0:00
(soft music) - Hello, welcome to the final episode of my Tea series. Not to be confused with T series, the popular Bollywood YouTube channel. Oh my God, how did it take me six episodes to come up with that joke? For the past few months I've been making videos documenting my journey of launching Zadiko Tea Co. and last week it finally happened. The spirit of this series has always been in paying it forward. But this episode I'm gonna do that literally.
0:27
(exclaiming) Roll the music. (upbeat music) You guys requested merch, so we got it. We got hoodies, T-shirts, mugs, just something for fun. A little less than a week, before we launched live. I did a super duper secret pre-sale, just for people who had signed up on my website.
0:53
By the way, if you haven't signed up on the website, you should do that. We took 1/3 of our total stock and made it available that first day to see like how much of an appetite for this was there actually. I woke up early. I couldn't sleep. (sighs) This is it. Today is launch day And I'm anxious. Let me go take a shower. (water running) I've done everything that I can. I've worked so hard for this, but now that I am mere minutes away from launch, I am riddled with anxiety and doubts.
1:22
We're live. We did it. I'm going to Shopify to see, Oh, wow. Just like that, we have 13 orders. Oh, we have 15 orders. Oh, we have 24 sales. We have 27 sales. 31 sales. Okay, refreshing. Last I checked there were 60... Whoa! We dropped another thousand. (sneezes) I'm allergic to sales. (sneezes) I'm allergic to success. The presale sold out.
1:44
I've discovered this morning that my body processes excitement as physical stress. I've pooped three times. Then it came time for the real launch. I had such a fear during this that we would sell out. Actually I talked to Keith a ton about it. (beeping sound in the background) - Oh, the cookies are done. - Oh shit, cookies. - I think we initially were gonna do like 3000 bottles, then we thought, oh, that's not enough.
2:09
Then we were gonna like, let's do 10,000 bottles. We think it'll do great, Let's do 20,000 bottles. And we sold 20,000 bottles in 24 hours. (dramatic sound effect) I'm hoping that as soon as the stock came back, we got all those people after the fact. But I'm sure we missed out on something, because you'll probably never sell more than you sell in your first week. - That's probably unique to us, right? - For us, it's like a movie premiere, like you're going to have the most in that first weekend.
2:36
And then you'll still have good numbers, hopefully if it's a good movie, but it will never be as big as that first weekend. - It is 6:00 PM on the day of the launch. And we have officially sold out. I bought as much tea as I could afford, knowing that if I didn't buy that much, we would sell out. - [Voice] You sold out? And we still sold out. - Why didn't you tell them we were announced before me? That's incredible. - We sold out.
3:02
This second there's a limited restock of tea over on zadiko.com. Go get it right now and come back and finish the video. And if we do sell out again, leave your email. You'll be the first to know when we restock. Next up. What did I spent? I think the $500 thing got a little convoluted. It wasn't to show that what I was doing was special, rather to show that it wasn't. That if you had a business you wanted to make, that there are other means to do it, in a really affordable way.
3:26
So during this journey, my biggest expenses weren't necessarily necessary. Applying for my trademark. 225. I'm making this series very publicly and announcing my name before I start selling stuff. So if I don't register a trademark, someone else could buy it. Listen, that's half my budget. - Well, again, you don't have to do it. You- - I have to do it. So, (chiming sound) My next biggest expense was paying for a designer, which means (chiming sound) I broke my budget.
3:57
I failed. Working with Jessie was awesome. She absolutely elevated this project to a whole 'nother level. Look, look at these designs, look how (beep) cool that looks. But I also showed you that it is possible to get really sharp looking designs for free using Shopify's Logo Generator. So in theory, this could have been $14 for a website, $0 for web design, $0 for logo design, $0 on product shots.
4:24
I ended up spending more on social marketing. I think I could've done that more effectively. I'm so proud of you. Zadiko is the best tea ever. And so you can see that if you have a small launch, it is definitely possible to keep your expenses in this $500 range. I wondered with this... If anyone actually out there was inspired or motivated by the videos that I was making. And that is how I met Anna.
4:49
- Do you know how cartoons have like... The character has an idea, you see the light bulb go on? It was exactly like that. I felt light in my mind, I was like, was I stupid before? Or am I smarter now? One of the two. (laughing) - Anna is the founder of Ant Brand, a digital branding service that does everything from logo design, to packaging design, to website building. Anna reached out to me because she said that seeing my first video gave her the motivation to leave freelancing, and start her own company.
