We recently connected with Lauren And Hannah Reed and have shared our conversation below.
Lauren and Hannah, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
We had our vision. We knew we wanted to provide natural herbals, ethically sourced, to our community and to others around the country through an online store. We decided the best way to carry out our vision was to build a website that represented our brand and feature our favorite herbals that we were seeing terrific results from ourselves. The actual execution of our plan took many months, but we learned a lot along the way. We ordered product packaging and spent hours designing labels. We were introduced to bulk packaging stores as we meticulously chose the bottles, jars and boxes that would best fit our needs. I spent hours crafting our website, as I knew we wanted to start off with our own custom domain and not use rented online real estate like Etsy. Starting a business bank account, understanding Square, and setting up a tent at our first open air market were all part of the process.
Lauren and Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My sister, Hannah, and I had the privilege to study natural health and herbalism in high school. We read foundational herbal resources, learned to make our own herbal preparations like tinctures, salves, teas and balms, started growing medicinal herbs in our herb garden, and learned the fundamentals of herbalism and caring for our bodies naturally. We spent many months learning these practical skills in high school, and after graduation we decided that instead of pursuing the conventional route of college, we would build upon our foundation of herbalism and build an herbal business. Since we were already creating herbals products for our family, we thought why not share with others the herbals that have positively impacted us! I’d like to say, “And the rest is history.” But deciding to take the plunge was just the beginning of our journey.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Since my sister and I started our business together only a few years removed from high school, we didn’t have endless capital to work with. It was one of our primary goals when starting our business to let the business pay for itself. We didn’t want unnecessary or steep financial burdens to fight against. From day one we kept track of every penny going out and coming in to our bank account. We kept a business model that allowed us to grow as our business grew. If our customers didn’t respond to a given product in the way we expected, we didn’t take a major loss as all of our herbals were made in small batches. By the end of our first year in business, we had managed to keep our expenses and profits almost equal. Seeing this momentum made us all the more excited to plunge into our second year. Within our next year of business, we not only broke even, but we grossed 50% more than we spent. It was so encouraging to see profits in our business so soon. We have re-invested our capital into our business to continue to grow and expand.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Growing a business is hard work! For those who look on from the outside, it may seem like a cake walk sometimes. But the reality is we have to show up everyday for our business. Starting a business straight out of high school has it’s ups, but it also provides challenges. We had no prior business experience, and everything we learned was discovered by seeking out other business owners, learning from online creators, watching countless YouTube videos, and just starting and being okay with failing. Exciting wins are always a moral booster. But the daily grind is what produces the greatest results. We have worked faithfully to grow our email list, continue to improve our web presence, write educational content on our blog that promotes good SEO and provides free herbal resources, and hit farmers markets on the weekends to increase awareness for our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ReedwoodCreekFarm.com
- Instagram: @reedwoodcreekfarm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReedwoodCreekFarm
- Other: Email: Hello@reedwoodcreekfarm.com
Image Credits
Professional Photo Credit LaurenOliviaCreations.com