This duo turned a business challenge into a unique product concept.
Husband and wife team Colleen and Robert Lees are on a mission to ethically serve the environment and help others do the same. As a result, they started The Soil Kitchen, which develops nutrient-rich soil blends based on the unique attributes of customers’ gardens. Here they provide insight into the evolution of their family business.
Name: Colleen and Robert Lees
Business: The Soil Kitchen
Location: Ankeny, Iowa
Employees: 2
How did you become a small business owner?
Robert: I started as a worm farmer and grew that business until a year and a half ago when I destroyed my ankle. My wife and I sat down to discuss how could we evolve the worm farm to still do good for the environment, to benefit gardeners and farmers but also have more than just two products. So that’s how The Soil Kitchen was created.
What’s the best part of running a small business?
Colleen: The best thing is to be able to share my talents and knowledge with the community. Being able to get out there to talk to youth groups, gardening clubs and other community organizations and let them know what we do and how they can do it in their own backyard to improve not only their gardens but the health of the yard and ultimately the health of the planet.
What challenges has the business faced?
Robert: Capitalization. We’re out here in Iowa, which is pretty traditional. [There are] lots of big, agro-chemical businesses out here. So we’re not given a lot of the attention or the reverence you get in more progressive areas like California.
How did you overcome your capitalization challenge?
Colleen: Lots of inventory control. We try to keep as little on the shelves as we need to but as much as we have to.
What advice would you give other small business owners?
Colleen: Develop a hard shell and a tough outer skin. You’re going to hear “no” a lot, but try not to take it personal. Just keep believing in yourself and what you’re trying to do.
What’s your favorite thing to do off the clock?
Colleen: Gardening, of course! Other than that, we have a small farm. We have five goats, two llamas, a bunch of sheep, some chickens and cats. There’s nothing quite as good as goat therapy to relieve some tension at the end of the day.
Robert: We are also sports fans. So we like to support the local sports teams here in Iowa as much as we can.
