NatureSavvy’s pain relief healing salve.

The first sale is a big milestone for an entrepreneur, and hopefully, it’s a sign of more to come.

In July, Patricia Immel and her daughter, Sarah Butte, launched NatureSavvy, a line of organic, self-care products for amputees, and they have already sold three units of their flagship product: a pain relief healing salve.

Immel is especially encouraged by this early success because the product still doesn’t have a label and therefore hasn’t been widely promoted.

“We’re poised and ready to make a big impact on this market,” said Immel. “We want to be at the center of the conversation for amputees and their specific self-care needs.”

It’s perhaps no surprise that this mother-daughter team could develop a natural-healing product with so much potential. Immel is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, and Butte is a licensed horticulturist. But they needed the right business tools to complement their passion and expertise in natural medicine, so in March, they enrolled in the inaugural RAIN Coastal Pre-Accelerator.

“Since going through the Pre-Accelerator I’ve become much more interested in the business side of what we do. I want to look at what we can do better, and where we can take advantage of new opportunities. RAIN helped us build a better roadmap for how to be entrepreneurial,” she said.

The next step for NatureSavvy is raising awareness for the benefits of their product within the amputee community. Immel has already been invited to give a presentation at the Amputee Coalition’s National Conference next July.

“We understand that amputees have specific self-care needs related to prosthetic use. Our focus is connecting people to the healing powers of nature,” Immel said.