Let The Good Vibes Roll

By April on Jul 1 Filed In Intern 1 Comment

By Justin Goldstein; Summer Marketing Intern Extraordinaire

Let me start off by saying that the weather in Texas never ceases to amaze me. Going to school in Indiana makes me forget how one day it can literally be 106 and sunny and the next day it’s in the 70s and pouring down rain.

Over the course of the past year at school, I was nervous at the idea of finding an internship. It was looking bleak until I found out that I would be interning with Sweet Leaf Tea. Although I had tried Sweet Leaf a few times, I was really unaware of the product and the culture that it encompasses. While some of my friends set off for different parts of the country for their internships, I returned home to Austin and reported to my first day of work unsure of what I was getting myself into.

As a 21 year old, I have held my fair share of jobs. While some were good, most just taught me to suck it up and work hard at school. These experiences didn’t exactly help me prepare for the awkwardness that is the first day at a new job.

My first day on the job was the first time I had been to 515 S Congress. As I sat on the couch waiting for Adi to appear I had the chance to read over the company mission statement which is conveniently painted in huge letters on the front wall. It really struck me how powerful such a simple statement could be. Lines like “We create our own opportunities” and “The journey is just as important as the destination” really stood out to me. I thought to myself, “Maybe this internship won’t be so bad after all.” What I would soon find out is that not only is Sweet Leaf Tea a great product, but it’s a great company with an even better following.

The life of an intern is a life of uncertainty. Each day is something new. I found myself waking up each morning ready to go to work. Whether my day included doing menial office tasks or researching colleges for our planned expansion, I felt like I was contributing to the team and making a difference. However, my first demo really changed my perspective on the company.

I was scheduled to go to HEB Central Market and sample product. When told I would be sampling product, I wasn’t very thrilled and I sure didn’t think I met the stereotype for the grocery store sample giver. I sucked it up and woke up early that Sunday morning not knowing what to expect and not very excited. What I found over the next few hours was that Sweet Leaf has amazing customers. There was a nonstop flow of people. Those who have had our products in the past fled to our table. We scrambled to keep the samples coming while listening to people rave about the product. We went through our entire load of product with an hour to spare. Being able to hear and see the reaction from our customers about our product was very enlightening. I was able to really experience the relationship our customers have with our product first-hand.

There have been more demos since that first one and have attended other events as a Sweet Leaf representative. The one thing I love more than anything is having people come up and tell us how much they love the product.

I still have another month left in my internship. However, I am more excited than ever to come to work each day. I know that the work I do is for our customers. Whether it is someone who has been drinking Sweet Leaf Tea for years or someone who is trying it for the first time, I raise my bottle of Mango Green Tea to you and say, “Thank you for making this internship a great experience.” I am pumped to see what the next month will bring and hope that it will be as good as this first month.

Justin Goldstein keeping it real with Mango Green Tea

Inter-Office Guitar Blog Contest: Entry # 3

By April on May 21 Filed In Austin, Texas, Epiphone Guitar, Live Music, Organic, Sweet Consumers, Sweet Leaf Tea Company News Add a Comment

Be sure to keep checking back, you’ll find out who the winner is by the 23rd. Who is it?!??!

Entry # 3 Tyler Rohr

Sweet Ticket

Last year I was a first time rider in the MS 150 and I loved it. I joined the Sweet Leaf Team last minute when someone else wasn’t able to go. For many, having not trained at all would have been a problem, but I thought I could handle this thing. I was in shape, worked out, played softball and basketball regularly, no big deal! I received a very rude awakening when I woke up in La Grange on day 2 to discover that my legs had turned to mush and I thought it would be near impossible to get back on that torture machine of a bike for another 70+ miles. But, I did it, and I had a great time, despite the pain.

I promised myself that this year I would sign up ahead of time, train at least a month, raise the money for MS patients, and invite a friend to ride with me. And I picked a good one, the best actually. I invited my friend Kelley Rice (the infamous type of person that goes by his first AND last name) to ride with our team. Kelley is the type of guy that you could call on Friday at 6:00 p.m. for a weekend road trip to Las Vegas and he would say, “Can you wait 10 minutes, I gotta get some gas.” He is always up for something exciting and I knew he would not say no, I am not even sure if “no” is a word he is familiar with. He is one of those spontaneous, outrageously funny people that give you a good time whether you are looking for it or not.

When I told him I was going to rent a bike for $50, he had to one up me getting something cheaper. He succeeded in this venture by finding a used road bike on Craig’s List that he bought for a grand total of $40. He also mentioned that through his stellar bargaining skills he talked the ominous salesman (think south Houston’s own version of the Green Mile monster) down by 33%. No beating that, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong.

