Meet Leigh Haubach | Founder of KnowGreenValley.com

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leigh Haubach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leigh, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I moved to Green Valley, AZ from San Diego, CA in March 2020, right after my plans to travel indefinitely were upended by the pandemic. Green Valley is a 55+ community south of Tucson. My mom has lived here for over 15 years, so I was familiar with the location and recreation facilities included when you buy a home here.

Since I had just become “old enough” to purchase a home in the deed-restricted Green Valley Recreation area, that’s what I did, then took an 18-month contract remote marketing job for a large med-tech company.

As the pandemic eased and the various activities available in this area came back online, I was struck by the fact that in order to find out what was going on, I had to visit numerous websites or found no website at all. People don’t generally leave Yelp reviews for businesses here either. There was just a vacuum of information about the various services, professionals, medical providers, and local things to do.

Jen Chapman Creative in Phoenix helped me build a website, then I put my digital marketing
skills to work building out the content for KnowGreenValley.com, creating social profiles, writing blogs, adding stock and my own photos, and painstakingly adding the listings for the following categories:

– Events
– Food & Drink
– Health, Wellness, Beauty
– Government, Services, Utilities
– Recreation
– Retail
– Professional Services
– Things to Do

The website has been live for some time now, but I didn’t promote it much because I didn’t want users to discover a site with so few business listings that it wasn’t helpful. Now that I have over 300 listings, I’m beginning to promote the website.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Back in the 1980s, my husband was in the US Air Force and we were thrilled to have our first assignment in England. Many spouses got jobs on the base, but I went to the growing town we lived in, which was itself experiencing a tech boom, and found a job as a COBOL programmer. I had taken one COBOL class at San Diego State University and I faked it until I made it learning how to code for a medical information system using Unix. COBOL is now considered an old-fashioned programming language, but the coding principles are the same using any language. Apple’s IOS is based on Unix so those skills are still relevant.

I changed jobs to work for Digital Equipment Corporation, a large computer company that used to be only second in line after IBM. I learned to be a software instructor, teaching Unix and various programming languages.

When we moved back to the US, I worked for a few different tech companies in San Diego in jobs like technical customer service, lead generation, sales support, and marketing.

I was lucky that I was able to stay home with my kids when they were little, but when I wanted to re-enter the workforce, I needed to update my skills at a local college. I studied web and graphic design, which segued well with my previous, pre-internet career. My skills now included user experience design, HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, InDesign, and familiarity with Illustrator.

As a new digital marketing specialist for a large community center, I created dozens of email marketing campaigns every week. I managed 11 Facebook pages and two Instagram accounts. I learned AdSense, and AdWords, and kept two websites updated in HTML/Dreamweaver. I’ve always been a decent writer, so I used my writing to improve the SEO of the websites there.

I became a digital marketing contractor for a variety of businesses, but some that I learned the most from were working for two different printers. The printing industry is clearly going through a rough transition as the world moves to digital, but I was able to greatly improve their websites, initiate their social media presence, fully populate their Google Knowledge Panel, and find new markets for them, including ComiCon.

During the pandemic, my life circled back to the medical field and I worked for 18 months for BD, a massive medical technology company. Among the many things I learned there, I learned the current lingo used in marketing and big business today, which gave me a lot of confidence in speaking about my latest venture.

The thing I’d like to pass on to anyone early in their career is that, if you’re learning a lot and growing, don’t worry too much about which industry you’re in, even if it doesn’t jive with what you think your career path should be. All of your experiences will come together to give you a full, multi-faceted set of skills as you reach your forties and fifties. Every day I use my writing skills from a strict tenth-grade English teacher, my deep understanding of how hardware and software work from the coding job in England, my public speaking skills from being a teacher, my digital marketing skills from a Jewish Community Center, and even how to get tee-shirts, yard signs, and business cards printed from working at a printer.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Southern Arizona is a beautiful and exciting place. If I had a week to show a friend around, we would have time to shop, spend time outdoors, and catch some great entertainment.

First, I’d show my friend around Green Valley. We have 19 recreation centers with gyms, pools, tennis courts, pickleball courts, ballrooms, and a variety of clubs and amazing facilities. The rec centers have a mix of activities such as the clay studio, woodworking, metalworking, jewelry making, art classrooms, ceramics, glass arts, and space for cards, mahjong, dancing, social clubs, the computer club, and the camera club.

Next, it’s time for some hiking in Madera Canyon at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains. Rushing streams and coatimundis might be some of the surprises you’ll find on this “sky island”.

Tubac is a very old town that has been turned into an art and culture center. Nearby is Tumacacori National Historical Park.

Two beautiful lakes are a short drive away, both close to Nogales, AZ. There’s Pena Blanca Lake and Patagonia Lake, near the quirky town of Patagonia. Also in this direction are two more old towns: Bisbee and Tombstone. Catch the reenactment of the Shoot Out at the OK Corral with Wyatt Earp.

Tucson is about 25 miles away from Green Valley and there the options for shopping, entertainment, and culture abound. A drive through the beautiful University of Arizona is nice and a stop on 4th avenue for dinner or a drink is always fun.

There are even more outdoorsy activities in beautiful Sabino Canyon and the long drive up Mt. Lemmon to Summerhaven, where you’ll find a ski resort. Strange rocks call hoodoos line the twisting road to Summerhaven.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Shoutout is to my mom, Carol Sammis. She’s retired but she has shopped for and made me dinner so many times so I could work late. We have dinner together almost every evening and she has listened as I talked her ear off over many glasses of wine!

My mom provided a sounding board as a local expert here in Green Valley. I bounced ideas off her and she gave me invaluable user feedback on KnowGreenValley.com.

My mom and dad owned a gourmet wine and cheese deli in Tampa, FL for 26 years. In our many conversations, my mom gave me the perspective of the business owner as we fine-tuned my business model.

Website: https://knowgreenvalley.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowgreenvalley/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leighhaubach/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knowgreenvalley

Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/knowgreenvalley/