After much deliberation and consideration, Susanna Reppert Brill and I have decided to open a Yahoo! list for herb and herb related businesses.Susanna was raised in an herb family, as her mother, Bertha Reppert, founded The Rosemary House over 40 years ago. She is one of the best networkers I know, although it is much like when you hear about rock 'n rollers from the 60's and how their kids just know everybody because they jammed around the kitchen table. Susanna now manages the business, and her sister Nancy has a tea room next door.
My background is similar in that I was raised in a family business, but our home biz wasn't herbs. Later my sister and I went on to open an herb shop at both a renaissance festival and in the real world. They ran simultaneously for a year or two before we gave up the faire shop, and then we added soap to our repertoire. We split up eventually, with my sister running her wholesale soap company and me running the magazine.
One of the biggest things we've learned is that we can accomplish 10 or even 100 times more if we put our heads together with others who are attempting to do the same thing.In the early 90's we banded together with other herb businesses in our state and came up with the PA Herb Business Network. Although the Network is now defunct, as charter members of that group we were involved in the very beginning of the PA Herb Festival. Besides that, we joined together in some group advertising efforts, came up with ideas that helped each other, had mini conferences and best of all we knew each other.
What we found was that through knowing each other, we could rely on that friendship when it came time to list a source in an article or book, recommendations, and when opportunities that didn't quite fit came along. Knowing each other is a HUGE benefit to business, one that has fallen a bit by the wayside since the internet has come along. We are going to fight back, and we're using the internet to do it.
If you're an herb or herb related business, join us! Click here
