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

Alright, Rebecca thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

After running two successful businesses, I know our key to profitability is having a clear understanding of your “why” and staying focused on your goals.

In my first business I got caught up with growth and I ended up losing the love for what I did. I corrected this by closing down or selling off specific revenue streams to scale back the business.

In my second business I fell into the exact same trap. Thankfully my husband and co-owner was there to remind me of our personal goals and they why of our family business. We pivoted quickly to regain a focus on our why and our family goals.

It’s impossible to do succeed at something you hate. The more we stay focused on what makes us happy, the greater success we have before us.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We run an alpaca farm in Northern Michigan. My husband retired early from his corporate position so we could sell off everything we owned to move to the country and start a farm. One random stop at an alpaca farm sucked me in.

Today our farm raises alpacas for sale, we produce our own line of commercial and artisan made alpaca products, and we provide educational opportunities for the public. We focus on creating a loving environment for our alpaca herd, starting up and mentoring new alpaca farms, and creating U.S. made products that can help grow our industry.

Do good is our goal. Whether it is loving our alpacas, creating quality products, or picking up the phone 24/7 to mentor a client, providing good is our ultimate goal. We do not let sales or profits interfere with this and it has served us well.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We sell our products direct via our website. We use WordPress and WooCommerce to create a user friendly storefront to showcase our items for both wholesale and retail customers. While marketplaces exist for this, I prefer to own my own destiny. Instead of renting space and paying high fees on Amazon or Etsy, I chose to dedicate my time to building our online presence.

I’ve been building websites and marketing small businesses for 25 years. I’ve used the same tactics to growing our alpaca farm that I’ve used for selling software and services for many types of businesses. And the interesting part is I’ve built on the same premise that we’ve built our businesses. Do good, provide value, be transparent, and if possible, always say yes.

Consumers want real, they want to purchase from businesses they can emotionally connect with, and they want to support businesses they can trust. Be that business and sales will flow.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Growth will not come or be sustainable if it is built on self-serving actions. The more you give to your industry and community the more goodness will flow back into the business. Volunteer, educate, donate, and provide support will go a long way in creating a brand that others can trust and want to work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cottoncreekfarms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cottoncreekfarms/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cottoncreekfarms/