The story of Deb Matthews, owner of North Shore Gardens, Ketchikan, Alaska
This interview was first conducted in 2018 and updated in February 2022.
Deb and her husband moved to Alaska from Michigan, intending to continue their long-time occupations. For Deb that was respiratory therapist, but after just 8 months, she knew the job in Alaska wasn’t for her. She was living in a tiny town with not many options and she had no business experience. Then synchronicity kicked in: a suggestion from a neighbor and the discovery of a long-forgotten IRA. Deb’s intuitive nature, her ability to commit, stay focused, and creatively address challenges make her a way-shower – someone who shows us the way. She’s an inspiration!
“I didn’t want to come here and feel like it was a failure for me, a failed part of my life and I knew we were going to be here. So I picked my second passion and then all the stars lined up and it just made sense. But the thing that’s the coolest is, I know I will leave this place better than when I came.”
“Have you ever been or are you at that place where you just know where you’re supposed to be? It just has worked out and there’s no doubt in my mind at this moment in time, this is where God wants me. It’s where I’m supposed to be. I don’t feel like I’m swimming upstream.”
Ketchikan, AK, is located on Revillagigedo Island and is accessible only by air or boat. It has a population of approximately 14,000 residents.
You worked as a respiratory therapist in North Carolina and in Traverse City, MI for 40 years. In 2014, at age 58, you and your husband moved to Ketchikan, Alaska. What made you leave your established life in Traverse City and move to a small town in Alaska?
We were ready for a move. I’d had the same job for twenty years. We’d had custody of our grandchildren for three years. We wanted an adventure, something fun and different.
You moved to Ketchikan, thinking you would be working at the hospital.
Right, this is how my life happened. From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be in the medical field so that was never in question. But I grew up gardening, so gardening became my therapy.
I came here after 40 years of being a respiratory therapist, planning to work a few years and then retire. Things just fell into place when we moved. I was going to work in the hospital, I loved the town. But the job just wasn’t a good fit for me. I felt like a failure when I lost it. I didn’t want to leave Ketchikan and my husband was still under contract to the hospital. He’s still there today.
How long did you work at the hospital?
Only 8 months. That’s after working in Traverse City for 20 years. We lived in a garage apartment in Ketchikan and I was talking to my landlady about being unhappy at the hospital and she said, “You oughta go buy the nursery north of town. It was a nursery that was pretty run down, didn’t have a water system of any kind. It’s a catch-it system here, we don’t have water wells. That’s what people drink here, the rain water they catch. One of the fascinating things about this place is its huge mass of rock.
Just as she told me that, oddly enough, I found an IRA that I had forgotten about and that gave me a little bit of a cushion. I had completely forgotten about it and remembered it just when I turned 59 1/2, so I could take it without penalties or paying the federal government anything.
That got me started, but not much more. There was no real inventory at the place. A lot of love and hard work was required. So I made the down payment.
How much was the IRA that you cashed in?
I think it was $28,000. The sellers also carried me for $30,000. There’s a lot of barter that goes on here, it’s how people do things in Ketchikan. They just work around things to make it work. I make a $6,000 annual payment to the sellers for 5 years.
I worked with the Small Business Bureau right in town because I had never run a business, had never thought I would run a business. I knew nothing about retail, nothing about shipping. I went to the Small Business Bureau and worked with a lady, Linda, for about three months. She helped me do all of the paperwork that I needed to take to the bank. She made me do a business plan and a five-year plan.
When you began speaking with her, had you made the decision to buy the business or were you exploring it at that point?
No, I made my mind up as soon as I left the hospital. I knew I was going to do everything I could to buy the business. This is a tiny, little place. 12,000 people here year-round. In the town itself, paved road area is only 43 miles, end-to-end. There’re a lot of roads in town, but not much is developed on the highway. As a respiratory therapist, there wasn’t another place for me to go to work if I were going to stay here. Respiratory is so limited, you know, you can’t go to a doctor’s office and work. It has to be a hospital setting and there’s only one hospital here.
In working with Linda, did the numbers look good right away or did she say, What are you thinking???
She said, What are you thinking? I’m going to tell you, the economic environment is different here. There’s a lower than average number of college educated people. They value their common sense a lot more. They live off the land. It’s just different here. So, yeah, she did tell me she thought I was crazy. I left her office a couple of times in tears. But I wasn’t deterred. I just said, no, I’m gonna do it.
Was your husband supportive?
