It is nice to know the person behind a shop.
So here you get the story of my wonderful journey with FRESH SPROUTS, and how my sprout story started purely for training purposes.
Why did I start FRESH SPROUTS?
My name is Miriam Sommer. I was born in 1977 and I am the woman behind FRESH SPROUTS. My education is cand. mag. in Danish and Communication from the University of Copenhagen.
The story of FRESH SPROUTS started in 2010. At that time I worked part time as a copywriter at a small publishing house and had my own communications company on the sideline.
I wanted to sharpen my professional skills, so I had hands-on experience in the latest online development for the benefit of my clients.
That is why I decided to build my own brand.
The idea for FRESH SPROUTS
I had fIVE requirements for my test brand:
- My brand had to be innovative, so that it did not disappear in the mass of competitors.
- The topic should interest me now and in the future.
- The brand should somehow benefit the climate.
- My work should benefit others, so I got readers and thereby useful feedback on my efforts.
- The brand should be able to grow in all directions to provide an online ‘playground’ for me.
My choice of topic was easy. At that time I was living on raw food, and although there was a very limited selection of sprouting seeds here in Denmark, I had grown sprouts intensely for many years.
Therefore, I was naturally interested in learning more about the small nutritious plants. If I could share my knowledge and benefit others along the way I saw this as pure gain for all. The first thought of FRESH SPROUTS was born.
Time for the drawing board
My first thought for FRISKE SPIRER was not a company with a webshop and a sprouter in my own design. In fact, my idea was just that the company should be a pure hobby.
However, I knew from the start that I wanted to build a brand that would make a difference in some way. In part, it should serve to develop my skills within communication. In part, it should contribute to readers being able to learn how to grow sprouts themselves.
My hope was that sprout cultivation would become more popular in Denmark one day. It could provide new options for health seeking people as sprout cultivation is both easy, fun and possible in any home.
Then I thought through all the possibilities for my company idea. Sprouts were far from a trend in Denmark in 2010, so there were no other sprouting companies. With the right branding, however, interest could be built up quietly. So my idea lived up to all my goals and dreams.
And so I created the Danish blog FriskeSpirer.dk.
The FRESH SPROUTS book
The Danish readers were delighted with the website, and I soon received important feedback to develop it further. Soon it was time to expand with a book.
I wrote the book partly because – like all people – I had a book in me. Partly because the book sale could cover some of the cost of my many plans to improve the website. I decided to publish the book myself as I had worked at a publishing house and knew the process very well.
To my great delight, the Danish health food stores, libraries and readers welcomed the book. As soon as I could, I invested in better photo equipment for better photos, videos and social media.
I completely loved my little hobby project as it challenged me on all professional levels. I soon spent 20 hours + each week developing the brand alongside my freelance work as a copywriter.
A webshop for Sprouts
Now, there is not so much fun in sharing a lot of knowledge about sprouts if readers cannot get hold of sprouting seeds to grow all the sprouts.
There was only a small selection of sprouting seeds in a few stores in Denmark in before 2013. I missed the great variety of organic sprout seeds I could see abroad. I wanted the luxury of choice for my Danish readers too.
That is why I started importing organic sprouting seeds and opened my Danish webshop in 2013. The expansion had another advantage: I could get revenue from the project to finance the growth.
It was a decision that changed everything for this project. Suddenly it wasn’t a hobby anymore. My knowledge of marketing was put to the test and expanded daily. I became a little more business woman every day.
Time to go international
As part of my vision and need to make the project financially sustainable, I decided to slowly expand to the rest of Europe. The marked in Denmark was just not big enough to sustain making a living of my dream.
By 2013 I was still half and half on my communications company and FRESH SPROUTS. But what if I could actually make a living completely from FRESH SPROUTS? I had to try as I have always been a natural born entreperneur.
So in 2013 I published the book in English as well and slowly started building the blog in English. At that time WordPress was still young, so I worked in a Danish system and had fun testing new marketing theories all the time. I did everything myself from text, photo, SEO, marketing, video, design and packaging. Fortunately, I am a stubborn entrepreneur so I kept going.
A beautiful pearl Sprouter
My passion for sprouting and the joy of taking pictures of the little beauties planted a great desire in my heart: To create a beautiful and functional sprouter to grow the lovely, little plants.
I had long since made thought out the design for the sprouter, and had saved up for the tool since 2010.
My dream finally came true in the fall of 2016. After a long search I had found a skilled Danish plastic manufacturer who was willing to create the molding tool for me and produce my design. So in January 2017, my beautiful SproutPearl sprouter was ready for the marked.
It was then and is still today produced in Denmark.
Cleaning up the brand
From 2017 and until 2020 I have spend my time learning to create a brand. This may sound simple, but changing from a home made hobby project to become an actual brand is a journey. It is a different way of thinking as you start to build your company from inside out to make it sustainable for future growth.
I am still learning every day. To think design. Take better pictures. Learn how to optimize my time. Write texts with both input, soul. and SEO. The next big project will be to create videos too. It is safe to say: I love the proces. But learning to create new videos must wait a little.
Because in january something interesting happened…
Learning to think differently
In the spring of 2020 I met an interesting guy. I have always listened to podcasts with entrepreneurs, but this was the first entrepreneur who was willing to coach me week by week. We formed a great friendship and learned from each other every day.
He tought me all he knew about being a growth entrepreneur and it is safe to say I was eager to learn. Since then I have done my best to merge my knowledge of marketing and branding with his tips on growth.
So during 2023 I will grow this English blog to match the Danish version + another big step that I will wait to reveal just yet. But I look forward to sharing it all with you very soon.
The future of FRESH SPROUTS
As you can probably sense, I have big plans for FRESH SPROUTS. I wish you and all green lovers have easy access to enjoying home-grown sprouts year round. Therefore, you can look forward to innovative initiatives from me in the future.
If you like this website and would like to see FRESH SPROUTS grow and share even more knowledge via blog posts, videos and newsletters, then you are very welcome to make a purchase in the shop.
Another great help is a link or reference to FreshSprouts.net. If you are writing an article on sprouts or microgreens feel free to contact me. I would love to assist you with pictures and feedback. All I ask is a link to this site, so it may grow on Google.