Garrett Applegate, the person behind The Orchard.

It started with a trip to the beach. I was looking for a local shop to check out and found one with no website, no social media, not even a Google listing. I hesitated before I ever walked in. As a Business Development major at UNCW, that hesitation stuck with me: the business itself might have been great, but online it looked like it barely existed. That gap between what a business actually offers and how it shows up online became the idea behind The Orchard.

I dug into it further during my capstone project, researching how much revenue local businesses lose every year from not having a website or a Google Business Profile at all. That research is what turned the idea into something real.

It's a play on my last name, Applegate. But it's also how I work: you can plant a single apple tree and hope it does well on its own, or you can build an orchard, something structured, tended, and planned. That structure is what turns effort into a business that actually grows, and it's what I want to build with every client.

Usually it's a small business with little to no online presence. Not because the owner doesn't care, but because they've been too busy running the business to think about it, and they're hitting a wall where an online presence has quietly become essential.

I was raised right here in the Piedmont Triad, in Kernersville. I'm not a faceless agency, I'm someone just starting out, building The Orchard alongside the businesses I work with. It's mutual: they're helping me grow a business, and I'm helping them gain the visibility theirs deserves.

I'm a 2026 UNCW graduate with a degree in Marketing and Business Development. But I've been running businesses since high school, buying and reselling sneakers and clothing. I've always made my own money and always wanted to work for myself. The discipline isn't new, it's just who I am.