From 1 to 1,000: How I Grew my Local Farm Customer Base
In this week's episode, James and Rachel of Shenk Family Farms (NC) discuss how the Farm grew a customer base from the ground up. Rachel shares her tips for beginning a Farm business, and how to establish consistency with Buyers.
For more Farm resources, visit: https://www.barn2door.com/resources
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Hello and welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast, the go to podcast for do it yourself farmers who are taking control of their own business, skipping the middleman and selling direct to local consumer and wholesale buyers. This podcast is hosted by Barn2Door, the number one business tool for independent farmers to manage their business, promote their brand and sell online and in person.
Let's dive in to today's Independent Farmer Podcast.
James Maiocco: Welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast. I'm James, the Chief Operating Officer of Barn2Door and your host for today's episode.
As many of our listeners may be aware, Barn2Door offers an all in one business solution for independent farmers who are cutting out the middleman and taking control of their own business selling under their [00:01:00] brand, and making sure their customers can purchase online and in person nice and easy. In today's conversation, we're going to dive into how do you grow your customer base from one to one thousand customers, right?
How do you build a base of buyers who can help you grow a business? And today, I'm happy to welcome back Rachel of Shenk Family Farm in North Carolina. Rachel is a part of our Farm Advisor Network and has worked with us for over four years. And since becoming an advisor, she's shared her wisdom on building a family farm, and serving their local community.
I'm very excited to welcome Rachel back and talk about going from no buyers to creating a loyal base of customers that support their family and provide a stable income. Welcome back, Rachel. It's great to see you.
Rachel Shenk: It's good to see you too. We're excited to be here.
James Maiocco: Well, thank you for taking time out. I know you are busy.
You have another child on the way. That's really great news, especially at this time of season. Let's talk a little bit about your farm for those joining us for the first time on the Independent Farmer Podcast, let's dive in a little bit more about [00:02:00] your farm and how you guys got started.
Rachel Shenk: Yeah. Yeah. So back in 2017, so about eight years ago, um, it's actually the year we found out we were pregnant with our first baby. We decided to raise some meat chickens and some laying hens in our backyard. At first, it was just going to be a side income, something we did for fun. But we still had other full time jobs.
But we gave the meat and eggs away to friends and family. And, everyone loved it. There wasn't any other farm raising meat the way we were at that time locally. And so, they told their friends and everyone was like, y'all need to start a business. So we, that following year, we started going to a farmer's market just once a month.
We started a little baby subscription program. You could choose how many whole chickens you wanted or how many eggs you wanted a month. Cause we only did whole chickens for the first few years. We kept it really simple. And then, I also took a farm marketing from the heart course that Charlotte Smith offered that kind of helped put winds beneath our sales a bit cause we didn't know what we were doing.
We didn't know [00:03:00] how to price our products. We didn't know how to find customers that were other than friends and family that were willing to pay the price that we needed to charge. And so, that kind of really helped me start to identify like our ideal customer and what that even meant and start an email list, but yeah.
We didn't really know what we were doing, so we were just kind of figuring it out on the fly.
James Maiocco: That's not unlike many entrepreneurs, right, who have a passion and a desire and some encouragement from friends and family to make it a business, right? Now, you guys, again, you said you were doing this just part time, right?
That's a big step to think about going from part time to actually making it full time, right? Obviously, a big part of that is to be able to generate enough income, to be able to support your family. Well, let's talk a little bit about building momentum, right? Because it's one thing to do it on the side, like you said.
What were some of the first steps that you took to actually start build momentum for your farm where you felt like you started getting some stable income?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, yeah. So, it took about three [00:04:00] years for us to go from like side income to full-time income. So, in 2020 is when we went full time, but in those three years in the beginning, it was a lot of just being consistent.
So even though we were only doing the market once a month, we said, we will be there the first Saturday of every month, and we were there when we said we were going to be there. People count on us. I sent out one email a month, but I was consistent with it. So people could always count on that. Either whether it's a recipe or just like our schedule of where we're going to be or that kind of thing.
