We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carolyn Thompson owner of Willow & Mabel Garden Co. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carolyn below.
Carolyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
Yes I do take vacations. It is very hard when you run a farm but I also believe that we were not born to work every day of our lives. I am originally from England and Europe has a very different mentally than the USA. People take vacations, they rest and recharge. The world is not going to stop without you. I find several different people to take care of the running of my farm and business whilst I am away, yes it is a lot of work but it is worth it as I love to travel and I return rested and excited to work again. When my time comes will I look back at my life and say “well, I am glad that I worked ever goddamn day of my life” or “I travelled, I saw, I experienced so many different cultures and countries – it was a life well lived”
Carolyn, 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?
It was never in life’s game plan to be a flower farmer. I was working in an office which was not feeding my soul. My boys were getting older and on their way to university. I sat there wondering if this was going to be me sat at this desk forever…..I happened to read an article in an English Magazine, I am originally from England. It described these two ladies who had started a flower farm on a couple of acres of land. The worked on weddings and events…it sound wonderful. I wanted to do something like that. I told my husband and he said “what is the worst that could happen? we would have a greenhouse and beautiful flowers’.
I started that year growing a small amount of flowers on our property, each year my business has grown. That was 10 years ago. I was able to stop working in that office. I employe two part time ladies. I supply flowers to two high end grocery stores, florals for weddings and events and host various flowery workshops on my farm. I encourage and educate people about the importance of seasonal, locally grown flowers and my heart is now very full
How did you build your audience on social media?
My social media presence is still quite small in the grand scheme of social media these days. However, I am staying true to myself. I know reels are the thing at the moment but they do not make me comfortable and honestly I don’t have the time to work on them. I love still photography and I think that my market does too. Most importantly is my email subscribers. I always tell new flower farmers that Meta owns Facebook and Instagram and they could pull the plug at any time but you own your email list. Most of my products and workshops I first of all advertise on my email list and more often than not it sells out before I can put it on social media. I send out a letter at the end of each month called “Monthly Musings”. It talks about everything that has happened on the farm that month. The amount of positive feedback I receive from this letter is incredible.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Just recently I have decided to make some changes to my business. I have been working very hard for a long time. Physically it is taking a toll – farming is hard. I lost a close family friend to cancer last year. She was the same age as me. We were supposed to be grandmas together. It made me reevaluate my business and what was important. When my time comes do I want to look back and say I worked every Goddamn day or do I want to say that I did all of the things? Travelled, spent time with family and people who filled my glass. This season I have decided to cut back on the least profitable part of my business in the hope that it gives me time to breathe and enjoy the other parts of my life. It is all about balance and sometimes you have to change things to keep life in balance.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.willowandmabelgardenco.com
- Instagram: Willowandmabelgardenco
- Facebook: Willowandmabelgardenco
Image Credits
Jessica Vallance and Keely Erickson