Two years after she tamed the dragon on the CBC’s reality entrepreneur show Dragons’ Den, Margot Woodworth is enjoying increased sales, enhanced business acumen and a touch of celebrity.
Since securing a deal with ‘dragon’ Jim Treliving, the Boston Pizza magnate, Woodworth has seen sales of her evergreen seedlings soar. Treliving’s $73,000 in backing, coupled with her TV fame, has boosted the profile of Evergreen Memories, the Dryden-based business Woodworth started 14 years ago after moving to Canada from Germany.
“There has not been one single day in two years where people haven’t phoned or placed an order saying, ‘We saw you on Dragons’ Den,’” Woodworth said. “That is incredible, because it’s such an event product.”
The seedlings, cultivated at Dryden’s Tamarac Nursuries, are snapped up by couples looking for unique takeaway gifts for their wedding guests, while corporate clients give them away as promotional items. Now Earth Day, April 22, is shaping up to be one of the company’s biggest days of the year.
Woodworth said she can make direct links between Dragons’ Den reruns and a boost in sales.
After a rerun of the show in June, “our sales went up 50 per cent in July and August—that’s huge,” she said. “Even the producers said to us to have those two minutes on TV would cost half a million dollars in advertising. Who could ever do that in a small company?”
Evergreen Memories gained even more exposure after being featured in Treliving’s book, Decisions, which was published last August. The purchase of the company was featured as one of Treliving’s smart business decisions.
Despite taking a 30 per cent stake of the business, Treliving maintains a hands-off approach, letting Woodworth run the business pretty much the same way she has for the last 14 years. The seedlings are still cultivated by Tamarac Nursuries and packaged in Dryden. Although, following the increase in volume, Woodworth has had to increase her staff by eight during the busy summer months.
Giving up a portion of her company was a worthwhile tradeoff for Woodworth, who gained invaluable guidance and business connections. She now works with several marketing companies on behalf of clients seeking her products, including for an upcoming fundraising initiative involving sports clubs across North America.
In demand with business crowds as a guest speaker, she has appeared, on occasion, with Treliving to tell her story. During one appearance in Vancouver, at which she admits to being starstruck, 325 tickets to the event sold out in 20 minutes.
For Woodworth, the speaking engagements are an unexpected, yet rewarding, result of her TV appearance.
“I think that’s the part that I personally enjoy the most, when it inspires somebody else to really think outside the box,” she said. “Don’t let doubt and fear hold you back.”
Growth at the small company has been manageable, Woodworth said, and retail expansion is coming soon. Evergreen Memories is creating a new product, a grow-your-own-tree seedling kit geared towards consumers looking to commemorate special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and memorials. It will be available in garden centres across Canada this summer.
Woodworth was also poised, this spring, to receive some local recognition for her success. Evergreen Memories was nominated for the Environmental Stewardship Award through the Dryden Chamber of Commerce, which was to be awarded on April 26.
Humbled and flattered by the recognition, Woodworth said that success and happiness reflects on a person’s attitude towards life and business. As she likes to say, “‘Can’t’ is just four-letter word.”
“There’s something about your legacy and purpose,” she said. “When you help other people it always seems to come back to you.”
