The small business community is second to none, working together to support one another through it all. In celebration of small businesses, NBCU and State Farm® have partnered to spotlight two incredible small business owners who were willing to share their journey, offer some advice, and provide motivation to the community.

Jessica and Travis met through a mutual acquaintance and colleague, named Mollie. Jessica, who was pursuing her passion for house plants and Mexican culture, opened Green Lady Gardens, and was encouraged by folks at the local market to connect with their mutual friend for intel on the insurance process. Through hard work and support from a tight knit community, these small business owners continue to bloom in their respective trade. Read more on how they turned their passions into a business and offer insight into how other small business owners can too.

Looking for additional resources? Fill out the short form below to get access to marketing 101 resources, step by step guides, and worksheets, and opt-in to be contacted by your local State Farm agent.

When did you two know you were a good pair? How did you hit it off?

Travis: In my office, we really work as a team. Mollie, my office manager, sold teas and bitters at the various local farmers markets on the weekends in the summer months. In those markets, it truly is a tight knit community getting to know each other and helping each other. All of the other small business booth owners also knew Mollie as the insurance person during the week and the majority of them had their insurance with our office. Mollie does a great job of explaining the coverages and keeping it very simple. Jessica, just starting out her plant business at the farmers markets and in need of insurance, everyone told her she needed to talk to Mollie. Since Mollie also was one of the sellers at the markets, she is truly one of them. If you ever want to see how hard a small business owner works, go to your local farmers market on Saturday and spend the entire day at the Market. You will have to start at 6am when they are setting up and probably stay until about 6pm when they pack back up. It is because of that tight community, hard work and understanding each other that it was an instant bond with our office. As Jessica has grown from that farmers market to her own retail location with employees, we have continued to grow and be there for her.

What drove you both to start your own respective small business?

Jessica: I had a desire to create a space that provides a one-of-a-kind plant shopping experience through houseplant education and color so that every customer leaves filled with joy, empowered to own plants, and inspired to live creatively.
Travis: Growing up and through college, I always played competitive sports, even as an adult, I still enjoy coaching with the occasional participation in recreation league. The thrill of competition excites me, but when you no longer have sports day to day to compete in, after college I guess I turned that drive into my business career. Even before I started my small business I would always compete against other coworkers, business competition, even competing against your personal records, etc. The great thing about competing in sports or as small business owner is it is pure – it is 100% on you and your effort. In business there are no favorites, no advantages, you work hard, you learn, you fail forward, you have the potential to reap what you sow. If you are good at it, you are rewarded and if you are great at it, you can make it a career that you are able to provide for your family. I got tired of being an employee and not having the 100% leadership, overall executive control, as well as long term ownership, etc. and that drove me to finally decide to start my own small business.

How do you measure success beyond sales?

Travis: No matter what business you are in, we are all in the people business, it is 100% about relationships. We measure success by the relationships we create with the trust the clients put into doing business with us and recommending us to their friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family. Especially within the insurance industry a key element is retention and for our clients choosing to continue to do business with us year after year as well as adding additional products and services we can provide is very humbling for me in measuring our success.
Jessica: Cultivating strong customer relationships. It’s thrilling when customers come back to gush about their plant successes. Many customers discuss their personal lives as well. And it’s not a negative experience when customers come back with questions or concerns about their plant’s health. That means they trust me to provide accurate and helpful advice.

What’s the best piece of advice you got when starting your business?

Travis: I know for me it was not advice but the unspoken confidence and belief that my wife, Vicki, had in me of starting the business with her knowing long term it would be successful was by far monumental the biggest thing for me. Especially in the first several years with the multiple sacrifices Vicki and my kids all made (i.e. financially of living on a tight budget, missing dinners together, long hours with nights and weekends, my elevated stress level, sometimes not seeing my kids for a couple days since I would go to the office early and come home late, etc.). Anytime it got rough or difficult their belief in me made me truly feel like Superman and that anything was possible. Also, Vicki was the one that told me about the idea, and so I always trusted her judgement.

What was your biggest challenge as a small business owner? How did you overcome it?

