Making Connections in Business—Even if You Don’t Start With Any

0:00I didn't finish college. I didn't have any direct mentors initially. Now I surround myself with wise counsel. You know, there's an idea that you go off on your own, right? Like, oh, I'm going to start my own business. Oh, I'm going to go and I'm going to do it all myself. I've seen just such short-lived startups with that mindset. Hey there, I'm Shuang Esther Shan, and welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. Mentorship and connections are often the biggest part of growing as a business owner. Founder Steve Schwartz studied preventative natural medicine from valuable mentors, which helped him to discover his passion for tea.

0:44Steve launched his company, Art of Tea, which has created custom teas for partners like Wolfgang Puck, The White House, Google, and many more. Now, 20 years later, Steve is here to talk about how he found the right people to provide guidance and build the company with him. Thank you so much for being here, Steve. I'm honored to be tracking with you. Thank you for your time. Very, very excited to chat. I know that this journey of yours within the T world spans over two decades and it very importantly started with great mentors and great teachers. So talk to us about those people who were instrumental in the beginning of your career.

1:26How did you find them? What did you learn from them? Yeah. So I always try to be open to, you know, if I'm the smartest person in the room, there's something wrong, right? So I always try to be open regardless of someone's age or background. What is it that I could possibly learn? If I sort of see divinity or if I see a higher sense of purpose around the people around me, whether I'm at an airport or I'm traveling or I'm sourcing tea or even just listening to podcasts, there's an incredible amount of wisdom that's out there that spans thousands and thousands of years. And I've not had anyone in my immediate, especially when I was first starting, there was no one in my immediate circle that I could turn to for guidance and best practice on starting a tea company or starting a company in general.

2:16So I literally turned my iPod at that time in my car into a university. So I would download everything from Tony Robbins to Brian Tracy, to a number of other incredible thought leaders, Pauline Hill, and would just listen and consume their information and insights and wisdom rather than listening to stuff on the radio. So it was pre-podcast days, right? And just try to lead with impact as much as possible in that process. So I was really inspired by people that were looking at utilizing their time on this planet to not just drive results, meaning whether that's financial or spiritual or physical health, but just what can they do to be a conduit for goodness, for contributions, for making an impact in some possible positive way?

3:11It's really like curating your own curriculum in this age of content and media and so easily accessible. So after that chapter, you did go to a school for natural medicine to actually hone in and kind of start the path towards T. Yeah. Why was that decision so important as well? That's a great question. So I'll go way back in time. I got a full paid scholarship out of high school to go to college. And six months into it, my mom got diagnosed with cancer. So I moved back in with her, took care of her for about 10 months. And we went from one Western doctor to another Western doctor and nothing worked for my mom, unfortunately.

3:56And she ended up passing away after 10 months. And it really woke me up. It got me thinking about health and wellness and what can I do to learn more about my health and wellness? How can I help my family, my community? But I didn't want to be a doctor and I didn't want to stick needles in people. There's nothing wrong with acupuncture or Western medicine. It just wasn't my calling. But I found the school in New Mexico called the Ayurvedic Institute and incorporated Eastern and Western medicine. And from there, I really fell in love with the alchemy of blending herbs and botanicals, so much so that I was chosen as the only student advanced enough to work with a master's at my school on how to blend and source.

4:38So I was intrigued. I saved my money. I worked four different jobs. I mean, I cleaned houses. I worked at the school. I waited tables. So I did everything I could without thinking I was going to start a tea company. I just was enamored by how something that could be grown in the ground could have such, you know, power and potential behind it. So I started bringing stuff back in my backpack and started passing it out to friends and family, started blending in my living room. And then I caught the attention of Wolfgang Puck and his team. And they asked me, like, hey, we really know where our fish comes from.

5:13We know where our coffee comes from. We know where other supplies come from. But tea is a whole world for us. Can you come explain to us? And so with passion and so much pleasure, I was able to really train their team on how to elevate a high-quality tea service. And there wasn't really anything done like this at the time. And then Caesar's Palace caught wind. And they asked me, you know, is there such a thing as a tea sommelier? And so I ended up training the first T-Sommelier in the United States. And it really sort of grew from there. There's more that I can share in terms of the story, but that's really sort of the foundational story.

