A wing and a prayer

Among family and friends, David and Heather Sandberg renewed theirwedding vows and celebrated their 10th anniversary together withthe release of six dozen butterflies at Blackberry Farm.
For her niece's first birthday, Julie Roberts of South Knoxvillehad seven butterflies dedicated for the special occasion.
And in the back yard of her Anderson County home, Pat Swinneyarranged for the release of three butterflies to mark the baptismof her cousin's son, Michael Ferry.
"We said a prayer for the occasion, and we released thebutterflies. It was a pleasant and beautiful thing to do. Theparents really appreciated it," Swinney said.
Carving out her own little place in the Knoxville-area market,Laine Wheatley started a fledgling specialty business last monthcalled Butterflies of Windbell Cottage.
The 57-year-old-entreprenuer calls herself a "butterfly whisperer,"a farmer of sorts who breeds, cares for and sells butterflies andrelated accessories for events or home releases as well as giftbaskets.
It's a niche business that, with an increasing public interest inbutterflies, could see sales build over time.
"It just seemed to have all of this potential for creativity,"Wheatley said. "People, I've found, like the idea of knowing howthis works and to be able to release a butterfly into their owngarden."
Niche businesses provide a product or service that may be differentand unique or aimed at a specific group.
And small business owners often benefit from focusing on one aspector customer base in order to stand out in a crowded marketplace andultimately compete against bigger companies, said Larry Rossini,executive director of the Tennessee Small Business DevelopmentCenter.
"They need to find a niche and a reason for people to come," hesaid. "It's not always easy but that's the objective."
FINDING A NICHE
Wheatley had planned to start a business making and selling glassflowers for bridal headpieces when she came across something on theInternet about butterfly releases.
With her finances not quite lined up to start her glass flowerbusiness, Wheatley decided to buy $50 worth of butterflies.
"I started with 10. I was unprepared for how I was going to feelabout caterpillars because they're like worms," Wheatley said. "Isat for hours watching them and studying how they ate and what theydid. They're magnificent and beautiful."
Butterflies of Windbell Cottage was born.
Wheatley, who breeds and cares for the butterflies out of thedining room of her home in the Halls community, does butterflyreleases for various events like weddings, baptisms and memorialservices, but she also creates live butterfly arrangements as wellas chrysalis baskets that enable people to watch butterflies hatch.
She usually can be found every Saturday at the Farmers' Market onMarket Square, and her booth is hard to miss. With livebutterflies, it attracts a big crowd, especially children.
"I'm not making a lot of money but I am getting a lot of attention.People love it so much. It's good advertising," she said.
Bob Hess started a niche business of a different sort.
Everything Mushrooms specializes in rare and gourmet mushrooms. Thebusiness started as a result of Hess' personal interest in learninghow to grow his own and to help pay the bills.
"As an outdoor enthusiast, I've always had an interest inmushrooms. They have always fascinated me," he said.
Hess started collecting mushroom cultures from people who traded orcollected them from the wild. About five years ago, he began tosell them online and people started buying them.
"There's a small little community out there into this sort ofthing," Hess, 29, said. "It was surprising that it took off in theway that it did but we tried to package our products professionallyand treat our customers with the best possible kind of service wecould provide. I think that kind of separated us from other people.We're in this niche and that was probably part of the success."
About 90 percent of Hess' business comes from Internet sales. Justlast year, he opened a retail location at 619 N. Broadway.
"It's allowed us to keep growing and I still believe we have a lotof potential because there are a lot of options," he said.
GRADUAL EXPANSION
Niche businesses usually have lower marketing costs and the abilityto start on a smaller scale. That means the opportunity for successis higher because there's less direct competition.
And as the business grows, Rossini said owners can capitalize ontheir existing core customers by beginning to expand their offeringof other goods and services.
"A niche item or service may be your carrot to be competitiveagainst bigger companies," Rossini said. "It could give you accessto a specific market and then you could begin offering yourcustomers other items that they might want because people likebuying from one place."
For Hess, he started out small selling mushroom cultures andgradually added other related items like books, ready to growmushroom kits, outdoor garden patches, mushroom logs, supplementsand foods. He also offers workshops and classes.
"They were all low-cost items we were able to secure without a lotof capital, so as we added more products, we would get more andmore customers because they would buy more and more stuff from us.They wouldn't have to go somewhere else for it," Hess said.
And because butterflies are a seasonal business from April toOctober, Wheatley said she plans to expand beyond just butterflies.
"I'm already thinking, 'How do I expand this? What can we do to addto it so it's just not butterflies?' " said Wheatley, who hasalready planned a butterfly migration festival this fall inStrawberry Plains.
She eventually hopes to collaborate with local florists to providebutterflies with customer's floral arrangements and is working onseveral recipes for butterfly food like her Muffin Delight andButterfly Berry Brew.
From October to Christmas, Wheatley wants to focus on craftproducts like butterfly bird feeders, garden mobiles, T-shirts andaprons. And from February to April, she plans to hold variouseducational classes.
Wheatley has also started plans to begin work on a series ofchildren's books featuring butterflies.
"They're just so inspirational," she said. "They just touch theimagination."
Business writer Carly Harrington may be reached at 865-342-6317.