 Today we're excited to welcome two people who believe that T has the ability to nurture the spirit. Alfonso Wright and Jamila McGill join us to talk about opening Brooklyn T, how they educate their community, and what they're brewing up next. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hero Go Daddy, and I live and breathe at the Hustle of Business. Today we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Time Square in New York City. Everybody, please, let's give Jamila and Alfonso the biggest warmest welcome to the show. Thank you kindly. Thank you. You founded Brooklyn T's. This is amazing. That's what they tell us. How did the two of you come to develop one of the coolest T empires in New York City? Seriously. That's awesome. So it started with this guy here, Alfonso. So he's been bringing his mom T since he was three years old. That was their daily ritual. He would bring you to her bedside. And at some point in his adolescence, he started taking sugar out of her T bit by bit, but behind her back. So partly out of curiosity, partly being a mischievous little boy. I'm just interested to see, I guess, what she would notice or if she would notice at all. Yeah, she didn't. She didn't notice. Because she was getting accustomed to him taking it out over time. And so they kind of just sent him down a rabbit hole of what does it mean to have a T in this authentic state and let him to be more interested in how other cultures experience in T, right? What are the things that are similar and different. You know, it's just a beautiful world to dive into. And then you have me, not really a T aficionado ever. I'm from Atlanta originally. So it's very much sweet tea that's iced. I'm only drinking hot tea if it's hot, if I'm like deaf on my deaf bed. So this idea of drinking tea in this way that we're having it now with the sit-down with pot that all came from actually dating Ali, right? Alfonso. So one of our earlier dates, I made her some chai with like a cinnamon stick in the bottom and I made her a blooming tea. So it's a tea from hot water and it turns into a flower. And the tea is actually not all that great, but it looks so magical. It's like, oh, this is so romantic. So it worked. I mean, giving flowers to a girlfriend is a common act. You took it really the extra mile and you delivered flowers through tea. And it's a surprise, right? It's a surprise. Exactly. Right before your eyes. Yeah. It worked. Once a customer does come in your shop and they become interested, how do you keep them interested? Yeah. So we have a couple of tools in our toolkit. Oh, I know you do. So if you're coming to the store, the first thing you're going to see is the smelling wall. So we have a different, our different varieties of teas all stacked up against the wall. And so people, it's a really cool and interesting thing to see that people have started their own mini journals and notebooks to check off which teas they've had. They'll come back in and say, okay, well, I had the vanilla worry bus last time. And so now I want to get into the cream all great. And so people are like on this adventure of their own. So that's one way we kind of keep people interested. We also always have sample teas on the bar. And we change them every day. We change them every day. Product does have a huge impact on brand success. How do you stay just ahead of what teas you want to carry in the shop and trends in tea? Because product is so important at the end of the day. So how do you source that and think about your product? Yeah, let me experience. Oh, yeah. So I'm a tea sommelier. So I took a class. It's a thing. I knew I believe you. That's awesome. Certified. That's amazing. I took classes about a year. So I can learn how to pair teas and just learn all about the history of tea and tea culture. Then I worked in a tea shop nights and weekends. Well, I had my full time job to learn about the business of tea. So between that and just being the nerd I am and using things like Google alerts whenever there's a tea article out. So we stay, I mean, we just really stay up on all the trends and we make sure that the when people come to us and are talking about a tea more often that we like take note like, okay, like maybe three weeks ago, Dr. Oz mentioned matcha. So matcha was really big in our shop for a couple of weeks. You're like, why is everyone ordering matcha this today and it's random Tuesday. You just stay aware of current events. Yeah, you two were dating. And I loved your story about the giving flowers through tea, but now you are in business together. And so as you embarked on a journey to run your business together, what was important for you to consider and how do you do that and make that work? That's a great question. We really had to learn to respect each other's opinions and perspectives, right? And actually starting a company actually forced us to grow as a couple even more. Because