How often in life do you get the chance to pursue your passion and do good while doing it? That’s what Michael Carr has been able to do with launching Bee My Blessing, a social enterprise that educates the public about saving the bees and provides fundraising opportunities to local organizations.
Bee My Blessing is located in Jefferson, Georgia, which just so happens to be designated as a “Bee City USA” so it works on so many levels. Perhaps that citywide love of the bees is why Bee My Blessing needed to grow, and recently raised $48,020 from 41 investors with Honeycomb Credit!
(And of course, they’re working with a platform called Honeycomb Credit, I mean, how perfect is that?)
Saving the bees and growing a small business!
Michael Carr is also known as “The Abundant Life Broker,” with a successful career as a real estate agent and consultant with other real estate firms. He climbed the ladder to become America’s Top-Selling Real Estate Auctioneer, and has been involved with selling over 78,000 homes.
However, real estate isn’t his only passion. Michael began keeping bees in his backyard as a hobby, and soon that hobby grew into a business opportunity. Well, more than that: it became an opportunity for him to promote good in his community through a product he sees as not just sweet but life-sustaining: honey.
“It’s my philosophy that if all organizations could operate at the efficiency and effectiveness of a beehive, we’d already be in heaven on earth,” says Michael.
Michael soon developed Bee My Blessing as an organization that raises bees and harvests honey, which local community organizations like churches, scout troops, and sports teams can use to raise money for their needs. It hits upon two important needs: educating the public about the importance of bees and raising money for organizations that need it!
Growing from a backyard honey farm to a community support system
While Michael initially fronted the costs to start up Bee My Blessing, his goal with it is to make it a self-sustaining small business that produces honey and aids in the fundraising for these community and humanitarian efforts. He realized that to do this, he needed to upgrade his current beekeeping set up to something a bit more sustainable.
He plans to hire a full-time beekeeper, invest in more bee hives and equipment, put up a building with a honey kitchen where they can process the liquid gold, and of course all the working capital and inventory to grow as well.
In order to raise the money for these changes, it seemed like a natural fit that this organization that lifts up the community would ask the community to invest back in them in return. So, Michael decided to raise money for Bee My Blessing’s next step with Honeycomb Credit, a platform that allows small local businesses to raise money in the form of community investments. This means that Michael’s neighbors, customers, friends, and family can invest in Bee My Blessing for as little as $100, and get paid back plus interest.
Michael ended up more than doubling his minimum fundraising goal and raised $48,020 from 41 investors in his community! This will get him a great start at getting the working capital he needs to grow Bee My Blessing into the community-centered small business he knows it can be.
Local business owners are busy as bees, we know
Which is why we want to make it easier for you to get access to the funding you need to reach your next step! We know that often small business owners get the runaround from banks when trying to get a loan, so why not look to your community to help you access that capital?
Learn more about Honeycomb Credit by filling out the form below: