Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anne Thies. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Anne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of being an entrepreneur or creative is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?
The crazy days outnumber the ordinary days for me at work. The nature of our business, Thies Farm and Greenhouses, means that each season is something completely different from the last. We go from growers in the winter to a garden center in the spring, homegrown produce and pick your own activities during the summer, a pumpkin patch in october and then christmas trees and poinsettias after that.
Not surprisingly each season brings its own chaos to the table. This past October I was working in our main retail greenhouse after we closed for the day doing a seasonal merhcandising reset. The creative juices flow much better when customers and employees aren’t there. I finally decide on my new layout and just as I am really getting inspired about the plan someone knocks at the back door. I am annoyed because it is 8:00pm. The gates are closed, clearly we are closed. So I open the door and politely say such. This woman standing at the door was so flustered she could barely get out what she was trying to say. I finally understood her after the third attempt, “You got goats loose”. Of course my response was, “What?” She then explains there are 6 goats in her neighbors front yard. No one else has goats, she said – they gotta be yours. It took me a second and then dawned on me that the goats we have for the Pumpkinland pumpkin patch had been put in their outside pen that day. Oh Shit was the only thing going through my mind. I am the only one here. I’ve got 6 goats loose in a residential neighborhood on a busy road and before I had a chance to panic this woman tells me to put my damn drill down and get in my car and follow her. Thats exactly what I did. For the next hour and half 3 different police departments, 15 neighborhood kids and myself cornered and caught these goats one by one as people were stopping on the road and taking videos of the whole situation unfolding. One by one they got put into my car. Of course there was one that was determined and it was taking us longer to get him cornered. As we are closing in on the final goat one of the goats managed to roll my car window down and escape again. I thought I was being punked. Police officers are lunging and falling trying to catch these goats, the kids are laughing and running after them as fast as they can and I am attempting to help but I still can’t believe this is happening, this does not happen to normal people at work. The goats are finally safely back in their pen (with the gate latched well this time) and I got right back to my task of merchandising for the fall season. All in a days work I suppose.
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
I attended University of Missouri- Columbia and got a degree in strategic comminications (advertising) through the journalism school. I loved every aspect of it- graphic design, copywriting, public relations, branding, merchandising, visual communication and most of all the way they all must come together to successfully market a business. I wasn’t sure which element I was most interested in and blindly began applying for jobs all over the place. I was offered a position for a public relations firm in New York City and my dad went with me to check it out and potentially look for an apartment. It turns out I am not a New Yorker. It’s an awesome city but I immediately knew it was not for me. I was upset and dissapointed that I felt this way because I was excited about the opportunity to live in New York and live that true “city life”. I cried. I don’t cry often. Dad’s typically aren’t the best at comforting a crying 22 year old daughter, but he said something that would change the whole course of my career/life. “I know you have opportunities and I want you to explore every one of them, but I would love nothing more than for you to work for me and eventually take over the business.” It took me completely off guard. I am not a farmer, horticulturist, botanist, landscape designer…. heck I dont even have a garden of my own and have yet to keep a houseplant alive. Long story short- I began solely as the advertising manager and created all of the social media accounts, which were a very new concept for businesses at that time. I slowly became more involved in the overall branding which includes everything from planning and designing all marketing materials, social media, website creation and upkeep, designing the labels, tags and signage for the plants to creating seasonal displays and maintaing the overall “feeling” we want our customers to have when shopping with us. I have pushed my dad’s buttons a few times with my somewhat racy advertising but it works! One of my print ads was featured in two blogs for the creative design and a facebook post I did about an innapropriate pepper had more views and engagement than any we had ever done.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My third year with Thies Farm and Greenhouses we opened a third location with a brand new building and beautiful glass greeenhouse. This meant capital expenditures were up therefore my marketing budget took a hit. I had to get creative. I cut back on many of the print advertising we were still doing in local publications, no radio ads (which believe it or not were quite successful for us), no more paid appearances on Good Morning St. Louis, and no billboards. I got creative and email marketing along with social media became my obsession. Everywhere I went I was taking pictures of landscapes that I noticed or planters in front of stores that were beautiful – even silly things like funny garden memes or useful products, even if they were products we didnt sell. Customer interest and engagement increased ten fold. Our open rate on the emails went up by almost 30% and it showed. I learned to rotate my advertising content with informational or fun content and it worked. People were viewing and engaging more than ever and it showed when promotions, events or new products were featured – people were coming in asking about them specifically indicating they saw it on facebook or in their email. I had to get creative with signage. Believe it or not outdoor, UV weatherproof signage is EXPENSIVE. We used to get a “benchcard” printed for each plant which is held in a metal sign holder. This year we went with the chalkboard look with white permanent markers on black vinyl. It was trendy, cheap to create and still provided all the information needed.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
It wasn’t until becoming involved with the business that I appreciated plants. Sounds stupid, right? I was and am a design addict. I am attracted to all things design. Well designed furniture, kitchens, ads, artwork, houses, textiles, retail spaces, restaurants… anything that visually attracts me is my thing. Why was I missing one of the biggest, most awesome design opportunities all along – NATURE. I am now more intrigued by looking at well landscaped yards and beautful gardens and these are things I missed before without realizing. In addition to my marketing work I have become more involved in helping my brother with some of the landscape plans he creates for customers. My brother and I work amazingly well together and I hope that with my creativity in both business direction and branding and his insane knowledge of plants, soil, trees ….. the list goes on, we will together be able to build on and successfully grow this family business as the 6th generation. Thies Farm was founded in 1885.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thiesfarm.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thiesfarm
- Facebook: facebook.com/thiesfarm
- Twitter: twitter.com/thiesfarm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOmbX-FpSv4
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/thies-farm-and-greenhouses-saint-louis-2
- Other: https://www.gardencentermag.com/article/growing-alongside-the-community/