Latest / Glovisor Podcast / How She Reinvented Coffee Into a Luxury Brand | Tropics Lifestyle Coffee | Lisa Bastian [Ep 42]

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How She Reinvented Coffee Into a Luxury Brand | Tropics Lifestyle Coffee | Lisa Bastian [Ep 42] · Glovisor Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What if your morning coffee wasn't just a drink but
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: a piece of art. Today's guests built a brand that
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: turns a simple daily ritual into a luxury experience, and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the story behind it is even better. Welcome to the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Gloviser podcast, where we explore business growth, communication and personal
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: development through real conversations with people that make an impact.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Our guest is an award winning journalist, entrepreneur, public relations consultant,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and former federal background investigator whose career spans over four decades.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Rather than following a traditional career path, she's pursued opportunities
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to learn, build and create. In twenty twenty five, she
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: launched Tropics Lifestyle Coffee, a luxury gift brand built around
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: unique coffee gifts. Lowvisor welcomes Lisa Bastan.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Hello there, Joe. I'm calling from beautiful San Antonio, Texas.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Beautiful, thank you of pleasure and looking forward to the conversation.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Do you have your coffee in front of you?
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Not yet, I shoul I should have been prepared for you.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: I should have sent it for you. Yeah, sorry about that.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I didn't think ahead.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Well, Lisa, please tell us a little bit more about
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: what you do well.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I am the founder and owner of, as you said before,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Tropics Lifestyle Coffee, and this is something that people say
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: the word passion, but it truly is something that gets
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: me up in the morning because I spread so much
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: happiness to people across America. What I've done is I've
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: created a new niche in the gift and the coffee
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: industry feel kind of a fusion that hasn't really been
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: there before, which is very exciting but kind of scary
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: at the same time. Basic what I have is I
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: have the top ten percent of the coffee in the world,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: which is called Specialty grade, and that is fused with
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: my beautiful top ten percent CoFe with gorgeous packaging of
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: twelve ounce boxes with rainforest, beach and ocean designs that
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I make myself. I have one hundred of these. Any
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: given time, there's thirty of these beautiful designs on my boxes.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: And so what happens is is someone picks up a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: box of twelve ounce coffee and there's coffee inside, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: my beautiful box is exuding tropical vibes twenty four to seven.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Unlike the typical commodity coffee you see in the store,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: this is something that's really a collectible piece of art.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: And this is why our mission, we say is beautifying
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: coffee stations across America, because it really is something different.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: When you buy an art box, as we call them,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: an art box coffee from our collection, you will put
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: it next to your coffee station and immediately it just
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: kind of just says, I'm here and I'm happy, and
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I'm going to just make your case look gorgeous. And
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: then you open up this beautiful box of rainforest beat
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: your ocean art, and you have the best coffee in
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the world. You brew it up and just for those
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: few minutes whatever you are taken away to paradise Joe.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So doesn't get any better than that.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Before we move on, I wanted to ask you something
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: about what you mentioned that your coffee is in the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: top ten percent. Can you explain to us the different
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: qualities of coffee.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Coffees are graded on various levels, and what they call
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: specialty grade from zero to one hundred is anything that's
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: graded from eighty to one hundred and these are by
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: coffee masters and roasters across the world. So a specialty
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: grade is starts at eighty and if you get anything
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: between eighty and eighty five, eighty to ninety. You're just
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: you've reached the pinnacle of coffee since as it means,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: it's free of defects as far as bad stuff in
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: it twigs this even, you know, down to the mechanical
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: physical things. But it also has coffee beans that are
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: just the peak performance, the peak looking, the peak smelling
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: beans of the world. And what that means is these
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: beans are are so perfect specialty grade top ten percent
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: that you know, better beans means better coffee. And when
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I first began looking into this, I thought, okay, top
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: ten percent especially grade right, and I'm in pr It's
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: like this is all fluff. I'd never had specially grade coffee.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I tried it for the first time and I was
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: just blown away. Just it was a spitat color. I thought, Okay,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I believe all the hype. I can do this. So
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I have something that is new. It's a niche. It's
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: not only specially grade. You got these beautiful boxes that
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: you can only get from me, And it's really becoming
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: a hit, not only in San Antonio, but to the
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: people I have all over the country that you're discovering
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: it now.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Just so we are all the same page. You're saying
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: that the specialty it's about ninety percent. How does that