And then, growing that email list, I always collected emails wherever we were, whether it was at the market or there was a few times we set up at local CrossFit gyms, and just shared about the farm, gave away some meat and eggs. Sometimes we didn't give anything away, we just shared about the farm and then collected emails.
And told them we'd send them a free recipe when they signed up, that kind of thing. And yeah, so I think the big part of gaining momentum was being consistent and then also growing the subscriptions, [00:05:00] even though it was still just whole chicken and eggs. That was also helpful because that was an income that we could count on.
So that was, practically speaking, that was, very good for growth, even though it was small sustainable growth. It was never like overnight and it was a lot of work. But over time that subscription program grew and that was kind of like the backbone of our farm, at least in the beginning.
James Maiocco: Well, let's break some of those steps down because you just shared a lot of really great things that have, you know, come to fruition over several years now. Let's start with the first one, which we talked about, which is being consistent, right? You know, you said you started sending emails out to your customers once a month.
You were always at the market, you know, once a month. Was there anything that was particularly challenging about that? Or things that were difficult? Or, I mean, when you first showed up at the market, did you have any idea what you were even doing? How did you find which market you even attended?
I'm just kind of curious.
Rachel Shenk: So funny story. Our first market we ever went to, we only chose this market because it was the closest one to us. We [00:06:00] live in small rural North Carolina near the coast. And all of the markets were about 30 minutes away from us. This one was 25 minutes. So it was the closest.
And it was kind of near a tourist town. So, we figured that might be a good place to start. And there was no other meat or egg vendors there at the time. The first Saturday we showed up, we showed up with 80 fresh whole chickens. So many coolers of fresh chickens, full of ice.
And so, the coolers were so heavy. We didn't even have a price sign or like a sign that said what we were selling. We had like our farm sign, but it didn't say like whole chicken and eggs.
James Maiocco: What is it? Hey, there's two farmers over there. I wonder what they're doing.
Rachel Shenk: And they were all in coolers, so, people
couldn't see what we had. So we just had this table with like an email list sign up and like our farm sign.
But yeah, the market manager was like, you might want to put up a sign that has your prices or what you're even selling. I was like, yeah, that's a good idea. I think we sold four out of 80 chickens that day. So that was a very humbling experience. So we've [00:07:00] grown a lot since then.
James Maiocco: So, what I hear there is like, when you're going to show up at the market, a couple things.
One is start small, right? You don't have to take all your inventory. Make sure you're communicating clearly what you're buying, et cetera. So that's, that makes sense. And then in terms of choosing that market, I am really kind of curious. So, you said it was the closest one. Have you stayed at that market?
Is that market proven to be a valuable market for you? It sounds like, being the only protein vendor there probably was a real advantage for you.
Rachel Shenk: Yes, it was. And there are a couple other protein vendors there now. And we had grown to actually doing three markets every Saturday, and now we've kind of scaled back and we're only going to that original market.
And that's the only market we go to every Saturday because that was our most profitable. But it did take, it took some time to build up a customer base because I also didn't do a lot of marketing before we showed up. We kind of just showed up and just expected people would buy and they did not.
We had to build that trust. Especially being a meat farmer, I think produce is a little different cause you can have it all [00:08:00] set out and it displays beautifully. But with meat, people are a little bit more leery. They want to get to know you first. It's a bigger investment of their money.
And they just want to make sure they trust you before they buy this meat product to take home. Yeah, so it definitely took a lot longer to market our product than I had originally anticipated.
James Maiocco: Well, let's talk about building trust because this is really important, right? You did say that you were collecting emails, so even if they didn't buy from you, you still had a signup sheet for people to give you their emails.
Rachel Shenk: Yes.
James Maiocco: Tell our listeners a little bit more about what you put in your newsletter. Like, how did you start building trust even from those people who may have just wanted to learn more but weren't quite ready yet to spend $35 on a chicken?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah. Yeah. So, one thing I did not have it at the first market, but I think maybe our third or fourth market, I had a collage of pictures of the farm so people could actually see how we raise the animals.
