Reconnaissance - Tea Xotics

So over the course of the year, I have tried to visit some of the local coffee and tea shops in the area and if they were willing, chat with the owners about their experiences starting and running their businesses.  This has been a lot of fun and there have been a couple I have visited multiple times.  I'll list them here with my impressions and thoughts and I'll start by saying I haven't had a bad experience anywhere, but I have had great experiences along the way.

I found Tea Xotics at the St. John's Craft fair last December.  Renee owns the company and she is very nice and personable.  I asked her about wholesaling and she was interested and I decided I would go up to her place in Shingle Springs.  Lisa has been my partner in crime at many of these excursions and the first time we went up, both she and Mike came.  We ordered our tea and sat in the cozy conversation nook.  The place is primarily a coffee place, but Renee has been doing the tea line for over a year.  Her place is big, but she serves a light lunch as well as the coffee and tea, so that makes sense.  It is open with a counter in the middle and both tall and regular tables.  A lot of the art portrays different stages of the coffee roasting process, and makes for a comfortable warm atmosphere.

I contacted Renee later since she wasn't there to talk to at the time and over email, she invited me to come up and see how she ran things and talk about her tea.  What an amazing invitation!  I went up one day and she took me behind the counter, into the kitchen, gave me advice on dishwashers, etc., and then sat down with me to discuss the biz.  Apparently, when she decided to buy, she closed the sale on a Friday, did a few things over the weekend, then re-opened Monday morning.  She didn't want to lose the customer base she already had and has added to it successfully since.  She now roasts her own coffee and in addition to the tea, I hope to carry her coffee as well.  Her advice was to not overthink it which will be difficult for me to follow.  LOL

Lisa is now a regular stopper on her way to her parents' place and has decided that I need to make my own version of one of the drinks there.

To New Friends Through Tea

So when I went to the World Tea Expo (blog post pending) in June, I met all kinds of wonderful people who were in various stages of starting their own tea ventures (and a couple who were already in business) and from all areas of the map.  I have kept in touch with several of them and this weekend got to connect with two of them.  I spoke to Jennifer on the phone for about an hour and got to hear about her adventures in Tucson.  She has located a space and is now working on logistics of the build-out and it was great to share our plan to make our dreams a reality.

This morning, I got to meet with Lan and her family.  Turns out she has family here in town and an aunt that lives maybe 5 minutes from me, so she is in town occasionally.  I met her at a company here in town that sells organic (and non-) spices and teas where she had an order to pick up then we had a nice breakfast.  We talked a lot about how we were moving ahead and a little about our respective lives.  It was really nice.

Today just reinforced what I have been discovering through my journey this year.  The tea world is pretty small yet and most of the people I have met have been more than willing to talk and give advice.  I have visited or talked to many of the local shops and have discovered a really nice community of people.  I am very glad for Lan and Jennifer and all the shop owners and Bob (my broker) and even the county workers who have been so helpful. It all should come together very soon!

Term Papers and Business Plans

I am working on my business plan right now and I am finding about as fun as a term-paper.  In actuality, it IS like a term paper...but I have to turn it in to me...and my investor.  I guess like all of them I will just have to suffer through...this one, at least, is relevant to my life, so I actually have a desire to complete it.  Still not fun but at least not one of those things in school that would have no lasting importance on my life.  :)

A Break from Business Planning...

So this year is our tenth anniversary, so I told Mike a while ago that I'd like to have a honeymoon for our 10th anniversary.  So we decided on Hawaii and I started polling friends and family on where the best place in Hawaii would be.  From what I heard, it sounded like we really couldn't go wrong.  But knowing how Mike is on crowds and touristy things, we narrowed down to Kauai and I decided to start looking into lodging.  Teri put me on to VRBO.com (vacation rentals by owner) and I looked at a few, then found a little house near Poipu.  I sent in an inquiry and got a response yesterday.  So, it looks like we are going to Kauai for 8 days in May!  Woohoo!  I am so excited!  Funny enough, I will only be home for a week after that before I am off to Las Vegas for the World Tea Expo.  May and June will be busy!

Business Class #8 - Invoice and Expense Tracking

Last class in the series and last one with the SBDC for a while.  Nehal was here again and after talking to him, we found we have a mutual friend that works at HP with him.  Very nice.

So this was on invoicing.  This was somewhat useful but I think I may use a program like Quickbooks.  That will be the next class I sign up for with the SBDC I think.  And I'll drag Mom along with me.  She can help with my bookkeeping.  :)

Business Class #7 - Email Marketing

Today's class was number 3 in the series; and it was all about email marketing.  I have seen Constant Contact, iContact, and a few others but this one introduced us to MailChimp.  I signed up as soon as I got home and realized I have nothing to market as of yet.  Ah well, I will eventually.

Anyway, we went through the ins and outs of managing a client list, importing it with a .csv file, writing a marketing email and sending it.  Very useful.  I am enjoying the exercises and like that they are practical.  The instructor Nehal has been very helpful and the materials are easy to follow.  I'll keep you posted as to how I use this stuff in the future.