Yeah, he’s always supportive. This is my thing, you know. This has pretty much been mine. He has a job. He comes out on the weekends sometimes and runs the register for me when it’s real busy.
What was it like, going to the bank, when you had all the numbers together?
It was so easy at the bank! I had all the paperwork. I didn’t even start with a line of credit. They didn’t offer me one and I didn’t ask. So I ran the business the whole first year on credit cards. I had a small business credit card, $10,000. Personally, I had excellent credit, so I had a good amount of credit on personal credit cards.
The second year I finally said, maybe I’ll go get a line of credit. There was a lot of money going out buying plants and not much coming in during the slow period. I got a line of credit for $20,000 and I haven’t used it yet. I just had a new roof put on the greenhouses. I’m so excited! I’m just putting everything I make back into the business. I’m paying myself a small wage.
In the summertime, I had 5 or 6 employees. As it turned out this year, I’m going to have 4 paid employees and the state is giving me two employees where they pay wages and unemployment. It’s a vocational rehabilitation program.
You’re going into your third year. You haven’t used your loc, so essentially, you’re generating enough income to meet your needs.
Well, it could be better. It’s a good thing that my husband has a good job because he’s been able to take on the lion’s share at home. We have always kept separate finances. What I do is, I have a couple of small credit cards that I pay. I’ve taken my vehicle into the business so I buy gas, insurance, and everything through the business, which I didn’t do last year. Every year it’s getting better.
The truth of the matter is, if I stop and think about what I’m doing, I can get paralyzed and overwhelmed. I can’t do that. I just have to focus on showing up and doing what’s right in front of me, the best I can. It’s gets done and I’m amazed!
You’ve been through two seasons, so you know pretty much what to expect financially.
Well, it just keeps getting better. Last year was horrible in terms of getting through my winter because I didn’t know what to expect. Would I need extra work? So I went and subbed at a couple of the schools here in town. I took a job for 4 days as a road flag man. That’s a state job here in Alaska and it paid $55/hour. I earned $2,000 in four days.
This year I didn’t take another job. Last year I didn’t know if I’d have enough money in the bank account so I did a lot of other stuff. This year I just focused on sales through the winter. Now, after having had that season under my belt, I know to prepare for the lean months. November, January and February are the slowest months. Right now I’ve got house plants and stuff and no water. I have to tote my water. I did get water, but I haven’t had the plumbing done, I haven’t winterized it yet. But I will. This place needed a lot of back-breaking work and now it’s starting to look like a real nursery.
It’s beautiful in the summer. I have a photographer who comes and goes, does wedding photos or whatever she has going, in the greenhouse.
Even though I’ve gardened all of my life, this is the hardest gardening I’ve ever done. There’re some real good gardeners here. We don’t have dirt, not very much dirt at all on top of the rocks. It rains a lot and the rain washes away the nutrients. So you have to keep adding nutrients. And they do a lot of container gardening because the dirt on the ground is bad. You have to add a lot of top soil so most people will grow things in containers because there’s more control that way.
Did you do a lot of researching on gardening in this area?
No. I did a master gardening class in the 1970s. But that was in North Carolina, so you know how much good that did. I have to tell you this, since I went thru chemo and radiation, my ADD has gotten so much worse that it’s really hard for me to read. The last 15 years. Most everything I’ve done here, I’ve learned not from reading, but from local gardeners. They’re really good teachers. In Traverse City, my garden was all shade. We lived in a maple forest. There, I couldn’t do a vegetable garden. Here, people do a lot of that so I do a lot of plant starts and it’s awesome. Like that whole sustainability thing.
You and I both have gone through the ordeal of breast cancer. You’ve said that was one of the major challenges of your life.
I got married in 2002. In 2004 I was still a newly-wed when I got breast cancer in 2004. I had chemo and radiation, a bilateral mastectomy. It was a horrible thing. I did 10 surgeries in about 6 months. For 6 – 7 years now, I’ve found that radiation took out a big chunk of my immune system. So I do IV boosts at home. Cancer made me stronger and it made me forgetful.
Are you feeling more comfortable as a business owner? How do you feel going into your third year compared to how you felt at the beginning?
Oh my gosh, there’s such a difference. First of all, I can see the fruits of my labors. Things are getting better. The roof is getting repaired. It’s working aesthetically, things are getting better. I feel good.
