The Expressions of Spring Craft Show is coming up soon, on March 20th and 21st, at the Kinsmen Auditorium, 80 Tweedsmuir Ave. W. in Chatham. The times on Saturday are 10 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Plan to visit Anne at her Steeped Tea booth when you visit this show!
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March 04, 2010
March 02, 2010
March Specials!
Steeped Tea is offering great specials this month!
Free tea with a $50 purchase, and in honour of St.Patrick's Day falling in the middle of the month, it's free Irish Breakfast. Place your order with your consultant today! Don't have a consultant? Why not consider becoming one, or contact head office at info@steepedtea.com and we'll get you the contact info for your closest consultant.
March's hostesses may choose one or both of these exclusive offers when their party hits $250 in sales (pre tax).
Turn your March party into a Mad Hatter Tea party for even more fun and a chance to win tea. See here for details.
January 22, 2010
Another kind of tea light
Yesterday, we showed you a "tea" light that is a tea bag that lights up. We don't believe it's available on the market yet, just a design at an exhibition stage - but it's fun and it's clever. Now for a different kind of "tea" light.
Did you notice the new gift ware in the new seasonal flyer (if you haven't checked out the flyer yet, just click on the link to the right). This beautiful night light is inspired by the beautiful china used to make teapots and cups.
Use it any room to cast a soft glow in the evening without needing all of the lights on. Plug it in the guest room when you are having visitors so they can find their way around the room after they turn the lights out. Plug it in in the powder room at night so anyone can use the room in the middle of the night without having to blind themselves with the overhead lights.
Contact your Steeped Tea consultant to order these. If you don't have a consultant and you live in Canada, contact info@steepedtea.com and we'll be happy to connect you to your closest consultant. If there is no consultant nearby, perhaps you would like more information on being the first Steeped Tea consultant in your area - just ask us for a package that you can look through in the comfort of your own home!
November 18, 2009
September 18, 2009
Need a Job? We Need You
Do You:
- love tea
- love talking about tea/sharing a cup with others
- want to get paid $ (not product) for talking about and sharing tea with others
- live in Canada
- want the opportunity to earn recognition, product, bonuses, trips, cash for building your own Steeped Tea team of consultants
It's always a good time to start your own Steeped Tea business, but now it's even sweeter. We've just announced that October is Double Dollar Month.
You need $44,000 in sales starting May 1st 2009- August 31st 2010 PLUS 15 qualified recruits. DOUBLE DOLLAR month will help you earn that trip faster!
If you want in on this opportunity to start your own Steeped Tea business and start working toward a free vacation to Punta Cana, contact your Steeped Tea consultant and START BOOKING UP YOUR OCTOBER NOW!
Don't have a consultant - just contact us at info@steepedtea.com
September 11, 2009
Tea for (More than) Two
This month's Mompreneur magazine features several articles on direct selling, including this Q & A session with Steeped Tea founder, Tonia Jahshan.
Tea For (More Than) Two
Direct selling strategy helps Tonia Jahshan bring the goodness of tea into Canadian homes
Q: What made you start Steeped Tea?
A: Three years ago, my husband and I decided to start a family and were excited to find out I was pregnant in April of 2006. Things were moving along well until we suddenly lost the pregnancy. This was hard on both of us; our lives were at a standstill. We decided we needed to get away, so we took a trip to Nova Scotia.
The first B&B we stayed at was wonderful, and in the morning, our hosts served us a loose leaf tea called Crème
of Earl Grey. My husband and I love tea and were amazed at how good this one tasted. At that time, we had only
experienced tea bags and had come across just a few loose teas in our lives. This tea blew our socks off – we must have drunk three pots each morning! We decided we needed to bring the tea back home, so we asked the owners of the B&B where they had bought it. They directed us to a little tea shop in Mahone Bay where we discovered hundreds more loose teas. We taste tested so many that day, and ended up coming home with more tea than anything else!
