Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Marjory Wildcraft: I was volunteering on a project to get locally grown organic food into a Central Texas elementary school. That project failed miserably and changed my life. The reason it was such a disaster was we found out there were not enough local farmers to provide even part of the vegetables to one small rural elementary school. I knew there are only 4 days of food inventories in the grocery stores and all of our food comes from over 1,500 miles away via a just-in-time trucking system. I could not live with myself seeing the potential horror of what could happen.
I did not know anything about backyard food production, but I knew I had to figure it out and teach others.
So I sold my successful real estate investing business and started digging up the backyard.
Great Companies: What are the various services provided by The Grow Network
Marjory Wildcraft: I teach people how to quickly grow lots of food even if they have no experience, are older, or out of shape. I offer this as a free webinar
The Grow Network has a huge forums area where more than 100 experienced homesteading volunteers from all over the world are online to help new people learning how to become self-reliant.
We have a newsletter that comes out 4x per week and highlights the latest blog posts.
We have an Academy full of in-depth courses that take you step by step thought the process of growing, cooking, and preserving lots of delicious food.
And we have a store with a variety of kits and products.
Great Companies: What makes The Grow Network different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Marjory Wildcraft: Our community of volunteers who are ready to help newcomers 24/7 everywhere on Earth. We often create games and fun challenges. We joke and laugh a lot. And we share resources and hel each other. The Grow Network community is non-politcal, non-denominational, and non-dietary oriented. Just a group of super friendly people focusing on solutions.
Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Marjory Wildcraft: Cash flow is a constant problem 😊 We take on a lot of projects that serve the purpose but don’t necessarily make much money. Honestly, I should have been completely bankrupt years ago, but there really is such as thing as divine intervention when you are doing good work.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for The Grow Network?
Marjory Wildcraft: Within 5 years we will have exploded by 10X at least. There are many reasons for this
Global food production has been down in every country on earth and food shortages are imminent.
18 publishers bid on my book and after reading the proposal, 5 of them said it would be an Amazon / NY Times Bestseller. That kid of exposure transforms a company.
Inflation and hyper inflation of the US Dollar will make food unaffordable to even the average person. Food prices have doubled in 2022 alone and much more is coming. People need real solutions that they can implement, and we are here to serve.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Marjory Wildcraft: Do what you love. No matter what you choose to do the chaellenges will be great. When the challenges come, you’ll need to fall back on the truth of you are doing this because you love it.