We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sharon SANTONI. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sharon below.

Sharon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

This is a tale of reinvention. From a stay-at-home mum with zero training in business to newby blogger and now to entrepreneur with a team of 12. Be careful what you wish for!

At the end of 2009, after 20 years as a very hands-on mum to four children, I was feeling redundant. The kids were growing fast, and nobody needed me looking over their shoulder. I was getting bored and knew that I had to make a change. At midnight on New Year’s Eve that year, I raised my glass of champagne and declared that 2010 would be the year I reinvent myself.

Nobody was listening to me, and I had no idea what shape this reinvention would take, but I had said the words out loud. It was a promise to myself.

An American girlfriend sent me an email saying that she had started a blog. I knew nothing about blogs, little about the internet, and my only computer was steam-driven and needed an hour just to wake up each morning.

Thanks to her email, I discovered the amazing world of blogging, and it felt like she had opened the doors on a party that was going on, and if I wanted I was allowed to join in. I decided to give blogging a try and in February 2010 I published my first blog post.

To my amazement, I quickly found an audience, mostly in the USA. I blogged daily for three years about life here in the French countryside. With the blog growing fast, I tip-toed into social media. I didn’t know it at the time, but these early years were to be the foundation of my future activity. I was unknowingly building up a community that would be the backbone to my business down the road.

In 2015 I was contacted by an American publisher to write a book, which went well, and they asked for a second volume in 2017. Becoming a published author allowed me to go to the USA on book-signing tours where I got to meet my readers in person. This was an invaluable experience and gave me true insight into my audience. By now, I knew that I had to turn the corner and make my blogging activity profitable.

In 2016 I started running an annual tour, during which I hosted a small group of guests and showed them around Normandy. This was a big success and the first of many tours to come.

At the end of 2016, with the help of my first part-time assistant, I launched our subscription boxes. That was a steep learning curve and it took some courage to make the many decisions required to get the project off the ground. I decided that we would aim to sell 200 boxes of our first edition, and we actually sold 198. My blog had become a business.

With the boxes came great excitement, and our numbers grew quickly. We found ourselves negotiating purchases from French brands, and curating the boxes on quarterly themes.

In 2019, the boxes were running nicely, and the tours were selling out quickly. The blogging world had changed a lot, and I wanted to explore a new communication media, so I launched our MFCH Magazine. The intention was for the magazine to be digital only, but our very vocal clients let us know they wanted a print version.

Today, we publish the magazine 6 times a year, and we are sold in Barnes & Nobles, as well as sending out to thousands of subscribers.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 I had a team of 4 people. My obsession was to protect their jobs. Knowing that the tours would all be canceled and we’d lose that income, we launched our online boutique overnight. Luckily, during the pandemic everyone wanted to shop. Being confined at home, I turned my dining room into a warehouse, and with the help of my very patient husband, we fulfilled orders every day. I managed to protect the jobs of every member of my team and the boutique is still an important part of our business.

It has been 14 years since I first raised that champagne glass and promised to reinvent myself. Today I have a team of 12 and a turn over of over $2M. Most of all I have a team that I am hugely proud of, and a company with a great reputation.

Sharon, 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?

My French Country Home is a lifestyle brand anchored in French Style and authentic French living. We offer quarterly subscription boxes; an online boutique; a bi-monthly printed magazine, and our MFCH Luxury tours, welcoming guests and showing them our favorite parts of France.

What started as a blog has grown into a thriving, multi-faceted business with a team of 12 people. I am hugely proud of our team. We all work hard, we have each other’s backs and we put our client satisfaction at the heart of everything we do.

The name, My French Country Home, has become a reference for authentic French living, and we have become ambassadors for many of the finest artisan and independent French brands. We showcase French homes, gardens and French products for our clients and their homes.

I love the creativity of running a company, of problem-solving, and keeping up with technology. Today I am about to turn 65, so considered to be a Senior Entrepreneur, but my work keeps me relevant and in touch with a very active and fast-moving world.

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

Customer care is at the heart of everything we do. Having started our activity as a blogging community we have an intimacy with our audience that other companies don’t always enjoy. We also have the advantage of hosting a small cross-section of our clients on our tours, and spending a whole week with them. This gives us tremendous insight into our client profiles.

We are very active on social media. We invest many hours on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, taking care to share quality content and reply to comments and messages.

We have one person dedicated to customer care, and all emails are answered within 24 hours.

We send emails/newletters every day We have many different client segments according to their purchases and activity with us. Some clients are on several lists/segments, so they get several emails each week, but this seems to work quite well. Our email opening rate is close to 70%

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

As an older entrepreneur, many of my team members are the same age as my kids. It’s difficult not to mother them, and it’s undeniable that I have a lot of pride in, and affection for my team.

I’m continually aware that we want to work hard and have fun at the same time. I encourage a kind and helpful atmosphere in the team. I firmly believe that the team’s mood comes from the top. It’s up to me to keep everything upbeat and moving. Employing millennials is a thing. I found it hard to begin with, but now I have understood that with encouragement, and interest shown in what they are doing, they will go the extra mile. I am privileged to work with a team of bright, techno-friendly creatives. I am grateful every day for all they accomplish.

We all work remotely and only get together as a team once a month. To thank them for their hard work, and to create opportunities for bonding within the team, I take everyone away on a luxury seminar/break each fall. Based in a gorgeous hotel by the sea, or in the countryside, we brainstorm together and enjoy each other’s company.

Everyone on the team needs to be proud of our brand and proud to contribute to our growth and success. These are exciting times, and everyone can enjoy the fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: myfrenchcountryhome.com
• Instagram: @sharonsantoni @mfchmagazine. @mfchbox @mfchtravel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myfrenchcountryhome/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-santoni-smith-92441931/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcYViOu7CmeBr4CkAqjANA
• Other: sharonsantoni.com. myfrenchcountryhomemagazine.com. myfrenchcountryhomebox.com. mfchtravel.com mfchboutique.com https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sharon+santoni+books&crid=2PHF207OA1DZ9&sprefix=sharon+santoni%2Caps%2C144&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_14

Image Credits
Portrait shot by Franck Schmitt All other photos of my home and garden my own