Business Strategy Meets Rural Tourism at Breath of Dawn
The SWVA Regional Tourism Gathering brought tourism professionals, small business owners, community leaders, and regional partners together at Breath of Dawn to connect, share resources, and talk about what it takes to grow tourism and small businesses in Southwest Virginia.
Breath of Dawn founder Jessica Monroe also spoke during the gathering, bringing together two sides of her work: the business strategy she has spent years helping other businesses and organizations implement through Wing Strategies, and the real-world experience of putting those same strategies to work in building Breath of Dawn.
Jessica is a business strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of Wing Strategies, where she helps businesses and organizations turn ideas into clear strategies, stronger visibility, and sustainable growth. After relocating to rural Southwest Virginia, she turned those strategies inward to develop Breath of Dawn, a 35-acre educational homestead and growing tourism destination in Russell County.
From developing new revenue streams and guest experiences to building partnerships, securing tourism resources, marketing a rural destination, and creating a recognizable brand, Breath of Dawn has become a real-world case study for the strategies Jessica has spent years helping others implement.
During the gathering, Jessica shared several of the lessons that have shaped both her work with other businesses and her own experience building something from the ground up.
Jessica Monroe of Wing Strategies:
Business Growth & Leadership Takeaways
Small business ownership—and leadership in general—can be daunting. Sometimes it feels like we’re just trudging through the muck. That’s why it’s so important to get together as a group, share our successes and challenges, and remind each other that we aren’t doing this alone.
Here are my Top 3 recommendations and encouragements for small business owners and leaders:
1. Be willing to pivot.
Always remember to pivot—and be okay with a little bit of a shift or change.
We can become very committed to our goals and convinced that we have to do something a certain way. But sometimes, that isn’t the case. Sometimes the best thing we can do is make a small shift.
I love small business and helping other people build something. But we don’t always give ourselves permission to build something for ourselves.
For Jessica, Breath of Dawn became that pivot. After years of helping other businesses and organizations develop strategies for growth, visibility, partnerships, and new opportunities through Wing Strategies, she began applying those same skills to something she was building for herself.
Today, Breath of Dawn serves as both a growing Southwest Virginia tourism destination and a living case study in what can happen when strategy moves from advice to action.
2. Keep your priorities to a Top 3.
This is something I use when coaching clients, and it can be applied to your day, your week, your month, or whatever timeframe makes sense for your goals.
As small business owners and people in leadership, we can have a running to-do list that feels 50 miles long. Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, identify your Top 3 priorities.
Every day, every week, and every month, ask yourself:
What are the three most important things I need to accomplish?
Work on those first. Check them off your list.
On days when you have plenty of energy, you can tackle that longer list. But on days when your energy isn’t there, things aren’t going your way, or you simply aren’t feeling your best, you can still know that if you accomplish your Top 3, you’re doing okay.
For me, my Top 3 are often centered around revenue-generating activities.
For the first three years of building Breath of Dawn, I was focused on building infrastructure. Now, I’m focused on building jobs.
In order to continue growing our infrastructure and creating jobs, I have to make sure I’m focusing my time and energy on activities that generate revenue.
That’s why I put a Top 3 on everything.
3. Use the tools and resources available to you.
There are resources available to small businesses that we sometimes overlook simply because we don’t know they exist.
For small businesses and tourism-related businesses in our area, one important resource is Virginia Tourism.
For example, some of my advertising and business cards were paid for through a Virginia Tourism grant.
If you’re a small business owner, take the time to find out what grants, programs, partnerships, and other resources are available to you.
You don’t have to build everything alone.
Final Encouragement
Small business ownership and leadership aren’t always easy. There will be seasons when things don’t go according to plan.
When those moments come, remember:
Pivot when you need to.
Focus on your Top 3.
Use the resources around you.
And most importantly, keep going.
About Jessica Monroe
Jessica Monroe is a business strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of Wing Strategies, where she helps businesses and organizations turn ideas into clear strategies, stronger visibility, and sustainable growth. She is also the founder of Breath of Dawn, a 35-acre educational homestead and growing tourism destination in Southwest Virginia, where she has put those same strategies to work developing new revenue streams, guest experiences, partnerships, and a recognizable rural tourism brand. Jessica brings those real-world lessons into her consulting, speaking, and content creation, sharing what happens when strategy moves from ideas to action.
Breath of Dawn | Educational Homestead in Southwest Virginia 