Grow the Rainbow - Seedles

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Christopher Samai, CEO of Seedles, located in Sacramento, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Seedles, is a powerful seed ball product which makes it fun and easy to grow wildflowers and solve the bee decline problem. Seedles are rainbow bright balls of seed, compost, and clay. We’ve done the heavy lifting by designing Seedles to practically grow themselves. They add fun and vibrant colors to your neighborhood while benefiting local pollinators. All you have to do is throw them and grow them. Growing wildflowers is the #1 way to save the bees. Our customers LOVE creating a more beautiful and colorful world. They get excited by growing wildflowers and enjoying a zoo of pollinators in their backyards, garden pots, porches, and patios.

Tell us about yourself

I'm intensely focused on creating social enterprises that regenerate the planet and provide a more beautiful world for our children. My goal is to demonstrate how we can create businesses that put their green foot forward in an effort to regenerate the planet and put smiles on faces along the way.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

We've helped grow over 17 Billion wildflowers so far and we're aiming for 100 Billion. It's been a complete privilege to work with our fans across the United States, and I consider it a great accomplishment to have been part of accomplishing this much of our goal so far.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

It's an honor and a massive challenge to be responsible for the livelihoods of our team members and their families, as well as the success of our business. Sometimes it feels like carrying a heavy backpack that gets heavier and heavier as the journey goes on. I often use the analogy of "building a jet while trying to fly it" to describe the process of building and scaling a company. Sometimes you don't know if the engine is going to keep firing or if you'd better focus on a new wing or lightening the loads of luggage you're carrying. At times it can feel like building a house on a sandy beach, where the sand keeps shifting and the waves keep crashing. The beautiful part is that you can build a lighthouse, one that inspires so many others to keep hope and to continue persevering through the storm and learn how to dance in the rain.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Elevate the customer experience to the pinnacle of your priorities, and make a concerted effort to actively hear and heed the valuable feedback provided by your customers. I haven't met a business that didn't benefit from one-on-one phone calls to customers. Many people shy away from calling. Many people don't want to spend the time talking, the effort discussing their business with customers. Sometimes it's will, and sometimes it is because they believe there are higher priorities.
   
   I can tell you now there is a gold mine of value in speaking with customers every week. Businesses rarely do this anymore, so if you allocate the time to talk with your customers, you'll be amazed by the domino effect of results you see. Try allocating 1-hour per week to making those phone calls, and see what kind of magic happens by just listening and asking good questions.
2. Try not to reinvent the wheel. Many people try to be super innovative, creative, and unique with their businesses, but there is plenty of value in boring businesses or what I would like to call the businesses that keep the economy alive.
3. Get a mentor. You can short-cut your road to success by learning from others. This includes skills, connections, experience, successes, and most importantly, failures. It's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to have failed multiple businesses before they hit their stride. Failure is learning, and learning is growing, and growing is being alive.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.growtherainbow.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growtherainbow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growtherainbow/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-samai/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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