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: compare to what I can get at the grocery store.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: It's actually the top ten percent of coffee in the world.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: So in the grocery store, there's lots of fine, lovely
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: coffees that are roasted, that are various grades, and they
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: won't tell you it's you know what percentage it is.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: But unless it says specialty grade, it's it's not the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: top ten percent, So you have to look for that,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: and most of them are not. Mine also has a
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: third superpower besides being beautiful displayworthy. We call it coffee
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: top ten percent. When you place an order, you order
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: through my website, okay, and then within twenty four hours,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: our roasters will roast the coffee for you, just for you.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And that's important because roasted coffee, roasted fresh, tastes a
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: lot different than once in the grocery store. Because I've
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: learned that the beautiful coffees that I've been buying my
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: whole life could have been sitting there for weeks, months,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: half a year, I wouldn't know about it, and so
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: this is definitely different, and it's shipped you within seven
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: to fourteen business days, depends upon where you live. You
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: get it. It's usually shipped out about two days after
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: being roasted.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Now, is there an ideal time to consume coffee.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Right away after that? I've been told it ranges from
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: two weeks to about two months, and then about a
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: month after that. You could consume it a good amount
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: till about six months to a year, but preferably within
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the first three to four months. What I've been told
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Israeli peak. But coffee doesn't go bad that much. But
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: connoisseurs they can tell. They can definitely tell. I tell
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: my people to consume it within the first two to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: three months.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Now, what inspire you to pursue this path?
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: My goodness, where do I begin? As you know, my
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: career path has been very varied and diverse. I guess
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: you could stay it started in a rainforest in Ohio.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Now you might ask, how does it have a rainforest
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: in landlocked to Ohio. My mother had always loved the beach,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: and she and my dad got married in Florida and
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: they live in Cincinnati, where I'm from. And there's this
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: beautiful botanical garden called Chrome Conservatory. I think it's about
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: ninety hundred years old. It's gorgeous, and you walk inside
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: of it and there's this just this outstanding rainforest as
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: you walk in, with turtles and waterfalls and banana trees
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: and all the palm leaves. And my mother would always
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: take me to this rainforest ever since I was a baby,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: she said numerous times. So I think I ended up
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: thinking I wasn't growing up in Ohio, I was growing
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: up in a rainforest. I guess kind of like my
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: referred DNA, just began loving tropics and tropical things, so
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: it always kind of stayed with me. And my mother
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: had decor from Florida and the tropics. And then I
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: grew up and I became a journalist, and part of
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: my job was writing for national magazines for meetings, travel, tourism,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: and economic development, and they would take me to places
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: all over the world on these things called fam trips,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: where you're treated like a princess because one of your
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: articles maybe five hundred to one thousand words, might bring
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: in a million dollar project for your host of your trip,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: so they would treat you very very well, as you
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: can imagine. Well, some of my trips would take me
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: to Puerto Rico and and beautiful beach environments, and I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: got my vibe of the rainforest again, and I noticed
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: something Joe. Everywhere I went on these dozens of high
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: end fam trips where they took me to castles or
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the seats of government, the rainforest just disgorgeous places. Everyone
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: always served coffee, the best coffee they could have of
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: that country. So coffee was a common denominator. If we
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: couldn't speak any language, the same way, the coffee was
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: our denominators that kept us together and kept the business
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: words flowing and the laughter and built the relationships. I
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: noticed that, you know, besides fueling me as a journalist
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: for thirty forty years, coffee had this magic, and I
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: just always kept the back of my head. So then
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: what pushed me towards my coffee brand was dear old
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: COVID came on and I decided to maybe go a
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: different direction and focus more on me instead of making
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: tons of money for other people. And I dabbled in
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: a tropics magazine because of the aforementioned mother instilling this
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: love of the tropics, and I started talking about home
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: decor and the beauty of what the rainforest could bring
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: to interior design. And then from that back in twenty
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: twenty five, early I began to think what else could
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I do to bring joy to the world and to
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: my own self and to actually heal me. Because what
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't tell you, Joe, was I had a health
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: scare about ten years ago. I looked at ten twelve
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: different doctors. Happened to be something that was fixed by