And then, the next year we started offering farm tours. So, even if they never came on a farm tour, just knowing [00:09:00] that we allowed people to come on the farm, to see the farm, to ask questions, that kind of gave them confidence. Like, hey, they're not trying to hide anything. They are farming with transparency.
They're showing us exactly what they do to raise their animals. And then, also, yes, the emails, because obviously I can't be face to face with all of our customers every week. So, the email list has been helpful to, to get in their inbox, stay at the top of their mind. We share pictures of the animals at the Farm.
We share pictures of the kids, farm stories, we share recipes, we share education, like what's the difference between a conventional store bought egg versus a pasture raised egg? What's the difference between conventional chicken and pasture raised chicken? How does it cook different? How do you prepare it different?
Or grass fed steaks versus grain finished steaks. They just cook a little different. And so equipping our customers on how to use our products to make sure like, Hey, yeah, you might spend $35 on this chicken, but I'm going to show you how you can get four meals out of this one chicken. And help create that value for them.
And then, you can make bone broth [00:10:00] too. And so that's another...
James Maiocco: Bingo!
Rachel Shenk: Couple meals. And so like making sure they're getting their money's worth out of it. Getting all the nutrients out of it. That definitely was helpful. Because I was learning as I went as well, when we first butchered our first group of chickens, I had never cooked a whole chicken in my life.
So I had to figure it out too. So, that was kind of my motto from the beginning, trying to figure out how to keep things simple, because I'm a simple cook, I like to eat good food, but I'm also a simple cook. So, that's kind of. how I picked the recipes, like what was the simplest, quickest way, but also something that tasted really good.
James Maiocco: Well, honestly, the simple things often taste the best. And I'm married to a chef saying that. I know, I know for a fact that, you know, like you said, you're making bone broth, those chicken feet and the chicken heads are great for making it more gelatinous and really tasty. You can use every part of the bird.
It's amazing and super healthy. So, I'm really happy that you're educating your buyers. Now you make a really important point about attracting [00:11:00] customers with, I love this idea of again, bringing pictures, a collage, help people understand more about your farm, when you're meeting them and online for that matter.
But the other thing that you said that I thought was really provocative is the fact that by inviting people out to the farm and offering tours, you're building trust, even though they won't likely necessarily come out. It's just that, openness or appearance of transparency, right? Talk to me a little bit more about that.
I mean, how has that changed the nature of trust or the relationship with your customers since you've talked to them about what you guys do on your farm?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah. Yeah. So, we only offer those farm tours a few times a year, so we don't have a ton of people that actually come out. It might be like a hundred people a year.
But we get customers, they're like, Hey, my neighbor came to your farm or Hey, my neighbor got something from you at the farmer's market and loved it. So I want to try it now, too. So, because we live, like I said, in a small rural community, it's all relationships. People [00:12:00] are not gonna buy something from us, especially, yeah, a meat farmer.
Unless they know somebody that has already tried it and says it's good. And that's maybe already been to the farm and can vouch for what we do as farmers. Like, hey, their animals are actually outside. They don't give them any antibiotics. They don't do anything, there's no weird chemicals, they butcher their own chickens, or like, hey actually I came and helped them butcher chickens.
We've allowed our customers to come help us do that as well. And I think, yeah, even if people never actually have that personal experience, if they know somebody that did, that speaks volumes to them and they will want to try it, even if they never had it themselves.
James Maiocco: Yeah, that is a great way to build trust and loyalty.
Huge, right? Well, let's talk a little bit about other avenues to buyers, right? So, going to a farmer's market, certainly a great avenue, but you also mentioned going to a local business, right? Going to, was it like a CrossFit or gym or studio? Like, how did that work out? Is that something you've seen being able to capture people who are really [00:13:00] into, personal health and well being.
Has that been a great way for you to access a different type of buyer perhaps?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, absolutely, especially the people that might not necessarily come to the markets because only a small percentage of people actually come to farmers markets. So, we were trying to figure out other avenues to get face to face with people.
And so, we had some friends that owned a CrossFit gym, so we had given them product, and then they were like, Hey, you want to come, share at our, they had some kind of like a Friday night events, they're like, Hey, you want to set up a booth and you can have five or 10 minutes to share about your farm and then people can come talk to you after.