5:18
- You just need to decide that you need to put in the work and start working. And so basically that's what happened. I was kind of struck by the video. I was like, how did I not think of this before? That afternoon I started working on my website. - That was the coolest (beep) thing I've ever heard in my life. I am so stocked. - You just have to like take a chance on failure. - Anna, you (beep) get it. Hell yeah.
5:40
Working with Jesse was awesome. And I was floored by her talent. And I found her just through Instagram, which made me think, if someone that talented is hiding here within the try guys community. What else are you guys capable of? Way, way, way back in May, I issued a fan art challenge. Do you remember that? I love this. It's so soothing. I would pay anything to have a toy of that tea car with me in it.
6:07
Very accurate that I am wearing a shirt and no pants. The teabag is my butt, which makes me very suspect of the liquid. Is this like too romantic almost? What the (beep) is an olive doing on that plate? How dare you? You just trying to piss me off? Boom. Oh my God. Find somebody that looks at you the way that Keith looks at baby me. Oh my God, "Zach's skinny limbs and frail body "along with bowie's utterly incomprehensible softness "were really hard to capture.
6:38
You (beep) nailed it. Oh my... You shut the (beep) up. You made my face in clay? Oh my God. ♪ Zaddy go, Zaddy go, Zaddy go ♪ ♪ Let's go get that caffeine up ♪ ♪ Let's get go Zaddy go, Zaddy go ♪ ♪ Zaddy go, let's go ♪ ♪ Let's do that that you'll ever know ♪ - There's so much good stuff, it is mind blowing.
7:02
I just showed you some incredible graphic designers and illustrators. If you're starting a business and you need someone, look no further, they're right here in the try guys community. I shared their handles before. I'm going to keep posting stuff on Instagram, hit them up. The biggest advantage that I had in this series by far was this, my audience, the fact that I could reach so many people through my videos.
7:24
As we round up this series, it feels only right that I turned the spotlight and feature some other people with incredible business ideas and dreams. - That's my cat. - Hey, cat. What's the cat's name? - Her name is Chubs. - [Zach] What up Chubs? Adrian and Cara founded Margin's Box, a book subscription service focused on black indigenous and other POC young adults authors. - We are both young adult writers also.
7:48
Growing up, we remember being just hungry for books that reflected our incentives and our friends and our family, besides the kind of overwhelming whiteness of subscription book boxes. - By the way, overwhelming whiteness was the rejected subtitle for my autobiography. (laughing) - I would have bought that. - Hi, I'm good. Now I'm doing an interview with Zadiko Tea Company.
8:14
- Liv dreams of opening Pride Cafe, an LGBT plus themed bakery focused on community awareness, building a community space and offering people an opportunity to express themselves through their baked goods. - I've also done more low key stuff for if you're not out... In Swedish it's called Bi, it's spelled B-I, like bisexual. So you can just get a cake with just bees on them. - You should make the pansexual pancake.
8:41
- Oh, that's good. (laughing) - I've fought fibromyalgia. So chronic health pain issue, but I also have quite bad PTSD, I was involved in some assaults. I was just huddled under a weighted blanket and didn't want to deal with the world. And it was basically my way of being able to cope. - Mercedes is the creator of Sugar Glider, a product that re-imagines the weighted blanket as something that is wearable and transportable.
9:05
She created this out of personal experience and trying to solve a problem that she found in her life. - Basically I triggers your brain to feel the same waves responses you get just by being hugged. It's essentially just a big hug that calms you down. Autism, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, pain conditions, even people who just got in so many as I've proven to help with.
9:27
It gives me so much purpose to think that I can help people. - This whole series has been about starting a company, but once you launch, sustaining business as a whole, a whole 'nother thing. And fortunately Margins Box had a lot of success out the gate. But has since struggled to keep momentum alive. - We don't have much of an advertising budget. And if we aren't known, then people can't subscribe to us.
9:52
And if people don't subscribe then we don't have money. One of the things I think people don't really realize when you're dealing with people that want our products. They're usually people like us, don't have a lot of money. It's one of those things that I don't think every company has to think about. - Yeah. - But we try to be mindful of that. That we're not pricing out of the very people who we want to have these books. - Originally, you were planning and hoping for this as a brick and mortar store.