I couldn’t wait to share the tea with our friends and family because I knew they were going to love it as well. I started thinking about ways I could get this exciting little secret out and it occurred to me that the best way to do it was through a tea party.
In the past, I had sold product for a direct selling company and thought this could be the perfect fit for tea. I took two months to research tea – where to buy it, what the health benefits were, and finally how good it tasted. We hired a graphic designer and together we came up with the design for our logo.
In October of 2006, we launched the company Steeped, Fine Loose Teas and Accessories, and by April of 2007, I was doing up to 15 parties a month in the Hamilton and Kitchener Waterloo area – the business was growing far faster than I had anticipated.
We decided it was time to take the next step and hire ‘tea consultants’. We incorporated our company in April 2007, hired a lawyer, and had the consultant agreements drafted and ready. Our first consultant from Waterloo, Ontario came on board in September of 2007. We are very lucky that our consultants have the same vision we have for this
company, and together we keep moving to the next level.
Q: Where do you manufacture or find your products? Do you have any tips on manufacturing or negotiating those agreements?
A: We love Canadian products and try to keep within our borders. Our accessories are mainly purchased through Canadian distributors except for a select few. We also try to feature a Canadian artist every year who makes a featured limited-quantity item for us, like our Steeped Tea Porcelain Teapot. Our tea, however, is grown all over the world in temperate climates and then gets shipped to us.
A good tip when negotiating agreements is to always be prepared with sales forecasts. The bigger your numbers are
for purchasing, even if they aren’t only for one year, the more likely you will get a better deal. Also never assume product quality is a given in an agreement especially if you are dealing with someone overseas. We clearly specify
quality requirements in every agreement we make and double check our deliveries to make sure.
Q. What is your best source for finding new sales reps?
A. Tea parties! Our consultants conduct tea parties all over Ontario and offer our business opportunity to everyone they meet. We have grown to nearly 100 consultants today mostly through word of mouth and people’s experiences at tea parties.
Steeped Tea parties are a great way for friends and family to get together and enjoy each others’ company. The whole idea is to make the gathering even more enjoyable with a brief tea presentation (facts and tidbits of information) and a whole lot of warm, tasty tea. There is no hassle of preparation that takes too much work or time, and no one is under any obligation to buy anything. Our catalogue also makes it affordable to recreate the same party in your own home with a bag of tea for under $6. Steeped Tea consultants have a lot of fun meeting new people, and there is never a dull moment when the product you are serving or discussing is as tasty and enjoyable as ours. The social aspect of our parties is very appealing, not to mention all the free gifts the hostesses earn!
We have had the privilege of being featured in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Hamilton Spectator, Ancaster News,
and the Kitchener/Waterloo Record to name a few, as well as a few local TV shows. The response we get from this exposure is always amazing, whether it’s to book tea parties or to become a consultant. People are looking for a healthier lifestyle and what better way to start than to brew a cup of green, rooibos or white tea.
Q. How do you manage your team of sales reps? Do you include a training program?
A. At Steeped Tea we realized right from the beginning that our sales force is the heart of our business. We have gone to a lot of effort to make sure training materials are readily available for our consultants and their leaders. We encourage direct contact between consultants and we hold monthly meetings where we share our ideas, thoughts and experiences. We introduce new products and policies during those meetings so everyone can participate and questions can be directly answered. Since we started we have created training videos for all aspects of the business including conducting parties and handling the paperwork. We also have a training blog where consultants can get updates on recent news and happenings at Steeped Tea.
Right now, we are working to create ‘back office’ software that will cut consultant paperwork out altogether. Consultants will be able to directly access our inventories and can place their orders online. This will help us make consultant orders simple to place and clearly accessible for updates in shipping or product availability.
Q. What are your biggest challenges?
A. Currently, our biggest challenge is handling the rapid growth of Steeped Tea. Training consultants and continuously connecting with everyone are difficult tasks as our numbers increase each week. Every member of our consultant family deserves our attention and we try our best to reach out.
