Herb’n Eden Origin

How did Herb’n Eden get its start?

Quinton: After high school, I worked for a contractor—a real Mr. Miyagi type—doing manual labor. He ended up teaching me all about growing food and biodynamics. Biodynamics is a very spiritual type of planting and growing—syncing with the moon phases and the entire ecosystem. The health of the soil is a big part of biodynamics, and I got really into it.

Terran: Around the same time, I saw a flyer about an internship for a local urban garden. I knew that Quinton was interested in soil and growing, so I encouraged him to apply. I eventually also started working at the farm. It sparked a drive in us to learn more skills, to learn more about plants, and inspired us to become more community-minded.

We started working the farmers’ market and got exposed to more natural products, which eventually led me to try my hand at making soap. I just really fell in love with it.

First Sale?

Terran: The first bar I made was a melt-and-pour lavender soap. This lightbulb went off in my head—I can make this myself, I know exactly what is in it, and since we shower every day, it is a great way to get the extra benefits from herbs. I eventually learned how to make soap from scratch and started to sell to friends and family. By 2016, we were selling at the local farmers’ market, at events and at church. Then we opened our brick-and-mortar store in April of 2019. The farmers market was foundational to our business. It allowed us to meet people in person and make personal relationships. Those people we met and sold to at farmers’ markets, I think are still customers to this day.

Biggest risk taken?

Quinton: Honestly, the massive growth in sales from January 2020–the summer of 2020 was so risky. I wouldn’t recommend it. We were behind on orders by two months. I was purposely trying to slow the orders down by telling people it would take 4-6 weeks for us to ship, but people were still buying and sales were doubling month over month. 2020 was the first year that we put together a marketing budget for ads and stuck to it—scaling up every month. When the pandemic happened, people became more concerned with self-care, hygiene, and buying online—and we benefitted. Then came civil unrest, and more people were moved to support black-owned businesses like ours. It was the perfect storm.

We never wanted to put “sold out” on an item, no matter how far behind we were in production because we needed the capital to grow. We had a window of opportunity and had to take it.

Herb’n Eden Team

Who is on the Herb’n Eden team?

We have over 30 people on staff working in production, processing, fulfillment, HR, customer service and marketing. We will continue to add to the team as we grow.

Surprise talents that helped?

Quinton: Years before Herb’n Eden, I started a landscaping company. It forced me to learn more about marketing and business. That knowledge and experience was helpful as we established and grew the soap business.

What have you all learned along the way?

Terran: The biggest thing that I have learned is to prioritize mental health. You have to balance so many things running the business. It’s a challenge to balance personal life and getting swallowed up in the day-to-day of the business. So, definitely make sure your mind is good so that you can be better prepared to handle all the unexpected things and moments of pressure. You are the person running the business, so you need to take care of yourself.