This thing was a wreck. It was older than him; “date unknown” was how he so stealthily explained it. It was red, well; it was back when Jimmie Carter was in office. It has faded since the seventies to a lovely shade of fuchsia. The brake tubes had been kissed by the sun to a hue similar to that of a carnation pink crayon (you remember – the one you used in grade school). But, best of all was the fact that it was a bike made for a woman. No offense to any of you women’s lib activists, but this is a 6’, 230 pound man cramming every bit of his man body on a bike designed for a much smaller person.

Now, none of these things discouraged Kelley – he was so proud! He got a steal of a deal, and he bragged to everyone! He named her (the bike is of the female persuasion, didn’t you know?) Sweet Ticket. He took her for jaunts around town to make sure she ran well and he saw no obvious major problems, except of course the size and beautiful color, which to him were no big deal. The pink brakes were a little rusty and there was a subtle squeaking sound if he got going too fast, but he thought those things could be ignored. Fortunately, after weeks of my urging he was finally convinced to take her to a bike shop and have her checked out.

The best way to explain the showdown at the bike shop is to dictate this conversation just as Kelley so eagerly shared it with me (and anyone else who would listen)…

Kelley (Swaggering in the shop with every ounce of proud for Sweet Ticket that he can muster, approaching the salesman who is already amused) Hey, man. I am riding is the MS 150 next week and I need to get this bike checked out.

Salesman (bemused) You are riding that in the MS 150?

Kelley (shocked, how dare he hurt Sweet Ticket’s feelings, she can hear you!) Yeah, what’s the problem? It’s a good bike, maybe not beautiful, but I’ve been riding it around and haven’t had any problems. (as he proudly pats the crusty, grayish vinyl seat)

Salesman (sounding condescending) You can’t ride that all the way to Austin.

Kelley (with a look of wonder and hurt) Are you saying that the bike won’t make it or that I can’t do it?

Salesman No man, the bike is actually in pretty good shape, but it is outdated, and you won’t be able to finish the race on it. But, let’s take a look and see what is going on and how we can tune this thing up.

Kelley (Trying to muffle his anger so that Sweet Ticket won’t see him lose it) Listen man, just get me some new tires that will be okay and take a look at the brakes, other than that I think the bike will be fine and I know that I can make it. (Propping up his kickstand and storming off)

A few days later Kelley went to pick up Sweet Ticket and called me to go with him to Sun and Ski Sports to get gear for the race. He was, following in true fashion, looking for the best deal on his gear. He found some riding shorts on sale and then went looking for a helmet. The cheapest helmet the store had was a skateboarding helmet. And, he got it. No worries that it was what he was going to be riding in one of the state’s biggest BIKE races, it was cheap and it protected his noggin, so to him it made no difference. Just for giggles it had a cartoon of a dog sticking it’s tongue out (take that you slow pokes, eat my dust!).

After that he topped off the preparation for the race by purchasing a completely necessary accessory that no proper biker should go without. He wanted to get a spare tire, but because of the age of the bike and the specialty tire that it needed, he was going to be paying more for the spare than this entire endeavor was costing him. So, he left the tire aisle and headed for none other than the bells. That’s right, a bell. The “zing zing, zing zing” little metal bell that attaches to the handle of a 10 year old’s bike.

So, needless to say, when the time came he was ready, more ready than anyone I know. I called him Friday afternoon when I heard the first day was cancelled and he was truly crushed. The rains and storms and floods had ruined all of his hard work and preparation. We decided that if day 2 was cancelled we were going to bike down to Galveston and back just so we could get good use of our bikes and gear and represent for the MS Society. Of course, Kelley also wanted to prove to the world that Sweet Ticket was worth every penny (and then some) and that she could do it and so could he.

Thankfully, we did get to drive to La Grange and bike the last 80 or so miles to Austin on day 2. There was no time during that day that me and my $3,200 rented bike had to wait on Kelley and Sweet Ticket. After one wreck (not his fault, of course) and replacing four brake pads, we finished in Austin with our heads held high, Kelley’s highest of all. I haven’t known Sweet Ticket for the entirety of her life, but have no doubts that her proudest moments were flying past riders down the hills of Bastrop State Park and making sure that they knew what just happened, “Zing Zing, Zing Zing!”

(L-R) Kelly & Tyler all Smiles!

#973 as sweet as she can be

Inter-Office Guitar Blog Contest: Entry # 2

By April on May 20 Filed In Austin, Texas, Live Music, Organic, Sweet Leaf Tea Company News Add a Comment

Entry # 2 by Elizabeth Barber

Accountants Can Blog Too….