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: some supplements and some good tests. But along the way,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I realized I had to clean up my diet, and
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I did so with organic foods, this and that, and then, Joe,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: guess what my beloved coffee. I found out A lot
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: of it is full of mold, microtoxins, heavy metal, yeast,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: bad things. So I thought, okay, I have to start
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: fixing my coffee. Oh my gosh, I get even that.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: So that's why I kind of discovered the special degrade part.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: So twenty twenty five, I'm thinking, Okay, I got a
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: health problem. I love coffee. I want to do something
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: more on my own. I want to be really tropically.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, you mix all this stuff together into blender
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: and you kind of get tropic sized out coffee out
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: of it. And then the other thing I had was
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be a graphic designer, was my first
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: love back when I was eighteen. And then I threw
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: that in. I thought, okay, I'm going to design these boxes.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I went to a company and I said, I know
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: you really don't do this, but what if I put
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: all these different designs on these beautiful twelve ounce boxes
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: and also boxes for coffee pods because we sell coffee
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: pods too. And I said, you know, no one's really
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: done it at this scale, but yeah, we'll support you.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: So I thought, okay, let's look at their coffee. And
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: it had beautiful art, it had coffee that was tested
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: for the bad stuff. I just told you about the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: mold Michael talks and geeest they would you know it
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: doesn't have it or just trace amounts. I thought, score,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: what's there not to love about this? And then I thought, okay,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: I'm always curious. Why am I going to be different?
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: What's different about this? I said, okay, health consciousness, beautiful art,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: it's maximum roasted fresh, but it's just really going to matter.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And then Joe I remembered reading about in some very
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: good national magazines on the art side on home decorating
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: that coffee stations were a thing. Did you know that
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: coffee stages have become a huge thing since COVID. And
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: what happened was people could not go out to get
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: their beloved six eight dollar lattes anymore. So they began
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: kicking away the liquor cabinets and bringing in the coffee carts,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and they started making coffee bars and coffee stations like
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: you've never seen before, millions of people. And so they
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: brought five hundred dollars, one thousand dollars, two thousand dollars
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: gorgeous equipment. They got their coffee spoons, they got their
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: cool cups. I mean, they were just rocking and rolling,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: and who knows where the liquor went, probably went inside
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the coffee. But the one thing they forgot, Joe, was
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: what they forgot. They take the commodity grade coffee, which
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: is in the little bags that after you start using it,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: they become all squishy and yucky and frontrumpled. And they
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: put these typically ugly bags next to this beautiful coffee
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: station and it's like, oh, it's not match. Well, I
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: realized that what I had beautiful coffee in these art
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: boxes took care of a problem. That people really didn't
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: realize they had until I pointed out to them. And
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: with my beautiful boxes now sitting next to this gorgeous
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: coffee stations, you had a complete beautiful setup. So my
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: coffee does not have to be shamefully put underneath a counter,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and people can probably display it and now it just
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: makes their whole coffee station look beautiful. And that's my story.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: What do you think about that?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Love it because you provided a solution to a problem
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: than most of us don't even realize.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: We have nobody. I mean I have sat with reodors
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and just people in general just want to eat me.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I've talked an hour about my coffee. Now you try
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: out with any commodity crade coffee, It's just not going
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: to happen. Just kept asking questions and about coffee stations,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: about the art I would do, and about the type
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: of coffee and specialty gray, what makes a difference then
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: they taste it, and why this is so smooth? Oh
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: my god. So I knew I was onto something when
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: before I officially launched, I had some you know, family
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: and friends, you know, hey, I always do that. I'd say, hey,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: I got something new, and I'd send them the boxes,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: either the coffee pod boxes of twelve or the twelve
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: ounce boxes, and I'd say, you just just check this out. Well, first,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: they love the coffee, and I said, now you're supposed
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to put the box next to your coffee pot. Well,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I usually don't do that. I said, okay, well will
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: you try it for me? Okay, well guess what they
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: all reported they kept the boxes next to the coffee
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: pod pot. Not because Lisa said so, because because it's like,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: this is pretty cool. You're right, I'm really liking this.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: And then my family or friends are always noticing and
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: they say, this is so beautiful, and I'd say, okay,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: so what are you gonna do with the coffee boxes?
