Enjoy this week’s guest post from Terry Gifford and learn how she changed her business model to reach success.
There is a scene in my favorite musical, The Sound of Music, where Maria is leaving the security of the convent to become a governess to seven children. As she leaves the convent, guitar in one hand and her bag of belongings in the other, she pauses. The cinematography carries the emotion of longing as she looks back and says, “When the Lord closes a door… somewhere He opens a window”.
This is part of the story of how, when my well-planned door closed, a beautiful, totally surprising window opened.
In 1996 my then husband and I purchased a nine-acre pasture four miles East of Sedro-Woolley. We slowly planted, built, weeded, and built more until we created an estate that felt like it was transplanted from England a century ago. Our plan was to raise our six children and have the house be a gathering place for grandkids for decades to come.
Sometimes plans are forced to change. When I found myself a single mom with five kids still at home, I had to figure out a way for the farm to eventually support itself – if I wanted it to be the gathering place for future grandchildren. The kids and I set about augmenting the grounds and gardens every summer with the aim toward making it a wedding venue.
After six years of projects, I felt like we were ready to begin marketing, and I took my business model and the concept of ‘Willowbrook Manor, Wedding Venue’ to the County for approval. You can imagine my shock, after years of hard work, to be told I wasn’t zoned to be able to host weddings.
I was dumbfounded. The winery across the road hosted weddings. Why couldn’t I? It was then that I learned that my agricultural zoning required my business to be based on what I produced. The winery could host weddings because the wedding parties had to purchase wine for the wedding.
A six-years-of-hard-labor door had closed.
I had to look for a window.
On our farm we had always had a large garden, fruit trees, berry patches, and grapes. We hayed the pasture every summer, but we didn’t really have a ‘crop’, per-se. My mind went round and round about how I could produce a crop that would allow a business to grow from agricultural-zoned land.
One night it came to me as I was sipping on my chamomile tea. Tea! That was it!
When I researched what kind of tea to grow, I came to the conclusion that Roman chamomile would be the best fit. It was then that Willowbrook Manor English Tea House and Chamomile Farm was born.
I purchased a tractor and started plowing, planting, watering and weeding. The plan was to have the farm centered around tea with Tea and Tour (scenic and historic bicycle tours), Tea and Tulips (English Tea and garden tour), Weeding and Tea (English tea and weeding the chamomile field), and other tea-related events.
I opened my doors to the public in April of 2018 during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival with Tea and Tulips. People from all over the country came to have English Tea overlooking the chamomile field. They wandered through the gardens and took pictures of the tulips.
I was a bit nervous about turning the privacy of my home over to my business. I will never forget reaching for the doorknob when the first tea guests arrived. My mind said, “What in the world am I doing?!” But all of that washed away when I discovered my first guests came from Palmer, Alaska, where my mother went to high school. They were celebrating their 40th anniversary. After enjoying tea, they spent time thumbing through my mother’s book The Alaska Years. I could not have asked for better first guests. It was a tender way to begin a beautiful business venture.
Our second year of business, Tea and Tulips was sold out every weekend. Tea and Tour is a growing success, and we will begin Weeding and Tea this summer. Slowly, Willowbrook Manor is making a name for itself in Skagit valley and beyond.
My youngest is in his last year of high school. Soon I will be an empty-nester, but I’ll still be putting my ‘mothering’ skills to use. I’ll still bake and do laundry and feed people and do dishes. (But people will PAY me and say thank you!)
I look back on my desire to host weddings and think of the large crowds that would have descended on my home. I much prefer the smaller groups that come to my door, and I marvel at how a road-block became an avenue to a much better business model for me.
Julie Andrews said it well. “When the Lord closes a door…. Somewhere He opens a window.” Mine was a ‘window of opportuni-Tea’.
Terry Gifford is owner and caretaker of Willowbrook Manor. Her passions are: camping, biking, baking, gardening, hosting events, and driving her tractor. These, along with her ability to care for people are all showcased in her business model. First and foremost she is ‘mom’. When she isn’t working on the farm, or serving tea, she likes to hike, canoe camp, and bike camp, and loves it when her kids (now grown) come with.
You can follow along on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
The post Changing Your Business Model: Turning Roadblocks into Avenues appeared first on Melissa Forziat Events and Marketing.