We recently connected with Amy Doyle And Jayme Kuenkel and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amy Doyle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

JAYME: The idea of Charm at the Farm was first spoken out loud as we watched our kids playing on a playground. Amy said, “Do you think this is a crazy idea?” I responded with, “NO … not at all!! Let’s do it!!”

So the work began. I remember purchasing our domain name in my living room as our littles played and crawled around on the floor. We did lots of research to figure out what we would need and what kind of vendors we would Charm vendors to be. There was so much we just really didn’t know but we were willing to figure it out.

As we reached out to vendors we wanted to be a part of our show, there were some who laughed at us. And there were some who believed in us!! And who are still with us to this day. It’s pretty crazy to think back to those early days of having nothing to show to prove our legitimacy other than our vision – it’s grown so much since then.

AMY: The idea was the easy part. It’s all the details that come after that can be tricky. You don’t know what you don’t know!

We knew we needed to get a marketing person to help us and we had a great friend who took that on. Jayme took on all the branding creation, social media, website creation, etc., basically anything behind the scenes to get us up and running.

I then got to work building the brand from the ground up by going to markets and reaching out to vendors to convince them to believe in Charm and want to be a part of it.

Jayme and I created the company, but when it came to logistics, we knew we needed our husbands’ help with the layout and parking.

We started small with 60 vendors at our first show. Then we grew to 90, and have been consistently at around 110 vendors since then. We believe it’s about quality not quantity.

Building something from nothing can be a lot of trial and error. We have had to make changes to ticketing systems, our website, vendor applications and more to make things more user friendly and efficient for our vendors and Charmers.

You have to have a keen ability to anticipate what’s coming, listen to feedback, and be willing to make changes when necessary.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

JAYME: Charm at the Farm is all about supporting small businesses. Amy has supported her husband in building his small business for years. And I have had a heart of entrepreneurship my whole adult life. So creating Charm at the Farm was a way for us to bring together and highlight both of our passions, and many small businesses all at once.

2020 was a hard year for so many small businesses. And honestly it hasn’t necessarily gotten better for some. We’re grateful to be the facilitator of lifting up and supporting many creative, talented small businesses by giving them a place to showcase and sell their goods. Some of our small business friends have been able to scale because of our market, and some brand new businesses have even been launched from the field at Charm at the Farm!

We are proud of the brand we have created. Our market is truly curated so it’s not just “another market”. It’s an experience that everyone loves being a part of, vendors and shoppers (“Charmers”) alike.

AMY: I agree, we really are are so proud to have helped so many small businesses and charities be successful through Charm at the Farm.

We have built a brand from the ground up that not only has helped our families but also continues to be an event our Charmers love to attend and helps our vendors’ businesses grow as well.

Jayme and I were best friends first, and worked together to build this beautiful open air market set on a picturesque farm, hosting markets three times a year each June, August and October.

We hope what we’ve created through Charm can be an inspiration to our daughters and others that anything is possible if you dream big enough and work hard to achieve it!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

JAYME: The consistency of Charmers coming back market after market, knowing there will always be high quality vendors… and also something for everyone. The Charmers come ready to buy (because leaving Charm empty handed is honestly impossible, haha!!). In turn that makes our vendors successful and want to return time after time. It’s a great partnership!!

AMY: Striving to make our market an experience people love and value. We make sure we not only make it amazing for our customers, but also a great experience for our vendors. We couldn’t have the high quality show we do without our incredible vendors willing to travel to be a part of it. Charm is known for being consistent in our look, quality and experience, and we know we always need to do the right thing to maintain that consistency, even when it’s hard.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

AMY: Social media is huge for us to maintain our brand presence and foster loyalty among our Charmers. We also have a personal, physical presence at each market. Jayme and I are always up at the front in the silos greeting our Charmers and are always personally available to answer questions. Making sure people know this is a family business is important!

JAYME: You can find our latest updates on Instagram @charmatthefarm and any new announcements you’ll hear first in our emails. So make sure you are on our email list!! Sign up at charmatthefarm.com. We hope to see you at the Farm soon!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charmatthefarm.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/charmatthefarm
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/charmatthefarm

Image Credits

Alisa Leek Photography