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And this surprised me. Ninety five percent of my friends
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: will not get rid of my boxes at all. It's like,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: is it because I made it? And he reminds, no,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: it's just so pretty. I'm using it for jewelry, I'm
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: using it for a catch all. I just can't get
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: rid of it. So I didn't expect that. But it's
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: a nice bonus. I'm not talking about my website, but
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: it is definitely beautifying a coffee station, and that brings
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: me up to the other slogan I have, which is
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: just based upon truth. This is coffee. We think coffee
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: should look as beautiful and exceptional as a taste, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: nobody else has that space.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: The other side of it is that starting a business
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: and going to market it's not easy. Sometimes what we
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: do is we look at businesses and we say, while
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: they're successful, amazing, she just started in twenty twenty five.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Look how successful she is. But most people don't realize
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: that there are a lot of trials and issues to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: bring it down to market. So what were some of
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the biggest obstacles you had to overcome.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Well, the main thing was, well I do have a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: business plan. I think the first obstacle for myself, for
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: anybody else's you're all excited like a little kid at Christmas.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Oh I got a really cool idea. Right. The biggest
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: obstacle is but should I do something with it? Is
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: it just something I should dream about and kind of
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: noodle around my head? Or should I go forward with it?
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: So the first obstacle is you know, it's not believing
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: in it. It's like knowing with research. The background. Part
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: of my background was as far as working for clients
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: all around the country and do some industries. Was putting
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: together editing one hundred different business plans for some business books,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: and that was a very insightful experience. I learned that
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: a business plan, even one page up to like forty pages,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: is really what everyone needs before you you know, before
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: you even get your LLC or whatever, or your name,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: your domain name, you have to know is this going
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to work at least on paper? Figure it out. You
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: do it a business plan. You do what we call
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: swat analysis, which my strengths, my weaknesses, my opportunities, my threats.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Joe I spent months doing that, months and months and months.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: So it was kind of just heartening it first, because
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what I'd find out, especially when you're
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: creating a new niche fusing the gift industry with the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: coffee industry with the specialty, higher end industry. Is anyone
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: going to pay extra money for this? I mean, I'm
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: competitively priced in the especially grade market, but is this
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: going to be viable? So I found out that it was.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: But I didn't just use my heart. I used my head.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: And I think that's very important to do your research.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: If you'd say about obstacles. That's the first. The first
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: thing is is this a viable thing that I should
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: go forward with? Now with that being said, we're all
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: familiar with Shark Tank, and we know there have been
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: many companies on there that the Sharks were all over
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: right and they were complete flops afterwards. Those are other
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: ones that were on there and the Sharks said no,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing it, and I think one was the
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Ring Doorbell. I think his his was wonderful. Right after
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: the Shark Tanks, He's went on to be you know,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: million dollar, billion dollar business. So take it with a
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: grain of salt. There are people that just say I
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: believe in it and I'm going to go forward no
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: matter what, and I'd say go for it. I'm just saying,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: if you have some research behind it, you can go
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: forward with more confidence and more planning, and that's going
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: to turn into more success in the long term.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I believe in the coffee space, very often hear the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: word java. What is it?
