How U Nature grew from selling to friends to a successful online tea boutique

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Lex, the founder of an exclusively online quality tea and healthy snack shop U Nature from the exotic Taiwan is answering questions this month about his store. Starting small and through informed decisions and flexible customer interaction working his way up Lex has has built a clean but beautiful online shopfront, which one would easily associate with an asian tradition of tea ceremony, it also includes a quick advice blog about his tea and drinks in general helping customers understand the value of his products.

What pushed you to take action and start the tea business?

​I love doing business. I enjoy building and running fun and profitable systems. It’s challenging and  full of obstacles, but also very exciting and fruitful.

Where and how did you acquire your first customers?

My first customers were my very kind friends.​​

After becoming established which channels started bringing in most sales and traffic?

Now, most sales come through Facebook advertising.​

Dream big, but start with small steps.

What has been your biggest mishap or failure, what have you learned from it?

​I tried to start a big project at the very early stage of my business. When this project failed (quite normally), it really set me back a lot. What I learned was, no matter how promising the project is, always start lean and small. Try, fail, then test every aspect and improve until the whole system runs smoothly. Just like my mom said when I learned how to drive, ​start slow, learn all the rules, you will naturally drive fast when you are sophisticated and confident.
Dream big, but start with small steps.

What kind of atmosphere exists in the office?

The tone in the office is easy going but responsible. Employees don’t wear a suit, or punch the card on time. We just need to make sure everything is done in a timely manner and always offer customers good service. Then there are no limitations on other projects.​

How do you find and what is the criteria you hire people based on?

​Highly self-inspired, self-learning, self-regulated and eager to improve the business.
They must work well in a team and realize the importance of cooperation.

​I use Printout Designer​ ​to output packing sheets daily. Use packing sheets as a chance to communicate to your customers, just like writing letter to a friend.

 

How has Printout Designer changed the workflow in the office?

​I use Printout Designer​ ​to output packing sheets daily, it’s totally customizable, the templates are not limited by “customizable columns” So I can easily print the packing sheet within 5 minutes, no matter how many orders come out once. It saves me a lot of time.

What tips can you give to other Printout Designer users?

Use packing sheets as a chance to communicate to your customers, just like writing letter to a friend.

What have you learnt from this venture?

You can always do and learn way more than you think.​ ​Don’t be scared by nay sayers.​

With joy for creating a business from the start, eagerness to learn and a little help from friends Lex has set up a wonderful little tea parlour on the internet. Although the store website is only in Chinese Lex is also is happy to be contacted in English through hello@unature.tw for overseas orders.

Printout Designer enables you to create invoices, packing slips, labels and other printouts with a truly customized look, independent of the e-commerce platform you use. You can customize every aspect of your business document creation process without wasting countless hours. Read more about Printout Designer from printoutdesigner.com

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