Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Levins Ellie Marshall
Hi Jacob Levins, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Our journey began when we took a vacation to North Carolina for Jacob’s birthday. During our time there, we planned a day trip to Gatlinburg, TN, and stumbled upon Savannah Bee Co.’s store front. We tried practically every honey they were sampling and fell in love with the honey diversity provided by a bee’s nectar source. When we made our way back to North Carolina, we went to a family owned farm (Darnell Farms) who also had bee hives and a variety of locally grown produce. Jacob has a brother and sister-in-law (Jeremy and Danielle) who live in South Carolina and before we went back home, we stopped by to give them a visit. Danielle mentioned that there was a vacant lot behind their house which she was considering purchasing for chickens. In that moment Jacob said “Chickens? Why not get bees. They are much less maintenance than chickens and they provide delicious honey.”. Danielle said she has been interested in bees and will think on it. As our vacation came to an end, we began our drive back to Winter Haven. In the car Jacob looked at me and said “Why don’t we do bees?”. In the moment I didn’t think he could possibly be serious, “Me do bees? I’ve never been stung in my life and am terrified of insects” were some of the thoughts running through my head. I didn’t want to shoot down the thought and began researching “how to become a beekeeper”. That led us to joining our local bee club and going through a Saturday workshop where we got to do inspections on the club’s beehives. We instantly fell in love with it and two months later decided to purchase our first two beehives which we placed in Jacob’s Uncle Billy’s cow pasture in Haines City. Initially we opened our apiary to provide raw and unfiltered honey but decided to branch out into beeswax and honey based skin care and home goods after 3 months. Here we are one year later with an entire skin care and home goods line, including the first beeswax and beef tallow lotion hand made in Polk County. We are excited to also be announcing that some of our products will be featured in 4 locally owned stores by 2025. Healthy Habits Winter Haven being our first to launch retailer.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As first generational beekeepers, the first year was full of tremendous learning opportunities filled with its ups and downs. Our biggest challenge was when we experienced colony loss due to an unknown disease. Being new to beekeeping we did not notice the early signs of disease and had lost our colony as a result. A few other challenges we experienced was hurricane season with the bees and the prep work to make the hives secure. Also, making colony splits so the hives do not swarm, and catching bee swarms for our local community. Not only did we face challenges with beekeeping but there is also the challenge of the business ownership behind the scenes. We have worked together to learn how to make an LLC, be within tax guidelines, accounting, marketing, and sales strategies for our business. A fun obstacle we tackled was making the perfect skin care formula for all of our products by finding the right balance of ingredients to make you and your skin happy.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Outside of Hive Happy Honey we both work fulltime jobs. Jacob works in the Utilities Sector and Ellie works in the Grocery Industry. We both fulfill our own unique roles Hive Happy Honey. While we both work the bees together, Jacob’s business experience aides in the sales, accounting, manufacturing, and purchasing processes for the business. Ellie’s experience assists with marketing, design, and public relations for the business. We are most proud of our community and the support they have provided us. Without our community, we would not be anywhere near where we are today. We are most proud of how the business serves our community. The thing that makes us both unique and sets us apart is our work ethic. We aren’t afraid to work late nights, early mornings, or to start working after we get off from our days jobs. We are willing to pull out all the stops in order to ensure the success and longevity of our business. We also care very deeply for our customers and take time to get to know them and a bit about their lives while we enlighten them about the wonders of honey and honey/beeswax- based skincare products.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Just do it. Starting a business is a lot of work but if you are passionate, dedicated, and see yourself doing it in the long run, the time and effort is undoubtedly worth it in the end. Your work ethic will get you to the place you deserve. Starting our we wish we knew how labor intensive beekeeping was. More experienced beekeepers make it sound simple but the bee boxes get heavy and it is a lot of work to run healthy hives.
Pricing:
- Beeswax and Tallow Lotion: $8-$20
- Honey Sugar Scrub: $10-$18
- Raw and Unfiltered Seasonal Honey: $4-$25
- Lip Care: $4-$8
- Headache Relief Salve: $9
Contact Info:
- Website: https://HiveHappyHoney.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hivehappyhoney/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HiveHappyHoney
- Other: https://hivehappyhoney.square.site
Image Credits
Brianna Phillips