Space is also another challenge as our inventories are always pushing our warehouse limits. Yet another challenge is the changing economic environment and the fluctuations in the Canadian dollar. This makes international purchasing difficult to predict which could jeopardize inventory stocks as we try to maintain profits.
Q. What have been your biggest successes?
A. We have enjoyed a number of successes with one being rapid growth. Since we started nearly three years ago, the word spread quickly about our fun, informative and entertaining tea parties. We have collectively done nearly
5, 000 tea parties and have hired more than 100 consultants Canada wide. The number increases every month and so do sales.
It’s a great feeling knowing we help families across Canada earn an extra income doing something that is fun, healthy, and informative. Our consultants are a terrific team and they always prove their drive at every party they hold. Spreading the word about the health benefits of loose tea has become our mission and the mission of all our consultants. We are converting people to loose tea, one tea bag at a time.
Other successes include the wonderful exposure we’ve had in the media. Our first experience on CHCH TV in Hamilton three years ago proved to us that media does work and that our product is something people are interested in and want to learn more about. Since then we have been on CHCH TV three more times, A Channel Ottawa and BT Halifax. We have also been nominated for the Savvy Mompreneur award twice!
Q. What are your plans for the next five years?
A. Every year brings its own challenges, but ultimately our goal is to enable enough consultants nationwide to throw parties in almost every household of this country. We hope our consultant base reaches a few thousand within the next five years.
Another goal is to establish a large warehousing facility within the next five years to meet the demands of our business. Space should become a problem of the past once we’ve picked out a larger and more versatile location.
Finally, an increased online presence will help us reach people where it may be difficult for consultants to go. We hope to pursue international development after five years.
September 02, 2009
August 31, 2009
Another Consultant Making News!
The following article was published in the Woolwich Observer this past weekend on the Business page, highlighting local Steeped Tea consultant Becky Strauss's passion for tea and her tea business.
A business that’s just her cup of tea
August 28, 2009
By: Joni Miltenburg
When it comes to tea, Becky Strauss thinks outside the bag.
The Heidelberg woman is a consultant for Steeped Tea, a Hamilton-based company selling loose tea and accessories.
Tea is the most consumed drink in the world after water. Although coffee is the beverage of choice for most North Americans, tea is gaining in popularity on this continent and specialty teas are the fastest growing sector.
Strauss sings the praises of loose tea, which she says offer higher quality and richer flavour than teabags. She’s been a tea lover since she was a young girl, and selling tea was a natural fit. Strauss learned about Steeped Tea from a friend who had gone to one of their tea parties. First she hosted a tea party of her own, then decided to become a consultant herself.
“It’s new, it’s fun, and I was sure I wasn’t the only one looking for a good cup of tea,” she said.
Steeped Tea was started in 2007 by Tonia and Hatem Jahshan. The company offers more than 60 varieties of loose tea, including white, green and black tea, herbal and fruit teas, rooibos (bush tea) and oolong.
Strauss has tried nearly all 60 of the varieties, and her favourite is Crème Carmello. The rooibos tea has a rich caramel scent and Strauss likens it to “liquid dessert.”
Strauss has been in direct sales for 12 years, selling Tupperware, candles, scrapbooking supplies and now tea. The direct sale model allows her to balance working with being a mom to her three kids.
“It gives me the freedom to stay at home with my kids and work around their schedule as well as mine,” she said.
Since starting in March, Strauss has set up about 18 tea parties at customers’ homes. She said the tea parties are a good way to get together with family and friends, and involve no more work for the host than inviting people and boiling a kettle of water. Strauss advises on which four flavours of tea they should try and takes care of preparing both hot and iced tea.
“You provide the family and friends and I provide the tea and the teapots and all the accessories,” she said.
Along with sachets of tea, Steeped Tea sells teapots, cozies, presses, spoons, infusers, candles and soap. For dedicated coffee drinkers who need their fix of java, the company has added two flavours of organic, fair trade coffee from Guatemala.
