Blogger's European Tea Cravings Idea → $75k/Month

Hello Rebels

🏖️ Fun one-liner:

Why do entrepreneurs love magic tricks? Because they specialize in turning the impossible into the possible!

Onto Today’s story….

Andy Hayes loved to travel and in his travels he fell in love with Tea.

He accidentally started a business called Plum Deluxe to sell unique tea flavors and it became a hit.

Now he generates $75k/month.

This is how he did it.

Andy Hayes lived in America, but took a software job in Europe so he could travel and explore.

He travelled through Europe including Netherlands and Scotland. Since he loved tea, he used to savor the tea in these countries

This was where his palate and knowledge of teas developed, as he tried to keep warm in the cold weather.

He became more aware of blend and flavor.

He started a blog, where he wrote about his adventures and experiences living in Europe, focusing on enjoying a slower pace and appreciating life's little things.

After a while, he left his job and moved to America to the west coast.

He started consulting on the side to make some money to survive.

Andy sought a more fulfilling career path and started exploring ways to monetize his blog through advertising and affiliate income.

Despite his efforts, Andy struggled to generate significant revenue from his blog.

His blog followers asked him to consider launching his own product.

He was also missing some of the flavors and offerings he was used to when living in Europe.

American tea culture is very different than European tea culture, he says.

Inspired by his blog followers' encouragement and his own love for tea,

Andy decided to venture into the tea business, aiming to bring the flavors and offerings he enjoyed in Europe to the American market.

He had one Virtual assistant assisting him with blog administrative tasks who also worked at a tea farmer's market booth on weekends.

He asked her to approach her boss and ask her if she would be willing to advise Andy in his tea business.

Her company was located on the east coast, while Andy wanted to start on the West coast. He prayed that she wouldn’t perceive him as direct competition.

Fortunately, the VA’s boss agreed to help!.

With her guidance, he began the process of learning about tea and started developing his own recipes.

Creating the perfect tea blend required careful consideration of various factors, including appearance, ingredient costs, aroma, and taste.

Andy spent a significant amount of time perfecting his recipes,with his mentor helping him bring them to life through testing and refinement.

He says creating recipes takes a lot of knowledge and skill,

which he was lucky to have gathered this knowledge and experience for many years.

For example, his first recipe was for a tea designed for reading.

It’s one of their best sellers now, and it is a tea that combines caffeine (black tea) and calming ingredients (rose, lavender, chamomile).

It’s something unusual and unsuspecting, and the ingredients combine together to make something bigger than the individual parts.

That’s the nature of creating tea recipes - achieving the right balance, the perfect combination, taking into account a lot of factors: aroma, taste, cost of ingredients, visual appeal, and more…

“it’s the magic of the biz. ” Andy says.

As his business grew, Andy kept learning about the biz and also kept developing his recipe creation skills.

To launch Plum Deluxe,

Andy leveraged his existing blog and newsletter, which had several thousand subscribers, providing him with a built-in market.

He also sent tea samples to tea blogs and subscription box reviewers, and optimized his website and blog pages for SEO to attract additional traffic.

On his blog, he wrote engaging, delicious content to help his readers.

They publish two blog posts per week, with a mix of tea-related lifestyle content and SEO-focused articles based on keyword research.

He also started a newsletter which featured recipes + offers to attract and retain customers.

He gradually expanded to include various follow-up emails based on customer behavior,

tailoring his approach as he gained a better understanding of his audience.

Initially working with a limited budget, Andy relied on PR and blogs for promotion, but as his business grew, he recognized the importance of mastering Facebook advertising.

Through countless hours of effort and guidance from coaches,

Andy and his team cracked the code for successful Facebook advertising, focusing on retargeting, lookalike audiences, and compelling photography and videography.

They started getting good traffic and returns from Facebook Ads.

He also started a subscription club called the plum deluxe tea club.

For $10/month, they would deliver new type of teas every month.

Customers loved it.

Plum Deluxe started in Andy's basement workshop and has since grown into a 2,000 sq ft studio.

The company generates roughly half of its revenue from subscriptions and half from a la carte tea sales.

Now he makes $75k/Month.

Andy says…

“keep going! Most businesses fail because the owner quits.

If you keep going, you’ll master the skill you need to really hit success, and you’ll catch a lucky break.”

7 reasons why he succeeded

1. Turned passion for travel and tea into business

• Andy's love for travel led him to take a software job in Europe, where he explored different countries.

• He developed a passion for tea while living in Europe, savoring unique flavors and blends.

• He combined his travel experiences and love for tea to start Plum Deluxe, selling unique tea flavors.

2. Just started

• Andy started a blog where he wrote about his adventures and experiences living in Europe.

• He focused on enjoying a slower pace of life and appreciating the little things.

• The blog helped him build an audience and laid the foundation for his future tea business.

3. Listened to blog followers' suggestions

• Andy's blog followers encouraged him to consider launching his own product.

• He was also missing the tea flavors and offerings he enjoyed while living in Europe.

• Inspired by his followers' suggestions and his own love for tea, he decided to venture into the tea business.

4. Sought mentorship

• Andy's virtual assistant worked part-time at a tea farmer's market booth.

• He asked her to approach her boss and request advice for his tea business.

• Despite the potential for competition, the VA's boss agreed to mentor Andy, helping him learn about tea and develop recipes.

5. Leveraged his prior knowledge

• Creating the perfect tea blend required careful consideration of appearance, ingredient costs, aroma, and taste.

• Andy spent a significant amount of time perfecting his recipes with his mentor's guidance.

• He leveraged his years of knowledge and experience to create unique and well-balanced blends.

6. Mastered Facebook advertising for growth

• Andy and his team focused on retargeting, lookalike audiences, and compelling photography and videography for their Facebook ads.

• They invested many hours in learning and optimizing their advertising strategy.

• As a result, they started getting good traffic and returns from Facebook Ads, fueling the business's growth.

7. Tenacity

• Andy believes that most businesses fail because the owner quits too soon.

• He encourages entrepreneurs to keep going, even in the face of challenges.

• By persisting, entrepreneurs can master the skills needed for success and increase their chances of catching a lucky break.

🍹

Hope you enjoyed the story and their success tactics.

Keep Zoooming!

Yours “Anti-hustle” Vijay Peduru