Finding and Filling a Gap / The Business of Tea

Reading business plans for upstart tea companies is one of my favorite occupational duties. On an average I encounter this pleasure about 3 times per month. Each time I sit down to read one I’m nearly overcome with a sense of excitement and anticipation. By the time I’m finished reading the mission statement and a few paragraphs of  the general plan I find myself making one of two choices; I either mouth a disappointed ‘oh no’ or I clench my fist as a victory symbol and give a ‘yeah, go for it!’ kind of silent shout. In either case I immediately  rush to the financials to see just how this proposed business is going to find dollar backing and how realistic that fund raising really looks.

Here’s an odd reaction I have though, if the general plan is exciting enough, I don’t discount the overall business even if the financials are not really looking as good as I would hope. However, if the general plan is dull, I do discount the plan, even when the financials look great.

I’ve been criticized a bit for not giving the financials the weight they deserve in the whole of my evaluations and I appreciate that criticism and take it to heart. Here’s what I’ve found though.

The tea business is growing, relatively easy to enter, filled with many people with the best intentions and, here’s the hard part to swallow, deceivingly competitive and difficult to navigate.
You need more than a love of tea to succeed in the business, you need a realistic and exciting business plan. You need to identify and comprehend a gap in the big picture of the tea market and create an exciting and realistic plan to fill that space. No gap: not much chance of success (and therefore your plan would get a disappointed ‘oh no’ from me). Without success, no financing will be needed, but your day job will become quite important.

But . . . find that gap and create an exciting and realistic way to fill it and your off to a great start (and you get the ‘yeah, go for it!’ kind of silent shout from me!). Remember, the business gap you seek is as important to your tea business success as a lot is to the house you might someday build. You must have a space, a property, a gap to build on. Success will follow and financing will be an issue, as it always is, but you will find a way to solve the problems of finance.

In short I’ve found the following to be true:
- success in the tea business most often comes in filling a real and existing gap in the market and doing it very well.
- finding that gap in advance of opening your tea business  (rather than after failing at what we thought might work), and using your initial energy and enthusiasm to create an exciting business plan to fill that open space pays off most quickly and long term.
- following your plan to fruition takes energy and constant planning.
- success invites financing.

In conclusion let me caution you about success in the business of tea. The business is seductive but it can be addicting, it’s an industry filled with exceptionally exciting and enthusiastic players many of whom will become great friends. In short, enter at risk of becoming a part of a very exceptional and sometimes quirky group of business people. It’s the best.

Richard

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