Creating Community
Launching a business can be a daunting experience, albeit a very gratifying one. I’m married to an entrepreneur, so have seen the highs and lows of doing the brave stuff and celebrating the victories along with the defeats. One observation that I’ve had since launching Restorie Herbals is that it’s impossible to do this without community.
That word tends to get thrown around a lot, but in my case, I’m referring to the people that we have built a network with where we support each other through thick and thin. We live in a rural area close to Wake Forest, NC. Having moved to the area back in 2007, we were city kids and now we’re on 12 acres of wooded heaven. I tore up most of my lawn to plant gardens that feed us and our friends. I grow herbs that helped us through many physical challenges and now I get to share those with all of you.
Living here has been a dream and most of that is because of the community we have nurtured around us. We drop what we’re doing to help a friend in need and now, all of the karma that we have built up through serving others has come back to me in the form of their incredible support.
It's people like our neighbors Pat and Todd who drop what they are doing to drive their big piece of farm equipment over to help us to do the things we couldn’t possibly do by hand. She also hand writes me notes and puts them in the mail, which is the most adorable thing because who doesn’t love getting a bit of love in the mail?
It’s my best friend Nicki who spends time helping me to perfect my products with constructive feedback or giving me incredibly helpful website advice.
It’s my friend Crystal (aka Wonder Woman) at The Family Bees-ness who runs a farm that produces some of the best produce, pork, canned goods and eggs you ever put in your mouth that encouraged me to do my first market.
It’s also the friends and family like Anna, Rob, Airika, Mary, Mike, Ellen and Carol Ann who tested my products and gave incredibly helpful constructive feedback and then gushed about Restorie Herbals to their friends and network once we launched. It’s my Aunt Connie who was my first customer on the new website because she wanted to support me and help my cousin who has sleep struggles.
Community means having each other’s backs and supporting each other, even when it’s tough. No man is an island and neither is any business owner. It’s also very humbling when you are my age and deciding to go out on this ledge of entrepreneurism, so their support has been so motivating.
I’m taking a crash course in marketing from my husband who is a genius at it and my father who ran sales and marketing for very large corporations in his heyday. This is tough stuff when you are in your 40’s and spent your life in corporate America like I have. But, their help encourages my growth and confidence.
The raw and honest truth of it is that this is pretty intimidating, but it’s entirely possible because of my community. I can’t thank them enough for being there for me and encouraging me along the way.
I hope that all of you are cultivating your community, giving of yourself what you can and trusting that they will support you when you need it. That’s why we’re here, after all. To be happy and to LOVE.
Sweet dreams, ya’ll