Not too long ago I was eating a fabulous lunch at Jason’s Deli in the Atlanta/Buckhead area when I noticed that the drink shelves were covered with some tea bottles that I had never seen before.  The labels on the bottles were exciting-looking, colorful and had an old grandma – cartoony character on the front.  The ingredients looked pretty natural, so I decided to give it a try.  I’m so glad I did, because I discovered that I have a new found addiction to Sweet Leaf Tea!

I recently did some research on the company and found out that it was started by two guys a little over ten years ago.  They started hand brewing the teas themselves with garden hoses and pillow cases – I know… sounds kinda sketch, but I sooo admire the hustle!    Below is a link to the Inc Magazine article about the company titled : “How to Start a Beverage Company” :

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090701/how-to-start-a-beverage-company.html

and here is a youtube video I found about the company.  Pretty cool stuff!

I was recently reading this article on the New York Times website about how an up and coming healthy tea company, Honest Tea, is trying to thrive without the peer pressure of one of its biggest investors…Coca-Cola.  Where oh where do I begin? According to this article the Honest Tea’s brand prides itself in having wholesome natural ingredients for their consumers.  A large part of their brand is the “Honest Kids” label, which is dedicated to providing healthy teas for children.  Apparently the tea company is trying to accelerate their growth to the next level and what better way to grow than to accept an investment from one of the largest beverage brands around, Coca-Cola.  Coca-Cola invested 47 million big ones into the  tea company last year.  Recently Coke has been experiencing declines in sales from its classic sugary saturated drinks, so they have been investing top dollars into smaller healthier based companies like Honest Tea, with the hopes of winning over the new emerging market of health conscious consumers.  The issue: Coke is pressuring Honest Tea to change one of its key ingredients, organic cane sugar.  Coke wants the tea company get rid of real all natural organic sugar to substitute it for the ever popular “synthetic” sugar substitute, high fructose corn syrup.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a corn based sugar substitute that is being used in millions of highly processed food and beverage products.  You can find it in anything from Sprite, to hot dogs, to a loaf of bread. Companies are using high fructose corn syrup at an increasing rate because it is a cheaper sweetener.  Recent health concerns about it have surfaced, due to the fact that it is so popular and the average American’s diet is starting to consists mostly of this corn based substance  (which studies say have led to an increase of obesity).   Honest Tea’s label currently reads “No High Fructose Corn Syrup”,  to help appeal to their original market of health conscious buyers.  So, you can see where this would be a problem.  My honest thoughts are this, I completely understand the reason why Coke and Honest Tea would want to create a partnership.  Honest Tea could definitely use Coke’s exposure and Coke could use a splash of Honest Tea’s trendy natural edge to help increase revenue for both parties.

The problem is that Coke, in all of its magnificent glory, is lacking the will power to adapt to change.  Honest Tea already has a good product with a good recipe that just needs more exposure while many of Coke’s products are declining in sales because of the very ingredients that Coke wants Honest Tea to add.   Coke representatives met with Honest Tea’s reps to talk about the disagreement and Coke really wants the tea company to add High Fructose Corn Syrup.  The representatives from Coke stated you can always say : “No Fake Stuff” on the front label instead of “No High Fructose Corn Syrup” so that the corn based sugar can be sneaked in with the hopes that consumers will not double check the back of the label…. Shame on you Coke for trying to swindle the consumers!   My hopes are that Honest Tea does not give into Coke’s power, it could be something the company later regrets.  My thoughts about Coke are that sometimes the inability to adapt to change can be devastatingly costly.  If there is a new wave of consumers that do not want to drink corn, why not sell them beverages with real organic cane sugar if that is what those consumers want- why not collect their dollars?   I guess the good thing in Coke’s inability to change is that companies like Honest Tea can thrive and exist in the first place (even before Coke invested in them).  If Coke was smart enough to have the organic beverage game on lock, then they would not have to make deals with smaller up and coming natural based beverage companies in the first place.  Coke’s ignorance can mean extra dollars for those smaller and new beverage companies.  Which makes me think, I can’t even remember the last time I had a Coke product.  I do most of my shopping at WholeFoods, Trader Joe’s, and my local Farmer’s Market, where the beverage selection is filled with smaller beverage companies products that have healthier ingredients than many of Coke’s products.  Not to say that every now and then I won’t have an ice cold Coke, but the healthier counterparts are definitely gaining an edge with a loyal customer following.  If you want to read the original NY Times article click here : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/business/smallbusiness/08sbiz.html

As a young entrepreneur,  I feel its only right to introduce my readers to one of my main family entrepreneur influences… my grandma.  Not to long ago, my grandmother and I had one of the best conversations I’ve ever had. It was a conversation about business, money, and black unity so to speak- 3 of my favorite topics.  My grandmother started our family store over 20 years ago and it is still standing today.  She told me that during the time she opened her store, there were several other flourishing black businesses in the neighborhood but now they’re almost completely obsolete.  How did we fall so far, I wondered, and why does it seem like a lot of times with each new generation we are always starting at zero? With little or nothing to pass down, like a people without a legacy.

