Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrea Vanderbilt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Andrea, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I created Teach Me To Grow to share the joy and benefits of growing food at home with new gardeners. So many folks want to grow food at home but don’t know how to get started or feel like they don’t have the experience or knowledge to be successful. Our mission at Teach Me To Grow is to Restore the People Plant Connection, equipping new gardeners with the knowledge, supplies, garden spaces and confidence to help them grow healthy food at home successfully. Our approach nods to nature to do much of the teaching, encouraging our clients to build observational skills and a desire to learn from “failures” to progress in their gardening journeys. We believe that the connection to nature and knowledge learned through gardening with Teach Me To Grow ripples out from our clients bringing positive impact and influence on their friends, families, and neighbors, creating more gardeners and strengthening the gardening community!

Andrea, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Teach Me To Grow is on a global mission to bring home food gardens back to being a regular staple of every home landscape. We equip new gardeners with the knowledge, confidence, supplies, and in some cases, physical garden spaces to get folks growing healthy, hyperlocal food successfully right in their home landscapes. ‘

We offer a variety of services from online gardening courses, consulting, and tutorials at www.teachmetogrow.com to in-person consulting, design, garden installations and one-on-one coaching in the Northern Colorado region. Our teaching style is inclusive, approachable, effective, friendly, and fun. We not only give the information needed to grow a healthy garden but encourage the confidence and connection to nature to be able to truly be successful.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For me, growing my clientele has been very personal. Face to face marketing has been the most effective strategy for gaining and retaining clients, and not just any type of clients, but engaged and highly aligned clients!

I figured out where my ideal client hangs out… farmers markets, farm events, sustainability events, local food gatherings and more. I reached out to the coordinators of such events and secured a booth where I was able to meet real people, face to face, and tell them what Teach Me To Grow offers and speak directly to their pain points about gardening.

From this method, I have built a highly engaged email list and social media following as well as pre-sold a seasons-worth of garden installations and garden coaching services to ideal customers. These interactions kickstarted my social media following and it has continued to grow from there, giving me a solid platform to continue to grow and offer services through.

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

Bootstrap baby! I started my business with no outside funding and about $2,500 of my own cash for start-up costs. I was extremely cautious about where I put my money and focused on the SERVICE that I was providing and not the fancy bells and whistles of looking bigger than I was.

I used used and borrowed equipment to build raised beds, do garden maintenance, and continued to offer myself and my knowledge, experience and customer care as my most valuable tool. This worked as folks saw the value I provided and paid me what I was worth. From there, I was able to start purchasing nicer tools, better advertising, and grow my company organically.

Today, I still practice the same frugality, asking “do I really need this to carry out the mission of my business”. If the answer is no, I reconsider the purchase. This helps me to stay humble, mission-centered, and stay in the green!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.teachmetogrow.com
• Instagram: @tmtgediblegardens
• Facebook: Facebook.com/teachmetogrow

Image Credits
Teach Me To Grow, LLC