Strauss herself enjoys a cup of coffee first thing in the morning and then switches to tea. Later in the day, she drinks herbal and other decaffeinated teas.
For more information, Strauss can be reached at 519-699-5652, or by e-mailing beckythetealady@sympatico.ca.
August 05, 2009
Tea Parties are a Way to a Boiling Success!
Steeped Tea consultant, Kim Dickson, has recently been featured in the business section of The Record, the newspaper serving Waterloo region and much of southwest Ontario. We've reprinted the article below:
August 05, 2009
WATERLOO – A tea party sounds quaint and old-fashioned, like sitting in the garden with grandma and the aunts, sipping tea and making polite conversation.
Kim Dickson is having none of that. She turns tea parties into modern, exciting events that also generate a tidy part-time business income.
Dickson, 40, is a tea party consultant for Steeped Tea Inc., a direct-selling business that’s similar to Tupperware, Pampered Chef or Epicure Selections. It was started in Hamilton by her friend Tonia Jahshan in 2007 and became a huge success.
There are now 100 consultants like Dickson across Canada, including 10 in the Waterloo Region area, selling a wide variety of loose steeped teas, tea accessories and related products. The company will soon will branch into a fair trade coffee line as well.
The company is looking for more consultants, Dickson says.
Dickson, who got in on the ground floor, runs 10 to 12 tea parties a month at the homes of different hosts, selling about $50,000 a year worth of teas and accessories. She gets a 25 per cent commission, plus bonuses and incentive gifts for being a top seller.
The commission supplements her full-time income as a store manager for an electrical distribution company in Kitchener.
“You can take on as much or as little as you want to,” says Dickson, of Waterloo. “You can decide to do one party a month or one party a week.” Unlike some direct-selling companies, there are no minimums or entry fees.
For Dickson, it is also a lot of fun. “Sometimes, women will dress up and come with their hats and their gloves,” she says.
She makes the parties as trouble-free as possible for the hosts. “I’ll even bring my own tea cups, so the only thing the host has to do is to have some boiling water and provide a light snack for the guests,” Dickson says. Some hosts enjoy using their own tea cups, taking pleasure from bringing beautiful fine china out of the cabinet.
The Steeped catalogue now includes about 60 different loose teas that can be served hot or cold, including traditional English teas, herbal teas, white teas, black teas, green teas, specialty teas, and flavoured Rooibos teas.
Some people prefer coffee, so the company plans to introduce two fair trade coffees in September.
During her presentations, Dickson discusses the antioxidant health benefits of teas. She offers tasty samplings of products, such as a refreshing cold herbal berry tea which is a great low-sugar alternative to pop or juice for children.
Accessories include stainless Henley teapots, tea cosies, sugar bowls, creamers, platters, Bodum tea kettles and jugs, as well as scone mixes, cookies and honey sticks. There are tea bath products, natural soaps, soy candles and other items that promote relaxing with a comforting cup of tea.
When Dickson was approached two years ago, she jumped at the opportunity to get involved. “It was a chance to get in at the beginning of something that could be really huge,” she says.
There are still many opportunities for new consultants in this area, she says.
A new consultant starts by hosting a party and inviting as many friends and relatives as possible. The sales from that “starter party” go toward paying for the first sales kit, which includes about $600 worth of teas and accessories for future parties. The new consultant also commits to having at least four booked parties at the homes of people who come to the starter party.
“That’s important because if they were to have a starter party without having parties being booked from that, it can become discouraging, so it’s best to go out ahead of time and book as many parties as they can.”
That was the key to Dickson’s success. She had 22 parties booked in advance of her own starter party, which helped bring her business to a quick boil.
It’s a perfect fit for someone like Dickson, who enjoys the products and meeting people. “I just love the business, and I love what it has to offer,” she says.
rsimone@therecord.com
Steeped Tea Inc.
Kim Dickson, Steeped tea party consultant
Web: www.steepedtea.com
Email: kimsteaparties@rogers.com
Tel.: 519-884-5894
June 24, 2009
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