Today we’d like to introduce you to Shana Brendel.
Hi Shana, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My mother, Jean Brendel, married my father at the age of 19 years old. My mother was a farmers daughter and graduated from Goodrich high school but never had the opportunity to go to college. She married my father, William Brendel, who also came from a farming family, in 1945 and they purchased our family farm and moved there in 1947.
Jean worked for several antique auctioneers doing accounting for the sales a few days a month when she could get away from the farm work. She collected many unique antiques with hopes of someday opening an antique store on the farm.
When I was 8 years old, my father passed away leaving my mother with 3 daughters to raise. My mother tried to get a job but there were no opportunities for her at decent pay so she decided to run the Beef farm business they had built. This was no simple task to be a woman working like a man every day running the farm but my mother never complained and did what she had to to make it work. Later in life the cost of the property taxes made running the farm cost prohibitive so she sold 100 acres to a developer who built the Fox Chase subdivision which left 10 acres including the house and barns, remaining from the family farm. In 2016 I was looking for extra income to support my own family and my mother encouraged me to open White Blossom Farm Boutique on our family farm. My mother passed away in 2021 at the age of 95. She lived on our family farm for 75 years. I purchased the farm my sibling in 2022. I started out selling antiques and transitioned to selling Amish and French Country furniture also. When covid hit in 2020, I added home decor and other items because many people were staying home and making improvements to their home decor. Today I have three barns on the property where I sell fresh grown garden produce and hay along with furniture, home decor, woman’s clothing, western boots and hats plus unique gifts and holiday merchandise. For 8 years I ran White Blossom Farm Boutique opening only on the weekends while also working a full time job. I definitely developed my strong work ethic and grit from my mother after working many days on the farm by her side. I have now added a custom trailer that I use to sell my merchandise out of when traveling to nearby shows. I have several people that assist with running my farm store when I am on the road attending shows and marketing my business. We are located at 4942 White Lake Road, White Lake, MI 48383. We are open on Saturdays from 10 am – 5 pm and Sundays from 11 am – 4 pm.
We hope you come visit soon!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle being an owner of a small business is doing all of the office tasks while still trying to physically run your business. You have to wear many hats and juggle a lot of different tasks.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I worked for a large beverage company for 28 years in sales and operations but was recommended for early retirement this year after 28 years. I am not quite old enough to retire so my hope is to grow White Blossom Farm income enough to support my family vs. going back to a professional career.
My strongest attributes from my professional career would be my sales and marketing background.
I am most proud of the time I spent developing customer relationships and supporting charity events and also a new service platform for our company that drove significant net revenue.
What sets me apart from others is I have a very strong work ethic and am strong at developing customer relationships.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Being successful is not about how much money you make or what material items you own but about defining our own description of what what success looks like. For me, success is about focusing energy on developing relationships with customers and treating them positively so they return to your store again and tell their friends about your business. Family is very important to me and I feel like you have to treat every customer like they are part of your family. This will create more positive vibes about my business and help it grow bigger.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whiteblossomfarmboutique/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whiteblossomfarmboutique
