Past Winner Stories
Cottage Garden
www.cgcollections.com
Orders dried up and growth declined. “The problem is, it took us nearly two years to fully accept it,” says Angela. “We should have taken drastic steps to cut overhead and conserve resources, but we believed the downturn was temporary and wanted to protect our employees.”
Tapping a credit line at the local bank only delayed the inevitable. By July of 2003, their line of credit of $1.2 million was exhausted, their credit cards were maxed out and sales still fell. “We were beyond making hard decisions,” says Angela. “The same decisions we used to make every day in the first years with a small staff and limited resources seemed difficult and unnatural. Our managers were second-guessing every decision and had become totally reactive in fear of losing their jobs.” The Timms faced the cold reality that their business would not survive.
On July 11, 2003, eight-months pregnant Angela was at home with their two-year-old while her husband was at a trade show in Atlanta. A hard rain suddenly stopped. It became still and the sky turned an eerie color. Their home was hit by an F2 tornado that crushed a third of the brick home, blowing out the windows, tearing off the roof and destroying the children’s bedrooms. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Just hours after the tornado hit the Timms’ home, their original staff arrived and pitched- in to patch up the home and care for the family. Next came the business.
“We had all become so fearful of what was happening in our business we had forgotten what we were capable of and how strong a team we were before managers and complicated systems,” Angela confides. “Soon we were back living in the basement of our home, and with remarkable clarity, we knew exactly what we needed to do.”
The Timms let all their managers go and revealed the company’s position to those remaining. “We told them they had helped us survive a tornado in our personal lives and we needed their help to survive the tornado in our business,” Angela says.
“The team seemed to function as one,” she recounts. “They unloaded containers even if it meant two people per box, shipped orders even if they were unfamiliar with the process, answered the phone even if it was not their responsibility and offered valuable suggestions for quick improvements in process and products -- all from a team with no management experience.”
By the end of 2004 the Timms had reinvented their company with a new line of products, new systems for almost every process and no management team beyond the two owners. “Frankly, it was no longer needed,” Angela confides. “The team managed themselves. Those with the most experience stepped up and trained those with less. They were rewarded for their contributions, not their titles. This effort was championed by me and my husband, but at more than one point it almost felt as though the employees owned the company and we were just fortunate to work for them.”
Today, Cottage Garden is the leading manufacturer of sentiment-based music boxes in North America, with sales of more than 600,000 units annually and 2007 gross sales and profits 300% higher than in 2000-2001 -- with a team just over half the size.
The company no longer has to advertise for new team members, Angela says. “People know our reputation and gladly work hard in this environment. All the experience or education in the world does not make you valuable,” she says. “What does is caring about something as if it is your own. It gives you a reason to go to work and, truly, most people with real talent can manage themselves. We’ve learned that a company is not owned by one person but by everyone who is committed to it.”
Cottage Garden, a wholesale manufacturer of sentiment-based gift products located in Bainbridge, IN, was on a roll. Husband and wife team Angela and Mark Timm had started the business in their home in 1996 and enjoyed a doubling of sales every year for the next five years. Anticipating continued growth, the couple built a warehouse and distribution facility in Bainbridge and hired more staff. With 35 employees, they were on pace to once again double sales when the tragedy of September 11, 2001 struck.
Orders dried up and growth declined. “The problem is, it took us nearly two years to fully accept it,” says Angela. “We should have taken drastic steps to cut overhead and conserve resources, but we believed the downturn was temporary and wanted to protect our employees.”
Tapping a credit line at the local bank only delayed the inevitable. By July of 2003, their line of credit of $1.2 million was exhausted, their credit cards were maxed out and sales still fell. “We were beyond making hard decisions,” says Angela. “The same decisions we used to make every day in the first years with a small staff and limited resources seemed difficult and unnatural. Our managers were second-guessing every decision and had become totally reactive in fear of losing their jobs.” The Timms faced the cold reality that their business would not survive.
On July 11, 2003, eight-months pregnant Angela was at home with their two-year-old while her husband was at a trade show in Atlanta. A hard rain suddenly stopped. It became still and the sky turned an eerie color. Their home was hit by an F2 tornado that crushed a third of the brick home, blowing out the windows, tearing off the roof and destroying the children’s bedrooms. Fortunately no one was hurt.
Just hours after the tornado hit the Timms’ home, their original staff arrived and pitched- in to patch up the home and care for the family. Next came the business.
“We had all become so fearful of what was happening in our business we had forgotten what we were capable of and how strong a team we were before managers and complicated systems,” Angela confides. “Soon we were back living in the basement of our home, and with remarkable clarity, we knew exactly what we needed to do.”
The Timms let all their managers go and revealed the company’s position to those remaining. “We told them they had helped us survive a tornado in our personal lives and we needed their help to survive the tornado in our business,” Angela says.
“The team seemed to function as one,” she recounts. “They unloaded containers even if it meant two people per box, shipped orders even if they were unfamiliar with the process, answered the phone even if it was not their responsibility and offered valuable suggestions for quick improvements in process and products -- all from a team with no management experience.”
By the end of 2004 the Timms had reinvented their company with a new line of products, new systems for almost every process and no management team beyond the two owners. “Frankly, it was no longer needed,” Angela confides. “The team managed themselves. Those with the most experience stepped up and trained those with less. They were rewarded for their contributions, not their titles. This effort was championed by me and my husband, but at more than one point it almost felt as though the employees owned the company and we were just fortunate to work for them.”
Today, Cottage Garden is the leading manufacturer of sentiment-based music boxes in North America, with sales of more than 600,000 units annually and 2007 gross sales and profits 300% higher than in 2000-2001 -- with a team just over half the size.
The company no longer has to advertise for new team members, Angela says. “People know our reputation and gladly work hard in this environment. All the experience or education in the world does not make you valuable,” she says. “What does is caring about something as if it is your own. It gives you a reason to go to work and, truly, most people with real talent can manage themselves. We’ve learned that a company is not owned by one person but by everyone who is committed to it.”