HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

After being married in 1999, Suruchi and I met with the supplier. Suruchi picked out a line of products, about 15 items that appeared in the first catalog: “Gourmet teas beautifully packaged”. I thought there would be a market for this product, so I immediately placed a small order. In 1999 I brought in two shipments of tea and began marketing it. I was marketing it through wholesale, retail, tv ads, you name it, I tried everything. In fact, I had identified so many markets for the products that it was difficult to choose the channel to pursue: gift, health, or tea. Everyone I knew got samples. From my small 200 square foot office and my first warehouse of 100 square feet, I began marketing gourmet teas beautifully packaged. I was not only the sales person, inventory manager, etc. but also the graphic designer creating my own marketing tools. I threw myself into researching the teas and learned as much as I could. I, essentially, became obsessed with tea it became my passion, my life.

1999 was both an exciting time for Tea Connexions, but also a hard time. It was a period of great excitement, but filled with fears. I sometimes used to ask myself if this was going to work? What if I don’t sell all this inventory? Am I doing the right thing?

But, I pushed on and even in the dark periods, when everything was going wrong or seemed to be going wrong, I would look up at the wall in front of my computer and read the quotation about not quitting:

DON’T QUIT

When Things Go Wrong As They Sometimes Will;
When The Road You’re Trudging Seems All Uphill;
When The Funds Are Low, And The Debts Are High;
And You Want To Smile, But Have To Sigh;
When Care Is Pressing You Down A Bit- Rest If You Must, But Don’t You Quit.

Success Is Failure Turned Inside Out;
The Silver Tint Of The Clouds Of Doubt;
And You Can Never Tell How Close You Are;
It May Be Near When It Seems Afar.
So, Stick To The Fight When You’re Hardest Hit-
It’s When Things Go Wrong That You Mustn’t Quit.

So, as you can see, Tea Connexions has had very humble beginnings. Like many other huge companies like Hewlett Packard that started in a garage, Dell that started in a college dorm, and dare I say, Starbucks that started with just one store, Tea Connexions has similarly had very humble beginnings.

Click Here to read DREAM BIG.