Transcript
Introduction
And so a business is born. Like all birth, it began with a gathering of the energies of conception, then a fusion and growth. As a gestation, it was exactly as long as it needed to be. Recognizing that true creation takes place outside time, the Republic of Tea came to life when it was ready to be born. It was, to be sure, Bill, who carried it in him for the 20 up and down all-around months documented in these pages. And it was Bill, who in accepting his first dollar for a tin of tea in May 1992, delivered the baby to the world. As for my role, I got him pregnant. In compiling these letters for publication, a keystone of ancient Hindu philosophy comes to mind. Everything happens as it does because the universe is as it is.
There is no formula for starting a business. It is an exercise as unique as the individuals who undertake it. Starting the Republic of Tea was an exercise in allowing things to happen. So starting a business is no different from starting anything else, a marriage, a painting, or a new life. The opportunity it presents as a path to self-realization is the one most often overlooked, and yet I feel this is the ultimate -- excuse me. And yet I feel this is ultimately its greatest benefit. A business that is conceived in practicality will be congenitally dry. Bill and Patricia and I may have been a little wacky in some of our early ideas, but this is because we knew the day of practicality would come.