And that definitely has been helpful. I would say there's only a few customers that are still like buying weekly from that group, but they have told their friends and like those people have become loyal customers. And so, it was kind of like a ripple effect. Which has definitely been very helpful for us because we don't ship, we don't do delivery.
So, the in person has been very, very helpful for us. Whereas if you are shipping or doing deliveries, maybe social [00:14:00] media would be a better place. To grow and spend your time. But for me, that was not a strength of mine, or at least I didn't feel like it was at the time, the face to face was a strength of mine, I thought.
And so I felt more comfortable doing those kinds of events, and talking to people and building relationships with people. And that kind of, yeah, that word of mouth just kind of grew from there.
James Maiocco: Yeah, there's no silver bullet to building trust, right? Like a big part of this, like you said, is shaking hands, meeting people, and it comes over time, right?
And putting yourself out there and being willing to talk with people, right? Which can be uncomfortable for some folks, but be surprised how many people are genuinely interested in farming and in health, especially today. I think health has become a part of the national conversation. With all the buyers that you've been able to grow, I mean, in growing a stable base of customers, you said you've gone from being at a few markets now down to just being at one market.
So, how have you migrated those buyers who you met in person to now ordering [00:15:00] online for pickup, right? Because I imagine you're not giving up that income. You've just probably made that income a bit more streamlined or more simplified for you and your family. Can you talk about how you made that shift and how you brought your customers along on that journey?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, yeah. So, it was 2020 when we went full time and then COVID, and then that's when we signed up with you guys because we wanted a more robust online ordering system, which was amazing. And so, that year we ended up doing, I think we were doing two markets a week. And then in 2020, we grew to three markets every week, with two pickups.
They could just order online and pick up, but those three markets, they could order online, they could shop in person. But it just got to be overwhelming, administratively, it was tough. And finding people to do those for us, because usually I would do one, my husband would do one, and we had a volunteer do one, or we would pay her with meat.
And it worked for a season, and it helped us grow our customer base really well, but we just realized it wasn't sustainable long term for us as a farm. Other farmers do like 20 markets a week and it works [00:16:00] great for them. It just wasn't the direction we wanted to go. And so then that next year we started doing a mobile farm store.
So, it's basically a trailer with chest freezers with our meat, and now we have hired someone to go to both of those locations that we used to do markets at but just a day during the week and only for two hours, the setup is super simple. You don't have to pay a booth fee. We partnered with a local business.
We just set it up in their parking lot. So, we do one of those on Tuesday afternoons, one on Thursday afternoons, and then the market on Saturday. And we have people that cover all of those for us now, which has been amazing. So, it's definitely more streamlined. We're still offering the in person shopping.
But, we have seen the online sales grow significantly. And another thing we've noticed is our revenue per sale is significantly higher online than it is in person. I think our average online sale is probably like a hundred bucks, whereas in person it's only like $30 or $40. And so, growing that online presence, and just equipping people, and reminding [00:17:00] them that we do offer the online store has been huge.
That's helped to grow our sales a lot, because people can sit down and think about what they want to cook for the week or for the month. And then, they end up buying a lot more than if they were to be put on the spot at the market, like, Oh, I don't know what, there's so many decisions, cause when people are put on the spot, they tend to not buy as much.
James Maiocco: Well, and at the market too, I know I'm often a pack mule when I go to a market with my spouse because she wants to buy so much and you can only carry so much, right? But if you're going to a pickup and you pull up with your car, it's like, yay, great, give me the bags and I've got the cooler in the car.
I can throw a lot more into the car. So, like you said, you know, you see your online sales much higher, three to four times more. That's pretty consistent with what we've heard from other farmers. I think it's also a little bit of the psychology of shopping in person. I think, you know, when people do go to a farmer's market, you want to support many farmers that are there and not just spend all your money with one person.
Whereas online, you just want the convenience. I'm already at your [00:18:00] website, I'm purchasing from your store. What else can I purchase? So I can just make it one less errand, right? Just make it convenient and easy. So, that's great. What have you found that has been compelling for people when they purchase online?
