GENEVA, Ohio – Penny Bowers-Schebal, 55, begins her mornings amid the pastoral settings of her goat dairy farm in Austinburg, Ohio. She tends to her goats and peacocks at sunrise, embracing the farm life. This small rural town, home to fewer than 600 residents, serves as the starting point for her day before she heads to her bridal shop just a short drive away in Geneva.

“I begin each morning in barn boots and end each night in pearls,” she said. “I suspect it will be a work in progress until the day we leave or die.”

After her post-farm duties, she shifts her focus to her thriving wedding gown business. Formality Bridal is in an expansive 4,000-square-foot space that once housed a church and reflects her entrepreneurial pivot from farming to fashion. The bridal shop stands out with its unique business model. She buys discounted last-season gowns from major retailers, and sells them to local brides for up to $999, which is $1,000 less than the average wedding dress, she said.

Her business venture has proven quite successful as Formality Bridal has already amasses more than $313,000 in revenue in the current fiscal year.

Bowers-Schebal pays herself about 20 percent of Formality Bridal’s annual revenue, which last year shook out to approximately $57,000. It’s not the most money she’s ever made, but she works less than 25 hours per week, has a growing business and feels fulfilled. She defines her success not solely in monetary terms, but also in achieving work-life balance and fulfillment.

“We’ve always been able to pay our bills, pay our employees, and then there’s some left for me in my pocket, too,” she said.

Though she always was fond of rural living, her connection to the farm came by way of her husband, Alex. Alex grew up on the farm where they now reside. Alex grew up with FFA and concentrated on agricultural mechanics. He has a background in showing grand champion steers as well. Alex was rooted in farming and Penny was going to be a part of that.

Alex’s mother passed away and divided the 110 acres into three parcels for her three children. While Alex’s sisters sold their land, Alex kept the 33 acres, which still had the house, barn and crop land.

“Farming was not in his sisters’ heart and soul but it was definitely in ours,” Penny said.

The farm was once a large producing dairy farm for its time, but sat idle the past 20 years. The couple inherited the farm in 2016 and continued to raise corn and soybeans, but opted not to deal with dairy cows.

“When we got here it looked held together by duct tape,” Bowers-Schebal said, “and we had no intention of making it into the dairy business. Dairy farming is difficult and when we got here there were no animals and we started filling the farm back up with animals.”

Penny and Alex now tend to a multitude of free-range chickens, peacocks and Great Danes. Her favorite farm animal, she said, are her six goats.

“We raise crops, but I also wanted to do something to make the farm useful again, so I added the animals. I especially love the goats. They appeal to me because they’re curious, intelligent animals. They made me feel like I’m on a real working farm.”

With the goats she harvests their raw milk and makes soap from that same milk.

Prior to Alex inheriting the farm, this husband-and-wife duo owned and ran a wine shop in Lake County, Ohio. They sold the shop and invested the proceeds ($158,000) into farm repairs. They decided if selling corn and soybeans would be more cost-effective, and currently earn just enough from the crops to break even.

The farm wasn’t profitable enough to finance a brick-and-mortar retail space, but Bowers-Schebal had savings of her own. She withdrew nearly $25,000 to buy a 1,200-square-foot office space and opened Formality Bridal’s first location (by appointment only) in June 2018.

In 2021, Formality Bridal outgrew its office space. Bowers-Schebal put $48,000 down on the abandoned church in Geneva. There are racks of gowns where the pews used to be, and brides-to-be literally walk down an aisle surrounded by 150-year-old stained-glass windows.

A couple weeks after moving, Formality Bridal brought in $10,000 in weekly revenue for the first time. “I felt like a millionaire,” she said.

Living off the land made Bowers-Schebal consider sustainability of all kinds, not just farming and food.

She thought about the short shelf-lives of bridal gowns. They’re typically worn once, and deemed out of style within weeks of hitting shelves. She also thought back to a previous job at insurance giant Progressive, where she learned to “cultivate strategic relationships,” she said.

Eventually, she sent a pitch to boutiques across the country: Don’t throw your out-of-season dresses away, I’ll buy them at a discount. She reached out to larger bridal shops that weren’t in neighboring cities. Within a year, the company gained enough customers to become profitable.

Bowers-Schebal plans on opening a second location. A profitable trajectory is imperative. Two years ago, her husband suffered a stroke and couldn’t work his full-time job at an airline repair center. He maintains the farm and receives disability benefits, but the couple largely relies on her income. The two locations could bring in a combined $1 million in 2024 revenue.

If her bridal business ever collapses, Penny says she has the goat farm to fall back on.

“This farm allows me to have a foot in the professional world and the agricultural world,” she said. “I feel fortunate to be able to have the best of both worlds.”