24 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 05/2019She concluded that the e-commerce
side of the industry was ripe for
disruption because a lot of people—
particularly young people—weren’t
satisfied with the f loral arrangements
available online.
“Younger consumers were purchas-
ing far less often than previous gener-
ations, for the same reason I hated
sending my mom f lowers—they didn’t
like what was out there,” she says.
“You spend an hour sorting through
options on websites to find the least
ugly option, which shouldn’t be the
thing you say about f lowers.”
Stembel’s idea: Instead of adopting
the model of the big f lower companies’
websites, which offer everything from
red roses to Asiatic lilies, she would sell
only one arrangement that changes
daily, based on what’s in season. Stem-
bel launched Farmgirl Flowers in 2010
with $49,000 in savings. In 2015, the
company started taking orders outside
the Bay Area, relying primarily on social
media and word of mouth to drive traf-
fic to its website (FarmgirlFlowers.com).
Last year, annual revenues topped
$23 million. Stembel now has more
than 100 employees—including on-
staff bicycle and car couriers who de-
liver locally—and plans to establish six
distribution centers throughout the
U.S., which will expand the business
and reduce shipping costs.
The most-successful entrepreneurs
scale up with an eye toward selling
to a larger company, and that’s what
Stembel envisions for her enterprise.
Right now, she’s investing most of her
money in the business (she pays her-
self $50,000 a year and lives in a one-
bedroom apartment with her husband,
Neil) so she can expand as quickly as
possible over the next five years or
so. At that point, she’d like to sell the
company and use the proceeds, along
with everything she’s learned, to
launch another venture.
Taking a great idea or a special skill
and parlaying it into a successful busi-
ness is only one route to riches. Among
the people featured here, one couple
earned their first million by buyingThe Real Estate
InvestorsA
s a student paying his way through
college at Eastern Kentucky Uni-
versity, Jason Rector got tired of pay-
ing rent. “Every time I wrote the rent
check, the landlord’s net worth was
going up, and mine was going down,”
he says. That motivated Rector to buy
his first house. It was 2006—before
the housing crash—but properties in
Richmond, Ky., were affordable. Herental properties, and another
amassed seven figures—and retired
early—through a combination of sav-
ing and smart investing.
What these success stories have in
common is passion, patience and per-
sistence—and a vision for what their
wealth can achieve. Money may not
buy happiness, but having more of it
gives you the freedom to make choices
that can bring satisfaction, whether
that means buying your dream home,
escaping the 9-to-5 grind or giving
generously to charity.PHOTOGRAPH BY SETH LOWEMONEY COVER STORY