Is it fulfillment? Is it just having, you said you've gone to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday options? Is it the subscriptions? You mentioned that as well. Like, what are the things that people appreciate about having a consistent ordering experience with Shenk Family Farm?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, I think the convenience has definitely been key because we, so we have five pickup locations now, all within half an hour from us, but it might only be within five or ten minutes from where they live or where they work.
So, I think that's been convenient. They can pick up their order on the way home from work. So, the convenience of the pickups, but then also just the ease of ordering online too. Like they can see how many chicken wings come in a pack and what's the average weight of that pack?
What's the price per pound? And then, Barn2Door gives them an estimated cost. So, they pay the deposit, but then they [00:19:00] also know like roughly what the final charges will be as well. And then also, yeah, it's just, it's easy. They can self serve shop. Cause before I would take a phone call and be on the phone with someone for like 20 minutes, what's this and what's in that and what are the ingredients in this sausage?
How many more packs do you have of this, and like, you know, but they can do all of that through Barn2Door now and get all their questions answered. Which has been awesome for them. They don't have to call me. Awesome for me. I don't have to take a break from whatever work, other work I'm doing to take those phone calls anymore, which has been a huge time saver for us.
And then, that's just showing them the value of it. You know, it saves you time. It saves us time. It's better for us as farmers, you know, Farmers go out of business all the time. We have a goal to farm for 10, 20, 30 years. We want to make our farm as sustainable as possible.
And this is one of the ways that we can do that. And as a customer, this is how you can like partner with us to help us grow in a sustainable way. And that's been really helpful for people too. They're like, Oh, [00:20:00] like, yeah, we want them to be around for a while. You know, there's always going to be chaos on a farm, so if you can eliminate some of the chaos, it's a win.
James Maiocco: Yeah, recurring revenue is just huge, right? Not just for the farm, but also a recurring order for the family, right? It's not like any of us are going to stop eating next week, or the week thereafter. We're all going to continue to eat. It's just a question of who you're going to purchase your products from.
I know for myself, I've got five subscriptions from farms who just either deliver or offer a pickup for me here locally in Nashville. And like you said, we've built a relationship with them. I know I can go out and do a farm visit if I need to once or twice a year, which I have done from time to time.
But otherwise, I love knowing and supporting another local family like yours, right? And, I'm getting a much better product. How do you stay in front of your buyers and keep them up to date? You know, you mentioned email marketing you were doing once a month, I'm kind of curious about your frequency there now.
And then tell me a little bit more about social media, right? Cause I know that social [00:21:00] media can be a little overwhelming for some farmers who, sit down at the kitchen table at eight o'clock at night and it's like, all right, do I really have to do this? Right. So, what are your thoughts been on email marketing and social media?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, so email now, I think it was in 2020 when we went full time, I went to an email every single week. And I try and do it the same day and time of the week so people know when it's coming, and that's been helpful. And I also try and do the majority of those relational, like trust building emails, like telling a story, recipe, how to, step by step guides, education, that kind of thing.
And then, try and keep sales emails maybe just 25 percent of our emails, actually a sales email, like, Hey, focusing on this particular product. And so, that's been helpful for us. Because if you're just constantly sending out sales emails, it kind of, socializes people to just glance over it or just delete it cause they might not see the value in it as much as like a relational kind of... Something that actually like helps them.
But also, [00:22:00] I like the updates, like for instance, we have a holiday market this weekend, which is kind of out of norm. It's something that I definitely want to remind people of. And I have made the mistake of sending out a relational email and then being like, Oh, just a reminder, we're going to be at the market.
They're going to miss that update. So, I try and separate them, still do the relational email, and then maybe the day before that market send out a very short email, like three sentences. Hey, just a reminder, this market is tomorrow. This is the time. This is why we're excited to be there.
Something like that. If I try and put too much information in one email, a lot of it gets missed. So, I try and break up those relational versus the updates, or at least I've been trying to more.
James Maiocco: I'm on your email list. You do a very good job writing your emails. Yeah, absolutely. I follow several of our farmers.
