What are your hopes for the future of The Silk Tea Co?

To keep making teas with a positive social impact. Since our founding, we have donated 5% of profits to the UN Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against Women. As a survivor of domestic violence and abuse in my former marriage, this is something that’s so close to my heart. It’s my personal mission to empower women everywhere. And most recently, in August 2021 after the crisis in Afghanistan and Haiti, The Silk Tea Co made a two-week call to fundraise for Save the Children and Mozaic DMV, a non-profit in the Washington, DC area resettling 2,500 Afghan refugees. We managed to raise $4,712 thanks to the generosity of our community as well as to our donors, including a third-party donor who helped us make this impact. I’m so grateful and inspired by everyone in our tea family.

8) One more thing to add…

Just as often as I'm drinking the teas I make, I'm always enjoying and in awe of the work of other teamakers and purveyors. There are so many I appreciate. I love offerings from Kiani Tea, TWG Tea, Chiki Tea and Naoki Matcha. I put in a massive order for White2tea recently and can't wait. And I hope to discover more brands to cheer on this year. We’re all in this together!

A little bit about the Tea Thoughts Journey!

Happy Sunday friends and thanks for joining me as I share a little bit about the Tea Thoughts journey. As my next shop update approaches tomorrow I’ve been doing a lot of reflection myself and wanted to share. Before I start, I want to say that I will be sharing difficulties and triumphs with you. I don’t share the difficulties as a way to garner sympathy, just to share. I feel extremely grateful to be able to have the means and time to run a small business.

The Start

Many of you have been around since the inception of Tea Thoughts. I was hired for a creative type job that turned out to not be that creative, I felt drained and like I didn’t have a place to express myself. I’ve always crafted, hand making gifts and cards. I’ve also almost started an etsy shop maybe 10 times at this point but fear always got the better of me. So Instead I started a blog and since tea was such and important part of my life I wanted to make it about that and learn more because I didn’t know that much.

I started my blog and began “reviewing” teas. This eventually turned into me creating recipes because that was something I enjoyed more. After a couple of months, that creativity bug was still biting and I decided to start an etsy shop. That was back in May of 2016. At the start, there was no direction, I was painting, doing calligraphy, creating items for weddings, custom pieces etc. It was nice to create but It wasn’t working well so I made the decision to connect my shop and blog and create tea themed designs!

The Shop

Tea Thoughts has come a long way as a shop, mostly because I’ve come a long way as a designer and business owner. When I started my shop I also starting teaching myself design. Tea Thoughts has always been bootstrapped by funds from my full time job. Working at a small non profit, this isn’t a ton but I’ve made it work. There were some scary times where this funding method really took it’s toll on me but overtime as the shop has grown, the pressure is less.

The most difficult part of my shop has been keeping it stocked while at the same time trying different products to see what people like best. For a couple of years I was drowning. Funding an idea, having it fail and then being stuck with all of the stock in my tiny apartment. I think many people assume that if you have a certain amount of followers, you are rich or have a sell out shop. Not the case. The reality is that marketing your products is like asking over and over “please buy this.” Something I did a lot of was watching webinar after webinar about how to have a successful social media presence. They always say that follower count doesn’t equal a paycheck and let me tell you: TRUE!

Attachment

Something I’ve really had to overcome is connecting shop sales and social media success to my personal worth. When your shop isn’t doing well, it can be really tough mentally. When I didn’t get likes on a photo, I felt like a failure. There were many times where when my shop wasn’t doing well and I saw myself as worthless because I couldn’t make it succeed. Much of my desire to start a shop was to have creative control and freedom and something I built that I could be proud of and these feelings made it difficult to go on. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost quit Tea Thoughts because I didn’t think it could work. Thankfully I have a wonderful support network who always encourages me to keep going because deep down that’s what I want to do. While most nights look like: staying up late, falling asleep in front of my computer and burnt out, I don’t mind because I love Tea Thoughts. The feedback I get from you all motivates me to keep creating and thinking of new things! I’ve come a long way in my mindset. I spend less time on social media and obsessing over likes. I try to share good content with you all and that’s it. I’ve also learned to not take slow sales personally, just that I need to keep going!

Hope

Now for some good. Tomorrow, I release my second annual Tea & Treats Advent calendar. Want to know how random things are? Last year I was hunting for an advent calendar for myself and since I don’t really like tea bags or blends, It was tough to find one so I decided to make my own! Last minute I ordered tea from a few places and was able to throw together 15 listings of an advent calendar. It was so much fun wrapping everything and I was so excited to be able to combine my love of gifting and tea.

It was a hit! So I did a valentine’s day box and a spring box and a summer box and a halloween box! The halloween box sold out in one day and y’all I can’t tell you how much I cried that day. Tears of joy of course. I cried because I finally felt a little success after all my hard work. It was very emotional and I think about that day all the time to remember to be grateful. Now, selling out in one day sounds great but honestly, four years later and I am still working a full time job because I’ve barely scratched the surface of being able to make Tea Thoughts a full time gig. The reality is that on release day I get sales and between release days, sales ebb and flow. Despite this, I’ve never felt more hopeful. The items I’ve been putting in my shop have been doing well and while the countdown boxes are very labor intensive, I love them. I love curating, wrapping, and most of all - seeing your reactions.

The Future

Thanks to all of your support, I feel like I finally found my dream job. I get to design things that combine my love of tea and other items and also fill a need in the tea themed items category. Thanks to your support, the shop has been self sustaining in 2020 for the most part. Still have a long way to go but I feel hopeful and grateful. While I feel like my hard work and trying different things have helped I couldn’t have done it without you. People who shop from me, are putting their trust in me as they shop from a small business and I try my best to make your order feel special. As I look to 2021, I already have 2 boxes planned and depending on how this holiday season goes, lots of new fun items! Something else I am really excited about is that I am saving to purchase my own pottery wheel so that I can update my shop with pottery more often!

I wanted to write this to give you a little peak into Tea Thoughts. Most of you probably follow me on social media and there, I try to keep my feed put together and calm because I think that’s what we could all use more of. In an effort to keep it real though I wanted to share that it’s not always pretty pours and fun product shots!

I am incredibly grateful that I’ve been able to start this business and keep it going. As COVID hit, I thought that it might be the end for Tea Thoughts but in an amazing turn, this has been my best year yet! This is something that’s hard to celebrate, especially because people have lost so much. I will continue to stay humble and keep creating and bringing you tea goodies.

To all of you who follow on social media, thank you!

To those who like and comment on my posts, thank you!

To those who subscribe to my newsletter, thank you!

To those who order from my shop, thank you!

To those, who share about Tea Thoughts, you have been a huge part of my success and I thank you so much!

Wishing you lots of joy and tea,

Nazanin