As we talked, my grandma explained to me several reasons why many black businesses no longer exist. One of the reasons she mentioned was the lack of support from the surrounding black community, and other family members.  She told me that when she opened her grocery store some of our family members refused to support and shop with her because her store sold beer and wine along with cigarettes.  She told me she thought this was so odd because those same people would go into the bigger more mainstream popular markets (where they also sold beer, wine, and cigarettes) and spend there money there.  This blew my mind!! I had to ask her several times was she serious even though I knew she was.   As we continued to talked she also shared with me that she received backlash and criticism from her local church as well.   How can we be so self righteous and hypocritical at the same time, I thought?  It wasn’t really about beliefs because if you don’t believe in supporting a family or community member’s business for something as petty as that, you should also not support, Walmart, Publix, Kroger’s, and the numerous amounts of other stores that sell similar products.

As the conversation progressed she explained to me how black business owners gradually “sold out” in black communities.  She told me that there was a sudden boom during a particular era when foreigners would come into black neighborhoods to create competition.  Pretty soon the competition turned into “buy outs”.  She explained to me that on several occasions foreign store owners would come into her store, look around, and then ask her “how much do you want for it?”  Each time she said she told them “it’s not for sale”.  While she was fending off opportunistic buyers, many other black business owners welcomed the “buy out” with opened arms.  The after effect is that now many foreign business owners own most of the real estate in predominately black communities .  Not that this is a completely horrible thing, but we don’t even own the businesses in our own neighborhoods that collect our own hard earned dollars.  She said that “black business owners that sold out sold the legacy that was supposed to be left to help their children”, and that many of them ended up without any money in the long run because they never created anything new with the money they got from selling their businesses.

This has helped to create a current state of crises in the black community.   We can never have real wealth, or a real legacy if we do not become owners.  Owners control things and if you control things you can facilitate real change.  If you do not control anything, you cannot create a real economic change, and you cannot leave behind a financial legacy for your children’s children. Look at most of the wealthiest people in the world they are the business owners, not the workers.  The workers spend their lives sowing so that the owners family can reap the benefits, and the workers only get paid a small fraction of what the owner’s get.  When I was in college working at Dillard’s I remember the first time I found out how much the store made in a day.  I worked in customer service and my co-workers and I had to record the ending store balance each day.  Over six figures, almost everyday yet, the workers were barely getting by on $10.00 an hour.  So, how do we become owners if we have been workers for so long?  How do we change our hand in a losing game?

We first have to change our minds.  We have to learn how to value our own things before we can value someone elses.    We have to have confidence to believe, and know that we are more than good enough without any mainstream validation.  We have to support our own, and we have to create businesses that operate efficiently enough to make us want to support them.  We must find out what types of businesses our community needs and find ways provide them.  We must be resourceful and become the leaders of our destiny, and stop expecting others to give us a handout or show us what to do next.  It is 2010 people, and there is enough information out here (books, internet, etc.) to help you learn almost anything you want to know.  We must create a passion for learning and growing and operating in excellence.  We must not tolerate or pass down mediocrity any longer.  We have to have higher expectations of our own lives and we have to strive for those expectations until we achieve them. We must not give up on ourselves, we must try relentlessly to succeed above anything else.  Lastly, we must continuously learn to love ourselves so that we have faith enough in ourselves to live better lives.

If you are looking for a quality, minimum drama relationship, filled with unconditional love, look no further than your own mirror… No seriously, go to the closest mirror and look at yourself.  Are you a person of quality?  Are you a person of low drama?  Are you a person who unconditionally loves yourself?? 

If not, then fear not- as long as you are living, there is always an opportunity to work on yourself a bit.  I find it peculiarly amazing how some people want to make demands of others that they have not fulfilled themselves.  A few months ago, I had a conversation with a close friend who was complaining that she could not find a good man. She told me that every guy she recently dated were “low level” guys.  She was so frustrated when she told me that she sort-of liked one of the guys but that he had a job working at McDonald’s and she said she hated the fact that he worked there.  She started telling me all these demands she wanted from him “I wish he had a better job”, “He doesn’t even have a car”, and so on.  Now, first I wanted to ask if its that much of a problem, why are you even giving him the time of day anyways but I didn’t want to insult her judgment, so I let her finish talking.  When she was done, I brought it to her attention that she did not have a car herself, or even a job. So, I asked her “Don’t you think it’s a contradiction to demand more of another person than you can offer yourself?”  She was shocked, and started laughing, but I could tell she knew I was keeping it real.

