We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful James Hall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with James below.

James, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Persistence. You don’t need to be special or more creative or smarter than the next person, but you do need to continue to try. Take the down slopes and use them as learning experiences and ramps to the next uptick. Don’t let the bad days keep you down, and don’t get a big head on the good days. I wanted to quit so many times over the course of building the herbal empire, and now, I don’t even know how to quit if I wanted to.

James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, I’m Jimmy. I’m a friend, guitar player, home cook, & Air Force veteran. After exiting the military and moving to Austin, learning as much as I could was the goal. Having joined the Air Force right out of high school, I hadn’t had a taste of the “real world,” and at first it was scary. The first idea was to go to college, I attended St. Edwards University for one semester before realizing it wasn’t the right move and dropping out to go do some on-the-job training.

I wanted to learn how money worked so I went to work for a bank. Started out as a teller, worked my way up to Customer Service, and eventually to Head Personal Banker of Austin NE. After learned what I needed, I left and went to work doing something I love, food, more specifically, making pizza dough! I made roughly 650-700 pizza a day and I loved every second of it, that is until a corporation got there hands on it and the atmosphere became sour.

It was then I had the idea, I need to work for the source. I left my job and went to go help a small brewery get its big start. I created a natural yeast pizza dough recipe using a small batch sourdough starter I made at home. Soon this small batch of sourdough starter became gallons, and those gallons became hundreds of pizza for people to eat, enjoy, and wash down with a cold beer that was also created in house by our awesome brewer.

This went well for a time before the owner decided that we were no longer needed having already given him what he needed, and before long, we were all fired and replaced. This is where the magic happened, I decided I needed to become the source. I combined all the knowledge I had gained and created Tree Fifty Four Apothecary. We provide delicious, handmade herbal tea blends as well as all the herbs you need to make them yourself. From the wonderful Blue Lotus & Hibiscus to Catnip & Lemongrass, the possibilities are truly limited to your imagination on how to use them. I wouldn’t change a thing about the journey here, as it made all of this possible. Stay Herbal

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

About 6 months into creating Tree Fifty Four, my car died while delivering packages to the post office. This was a hard hit, and I almost quit to go find a regular job. Almost. I dug my heels in and decided that I was going to do it myself. For the next 18 months I told myself it’s only a month or two away from happening. Then finally, it did. I’m finding it hard to put into words just how good that felt to be able to do that. To be able to walk into a dealership with my head held high knowing that today is the day I will be mobile again. Able to not worry if USPS would show up to pick up the packages I made for my customers. To not have to spend the extra cash on instacart to get groceries. On the plus side, I missed that whole gas crisis.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I funded the business with the money I had, and a lot that I didn’t have. I used my credit card and started out with small purchases. I bet on myself and and got into more debt than I was comfortable with, always making sure to leave just enough for the basic needs of shelter, food, and water. Everything else was for the business. This drove me to find the best I could for as little cost as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.treefiftyfour.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treefiftyfour
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treefiftyfour
• Twitter: @treefiftyfour
• Other: Wholesale: https://www.faire.com/direct/treefiftyfour

Image Credits

Jimmy Hall