
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: The Washington Post/Getty Images
Bethesda entrepreneur Seth Goldman was heartbroken last year after Coca-Cola scrapped Honest Tea, the company he founded in 1998.
- Just months later, he co-founded Just Ice Tea, salvaging the market for organic unsweetened (and just sweet enough) tea.
We caught up with Goldman to learn how he wakes up for a successful day.
⏰ Wake-up time: 5:30am, via his wife’s phone alarm. “I refuse to bring my phone upstairs.”
🛏 First thing he does: Make the bed. “No matter what happens in the day, you go back to a bed that’s welcoming.”
🏃🏻♂️ First activity: Usually an hour spent outside doing a triathlon discipline: cycling, running, or swimming.
- 💡 1 big tip: Being outside “helps keep everything in perspective,” Goldman says. “When you’re indoors you can lose your proportions in the world and your place in it.”
📰 Morning habit: Reading the print edition of the Washington Post and handling emails while spending half an hour stretching.
🍍 Breakfast: In-season fruit for the vegan. “If I’m moving quickly, I have a plant-based protein shake.”
- Must try: Hot tulsi herbal tea, a relative of the basil leaf from India with peppermint and spearmint leaves.
🚴🏻♂️ Commute: A one-mile ride on his Trek bicycle through Bethesda.
- “It’s just a great transition from office to home,” he says. “I’m never stuck in traffic.”
📈 The day ahead: Growing his new venture, Just Ice Tea.
- “I’ve never seen a business go from idea to launch-ready in basically three months,” he says. “That’s been really intense and energizing.”

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