You attract who you are, its plane and simple.  If you want to be in a relationship with a person who has a lot to offer , you have to be goal orientated and have a lot to offer.  If you are unmotivated, just drifting through life without any direction or goals you will attract similar people.  Now granted, I am not talking about if you are walking through the hood  and random bums start yelling “Hey shawty what’s yo name”?  That doesn’t count, random guys like that are always hollering.  But if you find yourself in multiple “relationships” with people who have nothing to offer it’s time to go to the mirror, self reflect, and make some changes.

It never seizes to amaze me how much our society  keeps pushing “The Recession” into the minds of sooo many Americans.  It’s like selling hopelessness and despair on a daily basis. Watching the news or listening to talk radio hearing about “The Recession” over and over and over again is starting to almost sound like an over advertised depression commercial. I would seriously not be surprised if Zoloft is helping to fund the news. Seriously, this is one of the reasons I rarely ingest regular mainstream news (if you can even call it news).  It’s more negative than it is positive and you really have to be careful of what you allow to influence your thoughts (even if its just the tiny subconscious thoughts). 

If you listen to or watch the media long enough, you are bound to get overwhelmed in your sorrows, and struggles as you try to salvage bits and pieces of your life from the recession’s damage… But come on really, enough with the blame.  The recession didn’t make your life a living hell.  If something is not going right in your life, it is certainly for a reason that is much more specific than “The Recession Monster”.  If you are one of the many people out here singing the recession (blah, blah) blues please… STOP. Complaining about the big scary recession monster is not going to help your situation at all.  Pick yourself up and start asking yourself questions to help you realize the necessary changes you have to make to improve your life.  Below are 5 cool ways on how you can help beat “The Recession Monster”  before you get stuck singing the blues:

1) Clear your head and breathe. Cut out some of the mainstream media or limit conversation with people who are habitual complainers.  Surround yourself with positivity and it will make your journey a lot smoother.  Start reading stories and watching movies about people who are living the type of life you want to live.  Open up your mind to the possibility of positivity and it will start rubbing off on you.. I promise.  Of course nothing happens over night so you must practice thinking positive daily to counter thoughts of fear, and worry.

2) Analyze your own individual unique situation.  If you are laid-off , furloughed, or unemployed you have to create a plan to generate income.  Sitting around on the couch eating Twinkies collecting unemployment won’t cut it… that check is going to run out and you need to create a plan for making money whether its: getting a job, starting your own business, or going to school to get an actual trade/skill in a field that is actually hiring and in demand…(don’t waste your time or money on a field that isn’t). I will talk more about school in a later article.  But back on subject, you should have a plan A, B, C, D and so on. Set up deadlines for yourself,  for example:  “I will apply for 30 jobs per day, and if I don’t land a decent paying job by (fill in a random date), then I am going to start a business, if my business doesn’t start making enough money to pay my bills before (yet another random date, maybe before your unemployment runs out), then I am going to go to school to practice this trade because it is in a hiring area that is in demand.  Your plan doesn’t have to go exactly like this but you get the drift.

3) If you are employed but overworked, underpaid and, or completely miserable doing your current job(s) then, do the same thing. Create a plan A, B, C, and so on that details how you are going to liberate yourself and make money in a happier more fulfilling way.

4)  After you’ve written out your plan, you have to face yourself and all of your fears by testing your plans.  No one said this part was easy but, how can you possibly know that you can have a better life if you don’t try to have one?

5) Repeat step one…and start adding new things into your daily regiment to help spice things up.  If you are at home all day, start an exercise routine, go to a new park or a free concert, read a new book, listen to a new music artist, or volunteer your spare time at a local non-profit.  Find new and exiting ways to keep your mind away from thinking negatively.  I cannot stress how important it is to stay connected to positive things and people.  This will help change your mind and keep you focused on your goals.  If you can keep your mind positive and combine that with putting forth the effort to succeed the world is open to you.

Seeing that this is the official unofficial first post of the “New” Mint Savvy, we think it’s only proper to say goodbye to the old one… Mint Savvy was founded in 2008 and by now, we have realized that it is an ever-evolving conglomeration of life experiences, knowledge, and plenty of adventures. Knowing that all progressive things must change, we have re-structured our blog to embrace that change. So, grab a random bag of m&ms and celebrate with us as we welcome the “New” Mint Savvy!

-Leah M(int)
of Mint Savvy