As my followers may recall from my 2nd blog post "2: Fan-Girling a Local Beek", I am crazy about the owner of Willow Wood Honey Farm, Tracy O'Brien.

Starting from my first show of interest in beekeeping this last summer, Tracy has been friendly, supporting, and offered some great referrals.

Plus, let's get real, her products are fantastic!

I guess it's fairly common for people to be very enthusiastic when they initially take an interest in beekeeping, but then when they discover what it actually takes to do it, they lose interest and the beekeeper that invested the time ended up wasting it.

Tracy kindly informed me that she couldn't take me into her apiary because of potential liability issues (I discovered later that this is very common), but referred me to a couple other learning places and social media groups.

I compare it to people who approach me and want to learn ASL...this happens all the time.

Well, as I learn about beekeeping, my interest only grows, but initially I was much like the annoying curious newbie's ignorantly bypassing beekeeper etiquette.

"Oh hi there! How about you teach me everything you know in

one afternoon and show me your sanctuary containing your most

precious assets, I'm sure you have time."

Dang it, I was "that guy", and to Tracy! She was so kind about it.

I kept showing up to the Kootenai County Farmer's Market, kept interacting with her posts on social media, and kept asking questions.

The post I mentioned before was after we met for me to pick up honey and I think it was then that she saw that this wasn't just a fleeting interest for me. The information she gave me about beekeeping in general, local beekeepers to follow, and what to do next was fantastic.

She sent me several suggestions for YouTubers to watch as well, which I did. Plus, her explanation of Ted Workman's role in the beekeeping community there was what led me to my rad experience with him, documented in post "6: Ted's Bee Yard".

Our communications continued and I just grew more fond of Tracy. She and Ted both began reading my Bee Blog posts which was incredibly encouraging to me.

I honestly didn't think that a couple of veteran beekeepers would be interested, but they were. I now see why...I don't even have bees yet but would love to read someone else's journey into that world.

So, I became comfortable enough to ask Tracy about her business name and logo, these things are a common interest for me, especially the logo.

For those that don't know, I'm an amateur graphic designer. I do it because I enjoy it, but because it's also a desired skill, especially for small business owners.

Through the years when I've done graphic design for family, friends, and acquaintances who own small businesses, I do it as a favor, or for trade.

One risk of trading is that most folks don't know how time consuming the graphic design process is when making logos, at least for me. If I'm making a logo, I'm not usually doing it just for fun, I'm trying to match a person's vision of their business. So, I enjoy it, but it typically takes anywhere between 20-30 hours of work to create a logo start to finish. If a person doesn't understand that time investment, I typically don't like doing it for them.

Well, when I asked Tracy about her logo she told me that it was one of those clip art things she found like, 10 years ago.

She said she asked 2 different graphic designers to redo it, but it didn't work out- mostly because the graphic designers didn't understand anything about bees.

Well, this was excellent news for me!

I started asking her questions to help me see her vision, it's so important to see their vision because their business is such a significant part of them.

Then, I started sending her ideas thereby beginning the process.

Since we didn't actually discuss payment, I had to assume I was doing it for free, which I would have done happily for Tracy, but it would have hurt my feelers for me to realize that she didn't value the work I put into it.

Well, after lots of back-and-forth, we landed on her new logo:

What do y'all think?

I like how it turned out and Tracy does such a great job with her branding, she'll make it great when she incorporates it on her products, etc.

Willow Wood Honey Farm Social's: Facebook, Shop on Etsy , Instagram

So after I uploaded all the different formats and logo combinations so she had access, she then asked me how I'd like to be paid.

I was being kinda evasive because I didn't know what she knew about the graphic design process, what she had to offer (if anything)...I just didn't know her expectations. And again, I went ahead without previous discussion of payment, so I couldn't assume.

Really, what I wanted from her more than anything was to see her apiary and have access to her with bee questions. I knew this may not be doable for her, but that's what I wanted more than money.

Well, here's our conversation:

She did ask me to keep the relationship on the down-low because she turns people down all the time when they ask her for informal classes, mentoring, and even general beekeeping advice. That makes a lot of sense to me since I was one of those people.

I love that. I feel honored and blessed!

She did mention that it was fine to explain it all here in my Bee Blog and I asked her again to make double sure and she said it was good.

So, my scheming paid off!

I get to see Tracy's apiary and she'll help me with my bees next year!

#BeeBlessed

Photo by J. Steven Robertson of Emmisoure Photography and https://bees.photo