Million Dollar Cup of Tea is all that and more. It s the true life story of a mother-daughter entrepreneurial team who built a business in completely unfamiliar terrain and sold it less than a decade later for $75 million. Heather, a college student at the time, discovered and fell in love with an ancient spicy, milky tea called chai while hiking in the Himalayas. She and her mother took the drink, brewed up a classic kitchen start up, and brought this unheard of drink to the American market. Find out how the now famous brand almost collapsed before it actually started and how partnerships, cleaver branding, and strategies led to a 430% growth rate.
Hello Readers,
I'm writing to tell you a little more about myself.
My Mother cried when I was born. She wanted a boy, plus I was covered with black hair. She told me I looked like a monkey. A few months later, Dad came home from World War II and when he picked me up, I screamed, I wanted nothing to do with him. That pretty much sealed our relationship. So much for my beginning.
But I had a good childhood: tap dancing lessons, ballet, loved school, joined Camp Fire Girls and sold enough candy to pay my way to camp two years in a row. We moved around a lot so it was difficult to keep the few friends I made. Spent nearly all four years at one high school so met and still cherish friends from that time. In high school I sang in the choir and Vagabonds, the smaller vocal ensemble. Loved math classes, congratulated myself, foolishly, for never reading an assigned book all the way through, yet still got good marks on my book reports - shame on me - and now I realize how much I missed. Awarded first-runner-up in the Oregon Junior Miss pageant - the same year Diane Sawyer was America's Junior Miss.
Trained to be an electroencephalograph (EEG) technician. Got pregnant, got married, and gave birth to a wonderful little boy. Worked while my husband finished school. Gave birth to a baby girl. Stayed home with my children, working on occasion to fill in for other EEG technicians. Directed the children's choir at our local Presbyterian church. Had roles in community theatre - all musicals.
When my daughter, our youngest, was 5 years old and in kindergarten, I started working part-time. My mother-in-law, Marie, who I adored, passed away suddenly. She had a small insurance plan which my husband inherited so we took the family to Europe for nine months spending most of our time in London and Paris.
Upon our return, we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where my husband opened an architectural firm with a friend. I auditioned for and was accepted into a jazzy vocal ensemble, similar to Manhattan Transfer, called Trend. We performed in SF for about 3 years. We had a great time, had a few good reviews but success passed us by. When the group disbanded, I returned to school and completed my Associates Degree in music. The next year both my kids needed braces. I couldn't afford school and braces so I applied for and got a job with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. I not only worked in the office for a few years but sang in the chorus as well. What a thrill that was. My favorite choral work is Carmina Burana.
My husband's work situation didn't work out so we moved back to Portland, Oregon. I was lucky to get a job with the Oregon Symphony but after a few years I was pretty burnt out. My sister and I opened a little vintage clothing store in downtown Portland. Only problem, she didn't like vintage clothes, she preferred new ones. The switch from vintage to new was gradual, going through a phase of consignment. We didn't get rich but we both learned a lot and had fun. Seven years later after a couple of burglaries, till taps and shop lifts we decided to close the doors.
While we had the store, we both also worked part-time at the Performing Arts Center. Sis as a doorperson and I as a house manager. I was lucky to be promoted several times until I became the Manager of Admissions with over 200 employees that I hired, trained and supervised. Unfortunately, Portland, as many public agencies, fell on hard times so they decided to privatize part of the buildings we worked in which meant the middle management was laid-off. Luckily, I worked long enough to qualify for a little pension for my later years.
Since I had never finished my Bachelor's Degree, I decided that this was a good time to go back to school. I took as many business classes as I could without being a business major because I wanted to finish school before my 50th birthday. I succeeded. While in school my daughter, by now 26, came to me with a beverage I had never tasted, chai. She said she discovered it while she was in India. She loved chai but couldn't find any in Portland so she started making her own and one day she said, "You know Mom, I think we could sell this stuff," and that's how Oregon Chai began (read the book).
Several years later, I started writing our story. Sometimes the words flew onto my computer. Other times, I would open a file and tears would start to roll down my cheeks and I couldn't work on the story for days. To keep me motivated and to improve my writing, I took a class at Portland Community College on writing a memoir. After a year my instructor suggested I try to publish the book.
I went downtown to the Multnomah County Library and researched the publishing business. It recommended finding an agent and/or submitting proposals to publishers that did not require an agent. Since there was a list of publishers I could contact without an agent I sent out about 15 proposals. No response. Next I joined Willamette Writers' and attended their conference in August. There I met an agent who wanted to sign me up immediately. She was a fan of Oregon Chai and even brought a container of the original concentrate with her to the conference. I signed the contract, gave her a copy of the manuscript, and went home and celebrated.
The next day my agent phoned. She said, "I had you sign a contract BEFORE I read your manuscript." Oh! Oh! She was not pleased. I had written my story in segments with each chapter about a different part of the business: start-up, financing, research and development, marketing, publicity, etc. I even paid a copy editor to clean it up - she changed my "be" verbs into action verbs. But my agent wanted it rewritten in chronological order and to read like a novel. She told me to hire a "developmental" editor. I said ok!
Luckily, at the same conference I met Heather Hale (not to be confused with my daughter Heather Howitt). Heather was not only smart and funny but she had written and had produced scripts for a movie and for television. I hired Heather to rewrite the story per my agent's request and to add warmth and humor to the story. I also secretly hoped that someday our story would appear on Lifetime or Oxygen or even as a concept for a series on the Food Network.
Once a new proposal was complete, my agent contacted about 30 publishers. Two were interested. The first also wanted my daughter to write her story and when she refused, because she had a newborn and a three year old, they withdrew their offer. The second publisher wanted the format changed. They liked my earlier format. I told my agent, after paying $22,000 to have the entire story redone, that I just could not afford nor had the energy to rewrite it again. My agent told me I was too difficult to work with and quit.
I was back where I started. I loved the story that Heather Hale helped to produce (buy the book.) I thought I wouldn't find another agent or publisher so decided to publish it myself. Nirvana in a Cup came off the press and I started furiously marketing it. The first thing I discovered was that no one would review a "self-published" book. Luckily though, I found two small papers that gave it good reviews. The second problem was distribution. Large booksellers won't stock self-published books and very few distributors will handle them. I did find a small distributor but getting it into bookstores was left up to me. Got it into a few bookstores and sold books whenever I gave a presentation.
I didn't print a whole lot of books and after a year I was concerned that I may run out and there was no way I could afford to print more. I needed a publisher who would not only print the book but give the book the credibility it lacked as a self-published book.
So, I flew to New York to attend Book Expo America. Once there I slipped on some good walking shoes and made my way through what seemed like hundreds of aisles and talked to everyone who would listen to me. Towards the end of the second day, I met a young woman who told me she would show my book to her boss, Arthur Chou of WBusiness Books. A few months later Arthur called and said he would like to publish my book but he wanted to change the name to Million Dollar Cup of Tea. I was exceedingly happy.
The book underwent another round of editing. I was surprised at the typos we found in the first edition - I'm sure I read it a thousand times. With a new cover and layout the book finally hit distribution in February of 2008 (read the book.) Again, it was hard to get shelf space, especially for an unknown author, but my publisher got it into most chains. I was pleased with the result. My hopes were that the book would inspire entrepreneurs and provide a good read for those interested in the story (you definitely want to read this book.) Luckily, readers have had good responses with a couple even calling it a "real page-turner."
So Readers, I hope you will purchase Million Dollar Cup of Tea, and enjoy it and find that it was well worth your money. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Tedde McMillen
