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A lot of people who want to start farming, don’t start because they focus too much on what they don’t have and not enough on what they do have.
Land’s too expensive.
Lack money to start a farm.
Common complaints that you hear about starting up a farming enterprise.
And I will fully acknowledge that those constraints are very real. But let’s put those constraints aside today, and focus on what is possible.
Possible by all of us.
Everything that we are going to talk about today deals with getting better and NOT spending money.
If you stop and think about it, there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your business, make your business more competitive, and attract more customers that’s free.
If you ever feel like you are at a disadvantage because of what you don’t have, start looking at the situation in terms of what you do have, and what you can do, because it’s a lot of those things that will make the difference and give you a leg up on the competition, money or not.
Today’s episode is us exploring this idea – of what are some of things that you can do to make your farm better, without spending much or any money.
NOTES FROM THIS EPISODE ON WAYS TO GET BETTER:
- Take good records.
- Analyze those records.
- Enact changes based on that.
- Take some time to reflect.
- Go mode versus be smart.
- What is working, what isn’t.
- Trouble shoot problem crops.
- Pushing uphill versus downhill.
- Are you fighting battles that don’t need to be fought.
- Flow around things, path of least resistance.
- Talk to other growers, experts, consultants.
- How long do you want to deal with a problem on your own versus getting help?
- Could be free, could be cheap.
- Continuing education
- Could be free or cheap
- Present your business in professional way.
- Call people back.
- Do what you a say you are going to do.
- Show up on time.
- Bring the right stuff.
- Send good quality product.
- Reject the bad.
- Farmers market presentation
- Don’t sit down all the time.
- Be engaging
- Know your customers
- Craft a story that engages people
- Tell the story as much as you can
- Build relationships with people of significance:
- Distributors
- Growers
- Restaurant owners
- Build a customer base
- Farm tours
- Social media
- Blog
- Podcast
- Facebook Group
Learn More from Curtis Stone:
Listen to The Urban Farmer audiobook