5:51Just starting in my living room, blending and packing until my wife was like, you have too many boxes in here. Either you move out or you move your boxes out. So I ended up finding a small space, moving our boxes in there. with a lot of fear. I ended up hiring a couple people and it ended up pushing me and driving me to do what I can to make sure that they're well taken care of. And it just really sort of grew organically from there. There's definitely a lot to unpack here because from making teas in your living room to having this partnership with Wolfgang Puck, how did you find these partnerships?

6:36What did you do? How did you cold call and reach out to people? I remember like, yeah, I was cold calling. When I would call, I wouldn't always say that I'm the founder, right? And it wasn't until I would actually sit down and I'd meet with them. But I just created lists. It was even before Excel. It was like a pen and paper and like writing things down and scratching out notes. I'd look in the newspaper. There was before Yelp, it was City Search. It was like top 10 best restaurants. LA. I remember landing, I think it was like my second or third customer. And before we had this beautiful packaging that we have now, I was hand packing and I took a label maker and I print out on the label maker the name of the tea that I came up with.

7:24And I put it on this little baggie with a zip tie. And I did a tasting and I brought this and it was for a high end restaurant. I was so embarrassed, but like, I didn't have the budget or anything else to be able to pitch. And he's like, this looks so fancy. This looks like, like it's almost looks like a label maker, but it's so cool. And it's, thank you. It's like, you know, but if you look at like high end perfumes, like La Labo, right. It's like basic prints, uh, you know, some of these other brands, like it doesn't, packaging should look nice, but it doesn't have to, you don't have to go overboard in terms of packaging.

8:00So, and then they asked, I remember in that same meeting, he's like, uh, where else do you sell to? And I wasn't going to say, well, you're the first or so, or you're the second. So I said, well, you know, we're pretty exclusive. Um, and we don't, we don't disclose the customers that we work with just to, you know, we would do the same for you. You know, we would make sure that you are, we'd have that same exclusivity and whatever we offer for you would not be offered anywhere else. And it was true. And we still hold that. If there's that disclosure or unique blends that we would be able to create for that unique customer, we still hold that true.

8:39You know, the key theme here is you really went with the punches and there were personal tragedies that you had to go through, but you knew how to pivot and also follow your interest. But then you also pivoted to T and out of your personal interest that caught the interest of influential people like Wolfgang Puck. But you probably didn't necessarily have, I guess, the business skills, if you will, to turn this into a business. So then how do you kind of start teaching yourself on that area of logistics and business and things like that? Such a good question. I showed up as authentically and as vulnerable as possible.

9:23So I would say, I'm new to this. And I'm going to need some help here, kind of unpacking what I know. And what would happen is that sense of vulnerability, I thought people would show up with their arms crossed and kind of backing off. But in fact, the exact opposite happened. People started to lean in. Oh, you're new. Oh, let me help you. Let me show you kind of what we can do to support. And so this human response ended up being overwhelmingly supportive. And you're right, I didn't finish college. I didn't have any direct mentors initially. Now I surround myself with wise counsel. I've learned so much in that process of, one, giving back as much as possible in terms of knowledge and insight, wisdom, even financial contributions to charitable organizations that we really resonate with.

10:19But asking for help, you know, there's an idea that you go off on your own, right? Like, oh, I'm going to start my own business. Oh, I'm going to go and I'm going to do it all myself. I've seen just such short-lived startups with that mindset. If you think you're doing it on your own, you'll burn out incredibly quickly. I think you have to learn how to ask for help, find people that are really passionate about stuff that maybe there's stuff that you don't want to do. And it was hard for me to think of that at first. Like I thought other people were going to want to do what I love doing. But I found that there's other people that love doing the things that I suck at.

