We recently connected with Holly Bellebuono and have shared our conversation below.

Holly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

With a pharmacist father and registered nurse mother, I grew up in a family that valued medicine, strength, chemistry, and working hard. My dad’s love of chemistry and my mom’s fascination with anatomy and physiology informed my work with plants as an herbalist. And my dad was an entrepreneur, owning and selling various pharmacy businesses throughout my childhood, fueling in me the value of self-agency and entrepreneurship as I’ve launched businesses of my own.

Though neither was a public speaker nor an author, I’ve relied on their lessons throughout my career which has included international public speaking and the writing of seven nonfiction books. Lessons such as confidence, persistence, and being grounded. Their sense of humor is a constant source of strength for me, as my family tends to lean toward goofiness and wit, valuing learning and education above most everything else.

They instilled in me a sense of life-long learning which has been huge for me; I hope I never stop learning.

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 grew up in the Appalachian mountains in Asheville, North Carolina, as the daughter of a pharmacist and a nurse. I moved to Boone to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Administration/Environmental Policy, where I married and homesteaded a six-acre mini-farm in an extremely remote wilderness valley on the mountainous border of North Carolina and Tennessee. While there, I was mentored by Appalachian “elders” who taught me about edible and medicinal plants from valley meadows to the deep forests. My then-husband and I built a log cabin and it was here, with the help of a midwife, I home-birthed two babies and raised them as close to the land as possible. Our young family raised chickens and goats; grew vegetable and herb gardens; canned and preserved everything from yogurt to jams to tomato sauces. I launched the little herbal company Sweet Cicely Herbs and taught at North Carolina Herb Association conferences.

After 8 years, my family left our homestead and trekked from the backwoods of Tennessee to the ultra-wealthy resort community of Martha’s Vineyard where my husband was offered a job in timber framing. It was here that I was lucky enough to expand my little herbal company, renamed Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary, to begin selling tens of thousands of organic, hand-crafted and wildcrafted herbal products retail and wholesale to a global clientele. I soon launched The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine, hosted retreats in Costa Rica and Canada, was invited to speak at conferences and universities around the world, and began sharing my herbal knowledge through publishing 7 nonfiction books on herbal healing and women’s empowerment.

I also spent 7 years in the nonprofit world, serving as Executive Director and Program Director for environmental and human service organizations, focusing on strategic planning and fiscal management. This year, I launched The Selle Entrepreneur Network to connect businesswomen with business resources. I am particularly excited by my coaching work, where I support socially and environmentally conscious businesses and nonprofits one-on-one with self-branding and leveraging their experience to develop their professional identity. The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine is in its 18th year and is launching its digital programs internationally.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

I sold my 16-year-old herbal apothecary, Vineyard Herbs. I’d nurtured this business from founding it in 2005 and grew it from a tiny farmers market stand to a retail/wholesale line favored by a Martha’s Vineyard clientele, selling hundreds of thousands of hand-crafted herbal products. I operated the business as an LLC and invited my Herb School students and others to get involved with product-making, where I hosted “apothecary days” where we planted or harvested herbs, or processed and bottled herbs, made salves and ointments, and blended, packaged and labeled massive amounts of dried tea blends. I offered the business for sale in 2016 and engaged SCORE counselors to teach me best sale practices and goals. Several of my herb students were interested and one made it happen. I sold the inventory, marketing materials and branding, garden herbs, good reputation, and all assets, and I provided coaching/counseling for a couple of years afterwards.

One thing to note is that a new owner will make the business their own, meaning you have to really let go of it. I was very proud of what I had built and had to recognize that under new leadership, Vineyard Herbs was to develop a focus on pregnancy and mother-and-baby care as the new owner was a midwife.

I would advise owners to begin thinking about selling their business from the start, even upon founding it. This helps keep files and taxes and cash accounts in order; helps you maintain your assets in a professional way; and keeps you focused on proper handling, reporting and branding so that when the time comes to sell, you aren’t scrambling and you know exactly what you’re selling. Having this “exit plan” even without dates is very helpful so you know it’s not a hobby nor a business you can walk away from, but is a business you can SELL.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

As the owner of multiple businesses, I’ve had multiple revenue streams, and I coach businesses and nonprofits on building and maintaining multiple revenue streams. For instance, when running Vineyard Herbs Apothecary and The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine, I wrote books that were published by three international publishing houses. This was not only a revenue generator, it also served as a lead generator because when people found my books, they wanted to study with me.

Similarly, I took speaking engagements all over the country and in other countries (England, Costa Rica and Canada) where I gave keynote lectures. Often speaking engagements are not well-paid (and in fact, many conferences today ask the speaker to pay for the priveledge!). So this option is more of a lead-generator for me than a revenue stream.

Finally, I teach business classes as well as book-writing and publishing classes, so this extra revenue stream serves both purposes and provides creative entrepreneurs with sound business strategy and supports my membership community, The Selle Entrepreneur Network.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hollybellebuono.com/ and. https://school.hollybellebuono.com/
• Instagram: /HollyBellebuono
• Facebook: /Holly.Bellebuono
• Linkedin: /HollyBellebuono
• Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/hollybellebuono

Image Credits
Adrienne Hand Anthony Esposito Eli Dagostino David Vigneault