We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Claire Howell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Claire, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I love being a business owner. I so enjoy getting to do what I feel I was made to do and pursue the things close to my heart. For sure, there are times when I feel a lack of direction or overwhelm, and I remember what it was like to have a boss who told me what needed to be done! There are perks to that for sure! However, I love the creativity of being a business owner. You get to wear many hats – from marketing manager to production hand to accountant, but that keeps me constantly learning and growing. It’s not easy, by any means, but it has been such a fulfilling spot for me to be in.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My passion for gardening really blossomed out of a focus on sustainability and stewardship of our resources. I wanted to be able to grow some of my own food to cut down on transportation emissions of my food plus be able to grow some things that would green-up my neighborhood!

What started as box on our railing with 3 herbs morphed into our present ‘balcony farm’ where we grow a wide range of herbs, vegetables, and native wildflowers. Having fallen in love with balcony gardening, it was a very natural transition to jump on board with our team at Balcony Box with the mission of spreading this passion across the city. There are five of us on the Balcony Box team – Quincy, John, Soluto, Preston, and me – and it has been so fun to work together with our different strengths and bring this vision to life.

We began our business offering a garden kit + education membership to help people in DFW learn how to grow their own food. We want to have a relationship with our clients so we can help them troubleshoot any issues that come their way so that gardening turns into a lifelong endeavor. At this point, we have broadened our focus into garden design, consultations, custom installs, and more, all with the hope of being able to help as many people as possible learn how to grow their own food. Our specialty is food gardens, herb gardens, and native pollinator gardens.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We try to be real with people – being authentic with people builds loyalty. Since we are a small and local business, we have the privilege of having a smaller client base so we can do that more easily. I reach out to our customers regularly through email or text to check in and see how they are doing with their gardens. I try to remember details about their situation so that my communication with them can be more personal. They are people I care about – they aren’t just a source of income for our business. Reframing them from numbers to actual people is really important, and that subtle shift will guide a lot of different business decisions.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think we are still working on building our reputation – we have only been in business for just shy of 3 years! – but I think a few things have already moved us well in that direction. The most basic is offering really solid products and services. The second is staying true to the mission. We were clear about why we started and we haven’t swayed from that commitment over the years. We also have focused on really getting to know people. Business isn’t just about money; business connects people and builds relationships. We really value that and see part of our mission as building community. Especially in our arena of sustainability, there aren’t a lot of us in DFW, so we have find that we have to stick together and support one another to chase after our visions.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.balcony-box.com
• Instagram: @balconybox
• Facebook: BalconyBoxDallas