10:53And I'm really good at only a couple things. And I'm really bad at a lot of other things. So really leaning on my team and trusting my team and showing a lot of gratitude to them for the stuff that I just can't do, that they're excellent at. And so, yeah, I think asking for help, asking for support has been really helpful. Especially, we don't have any investors, except for two. I started with two investors, Aunt Visa and Uncle MasterCard. Those are my two investors. I had a credit card for$1 ,000 and then another credit card for$1 ,500. And just every month was really dedicated to pay those down.

11:34Strategically, I've not taken on investors. Not to say that we won't at some point in time. I'm open to that at the right time. But we've just decided over a 20-year period of time to grow organically, grow intentionally, grow with sales as the main driver of our investment. Yeah. It sounds like you were very scrappy and you found your own way. And of course, leaned on those people who you brought in. You were saying a wise counsel. What are some of the things you've learned from the people that you looked up to that you work with and partner with? Yeah. So when I was first starting out, you could not import high-quality tea.

12:14So there are two major countries that produce the highest amount of tea in the world, and that's China and that's India. So when I finished studying, when I was really clear that I think I want to try this, I want to give this a shot, I went over to China. This is dating back again close to 20 years ago. And I went to a trade show. I found a trade show because, again, you could not import high-quality stuff. The only stuff that you can bring in was what's called fannings, that very low-grade quality tea that you find in supermarkets. And we made a clear line in the sand very early on. We're not selling to supermarkets.

12:49We're only selling to direct-to-consumer on Shopify and then also high-quality hospitality establishments. Okay. So going back, I went to this conference, and I thought, I'm from the United States. You know, people are going to want to work with me. This is going to be great. I'm going to help open up new channels. And they were like, who are you? Where are you from? How many people in your country? And so, yeah, they're like, yeah, there's more people that are learning English in our country than speak English in your country. We're just not interested. So wall after wall after wall, it was super challenging.

13:31because they knew that there was a tremendous amount of domestic interest in their own country rather than trying to export teas to an audience that may not understand. So I just try to open up as much as possible and ask for support. So part of it is when you're in a space where you're open, let's say you're in a dating state of mind and you wanted to go out there, when you're more open, you're just a bit more vulnerable. You have a higher capacity to meet people that maybe you wouldn't know. If you're traveling, even while traveling, you're in a new city, you're also more open to meeting new people.

14:09So here I was, I knew that high quality white tea came from one province called Fujian province. I was like, okay, I'm in Beijing, didn't get any results from there. I'm now going to fly to Fujian. So there's something about being kind of young and vulnerable. And I don't know if stupid's the right word, but just ignorant. Optimistic. Optimistic. There you go. That can play in someone's favor. So being on this plane on the way to Fujian, there was a gentleman sitting next to me who was so excited to practice his English. And he's like, where are you going? What are you doing? And I'm like, Fujian, it's a very prominent tea growing region for white tea and I'm going to go.

14:51He's like, well, where are you going? I said, well, I'm going to figure it out. And he's like, okay, why don't you come with me? My dad has some connections within some officials that work in the space of tea. And let's see if I can be a resource. And just out of genuine kindness and pride over his country was able to help introduce me to some unique people in the space that were very eager at the origin level to meet with someone from the States and were able to help open up and expand some of the interests in terms of organics and sustainability and what we could do to give back to the communities.

15:30So over time, we developed a relationship where this direct sourcing connection became really meaningful to the growers. We were able to fund weddings, cultural centers, schools, better roads, lighting systems. But all this started with just sort of this inquiry and this openness to being able to be a conduit for high quality products that we can believe in into the States. I mean, I feel like we perfectly illustrated your philosophy because to your point, being open and giving, chatting with someone, practicing English with them, you didn't know that this person would have been a great unlock of connections, but just being open and giving and having a conversation with someone would lead to, you know, partnerships that you've had for over two decades, which I think is incredible.

16:24And partnerships is such a key theme in your story and very excited to dig into that even more. I would love to take a moment to thank you for tuning into the show. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to Shopify Masters and leave us some feedback with a review. Our team loves reading them. Thank you so much. We mentioned at the top that you caught the attention of Wolfgang Puck and Caesars Palace, and that's actually just a portion of the brands you've worked with and individuals. You've created custom blends for the White House to companies like Google. What's your advice for establishing some of those relationships and also having those relationships over the years to be that source, that expert that people turn to when they want to create something custom in the tea world?

