Meet the entrepreneurs who have planted over 117k trees while traveling the world

Haha, pretty fun story – I was bartending in the East Village, New York City and Sharif lived across the street. It was a chill local dive bar hangout so you get to know people on the regular. We had a lot of late night conversations (bar was open until 4am), bonded over beers and music, and wanted to a biz venture together at some point. Sometimes you just connect with people and know that a life long friendship just started.

Some people say you shouldn't have friends as business partners. I disagree. I've had both friends and non-friends… and it's way more fun with your homies! The key is just being honest, working with ambitious people, and being cool to have difficult conversations.

I had been a freelance web developer by day and bartender by night for a few years prior. Started a lot of projects and launched a couple online businesses… fun stuff but nothing that really gained a lot of traction.

Neither of us had done a physical product business before, so that was (and still is) a challenge and whole new game to learn. I had been wanting to start a business that gives back to the Earth and focuses on eco friendly materials, and somehow got this idea about a month after I left the US – rearranging your entire life can really get you thinking deep!

I had big plans for this new project so I wanted to bring on a cofounder. I created a list of potential people, and Sharif was at the top of that list. I shared the idea I was working on and he was stoked – we launched our first product (bamboo sunglasses) a few weeks after that conversation, and started growing the Tribe.

I'd had a few years ecommerce experience going into this, but was new to selling on Amazon. I was living in Chiang Mai, which has a strong network of location independent entrepreneurs, and through that network I learned a lot of great tactics and ideas for selling on Amazon.

I spent a lot of time scouting the market for a great first product, and discovered bamboo sunglasses – a fast growing niche with trending search volume and little competition (that changed a few months after we launched, it's now saturated).

The keys for that initial success were:
1) an in-demand product with little competition
2) high quality product (I sampled from multiple suppliers and chose the best)
3) marketing and top notch customer service to get reviews.

There was barely any competition on Amazon when we first entered the market, so that was awesome! Haha too easy now looking back.

People were also really stoked about our concept/mission. That helps us get more reviews and raving customers, because we're not just selling products, we're making a tangible positive impact in the world.

Amazon provided a proof of concept for our brand, mission, and product – from there our vision grew and now we have a whole line of eco gear with different stories, and have planted over 115,000 trees in 11 different countries.

We created core values (Nature, Adventure, Travel, and Community) and actively connect with people that share any of those values. We're always looking for ambassadors and new collaboration opportunities with people that want to see a healthier and more positive world.

This is what makes the business really fun, connecting with cool people and organizations that share the same love for the Earth and outdoors.

Also just to further elaborate on that, most businesses focus on one or a couple demographics I think, which isn’t a bad thing, but I think our growth can be also attributed to the fact that Joe and I travel all over to different communities around the globe and are constantly meeting people from different countries, and cultures. So I think that helps Tree Tribe to have more of a worldy demographic of all different types of people.

For me “travel is life” 😀 I left the US with 2 backpacks in January 2015. I prefer to stay in one spot for at least a few months, but our goal is to source products from different countries all over the world, so Tree Tribe has probably made me travel more.

Wake up early, and before you check your phone or email, put in a solid 2 hours of pure creative work towards your #1 priority. Put your priorities/goals on the wall where you work, or your bathroom mirror, so every day you're reminded what's important.

Haha great question. Man I just love trees so much… I literally hug trees I can feel their energy.

The tree that comes to mind though are Mango trees I saw in Asuncion, Paraguay. The city streets have Mango trees all over the place, and when the trees fruit, free organic mangos for everyone! I thought this was so cool, and I'm baffled that every city in the world isn't lined with native fruit trees. It's an epic solution for multiple problems.

Those mango trees reflect Tree Tribe's future growth because they're community building, innovate problem solving, and spreading positive energy. We embrace those values.

We'd love to have you in our community, join us on Instagram @treetribevibe, we're always tagging and highlighting travelers and outdoor adventurers.

You can also head to treetribe.com and join our email list to hear when we launch new eco gear (and get the fam discount!). And if you're digging anything on our site, use TRAVELISLIFE for 10% off anything on the store.