SHOW NOTES

KEY IDEAS: 

Our guest today, Tatia Veltkamp, and her husband had an interest – butterflies. This interest turned into a hobby.  The hobby grew and eventually turned into a side-hustle.  Once the side-hustle started Tatia could see other opportunities.  Today, this has grown into a full-blown business called Wings Of Enchantment.

Tatia and her husband started breeding butterflies after they gained some exposure to the need and the process.  Over time they discovered the demand for these butterflies and saw several opportunities to turn this into a business.

Today they own “Wings Of Enchantment” in New Mexico.  They are spreading awareness about butterflies, habitat and the plants that are needed to support the species.  They have also recognized several ways to generate revenue from this and put them into practice:

• Classroom Presentations
• Butterly Releases
• Life Cycle Kits
• Displays

The concept of butterfly releases was very interesting to me as I never even knew this existed.  For special events, memorial services, dedications, you name it, people  like to release butterflies.  Wings Of Enchantment can provide the butterflies for you and even help you figure out how to make it work best.

From a business standpoint there is a lot to be gained from this episode.  Tatia and her husband are surviving the transition of loving something enough that they did it for fun, to turning it into a business.  They have been able to do this and not lose the love or passion they had for butterflies in the first place. That is always the real question when turning a hobby into a business – will you continue to love it or will the business rob you of that.

ADVICE FROM TATIA:

GROW: Most often when I list this piece of advice it is about growing your business.  In Tatia’s case it is about growing plants.  This is very much like raising livestock.  Often we look at ourselves as cattle or sheep producers.  But what we really are, are grass farmers and we are using the livestock to harvest for us.

In Tatia’s case she is a plant grower, and she is using the butterflies to reproduce on the plants.  It is essential to become proficient at growing the plants that the butterflies need to reproduce on.

CONTROL: Tatia also states that you must learn how to control pests in your plants without chemicals that will harm the butterflies.  After all, if you love and care for the butterflies you don’t want them exposed to harmful chemicals.

LIMIT: Limit the amount of caterpillars that you raise in one container.  Overcrowding will have a negative impact.  Also Tatia says to remember this piece of advice, because when you are first starting out this will not be a temptation because you won’t have the numbers yet.  However, later in the development of your business you will, and you should avoid this.

BEST ADVICE THAT TATIA HAS RECEIVED:

Let go of what is not moving your forward.  This is great advice.  I can remember when I started my first business.  Everyday I focused on what direction I was moving.  If it was forward, that was all I cared about.  Sometimes it was slow, sometimes it was fast.  But if it was forward, that was correct.

PERSONAL HABIT: 

Tatia’s personal habit is scheduling, but more importantly following the schedule that she has created.  Just like anything we do in agriculture, if you want something at a certain time, you have to reverse engineer the entire process to know when to start, when to plant or breed, etc.  You need to follow those schedules because if you miss a deadline there is nothing you can do about it.

RESOURCE RECOMMENDATION:

Tatia recommends The Association For Butterflies.  This has been a great resource for her and will be for you as well.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: LINK

Email: tatiav@comcast.net

Facebook: LINK

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