17:2580 % of success is showing up. I'm going to share a quick story around this and sort of overcoming how to reach the right buyer and how to get in front of the right people. When I first started out, there weren't a lot of tea companies. But there's one guy that was selling teas, some pretty high quality teas in Los Angeles. and someone said, you should go check out a store. So I went there and I was like, wow, these are really beautiful teas. Listen, I'm starting out, starting a tea company. Any sort of thoughts or feelings around this? He's like, don't do it. I'm like, why not? He said, because I already own the space.

18:00I said, do you work with all the restaurants in LA? He says, yes, I work with all the restaurants in LA. So I opened up my flip phone and I call my wife. Oh, babe, like, you know, this guy. And I tell her the story. She's like, really? Every single restaurant in LA? I said, yeah, every single restaurant. She's like, I don't know. That sounds like baloney. I'm not buying it. And sure enough, two weeks later, he closed. And it's not because of me. I certainly didn't do anything to make him close. But just we have to get out of that fear state of mind of contacting someone. And I've had tremendous success.

18:36I just had a big meeting earlier this week with a very sizable opportunity. And I knew going in there that I wasn't going to win it because they were already in contract with someone else. And this is a global opportunity. And I said, I know that we're not going to earn this business yet. But I'm curious, what advice would you have for me? What is it that you love about this other brand? And knowing what you know about us, do you have any feedback for me when we do reach out in a few years? And again, he went from crossing his arms to leaning in in this mentorship state of let me help you. Let me support you.

19:14Yes, if you were to do this and you were to do that, and if you were to potentially offer this, then in one or two years, let's definitely talk. So being inspired by Asian culture and seeing in Japan, for example, where people have dedicated 20 to 30 to 40 years of their life working in one particular station in tea or in packaging or whatever it is that might be doing, and just leaning in on mastery as much as possible. So that long-term thinking, I think, somehow has been lost in our culture here in North America, where if we think more long-term, not like, in three years, I'm going to sell for 20x or whatever that might be.

19:57There's nothing wrong with that. But what could we do to be thinking multi-generations in terms of the impact that we can be making? And what are the decisions that I'm making today that could affect a decision three to five years from now? Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of the time someone might even think, well, I'm not going to get this. So why even take the meeting? And I think your perspective of, I know I'm not going to get this project, but I'm still going to have this conversation and learn from it. It's a really great reminder for us all in any situation. I know that you were a big supplier for a lot of brands, helping them with white label products.

20:37And a lot of other founders might feel like you're, in a sense, helping someone build their brand. So I guess share a little bit of that experience. And why is it so important for you to share your knowledge and build the community, even though from an outsider's perspective, that felt like you were helping the competition almost? So I see a tremendous opportunity still for tea making a big impact in the United States or in North America in general. And yeah, I taught blending classes. I created a blending platform at these big rural tea conventions. And for I think about three to four years, I taught, sold out, beginning and advanced blending classes.

21:22And there was a guy that took my class. His name was David. And he took both classes. was like, I thought I was going to blend tea, but you obviously know what you're doing. You're the expert here. Can you blend teas for me? And so with pleasure, I was able to create the original platform of teas and blends and sourcing for David's Teas. Super good human, really good guy, really admirable human being that's driving impact in the tea space. And we no longer do white label. We do do collabs, like the White House is that great example, there are other hospitality venues, but there's a difference between I want to do something and I should do something.

22:00So if you have a moral obligation in this world to do something, to contribute in some capacity, it's different than wanting to do it. Because a want is the desire that fades. A want is something that is fleeting, that's fading. I want to lose weight. I want to gain muscle. I want to look healthier. Those are wants. I should is I have a moral obligation to be as healthy as possible for my team, for my loved ones, for my own longevity. That's a should, right? And so if we approach things as this is what I should be contributing in this world, then if you have something as easy as a platform or Shopify, be able to make that impact, then that's one less step.

