We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Herron. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.
Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
At Valley Water Gardens our mission is to create beauty, tranquility and conversation. Customers at VWG often share how adding water to their landscape has given them a sense of peace. We feel when landscapes accentuate the sights and sounds of nature, people are encouraged to slow down, relax and have meaningful conversations. Growing up on our family farm, I was able to soak in the beauty of the outdoors on a daily basis. My husband and I also share a love for the outdoors. Often our family vacations are planned around sunshine and water. Allowing us to slow down from our normal fast paced life and take in the sights and sounds of nature. Owning a business that revolves around water and the outdoors is right up our alley! So, in this fast-paced world, we feel at Valley Water Gardens, our mission is changing lives every day!
Kelly, 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! My name is Kelly Herron. My husband, Scott and I own Valley Water Gardens in Dayton, Va. We are an outdoor landscape/water garden retail shop. We sell pond supplies, fish, aquatic plants and Amish made poly furniture. At VWG, we have one of the largest natural stone yards in the area where we supply Everlast Quality Natural Stone. We work closely with homeowners and contractors to provide the materials they need to create the landscape design they have been dreaming of. Building a knowledgeable and workable relationship with each customer has always been our goal. Customer satisfaction is priority!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
The story of how we landed at Valley Water Gardens is very interesting…. In 2022, My husband decided he wanted to install a water garden in our backyard. He learned of an outdoor landscape and water garden shop, Valley Water Gardens and became a regular customer. As he spent time there, he learned to know the previous owner, Charlie. Throughout the planning stages and the building of our water garden, Charlie assisted Scott in the details and the construction. Charlie and Scott developed a friendship and before long, Charlie shared with Scott that he was looking for someone to buy the business he had started, in his home, years ago. Scott came home that evening to find me worn out from a day of teaching. My career in education had been changing, especially after the years of COVID. When Scott approached me about taking over Valley Water Gardens, I think he was very surprised by my reaction, and answer without hesitation. Within a couple weeks, I had resigned from my job as a public school educator and was pivoting into a career as a small business owner, The main reasons I felt confident in this amazing opportunity traces back to my fondest memories as a child. These memories consist of growing up on a family-owned farm where both of my parents were present daily. My parents raised my siblings and I to believe that we could do anything if we set our mind to it and hard work pays off. I knew we had a lot of learning and hard work ahead of us in the next several months as the “new owners” of VWG. But I also knew that this career path just “fit” our family and our love of the outdoors.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
After announcing my resignation and sharing our news with family and friends, the feedback we felt was not always positive. There were some doubts. We were stepping out of the norm, taking on something where the outcome was unknown and everyone knew that we could either “sink” or “swim”. I am a true believer in the saying, “to be successful you have to live outside of your comfort zone.” Looking back, this is exactly what our family did that first season, We gave ourselves grace and stayed honest with ourselves and our customers, We worked hard, we stuck together, and we have loved our new business adventure! Building loyalty and trust with our customers as been the key. When a business is run by the same owner for so many years, change can be very hard. The first season we were dedicated to keeping things very similar to the way Charlie ran his business. As we have learned more and established our own path we have been more comfortable in tweaking things to work for us. We will forever be grateful for this opportunity that “kinda” just fell in our laps at just the right time, We look forward to the future of Valley Water Gardens!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.valleywatergardens.com
- Instagram: valleywatergardens
- Facebook: Valleywatergardens