10:16
- I did not have the money to have a location for it. So I took it to the internet. - You could start this in your home kitchen and build it up and build it out and then eventually have a really cool cafe as community center. So I really love the idea and believe in it. - I want to spread awareness. (chuckles) - A fair critique of the series that I did, would be to say that $500 is enough to start a business, but depending on what you're making and what you're selling product could be a whole cost exponentially above that.
10:52
- Right now I'm in the prototyping stage. It's really hell and expensive. And I'm just a regular person. Been through like 50 different kinds of fabric swatches, hemp blends, bamboo blends, pomace, everything you can think of and just trying to find the best of the best without being insanely expensive. It's helped in my PTSD so much. It's given me a purpose. I've been able to move out of literally living in my parents' garage.
11:18
I've gone too far to go back now. If I don't do this someone else is gonna do it. And they're not going to think about the customers. They're going to think about money. I am a helping person. I prefer to give back than take. I'm really worried about being given anything. - You might hate this next part then. (soft music) What I do have to offer hopefully is the platform that I have.
11:40
I really benefited in this process of having eyeballs on me. And so my hope is that I can transfer those eyeballs onto you. - We really appreciate that. Thank you. That's super helpful. - I began this as a $500 challenge. That was the money that I had. So really only feels fair that I pay it forward. And I would like to give you $500, to try- - Jeez!
12:06
Sorry, I didn't mean to... (stuttering) I'm trying to... Thank you. - Since I had the benefit of $500 to start my journey, I would like to extend an offer that to you as well. And- - Really? - Yeah, what also... I broke my budget. So I think that it's only fair that you get the same opportunity.
12:31
So I'm actually going to double it and I'd like to send you $1000 and you can use that money. - No. - Yeah. (upbeat music) - Thank you. (laughing) - Thank you. - So I'm gonna double it and I want to make it $1000. (upbeat music) - Come over here, (stuttering) I'm out of words.
12:57
- You are fun. But since there are two of you, I would like to offer $2,500. That is just yours to do with what you can to help your business - Oh. - continue to grow. With the ambitions you have. I feel like I should add a zero to the end of that number, but (laughing) you can thank everyone who watched and bought the tea, we're taking their money and we're just giving it right to you.
13:22
- Thank you. Wow. - Thank you, (indistinct) people, You are the kings and you've taken my words away. You wouldn't believe how much that makes things easier. - Just the idea that someone would want to help us kind of get our message out. That has such a large platform, whom we admire so much, is this really great. So thank you for that. - Do you have a message to others who aspire to start a business of their own?
13:46
- If you have the idea. You should really just go for it. It's nice to be able to make something that people are like, Oh my gosh, this is my favorite part of my day when I get this product that you've put out, - This changes a lot. Just so I can pursue this dream. And so that I can have a job. - Anyone can come up with an idea, what's holding you back now?
14:12
Why don't you just try and jump into it? Because at the end of the day, you can create change out of... You can have I want to take a blanket on. - I hope that this series was beneficial for you in any way. Was this a comprehensive look of what it takes to start a business? No, probably not. By the way, if you do want that, Shopify Compass has incredible resources. Check the link below, let the series just be the beginning of your journey.
14:37
If you want to do this, I'm here to tell you that you can. - Start one thing that is doable, and manageable, and then go to the next step when you're ready. And then before you know it, you're at that tenth step that you're actually pursuing if you want to ever reach. - I'm not sorry I did it. I'm not sorry that we pursued it. Even if a year from now, it's not here, it's a thing that happened and we did it.
15:04
And we're proud of it. And we did it with integrity, right? So how can you be mad about that? - I just want to keep going. Even if it's not for me, even if I make nothing from this, even if we go bankrupt in six months, it's all about just giving back and paying it forward, because if I'm doing good things for other people, good things are kind of come back, - This is the end of this series, but with luck, it is just the beginning of my adventure. Once you launch, now, you have to grow and sustain and with luck, I can make more Zadiko flavors and sell more whatever.
15:35
And I want to thank you guys for enabling me to make a crazy, crazy dream like this a reality. I am here to tell you that if you want to do this, the tools are out there. You can (beep) do it. I believe in you. So you got one person in your corner. (upbeat music) - Working on my Ikigai. (chuckles) - No kidding.
16:09
What you got in there? - Yeah, mostly like the gay stuff. (chuckling) - You should change it just to Ikigay. - Ikigay, yeah. - [Zach] That's pretty good.