22:39I built our original websites from scratch, staying up late at night with Trainweaver. And just working with an easy platform means that You get to focus on what you're doing as best as you can without needing to worry about the back end of your e-commerce platform. So great to hear that we were a part of the journey. And, yeah, again, I love hearing the fact that, you know, this mindset of not seeing different people in the industry as competitors, it's really nice to hear. And I think that also goes into how you're running the team. A big unlock, you said, for growth is hiring great people. Talk to us about how you identify talent and bring them in and have them stay with you for decades.

23:29I was inspired by a book called Top Grading. The founder of Mint.com leveraged top grading as his hiring practice. And I was like, wow, if he's scaled in a really short period of time, what can I do to learn from that? And so his whole theory was, in terms of the interview process, really linking core values, linking your ethos and your why. And so you're more or less selling yourself as a company and an opportunity as you're looking for new talent. So that's one idea. The second is we do do personality profile testing. So whenever we're hiring for that position, we do want to make sure that we have the best people possible for that position.

24:15For example, we don't want necessarily someone that has a strong promoter or marketing efforts if they're going to be focused on repetitive tasks and potential operations and vice versa. So we want to look for a great fit. And the third and probably most important is we do have five core values as an organization. And we review those core values on a monthly basis. We've really taken inspiration from the Ritz-Carlton that has their credo. If you go to any Ritz-Carlton in the world, you can ask any employee from a landscaping architect to housekeeping to front desk, can I see your credo card? And their credo card basically lists out their why, like what impact they're looking at doing as a hospitality experience.

25:00And so we have that. We have our core values. And so before we go over our weekly numbers, before we go over our quarterly targets, our KPIs, we review a different core value as an organization and by department. And so even when we do our reviews, our 90-day reviews, our annual reviews, we link a core value and we discuss how is this individual showing up within this core value. So it really lists out, again, not just economic drivers, but meaning and purpose and value behind what we're doing. And we look for that. We look for those intentional individuals. They don't have to have tea experience when they come work for us.

25:44They don't have to have that expertise in the food and beverage space. Ideally, they have grit. They have drive. They're kind humans. and they believe in what we're doing and they really want to track with us and make an impact. Yeah, it sounds like great foundation for not just a company, but a community. And I think that's a big part of why Art of Tea has been able to celebrate its two decade anniversary. Looking back for those years, what are some things you feel like that attribute it to the longevity of the business and I guess things that you'll do to kind of continue to grow the brand for even more decades to come?

26:28There's two things. So on a personal level, we talked earlier about the idea of going on your own versus having great wise counsel and great people around you. So your family and your community, whatever that looks like for you, is a huge driver in terms of your success. You want to make sure you have a great support system. And ideally, if you're in a relationship, a great partner. As you're juggling your business and your new ideas, you want to make sure your support system is there for you. So for me, for us as a family, one of the main things that's helped me recharge and connect and get back at it every single week is from Friday night to Saturday night, We intentionally turn off all tech.

27:15So we do a full digital detox. Like I don't drive. I don't turn on my phone. I don't turn on the TV. I don't know the last time I even watched TV. Nothing. We don't do anything tech. And we just are able to tune in to each other, me and my wife and my kids and my community. And I also block out my time. So if you look at like even a pro athlete, right? So this is inspired by, I think it was Dan Sullivan, who wrote 10X is Easier Than 2X. Phenomenal book. And one of the things he said was, if you look at a professional athlete, they have days for training. They have days for reviewing tape and learning.

27:56And then they have days where it's game day. And they don't combine the two. So if it's game day, you're not training and reviewing tape. You're fully focused on game day. And you block out everything possible for that game day. So I've taken that as inspiration for how could I operate better or differently? If I'm going to scale my business, am I going to need to work twice as hard? Or am I going to need to work 10 times as intelligently? And so what are the micro habits that I need to start creating in order to make those minimal adjustments to have the greatest impact? And these are a lot of things I talk about in my book.