We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Moseley and Gabriel Frady, Owners of SimplyNCgoods recently and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle and Gabriel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I, Michelle, am a true introvert and thrive on time alone. Choosing to share the mission of SimplyNCgoods – to support NC-based small businesses and bring some of the best of North Carolina made products directly to folks’ door via quarterly subscription boxes – always feels like a risk to this introverted soul of mine.
There are times when Gabriel and I have shared our passion with people who have expressed great interest. They may mention making a purchase for themselves or as a gift, or helping us connect with someone who would be interested. Yet, we don’t hear from them again. At those times, the risk can feel like a flop.
Other times, we talk about SimplyNCgoods with someone who really gets it! They may also be passionate about supporting local businesses. They may love North Carolina and all the state has to offer, and they are excited about a way to bring some NC goodness to others. The feeling of risk almost disappears as we talk about personally curating each quarterly box, and the process of creating true partnerships with our Vendor Partners. These are folks who make purchases for themselves and others, or who connect us with people in a position to make large-scale purchases for employees, clients, etc.
Those latter experiences are what I focus on to remind myself that the risk of speaking up about SimplyNCgoods is worth the effort!
Michelle and Gabriel, 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?
As with many folks, the events of 2020 shifted both our lives quite a bit. Michelle is a licensed mental health counselor and was daily supporting those dealing with the unknowns of a pandemic while also dealing with those same unknowns in her personal life. Gabriel works behind-the-scenes in TV news and his schedule shifted completely to help mitigate virus spread and ensure the news would continue to broadcast. We navigated these changes while watching many of the local businesses we’d come to love struggle, adapt, and far too often be forced to close their doors.
Knowing these business owners personally and watching their dreams be shattered by the unpredictability of a pandemic only intensified our passion to #SupportLocal – leading to the birth of an Instagram account (@NC_Local) devoted to just that.
When the opportunity to take over ownership of SimplyNCgoods arose in mid-2023, we knew it was the perfect fit to continue helping North Carolina’s small businesses thrive.
As I mentioned, SimplyNCgoods is home of the NC-focused subscription box that focuses on helping North Carolina’s small businesses thrive! SimplyNCgoods boxes are delivered on a quarterly basis – in February, May, August, and November – and each box is personally curated for the season or to focus on a specific region of the state.
Curating a box begins with making personal contact to potential Vendor Partners. We intentionally refer to the folks who create items for a SimplyNCgoods box as Vendor Partners because we truly view it as a partnership of small businesses supporting one another to ensure we all thrive. We are proud to be able to ensure that our Vendor Partners are fairly compensated for their work, and we love that we can name each one of the personally.
We consider the time of year a box is shipping – don’t wanna try to mail chocolate in August. We keep in mind if that quarterly box has a specific focus. For 2024, the February, May, and August boxes each focus on a specific region of the state, while the November box has a general holiday seasonal theme. We also work to ensure a variety of items in each individual box, as well as throughout the year. This ensures that those who receive a SimplyNCgoods box are able to experience the unique variety of products made in North Carolina.
Who might like a SimplyNCgoods box? SimplyNCgoods subscription boxes are a gift you can feel good about because you know you’re supporting multiple small, local businesses and that you’re getting something unique. Make a purchase for yourself or others. Buy a single box or purchase a recurring subscription.
SimplyNCgoods boxes are great for those who are new to North Carolina and want to learn more about the state. They make a sweet reminder for those who may have relocated away from NC, but still feel a sense of “home” for the state. A SimplyNCgoods box would be a great way to celebrate with a new homeowner or resident. Our boxes make unique gifts for holidays, birthdays, Mother’s Day, etc. A SimplyNCgoods box would likely be the most coveted gift at a gift exchange with friends. College grads who may be moving to NC or relocating after completing their studies in North Carolina would likely love to receive some fun mail of a SimplyNCgoods box each quarter.
The options for purchasing and giving SimplyNCgoods subscription boxes are endless! With every box, you can know that you are supporting the dreams of multiple small businesses and keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in North Carolina.
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
We bought SimplyNCgoods from the original owner, Anna, in July 2023. We had been supporters of the vision of SimplyNCgoods from the beginning – to bring some of the many unique products made in NC directly to subscribers’ doors. We had purchased our own subscription as soon as SimplyNCgoods was open for business, and loved receiving our quarterly boxes. So fun to find well-known favorites and new-to-us items included each time!
Around April of 2023, Anna announced that she had decided to put SimplyNCgoods up for sale due to re-prioritizing her needs and commitments. We “knew” Anna via social media – sharing SimplyNCgoods on our NC-promoting Instagram page and occasionally communicating with her via DMs and emails. When we saw her announcement, our first reaction was, “I hope someone who is just as passionate about supporting NC businesses takes over to keep the mission going.”
Little did we know that Anna was hoping we might be the people to take over SimplyNC goods – we found that out after all the business transfer end of things was complete.
Through May and into June of 2023, we continued to talk about SimplyNCgoods. Comments about our hopes for someone to continue the mission transitioned into questioning if we might possibly be the ones to purchase SimplyNCgoods and continue the mission. By the end of June, all those discussions led to the decision to make an offer to purchase SimplyNCgoods.
We went through the official channels for the acquisition process – making an offer, having the offer accepted, discussing and agreeing upon the specifics of the arrangement, and finalizing the purchase. We then officially took over as the owners of SimplyNCgoods in July of 2023.
Our process was smooth because both Anna, as the original owner, and us, as the one’s buying the business, were focused on how to continue the vision of supporting and sharing NC’s small businesses via subscription boxes. When all the business stuff was completed, we were all able to meet up at a local coffee shop about halfway between our hometowns to discuss the more personal logistics of the transition. Anna has continued to be supportive of SimplyNCgoods as we have taken her vision and added our personal touch.
We’re thankful to be able to continue the vision of seeing North Carolina’s small businesses thrive!
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
We met via an online dating site. See, before we ever thought about being business partners, we were both older singles hoping to connect with a lifelong partner. Here’s how the story goes…
One evening in January 2017, Gabriel came upon Michelle’s profile on a dating site and was intrigued by the uniqueness of what she had written. That unique profile was actually the result of frustration with online dating and plans to stop the process at the end of the month. But it ended up working to attract just the right partner.
A few messages on the dating platform quickly turned to emails because the messages were getting too long for the dating platform. Gabriel and Michelle had their first date, at a local restaurant in the town they now call home, a few weeks after that first message. They chatted for hours and it felt like an evening with a well-known friend.
By June, they were engaged, and in October of 2017, they made an official commitment to be lifelong partners.
The business partner part of the story was a few years down the road….
We have loved supporting local businesses and attending local events since that first date. It’s been a natural part of our relationship. When SimplyNCgoods was put up for sale, it only made sense for us to take the leap into business ownership together. Being a small business owner means wearing a multitude of hats and figuring out how to handle a wide variety of tasks that neither school nor life before business ownership prepares you for. We each bring our own backgrounds, talents, and task preferences to the business and work together to make things flow. The same is true in our life partnership as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SimplyNCgoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplyncgoods
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplyncgoods/
Image Credits
SimplyNCgoods