Jessica: Finding a work-life balance has always been and continues to be the biggest challenge. I overcome it by finding the joy in what I do, which is interacting with customers and merely being in a space that is 100% an expression of who I am. The colors, decor, design, and overall vibe of my store make me feel at home and provide a constant source of inspiration.
Travis: I think that are two big challenges that I really struggle with as a business owner. First one is to keep my hand open to what God wants to do with my business. I tend to be a control freak and want to do it all by myself so in the end I can pound my chest and feel good about what I have accomplished. God will put something in my hand to manage so I will take a hold of it by closing my hand, hanging on tight to it while doing my best in making it successful. But what I have learned is I am supposed to keep my hand open and just manage and care for what God has put in my hand. By keeping my hand open I give God complete control to continue to put things into or take out of my hand. Anytime I get really stressed, I will physically remember to flex my hand open and remind myself God is in control. I am just here to help manage what God has provided me.

The second thing is you manage your priorities not your time. No one is able to manage time, we are not able to speed it up or slow it down, but I can manage my priorities. As a small business owner, there are always more things coming at you and you continue to have to think what my priorities for that hour, day, week, month and year. As well as even bigger what is my priority for my business and life. I heard a great analogy that helps remind me of this. Imagine you are walking and way off in the distance is an object (i.e. building, mountain, etc.) that you are trying to get to. If you remember to keep your head up and focused on that object eventually you will get there. At times we all need to look down right in front of us to take the right steps, to move around obstacles, but if we kept our head down permanently, we would quickly absorb what is right around us and lose direction of where we must go. But by keeping our head up and focused on that spot, even though it is not going to be a straight path, we will get there.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started your business?

Jessica: That owning and operating a brick-and-mortar retail storefront is extremely time-consuming and labor intensive and can sometimes get expensive. There is always something to arrange, rearrange, unpack, stock, fix, clean, display, improve, organize, order, manage, troubleshoot, and maintain. Despite those things, it is extremely rewarding to stand back and say, “I created this.”

Do you have a personal motto? If so, what is it?

Travis: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

Anything you want others to know about your business? I.e. Social handle, specials, etc.

Jessica: Check Green Lady Gardens out on social media and our website!

 
Travis: Find me on social media!

 

When did you know you wanted to go into this profession?

Jessica: I come from a long line of entrepreneurs and business owners. I always knew I would run my own businesses. I never planned on opening a retail plant and pottery store though. I just happened to come across a once in a lifetime opportunity and I took it. I won’t run Green Lady Gardens forever; there are many more things in life I want to pursue. But it fits for now, and I’m still enjoying it so I will keep going until one of those things drops away.
Travis: My wife, Vicki, was the one that told me that I really needed to research into being a State Farm Agent. She has a friend whose husband became a State Farm Agent, and they both were talking one time about it. I did not even know I wanted to do this profession until I started to research and understand what a State Farm Agent opportunity entailed. I have a natural talent and gift for understanding finances, investing, business, etc. as well as a desire to help individuals, families and business owners be successful. Those two combinations fit ideally into being a State Farm Agent, the more I understood the State Farm Agent opportunity the more I got excited about the opportunity and realized this is something I really want to do.

What would you tell people about ways they can help support small businesses?

Jessica: Other than shopping at those businesses, people can be kind and patient and treat the businesses with respect. Don’t try to bargain or barter, ask for discounts that aren’t advertised, or act in a way that undermines the legitimacy of the business. Also, leave positive reviews; they are priceless. If you had a negative experience, reach out to the owner before leaving a negative review. Most likely the owner will bend over backward to fix the problem. At a minimum, they will use your feedback to fix a problem they were unaware of. If the owner doesn’t respond appropriately to your complaint, then you can revisit your desire to leave a negative review. People judge a small business with a 4.5-star rating more harshly than they do a big box store with a 1.5-star rating.
Travis: You do not need to make it complicated; we all reap what we sow. If you sow into a local small businesses, you will reap a great thriving successful community that we all enjoy living in and help create. Each of us has ownership to make the community we live in what we want.

 

The information in this article was obtained from various sources not associated with State Farm® (including State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates). While we believe it to be reliable and accurate, we do not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information. State Farm is not responsible for, and does not endorse or approve, either implicitly or explicitly, the content of any third party sites that might be hyperlinked from this page. The information is not intended to replace manuals, instructions or information provided by a manufacturer or the advice of a qualified professional, or to affect coverage under any applicable insurance policy. These suggestions are not a complete list of every loss control measure. State Farm makes no guarantees of results from use of this information.