With five kids between them ranging between 2 and 9, the words "copious amounts of spare time" would not be the descriptors of choice for Kirkland mothers Kelli Curtis and Beth Day. Busy days, long nights. Countless hours in the kitchen and in the car ferrying the kids around. Fullfilling, yes, but to a point ...
With previous and gainful employment in teaching (Day) and a Paul Allen start-up (Curtis), they stopped earning a paycheck - you never want to tell mothers that they're not working - after they started having children. They decided it was time for more.
This past October, the two Houghton residents diverted their focus from positive parenting to business-building. The two friends-cum-entrepreneurs, who live about a half-mile from each other, hosted a Southern Living party and invited about 40 women. They had decided they wanted to start a business together, but which one?
"We surveyed women at the party and asked them, 'What's missing in Kirkland?' They are our demographic," said Curtis, who has three children, ages 5, 4 and 2. "We had a broad idea but needed to focus."
In January, a portable, organic gardening business finally appeared in the crystal ball.
Pots2Go. With an "s."
Gardening has always been an interest for each of them; in 2000, Curtis earned her Master Gardener certification from the Washington State University/King County extension. As a result, their business relationship defines itself with Curtis having more technical knowledge and Day being more of a people person.
So, every Wednesday over the summer they send their kids to "Pots2Go Day Camp" (a day out with a babysitter), load up Curtis's van with 25 or so hand-crafted pulp pots and decorative containers and spend the day at their "store" - a booth at the Kirkland Wednesday Market. On Saturdays, they are at the Redmond Market.
They had decided to make the markets their storefront as a way to keep costs down. Day says, "People are always asking us, 'Where's your store?' I tell them, 'Kelli's driveway." (Curtis's driveway typically is home to between 30 and 40 plants, being nurtured and coddled and waiting for a home.) But on a more serious note, she adds, "The markets have evolved into a place where people come to find us."
On most days, they sell about half of the pots that they cart to the market, although on one particular, very rainy Wednesday, they sold just a single herb pot. "Right before closing," remembers Day, "someone came in and wanted six pots, and then he placed a custom order."
Curtis and Day say that for now they will avoid a traditional storefront and keep working from their homes. Of course, this makes for a true family affair, requiring patience and understanding from children and spouses. They often e-mail each other in the early in the morning or after the kids have been put to bed.
Fortunately, the two families are very close. The husbands created a start-up together and the families often travel together as well. "We really respect each other," says Day, "it's the collaboration that makes it work."
After the summer? "We're going to take a big, deep breath and strategize for next year," they both agreed, as they are both keenly aware of overtaxing themselves and their families. "We're fitting it in where we can," said Day. "I think our families would leave us" [if they worked more hours]. However, a post-summer respite may not be entirely possible as clients are already asking them about refreshing their current pots for the fall. Yes, future plans call for cultivating more custom clients but they are not looking to take on employees. At least not yet.
"We don't want to get too big and have employees," says Curtis. Day adds, "It's hard to conceive of having someone else in our place. It's like: 'who could do this as well as we do?'"
For now, the two are reaping what they sow, which amounts to tremendous gratification from both the product and process. "Gardening is very mysterious to a lot of people," said Day. "We're like fairy godmothers," added Curtis. On more than one occasion, the pair received a frantic phone call describing what they refer to as "pot emergencies."
"We were in business for a month and got an e-mail at 11 o'clock at night," recalled Day. "They were putting their house on the market the next day and the landscaper bagged out - they needed their pots done." So the next day, the Pots2Go experts loaded up the kids and the plants and waved their magic wand. The house sold the next day.
For more information: www.Pots2Go.com or 828-9098.[[In-content Ad]]