Business Class #6 - Presentations

Today was the second class in the series of business classes.  Today's subject was Presentations such as for presentation to a loan officer in preparation for applying for a loan.  Again, it was informative in that there was good information although this probably more than the rest was repetition for me since I did presentations all the time for work.  Knowledge and practice is always good, though and it helps to keep polished.

Most of the same people were in this class as were in the first in the series.  It's nice to see the same faces and encourage each other on ventures.  The diversity in plans is pretty interesting.  There is everything from funeral planning, event planning, herbal distribution, and at least one person who is taking classes after having been in business for a while.

Business Class #5 - Managing Business Finances

Who knew that a class about finances could be interesting???  There was of course all the boring info about balance sheets, profit and loss statements and all that (necessary but very dryyyyyyy) but it was all kept very interesting by the instructor but if anything, I am even more intimidated...all will come in time though.

Clyde didn't teach this class, but his colleague did and he was great.  He made it fun to sit and talk about that stuff.  One thing I learned is that you can get really crazy complicated with your finances, but the trick is to work at keeping it simple.  Only complicate it enough to include what you need, but nothing else...in other words, KISS (keep it simple, stupid).

Business Class #4 - Website Management

So when I signed up for all these classes, I signed up for a series involving digital media management.  This one is about website management.  Mike, of course, pshawed at the idea behing the whole series because each one seeme dlike something I already know it that would be unnecessary.   So for this one, it is because he is my website admin and I didn't really need something like that because I had him.  I went anyway because I was curious what they might have to say.  I'm glad I did because this wasn't design so much as minor changes on the fly.

Mike has a day job and if I came to him on a busy day because some seemingly minor change in wording needed to be made, he would put me off and if that minor bit of wording were say, a note about a sale, it could really affect the business.  So this was a good backdoor way for me to go in and make minor changes.

The class was run by a really cute guy who works for HP.  And Mike still pshawed at the class when I showed him the exercises...but oh well.  I enjoyed it.  :)

Business Class #3 - Business Plan Guidelines

This class was a really good one!  It was an all day course and a lot of the people from the first class were there.  Clyde was the teacher again and he had some really great information.  He also sent us all home with a flash drive with some worksheets and templates.  I looked at them and they will be a good place to start when I start writing. 

I am a little intimidated by the amount of research that needs to be done.  One of the bits of advice that Clyde gave is to go sit in some comparable shops around town and see what it's like.  Mike wants me to expand on that and explore all the shops in the area and visit them all several times during the week.  I know that I need to know what that information looks like, but it's still intimidating!  LOL

Business Class #2 - Saving Money in Taxes

So today, I took a seminar about saving money in taxes with your business.  In the class last week, it seemed like the LLC was the way to go.  The guy that gave the seminar this week was definitely in favor of incorporating.  I took Mom with me and she really liked this guy and said she would think I should go with him as an accountant...I am not fully convinced but I did like what he had to say.  It sounds like an LLC is okay until you make a profit...so we'll see what happens...LLC, here I come!  :)

Business class #1 - Business Basics

Today, I took a business basics class at the SBDC and it was a lot of information to process!  The instructor was a great guy named Clyde who made a lot of information seem palatable.  I found out that along with the classes, the SBDC offers counseling and advisory services as well. I think I have found my new home.  :)

There is a lot to know about small business, but the main thing I got out of this class is to write a business plan.  That and form an LLC.  So, it looks like I will be doing that soon.

Goodbye to the old life...hello to the new...

So, here I am back after another two years and embarking on a new adventure.  A while ago, I had written that I was in a funk, and it turns out part of that was probably my job.  I loved my job when I started.  I felt safe there.  I was doing biology which truth be told, I am not very good at but I really enjoy.  My now husband used to laugh at me because I would come home all excited about something that happened with whatever bacteria I was working with.

I felt a bit of stagnation after a few years but my passion rekindled when I started on a big new project that allowed me to not only learn something new but to specialize in something.  This was great for a while...then I started having some interpersonal issues.  Probably things I should have seen coming and definitely should have handled better...but real issues nonetheless and issues that weren't all in my head.  They were confirmed by others who I highly respected and saw what was happening but were powerless to help.  Meanwhile I spiraled.  I came close to quitting a few times being incredibly unhappy and feeling like I had no other choice.

Then, I did have a choice.  And I decided that I wanted to be done with the corporate world and that job in particular, but I wanted to be done on my terms.  So with the blessing of super supportive hubby, I took the plunge and decided to go into business for myself. I am hoping this will be a good move and fun to boot.  I am seeing a long road ahead of me so far but It looks like it's pretty straight and well-lit.

I have been vindicated somewhat in that it seems I am missed at my old job.  I am perversely happy about this especially since I felt like I had no impact there at all.  I miss my friends terribly, but am making an effort to keep in touch with them.