Our Origins: The Story of a Female-Owned Small Business

~ Natalia Radcliffe ~

We're already in the month of March! This month is also known as Women's History Month. To kick things off, we'll begin with a story about how Prospector Ranch was founded by Meggan Kimberley. To do that, we have to go all the way back to 2019 …

3 years ago, Meggan was working for the company Lionsgate Entertainment as Vice President of International Sales & Marketing. Her focus was Eastern Europe, Russia, and CIS countries. She sold films for television such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Gone Girl, The Revenant, Noah, and Marley and Me. The Twilight movies and the Alan and the Chipmunks series were especially huge in Russia and CIS countries.

Meggan also sold television shows such as The White Princess, The White Queen and The Spanish Princess, all based off of the books by author Philippa Gregory. She also sold the shows Black Sales, Ash vs Evil Dead (based off of the cult classic) and Power, a show still going on today.

At the time, the company was doing some layoffs, and Meggan was one of the people affected by it. She spent her new-found free time working on the ranch she bought with her husband and getting her resume up-to-date to market herself as an International Sales consultant. However, before she could get that off the ground, Covid hit and things changed.

It was always her intention to make a business out of her property, but Meggan didn't realize the opportunity would come so fast. Being a newbie in the world of an entrepreneur, she needed to find tools to help her start up her business. Michelle Perkins, the CEO of Limit Free Life and the woman Meggan worked with when updating her resume, started weekly zoom meetings for entrepreneurs. These meetings were so helpful and successful, and are still going on to this day.

Originally, Meggan wanted the ranch to be a location for filming and photography. However, because of Covid, she was understandably not getting a lot of traffic in that department. Then, she had the idea of starting an Airbnb on her property. Already having the experience managing one in Montana, she knew the ins and outs of the business. In 2020, people who were going out used Airbnb's more than hotels, so it was a perfect time to start one up at Prospector Ranch. She decided to use her vintage 1972 Ambassador Airstream as her Airbnb lodging. That, combined with having a site for people who use Hipcamp to go camping, became a steady source of income in the ranch's early days.

When staying at the airstream, guests can read about its history.

Starting up a business comes with its ups and downs.

One of the biggest challenges for Meggan as she was starting out was getting business during Covid. In the beginning, as everyone remembers, gatherings were advised against. This impacted a lot of the aspects of the filming and photography industry. For a while, the industry even came to a standstill. What was helpful was when small gatherings were allowed, the outdoor venue worked perfectly. 

View of the property from the saloon.

A quaint sitting space next to our saloon under the shade.

Another sitting area near our saloon.

A second challenge was getting the word out to people. Navigation in the virtual world isn't always easy. With the overwhelming plethora of businesses and brands fighting for the spotlight, it can take some time for a new voice in the crowd to be heard. However, Meggan is confident that as she continues to grow and improve her business, her brand's voice will become louder and louder.

The Small Business Association in Ventura was extremely helpful for Meggan when starting out. She could take classes in just about anything, all the while learning how to run a successful business.

The best part was that it was absolutely free.

Though there have been challenges along her journey, there have also been plenty of successes.

The ranch has served as a location for quite a few music videos, as well as many photo shoots for fashion houses.

The saloon is a popular spot on the property for photo shoots.

One of the ranch’s first big jobs in the film industry was being one of the locations for the show Jay Leno's Garage. In the segment, he interviewed singer/songwriter John Fogerty, former member of rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The episode was released at the beginning of this year.

** Fun Fact: during the photo shoot that day, it not only rained, we also got some hail, too!

The most well-known fashion shoot was Harpers Bizarre Magazine. They shot photos of couple Maddie Ziegler and Eddie Benjamin in the summer, and the story was released that September.

At the end of last year, the ranch served as a photography location for a magazine shoot with television show This is Us actor Jason Hartley. The article came out this January. He was a joy to work with.

Starting a business comes with its highs and lows, with pouring your heart soul into making a dream a reality. But, despite all that, it can also be incredibly fulfilling. Seeing your hard work pay off brings a sense of satisfaction, of seeing tangible proof your dream is moving in the right direction.

For Meggan, she's already halfway there. The dream she's striving toward with Prospector Ranch is seeing it run itself. Her goal is for more people to discover Prospector Ranch, to utilize the space for small gatherings, such as birthday parties or weddings, as well as a venue for filming and photography.

Meggan's come far since starting her business, and she knows she will only continue to grow as time goes on. We can't wait to see where Prospector Ranch grows from here!