Women in Business: On the way to achieving your big-picture goal

Editor’s note: For our annual Women in Business issue, we invited women in our local business communities to share insights they’ve gained through their work in Western North Carolina. The first three questions were asked prior to Tropical Storm Helene. 

Salley Williamson is the owner and founder of Piney Mountain Farm, a local u-pick flower farm.

Xpress: What was the path that led you to founding your business?

Williamson: I was incredibly lucky to find our property, only 4 miles from downtown Asheville, in 2011 before the real estate market went nuts. Since then, I’ve enjoyed gardening, caring for our animals and participating in farmers markets, while also working in development for Open Hearts Art Center and being a touring musician with Underhill Rose. My daughter was born at the beginning of the pandemic, and my focus then shifted to being Mama. I dreamed of sharing the beauty of our farm with our community for many years. Now that my daughter is in pre-K, I am able to focus on bringing that dream to life at Piney Mountain Farm by sharing my passion for gardening through our u-pick flower farm.

What’s been the strangest aspect of running a business in Asheville?

Two things come to mind. No. 1: We receive regular phone calls and messages from real estate agents and developers asking if we are interested in selling our farm. (No, we are not selling!) No. 2: We’ve also experienced a major increase in bear sightings over the past year. It seems a connection could be made between these two aspects of living in Asheville.

How do you define success, and what should every entrepreneur know before launching a business?

Success for me is defined by the joy and satisfaction of our customers. A memorable, unique and worthwhile experience is our largest priority when someone takes the time to visit our farm and experience a connection with nature here with our flowers, farm animals and open, pastoral space. Entrepreneurship, especially for a small farm business at its start, is a major balancing act between the manual labor involved and the hustle of developing social media content and promotional materials and all the daily logistics of running a business. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, and a more constructive focus is celebrating the incremental tasks completed and checked off the list on the way to achieving your big-picture goal.

Follow-up question in the aftermath of Helene: How are you doing, and what is the greatest need for local business owners at this moment? 

It is amazing how a catastrophe can completely change your perspective overnight. Helene abruptly and rudely upended our lives and cleared our calendars. Prestorm, I was juggling a lot and concerned over things that just don’t seem to matter anymore. I imagine that a lot of our community can relate to this sentiment. Our flowers were mostly wiped out by the wind and rain. We had around 30 trees fall in total on our 5-acre property, destroying a farm truck and cargo trailer. But we are safe, our animals were unharmed, our house is intact, and we are tremendously grateful for that. I am grieving with our community and surrounding areas and looking to help however possible. I am also already dreaming of flowers to plant in the spring! The greatest need for local business owners seems to be monetary contributions and sales or online purchases.