But I have to tell you, last year was a horrible year. I forget the number of days it rained. My business took a hit. I had a greenhouse full of flowers. So what it forced me to do was find a way to save them. I had lights in my greenhouse. A quarter of the greenhouse is done in grow lights. That helps. But I still had stuff that was just not thriving after sitting in an orange pot for so long. I had to diversify, figure out what to do. So I started making hanging baskets. Gardeners were so discouraged with the weather, they didn’t want to plant a garden. But they were having company so they would buy a basket for a flash of color. And I made it work. And what I learned from that was more confidence in creating my own hanging baskets.
How do I feel about it going into this year? This year, I have a great team lined up. I’ve bartered with some of the gals who work for me, the gals who come in on delivery day. So that works out. And Mike said, be careful, taxes!
I have a lady who just retired from working with the City. She’s going to be working with me this year and she’s an incredible gardener, she’s lived here a long time and I’m really looking forward to working with her. One of the little girls who will be coming back, I got her when she was 14, she’s 16 now. She’s coming back, she’s so funny. She’ll be moving these big hunky trees and she’ll look at me and say, “We don’t need no stinkin boys.” And then, you know the other ladies, I’m fired up about it.
The uncertainty again, is the weather, always.
Then the local thing is my competition. I’m the only greenhouse nursery on the highway. But other people are selling plants. Walmart is my competition. We’re the second smallest Walmart in the nation, but they do bring in plants. And then there’s another gal with a shop just past mine, she does some other stuff, but it’s pretty neglected. She might not be open this year. Her family is well-established and she has another job, so I’m not wishing bad for her. But that would be a big boost for me.
In this business you have to be able to think on your feet and that’s the only reason I think I’m really good at it. You have to be able to figure out something else to do if it’s not working. If you can’t sell plants because the weather’s bad, you’d better start doing something differently or you’re gonna lose a lot of money. And you have to be able to be creative like that. The weather’s always my biggest concern.
Because the store had been a seasonal store in the past, and I wanted switch over, I had to find things to do. In winter I didn’t make a lot of money. So I made about a 100 wreaths from scratch, that’s the greens and everything. I had someone who helped me just a little bit. I did most of it by myself. This coming year I’m setting up sessions where you can come in and make your own wreaths. Everything’s there and I have this little machine. You have to find things to do. I started doing houseplants with a specialty in succulents through the winter. I set up a little grow light in the gift shop. I sell high dollar, organic chicken feed and those sales are going up. The cool thing about it is, people come in and share their ideas with you. People have good ideas. A local watercolor artist – lots of artsy people here – gave me a great idea the other day. Why not barter out a couple of flats of plants during the winter. They can bring them back in the spring. Another thing, I try to sell local as much as I can – berries, flowers (starts). I have an open door policy, cash or barter, however you want to do it.
You know, what I’m seeing run through this is that so much of this is you. It’s your personality, it’s your willingness to take on this risk. You talk about wonderful employees. Well, you get wonderful employees by being a wonderful boss. The creativity that you show, you don’t give up, you say, okay, what can I do. I think it’s phenomenal.
Well, thank you. I think it’s pretty much if I want to survive. If you have a big greenhouse full of plants and they’re not selling, you’ve got to do something. This is funny. Last year I had this big idea to get in the first load of prim roses – the first spring flower here – by Valentine’s Day. The winters before when we had been here had been very mild. And then last year the whole month of March, the snow was like Michigan snow. And, you know, I didn’t lose a single plant, I don’t think, but I wasn’t really making any money until April.
How old were you when you started the business?
59 1/2. I was just about to turn 60 when I went to the bank and knew for sure I had money enough to get me in.
Generally, in your life, you said you knew you always wanted to be in medicine. You followed your gut or intuition. You did so in this business, as well.
This one was different. I didn’t want to come here and feel like it was a failure. When I turn 65, I want to sell and go because I’m too far away from family. I did have the whole family up last summer, but today is Mikey’s birthday, and he said, I just need grandbabbies hanging on. The lady at the small business bureau was so wise. She knew my age and made me do a five-year business plan. I’m thinking that when I leave here I should be able to walk away with at least $100,000 profit. The part that’s really significant is, I didn’t want to come here and feel like it was a failure for me, a failed part of my life and I knew we were going to be here. So I picked my second passion and then all the stars lined up and it just made sense. But the thing that’s the coolest is, I know I will leave this place better than when I came. That’s a good, good thing.
I feel like I did that at Munson. That I left with it being better than when I got there, not because of me, but I was part of the process. And that’s a good, good feeling. To me, that’s pretty cool and pretty satisfying.
Also, you are an incredible example to your family, to your grandchildren. They’ll have a great story to tell about their grandmother.
