Apollo Herbs
Owner:  Mike Ford

Founded:  November 11, 1991

Location:  Kingston, Rhode Island

Employees:  1

Annual Sales: vary

Q: How did you start (or become owner) of the business?   I started my business when I completed Rosemary Gladstar’s herbalist apprenticeship program in Vermont in 1991.  I had been studying herbs for a couple years prior to meeting Rosemary.  We had to make all kinds of products for the medicine show at the end of the class.  I created my logo, my very first labels, and my first Apollo Herbs catalog for the student medicine show.  After I completed the program with Rosemary, I started selling my products on consignment in local shops and began a mail order catalog (websites weren’t around yet).

Q:  What made you choose this type of business?  I think the business chose me, rather than me choosing the business.  It was probably that my enthusiasm for herbs became contagious and people started coming to me for them, I started selling them and it took off.  I didn’t really plan it.  At the time I was an art student at RI School of Design, working odd jobs.  It just happened.  When I left art school, I became an herbalist.  There came a point when I saw that it was growing into a business. At that time I felt that I needed to take what I was doing more seriously, since this started as a hobby and grew into a business, there was a lot I still needed to learn in order to run my business and have integrity as a manufacturer and eventually as a herbal teacher.  I was asked to give workshops to promote my herbs and that led to running my own herbalist apprenticeship programs.  I decided to enroll at the University of Rhode Island and began studying botany, which unbeknownst to me at the time, led to my staying in college for another twelve years full-time while I ran the business part-time to pay my living expenses.  Running the herb business was better than any other part-time job you could work during college.  I made more money than most part-time jobs would pay and I could make my own hours and I was doing something that was directly involved with my studies, for the most part.  Because I chose to do it this way, the growth of my business remained limited by the fact that I was one person wearing many hats.  I had students and friends help me with herb gathering and product making, but no steady employees, just myself, often working an odd schedule to accommodate school.  Only recently have I begun running the business full-time.

Q:  What is your background? Aside from what I just wrote, and fifteen years of extracting herbs, making syrups, oils, salves and creams, the twelve years of college has earned me five degrees, which together create an interesting background.  The multiple degrees came out of the fact that are no university-granted degrees in herbal medicine so I created my own multi-disciplinary college curriculum that in the end consisted of a BS in Botany, BA in Biology and BA in Classical Latin & Greek. I applied to graduate school within the college of pharmacy at URI where I spent six years studying pharmacognosy, a branch of pharmacology that studies the botany, natural product chemistry, cosmetic science, pharmacology, and toxicology of plant-derived drugs.  The word pharmacognosy is being replaced today with natural product chemistry.  In 2002, I earned an MS in Pharmacognosy and continued toward the Ph.D. in pharmacognosy which I did not complete.  Instead, I switched programs and completed a MA in Education, specializing in Adult Education.  I’ve used this background primarily to give me a broad knowledge base as owner of and formulator for my company, as a consultant, and as an educator in the community.

Q:  What are your biggest challenges as an herb business?   My biggest challenge in the past was finding the time to do everything.  Today my challenge is how to transition and expand into a larger company.

Q:  What are the biggest rewards of being an herb business?  The rewards come from helping and teaching others and they also come to me in personal freedoms that I get from being my own boss, from being passionate about my work and being connected to the plants and the people who love them.

Q:  What is your philosophy of customer service? I believe customer service should be courteous and helpful and that services should be performed promptly.  However, I do not believe the customer is always right.

Q:  What makes you stand out from your competitors?  My formulations, my teaching and scientific background which I blend with folklore and spirituality, and my dedication to my work.

Q:  What plans do you have for your business?  I have just launched a new product line- Apollo Botanical Skincare-  sprayable aromatherapy skin creams and sprayable herbal healing creams, in addition to Apollo Herbs, which has more blends of herbs for internal use.  My plans also involve increasing production and expanding the marketing.

Q:  Is your family supportive of your business?  Not particularly.  I’d say they are supportive of me in general, but not necessarily of the herbal component.

Q:  What do you wish you’d done differently with the business?  Its hard to say, running it full-time instead of part-time while in college, would’ve grown the business a lot more by now, but I really can’t regret my education, so I’m okay with it.  I’m focusing on growing it now instead, with more knowledge behind me.

Q: What do you think people starting out should know about getting into your type of business?  It’s very competitive- there are a lot of herbal companies out there.  Having a niche is something I’d recommend- something that you have that’s different and special from the rest.  Also have a good business plan and emphasize quality in everything you do.

Q:  How has the internet helped/hurt your business?  The internet has helped my business through web sales and promoting my educational programs.  Many people have found me that would not have otherwise.

Q: How long has it taken for your website to pay off?  The first year I put it up I t paid for itself, although it helped that I did most of the designing.

Q: What things have you done to promote your website?  I list the web address on all my cards, brochures, ads, etc. and have linked to other sites.  I could probably be doing more.