WESST Client Profiles

Patricia Mcclure-Reedy has been a busy woman for the past nine years. Tesoro Integrative Health Center is the third business she’s opened since 2003 when she started selling her Wild Child Creations tie-dyed clothing line at the Artist’s and Farmer’s Market in downtown Las Cruces on Saturday mornings. She continued teaching full time while trying to build her business.

Two years later, Patricia became a WESST client in hopes of increasing her sales so she could quit her teaching job and devote all of her time to the clothing business. She attended WESST’s MarketLink program in Las Cruces and soon moved her studio into another artisan’s shop in the historic village of Mesilla where her sales increased. Then, in an effort to expand sales beyond New Mexico, she created and managed her own website.

During the next few years, Patti embarked on an ambitious plan for a truck farm, utilizing her country property. She bought organic seeds, created planting beds and developed an irrigation system for her second business, Food-for-Thought Truck Farm. Her outside beds housed a variety of plants like mixed greens, squash, and watermelons, to name a few.

In the spring of 2007, Patti attended the Individual Development Account (IDA) program at WESST, where she saved $600 that was matched by $2400. The monies from IDA were used for a greenhouse to house her tomatoes and herbs. Her tomato yield was so successful that she dehydrated a large portion which resulted in a deliciously sweet product for which she hopes to find a market niche.

In 2008, Patti moved her Wild Child Creations out of the shop in Mesilla and into her barn where she set up her dying operations. She continued selling at the Artist’s Market and online. To increase hits and wholesale clients on her website, she entered WESST’s Search Engine Optimization program. The results were exactly what she needed.

Patti’s latest venture began with her need to have a location in town for practicing Reiki, a form of metaphysical healing. Today, Tesoro Integrative Health Center, offers an array of healthful products and classes like Yoga, Reiki, drumming, meditation, and essential oils. This business utilizes the skills of other healers who rent space and time in Patti’s building.

She recently moved into a larger building that Patricia says has the perfect energy and setup for the contractors who teach classes or provide services. Even though the building is much larger in space, the expenses are about the same.

According to Patricia, it’s difficult to find a small business these days that can support the owner 100 percent. Her clothing business does well, but the economy has caused sales to drop. Her truck farm business is seasonal, so, in order to make a living year round, without going back into teaching, she had to think of a business that offers products and services to a larger target market and Tesoro Integrative Health Center was born. She feels Tesoro has a lot of quality services to offer a variety of people.

She says a whole new world has opened up in learning about e-commerce, organic farming and now, starting the Health Center. In talking to her, a person can quickly recognize that she is a consummate entrepreneur, putting her efforts into making all of her businesses successful.