Well, they all wish me the best, they do. My grandkids and daughter will be here this summer.
Have you ever been at or are you at that place where you just know where you’re supposed to be? It just has worked out and there’s no doubt in my mind at this moment in time, this is where God wants me. It’s where I’m supposed to be. I don’t feel like I’m swimming upstream.
Would you describe yourself as a risk-taker?
Yeah, an adrenalin junky. Because my job at the hospital was high adrenalin.
You didn’t see yourself as an entrepreneur?
No, not as an entrepreneur, but I’ve always been able to make money in my life. Although I don’t have anything to show for it. Well, at least not a lot of money to me. I’ve just been blessed that way, even though I grew up poor.
What happened to your money?
Alcohol. Heck, yeah, I spent when I drank.
How do you feel about my mentioning alcoholism? What year did you get sober?
The second time, 2000. I had been sober for 8 years, then in 1996 went out again for 4 years. It’s okay with me to mention it.
I believe that there are gifts to be found in everything we experience. Are there gifts in your recovery experience that you’ve carried into your entrepreneurship experience?
You know, you just keep suiting up and showing up to do the next right thing in front of you and it’ll work out. I have twenty-one years in AA and I use the basic tools that I learned in the program. That’s what gets us through. Turning situations over, letting go of outcomes.
You have a lot of courage.
If Mike hadn’t been supportive I wouldn’t have been able to do this. It’s Mike’s working that has allowed me to put everything I make back into the business. I take money out, but he’s got my back.
I didn’t get real discouraged when the hospital position didn’t work out. I found other work and volunteered at the nursery for a season before I bought it.
I just had no idea what to do, but I started reaching out. When I decided to buy it, I just knew I was going to make it work.
Deb and I first spoke in 2018. In January 2022, I contacted her for an update. Again, the news was excellent.
I’ve been in Ketchikan seven years. I love it here, but I’ve got to tell you, it takes about five years for it to really grow on you. I’ve started traveling a lot more and that makes living here easier. I see my family more often. I have nine grand babies now! I’m leaving on Monday to fly to San Diego, where I’ll meet my daughter and her family for two weeks. I went home for Christmas. So I usually make it home about three times a year and then I bring a couple of grandchildren out during the summer.
You really do have a wonderful life, living in Alaska, building your business, and seeing your family frequently. Your photographs of Ketchikan are beautiful!
Thank you. I got a new puppy, so I’m in the woods a lot more and taking a lot of photographs. I like that.
It’ll be 6 years in June that I’ve had the business. I’m going to be putting in a coffee shop as part of the business, pending approval on zoning by the County Commission.
The other nursery closed so my only competition in town is Walmart. I also supply flowers to the hardware store, where they sell my plants. They came to me and said, we’re going to do this. Will you get our plants for us?
I still put as much back into the business as I can. This year I’m doing irrigation. Hopefully, I’ll build a new shed. I bought the shack for the coffee shop. I still have to buy the coffee maker but will have enough money in the bank to pay off the business. Should anything happen, I’m completely solvent!
What a great position to be in.
At my age, I don’t want to take risks. So everything I do is a pretty sure thing and adds to the value of the business. Since I last talked with you, I’ve had a road put in in the back, along with drainage, and they’re getting ready to build a little area to draw water from. So there’s always a lot going on.
You said in 2018 that your goal was to eventually walk away with a $100,000 profit. Is that still the case?
Oh yeah. I’ve exceeded that. I took a failing business and turned it into a profitable business. I never ask why, I just stand up and show up.
What would you want to say to other women?
Follow your dreams. Don’t ever think it’s too late or that you’re too old. I mean, I was fifty-nine years old going into it. And the only thing I can say is, I’m not looking to quit towards 70. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.
How has Covid-19 affected your business?
I made more money during the first year of Covid-19 than I’ll ever make again at this store. It was incredible because people were staying home. You know, nobody was working and everybody had a garden that year. It was phenomenal. This is a tiny town, right? I had a $16,000 day. It’s just crazy how busy I was!
How did you handle safety during Covid-19?
We stayed open, but I limited the number of people who could be in the greenhouse at one time. I did phone orders, where people picked up their plants at the door. There was a lot of that the first year, now not so much.
Deb, I’m thrilled to hear about the success of your business and the life you’ve created for yourself in Ketchikan. Thank you for telling your story and being an inspiration and way-shower to us all.
#inneredgewisdom #intuition #synchronicity #courage #clarity #focus #creativity #nevertoolate #inspiration