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Java? It's slang. People don't like to use it, but
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: as a writer, I hate seeing coffee all the time.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: It just means coffee to me and my friends. Java.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: It's just a fun word. We use.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Artificial intelligence is changing how businesses operate. How have you
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: been using AI as a practical tool to help you
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: build and grow your business?
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: That's a very good question. When I was dabbling with
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: the Tropic Slices Style magazine back in twenty twenty one,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: I discovered AI. Back then, this is before chat GBT,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: and I was working in the graphic design space and
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I was making some I don't know what you'd call it.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: It kind of looks off on guard. They were ugly.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: They were ugly images that chat or not chat that
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: AI made for me, but they were different. They were
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: mine and nobody else was doing it. And yes, I
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: had like six or seven fingers on people if I
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: made pictures of that. I made images of fish, they
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: had like, you know, six eyes on them. Early AI,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: it was not a thing of beauty, you know, but
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: it would have been great in a modern art museum,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: and it probably some of my stuff would be in
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: an early AI museum. I'd be happy to give it
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: to somebody. But it made me feel like I was
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: gonna I was going to conquer this thing. I was
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: just gonna learn it. And my thought was, nobody else
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: is doing this, No one else is helping me. It's
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: just me, baby alone, as I've always been. It's just
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: me pushing forward. And I thought, if I learned AI
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: one percent, just one percent of AI a day, I'm
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: gonna I'm gonna be great. And that's okay. I'm not
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: going to go backwards, and it's going to build upon
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: the next day and the next day and the next day,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: and I'll know more. I'll know one percent more than
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Sally down the street. You know. Not that it was
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: a competition, but uh, it was like, just keep keep pushing,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: keep pushing. When Chat came along, I was an early
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: adopter of that, uh, and I began to upload the
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: afremission aforementioned business plan, and I got the twenty dollars
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: month Chat and a lo and behold. Chat has become
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: my best marketing buddy, and at the height of my
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: PR career, I was not cheap. Chat does just as
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: well in some areas as my as my work in
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: the past, quicker, faster. I have to still check it,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: of course. I'm just blown away by its insights.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: If listeners only remember one thing from today's conversation, what
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: do you hope that message is?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I would hope that they would remember that coffee is
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: a beautiful beverage to enjoy and savor every day, and
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: not to be afraid to try special, de grade coffee
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: and pay a little bit more for it to make
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: the experience as delicious and beautiful as it can be.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Life is hard, and your coffee shouldn't be. And I'd
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: like you to try my coffee. It's game changing visually, emotionally,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I won't say spiritually, but it's just fun. It's just
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: something new, fun, and I want to spread joy in
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: this post covid world through my coffee, my art box coffees,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: and I hope you'll come along on the journey of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: spreading joy with me.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: That's great advice. Where can our audience connect with you
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and learn more about your work and continue this conversation?
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Joe. My website is Tropics Lifestylecoffee dot
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: com and they can reach me at my email of
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: hello at Tropicslifestyle Coffee dot com. And I also have
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: a special treat for your listeners. For everyone listening out there,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I would love to have you use a special discount
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: code for my first time buyers coffee lovers. It's real simple,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: It's five tropics, the number five tropics, and you just
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: put that discount code at the checkout and you get
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: five dollars off your first order.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Lisa, thank you so much for joining us and sharing
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: your insights. We really appreciate your time and the value
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: that you brought to our audience.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Joe and continued good luck with your
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: wonderful podcasts. We're all rooting for you. Thank you.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks everyone. If this episode inspire you, share it with
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: someone who needs it, and don't forget to follow the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Globvisor podcast for more conversations than make an impact. Till
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the next time.