sometimes we can be a little bit stubborn, right? Or we can see our vision and we can see beginning to end, right? And it could be hard when someone's trying to introduce a new idea. And we have to humble ourselves, right? And really respect each other's perspectives. What is one lesson that you take into your business every day? One of my number one things is it's called kaizen. It's a Japanese word that means improve a little bit every day. So nothing's ever perfect. Our tea shop always has something, something to do, something new problem. And we just try to improve everything a little bit every day. I mean, it can be as small as putting a paper towel roll in a better place so people can grab it a little faster. Yeah, we have this mantra, how do we win? By being better. That's fantastic. And so when you think about competition in the area and other shops, maybe larger shops, do you think this is part of what differentiates you and keeps you competitive in this space? Exactly. So before we started, we went to pretty much every tea shop in New York City, everyone we could find. We looked at what teas they served, the customer service, the towels in the bathroom, and we just jotted down in our notes what we liked, what we didn't like, you know, it's like bathrooms too dark. So we thought about our competitors deeply and what they lacked and what the consumers probably or most likely wanted. So we try to merge that to make Brooklyn tea. A lot of the tea shops locally are grab-and-go, there's nowhere to sit down. So we made sure that our tea space was welcoming, had great seating, had nice music, so people felt welcome to come in and stay. Can you tell us about what your business plan looked like? I think it's really underestimated how important a business plan is to start in a company. Sometimes you can lead in thinking I can just meet with my friends, we have a couple of conversations, create a little outline, throw up a little website and I'm good to go. And so you just don't get to account for the pitfalls and catch them ahead of time. When you have a business plan, you get to really take the time to think about what do you really want to see happening and what are others doing. So Ali was able to do what you call like a heat map? Yeah, we did a heat map of the concentration of coffee shops in New York City. So we went, you know, that deep into the research. We just wanted to make sure that before we invested all of our money into something that we did as much research before the first check was due as possible. Was there any one thing that shocked you in that research? I did. Did you have a moment where you said, oh my gosh, I had no idea? I think when we did the financial section, I was like, I think we could do this. And that was shocking. We got this. Yeah, I was like, you know what, when you break it down day by day, I was like, you know what, we don't need that many people to come through the door to make this work. And that was kind of reassuring because at first it's like, how are we going to do this with knowing comes and you know what, it's like 10 to 14 people a day. That's all we really need. And that was like, okay, we could do this now. I'm not afraid to spend all my money. Well, I know that the community is thankful that you took that risk and did that. Yeah, they've been awesome. And they're really excited that we're there, especially where we are. There are a bunch of tea shops in South Brooklyn and in Manhattan, but none in Central. So they're really excited about us. They take such good care of us. We're actually really spoiled in our neighborhood. Good. Yeah, we really are. You deserve that. Yeah. Thank you so much for opening up and sharing your story with us. This was so much fun. I want to shift gears now, play a game that we call hustle time. Count us down, please. Okay, I'm ready. Which would you rather give up for life, pizza or sandwiches? Sandwiches. Would you rather never be able to teach or never be able to learn? Never be able to teach. If you had to eat one thing for breakfast every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Pizza. Apple or Android? Apple. One thing you'd want on a desert island with you? Water. Music or podcasts? Music. Three things in your closet right now? Shoes, pants, shirts. Chardonnay, yeah, your name? Chardonnay. Fireplace or fire pit? Fire pit. Favorite workout? Arms, legs or abs? Abs. If you have to lose access forever, do you pick search engines or social media? Search engines. Favorite pastime music or movies? Movies. First place to visit when you retire? Atlanta. Number one guilty pleasure? Dummy bears. One word you wish you could take away from the English language? Cants. Boosie brunch or morning workout? Boosie brunch. Football and a filler soccer? Soccer. Aliens, factor fiction? Facts. Beer or wine? Wine. Favorite part of the s'more? Marshmallow. Tap quality, the foreign employee. Tap quality, the foreign employee. Let's do this last one. Humility. Let's find out the moment of truth here because this is actually enormous. I'm excited to see where we are. Let's count. 