Sweet Leaf Tea is becoming more and more technology savvy. When I first started at Sweet Leaf we had a basic website that maybe got updated once a quarter. We didn’t have a MySpace page or a Facebook and certainly not a Twitter account. All this new twittering and blogging can be intimidating for the non-creative types like me. But I decided to show the internet world that Accountants can blog too…

So I thought I would do my first blog about one of my favorite Sweet Leaf experiences. It took place not long after I started, and like I said, back in the day we were just a small company, with an even smaller spending budget. I was all excited to go on my first business trip ever…I felt like I was really becoming a professional…man was I in for a surprise. I was headed down to Mission, TX to visit our manufacturing plant with one of my favorite co-workers, Selensky.

Normally, I am a complete control freak, surprising I know, and would have made all my own travel arrangements but this was a work trip so it was left to our new (and short lived) office manager. She was trying to learn how to use Priceline (remember we are on a budget) but just hadn’t quite figured the whole name your own price bit out yet. Soooo…she bid $75 on a $60 a night hotel…and won…brilliant I know. So five hours of road tripping later we arrived at the glorious motel. “This is it?…the doors are on the outside!” I said to Selensky in disbelief. Yes, I have never lived that one down by the way. So they show us to our rooms and it doesn’t take me long to figure out the window in mine doesn’t lock! I can’t stay in here! So poor Selensky has to escort me back to the front desk to get another room. They apologized immensely and offered up two of their “suites”. The suite was a big box with 4 Queen size beds and a small table in the corner. There were questionable stains on the floor and I had to wear socks the whole time. I tried not to touch anything and had to blot dry with the white crunchy towel after my shower because I was too freaked out to actually wrap it all the way around me.

I was more than happy to check out of the motel in the morning and head to the plant. I had one of the best breakfast tacos I have ever had and then took a tour. It is pretty amazing to see in person. Take a look for yourself by clicking on the following video watch?v=xzr-JMwdOP8.

Despite staying in the worse hotel I have ever stayed in and feeling a little less than “professional”, I had a blast with Selensky and we still talk about that trip to this day. Even though we have grown our CEO still uses Priceline and bunks up with David in order to save a buck. You realize pretty quickly at Sweet Leaf we don’t waste money on fancy hotels and over priced meals. We spend our money where it counts, on getting our message out to our consumers.

Elizabeth & Selensky telling trade secrets

Controversial & Jubilant Contest Winner!

By April on May 14 Filed In Sweet Consumers, Sweet Leaf Tea Company News 1 Comment

Recently, Adi announced a blog contest where he listed a set of key words and asked our readers to take them and write something creative with them. Here is the list of words: Burned, Conspiracy, Disinformation, Fleece, Swindle, Banned, Controversial, Exposed, Insider, Taboo, Agony, Foundering, Helpless, Paralyzed, Surrender, passionate, Blissful, Delightful, Jubilant, Rave, Thrilled, Deadline, Limited, and Size.

Diana Krueger of Riverside CA won by submitting a hilarious paragraph built from the words listed above. Feel free to crack open a cold Sweet Leaf Tea and prepare to laugh out loud.

It wasn’t until Sweet Leaf Tea headquarters burned to the ground yesterday that all of the disinformation spread about by jealous tea competitors was finally exposed. Not only had this tragic event involved a conspiracy between several disenchanted sheep–the kindling for the arson having been fleece–but it was also revealed by an insider that the aforementioned competitors, foundering and helpless in the vast sea of their inferiority, had banned Sweet Leaf Tea from the homes of all of their employees; even mere discussion of the controversial tea company was taboo. In fiscal agony, one of these villainous tea producers attempted to swindle Sweet Leaf Tea. The details of this particular episode remain murky, but the result seems to have left the perpetrator paralyzed and smelling faintly of organic pure cane sugar. Waking from this apparently blissful state after three days, she immediately decided to surrender to her passionate new-found love of Peach Sweet Tea and join Sweet Leaf Tea in its quest to provide delicious and delightful teas to fans of liquid the world over. Perhaps even slightly too jubilant in her enthusiasm, she began phoning radio stations across the country to rave about the wide variety of scrumptious Sweet Leaf Tea flavors. Trying to make an example of her, a turncoat–and likely also attempting to trick consumers into purchasing their product with the similarity of the label–her former employer began offering a limited edition tea in bottles of an extremely small size which claimed to be made from the essence of her favorite grandmother. More news on this series of horrific events is still coming in as my press deadline approaches, but I will provide more information as soon as it becomes available. Suffice it to say that the circle of revenge never ends.-Diana

Diana Krueger Fan of Sweet Leaf Tea & winner of a new SLT t-shirt!

Granny Fans Share Engagement Pix with Sweet Leaf Tea

By April on Mar 26 Filed In Sweet Consumers 4 Comments

Back in January, we received the following note on our Facebook Fan Page from Mary Tran:

Mary Rose Tran: Hey, are y’all still available at Sam’s Club? I remember reading an article about it, but couldn’t find it at my local Sam’s. I’d like 300 bottles for my wedding please!