Meet Timothy Gipson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Timothy Gipson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Timothy, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I grew up with a father who always expected me to give my best no matter what i was doing. He use to say that no matter what we did we should give it our best and do it right. If you do it right the first time you don’t have to do it again, is what he would always say. Do it wrong the first time and you have to go back and do it again. That’s doing the same job twice, for what?

Now, as a child i didnt always do it right the first time and i had to hear that alot, but in my adulthood i have learned the value of what my father told me all those years ago. There is a power behind doing a good job and doing that job right. It makes you feel better about yourself and gives you a since of pride.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Here at The Great Mississippi Tea Company we grow, harvest, process and package tea. Our farm is in Brookhaven, MS. We are a working and research farm. We work with several universities around the country on tea research. Some of that researched is done here on the farm and sometimes we are just participating by providing data or materials from the farm for the project. Where ever the project is we are always happy to participate.

We are trying to show the world that America can produce good tea. Many in America have never had tea like we produce. People that try our tea for the first time always tell me that it doesn’t taste like what they are use to drinking. It actually tastes good and it is very smooth with no bitterness at all. Most even say that they would be fine drinking it without sugar as it already has a natural sweetness to it already.

We work very hard to make and produce products that our customers will enjoy. We know that the US is not known for drinking great tea but everyone has to start somewhere. So, here we are! We have something for just about everyone and we are adding more each year.

One other thing that we do our best with is trying to make sure as many people are able to drink our teas as possible. So we take a great deal of care to make use that our gluten intolerant customer are safe to drink any of our blends the we produce. We only use high quality natural extracts when they are required. Our most important factor is our customers. We always want to make sure that our customers don’t have to worry about what else they make be getting when drinking our teas. That is why we are fully transparent. We are happy to share anything with our customers and to answer any questions they may have.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Reflecting on my journey, the three most impactful qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that propelled me forward, particularly in the initial stages, were: first, the ability to accurately assess my existing knowledge base; second, a keen understanding of the knowledge gaps I needed to address; and third, the development of effective learning strategies to acquire the skills and insights I was lacking. For those just embarking on their own path, I would strongly advise them to cultivate these very same capabilities. Start by honestly evaluating your current strengths and identifying where improvements can be made. Then, actively seek out resources and mentors who can guide your learning journey and help you bridge those knowledge gaps. Finally, remember that learning is a continuous process; embrace experimentation, be open to feedback, and constantly refine your approach to knowledge acquisition.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The import of essential equipment from Asia has been significantly hampered, primarily due to recently imposed high tariffs. These tariffs have created a considerable bottleneck, as we are unable to source this equipment from alternative regions. Prior to this, the COVID-19 pandemic also caused substantial delays. Consequently, our current processing capacity is insufficient to handle the full volume of our harvest.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://greatmsteacompany.com
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