Apparently I know nothing about branding
until the universe sent me the same message, three times.
A bit of context for people who may not know: I am running a small bubble tea shop in Auckland, New Zealand, named Teadee, with a friend of mine. I had not explicitly shared this via my blog because I thought in what sense sharing this is relevant to shaping our brand or my own blogging identity. But now I will,
because the universe told me an important thing. And important things must be repeated three times.
The first time,
A friend visited my newly opened bubble tea shop on a quiet day, wondering how much marketing we’ve done to promote this place. He said the drinks are good, the place seems nice, but something is missing.
A story yet to be told.
A story,
about the first 3-hour call in which I was half-convinced on co-opening a bubble tea shop, about how I was 100% sure that I would not ever go down the path of opening a business as I am terrified of risks, but then nodded at the second call.
about how random the situation was, in which my partner-in-Teadee decided that she wanted to bring the “Vietnamese pineapple jasmine tea” to New Zealand. Little did she know there was little definition of what a Vietnamese bubble tea should taste like.
about how frustrating the journey has been, moving from a stable full-time nine-to-five with 2 days off for morning coffee dates every week to slurping 2 coffees every morning to survive a 10-hour-plus working day.
The second time,
A customer wondered what made me leave behind 6 years building my career in Wellington and invest heaps of money in something that I have no idea if it’s going to feed me or not. “Is it worth it?” is a question, and
A story yet to be told.
Do I love bubble tea? Yes, indeed. Will I open a bubble tea shop because I love drinking them? My rational self will not let me do that.
I took the risk because I didn’t want to open “just another” bubble tea shop. I took the risk because I wanted to open a Vietnamese bubble tea and coffee brand.
Having the first sip of what we currently make brought me back to the afternoons sitting in the Phúc Long (a Vietnamese bold-flavoured tea brand) store for hours with my high school friends working on our yearbook. Having the second sip brought me back to the “Trà Thế Giới” (World Tea) sign in front of my primary school, where the only two options we got were black tea or black milk tea. I didn’t want to just sell some drinks. I want the surprise in one’s look, the satisfaction in each nod, and one turning to another: “This is exactly what I had in Vietnam.”
The third time,
A friend of a friend flying from Australia for a business trip in New Zealand made a stop at Teadee. She loves the Vietnam-themed stickers on our promotional blind bags, loves the fact that it is a small local business opened by Vietnamese, and just simply loves supporting the Vietnamese community.
She said it would be good to bring some personality to this brand and to tell our customers,
A story yet to be told.
It could be a short post, telling people how brave I was to just “open a business”. It could be a short video documenting how realistic it is to be at the shop from 10 AM to 9 PM and having my hands on even the smallest thing. “Your bravery could have inspired someone.”
I told her I would not have started this crazy journey if my partner-in-Teadee did not find me at first. It was no bravery; just luck and family support (and money). Like, anyone who was fortunate to be given that much chance and support can do it.
I’m sure nodding to something you were not too sure of is bravery. No doubts. - she said.
She reminded me that I’m not trying to inspire everyone to start a business or to get customers’ buy-in with a made-up identity. I just try to be as close as possible to the hearts and minds of people I care about. I just want to share how proud I am to be Vietnamese, and to be able to bring some Viet flavours to New Zealand, firstly for our own people.
They were once a story yet to be told, and are now a story to be slowly unfolded.
If you are interested in keeping me accountable for shaping a better brand for Teadee, here are our social media (LOL):
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teadeenz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teadee.milktea/
Love your story
Yooo I think I remember that Trà Thế Giới :)))