17, 18, 19, 20. Lucky 21. Okay. All right. 19. All right, all right, all right. Favorite part of your day? For me, it's mornings. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? You want to do one? Yeah, do one. Mine's a little pessimistic, but it's the people who love you give you the worst advice. Worst piece of advice. Worst? Yeah. That you need to wait for everything to be perfect in order to do what you want to do. People who love you always do that. How do you use your career to inspire others? That's what you got. That's good. It's been great to be in a space where people feel motivated. It's like, okay, you all come from these non, like, nowhere backgrounds, right? Teacher educated by trade. Yeah. And we somehow started not just a tea shop, but a tea company, right? And so people come into our shop just asking us about our business plan, how we got started. They're also startup entrepreneurs. And we entered our business plan to a writing competition. And so a lot of those folks who are entered this year come back to us. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Ever felt like walking away? Yes. One thing you still need to learn? Patience. What do you want people to learn from you? Perseverance. Perseverance. Yeah. What's next for you? Hopefully, another shop. Another shop, maybe in another state. Who inspires you? Who challenges you? Well, of course, we shared in social that you were coming. And we have a question from Mikaela, CEO of Beauty. She asks, any chance that you will open other locations or expand? And you just hinted to it a moment ago. Is there something in the works? Slowly. So we've, we've been doing some scouting. We're okay. And we're just checking about what city makes the most sense for our next door. We'll likely be outside of Brooklyn. Really? Yeah. And again, like I said, we're not a tee shop. We're a tee company. That's right. Expansion. Can we also, you know, ready to drink with bottle teas? I don't know exactly. It could be a whole new product offering. Right. Exactly. It doesn't have to be a store. No. Yeah. But we want it to be there. So we, we have a lot to look out for. We have one last piece of advice that needs to be had. And this advice is for Noodle. Our resident pug. Hi, Noodle. I'll hold Noodle. You okay, Noodle? That's the leg down. Noodle has a question? Yes. A Noodle is not a tea drinker. And he's overwhelmed by all of the options in the marketplace. Come on, Noodle. He has, however, heard about the many benefits that tea provides. What advice do you have for someone who wants to make tea a regular part of their lifestyle but is reluctant to invest time and money? Because they just don't understand how to get started. Easy one. Tea has many flavors and varieties. I would suggest finding one that's close to something you already know and like. If you like fruits, try a tea mixed with fruit. If you like a smoky flavor, there's smoky teas. So just try something that's not very foreign to you and then start there and then you can start to branch out after that. And Noodle, there are Roybus tea dog treats that exist. We don't sell them, but you can find them. Oh, that's good to know. So if you like blueberries, go find a tea with blueberries in it. There's so many varieties, right? Well, as we close, we like to leave everybody with a final thought. So I'm going to read three quotes to you and ask you to tell me which one resonates the most with you and why. Number one. A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. Number two. It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up. Number three. You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream. I think we'd be different on this one. I would be the second one. It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up. And what would you be? Number one. Number one. Yeah, I believe in pursuing excellence and not really judging on my own success. Yeah. Tell everybody watching how they can follow you. Yes. So everyone, please join us at Facebook and on Instagram at Brooklyn Tea. You can also check out our website, BrooklynTea.com. And of course, spot by our shop, 524 Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. I know that everybody enjoyed this conversation and felt inspired. I'm sure there's a lot of people watching out, making business plans as we speak. We so much enjoyed this. And I have to say thank you for being here. And as everyone follows Brooklyn Tees, please also follow GoDaddy in social, because we are bringing new entrepreneurs every week to social to help inspire and create a community just like this one where we can help each other in our businesses and enjoy what we do. So please keep watching and we will see you all soon. Bye. Bye.