Yeah, you do a very good job keeping your email clean and simple. Clear call to action. You don't have to scroll real far, real deep. And I don't have to read a book when I open it up. I know it's going to be three to five sentences with a clear CTA and maybe a few more sentences and some beautiful [00:23:00] imagery.
So yeah, you do a really great job being clean and crisp. What about the social media side?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah. Yeah. So, I am still figuring out social media. In an ideal world, I used to like have a plan where I would plan out three posts a week. That just never really worked for me.
Where I thrive is just our stories, because that's something that I can keep up with. So, I will just take videos throughout the day, kids on the farm, cooking, maybe something that has nothing to do with the farm, that's just our family. Because people, when they're making a purchase from us, they're supporting us as a family.
And so people want to see, all aspects of our life, just not the farm. And so I try and just take those little clips and then once a day, I'll just go in and upload them all. I won't really do many captions and just keep it simple. So, people can still see us in stories and they're just staying connected to us.
We're staying at the top of their minds. And then whenever we have like a big update, I'll put reminders on there, like, Hey, mobile farm store tomorrow. Hey, the holiday market's tomorrow. But again, I've been doing that in stories and I haven't been doing as many posts. And I don't know [00:24:00] how that affects our algorithm.
I would like to be more consistent with the posts. But for right now, the stories have been great and people were applied to those. And then I start conversations back and forth with people through those. And then, I sometimes use it to, only a couple of times a year, I'll do a big push, like, Hey, we've got this many farm family subscription boxes available.
If you want to sign up by this day kind of thing, and I'll do like some education, I'll show a picture or a video of an example of what comes in a box, but I don't do those as often as just the random happenings on the farm. People really enjoy those and that's where the conversations happen.
And then, eventually they end up asking, hey, what are your pickup locations? Or hey, tell me what your subscriptions are about. Like, how do I do that? What does that mean? Do I have to commit? If I'm out of town, what happens? Because we live near a military base, so people are always traveling and then yeah, tourist towns, people always traveling, they're always concerned. If I'm not there, what's going to happen? Are you going to throw away my meat? And, eventually I ended up building just a landing page because I was answering the same [00:25:00] questions over and over.
So I, I built a page like with all the information, all the pickups, the schedule, frequently asked questions, pictures of what comes in the box, whether you get the 12 pound or 24 pound, an example like of exactly what they might get. What happens if I'm out of town, that kind of thing. And so, that now when people ask, I'm like, Hey, here is all the information.
If you still have any other questions, please reach out. I'd love to help you. And that's been a huge time saver as well. Just a place to point them to that most likely will answer all of their questions before I have to respond to 20 questions manually.
James Maiocco: That's great. We often say the same thing to folks internally when they're running into challenges or issues.
Hey, did you look on the internal wiki and read things yourself before asking a question? Because, you know, if the question's been asked before, most times there's going to be some documentation around it and there's going to be a quick self serve response that you can get to the answers you need to. I really love the fact that you are sharing so much [00:26:00] information on stories because I think a lot of times people romanticize being on farms and farm life, but it really does draw people in closer when they get to see the videos, the quick snippets, right? The quick chores or things you're doing or gathering eggs with your daughter, right?
Those type of things, it's pretty special. And I think, like you said, it's really going to depend on your buyer type. Some people look more at posts, other people look at reels, but clearly what you're doing is working quite well, Rachel. So congratulations and well done. So, well, hey, before we wrap it up, because I would love to continue this conversation, but I know you're a busy mom.
And you got other things to do on the farm. But I'd love to find out from you if there's one or two other things you'd want to share in terms of your wisdom, looking back on this journey you've been on, anything else you wanted to share before we sign off?
Rachel Shenk: Yeah, I think just connecting with other farmers, maybe one that's five years ahead of you, one that's right kind of where you are and then maybe even one that's a little further behind that you can help because I think in the farming community, it's [00:27:00] honestly really special. Once we started like opening ourselves up to building relationships with other farmers, you know, it's scary in the beginning and you're like, Oh, I've got to tell them like everything I'm doing wrong and please help me.
It's been nothing but a blessing. Like, we've learned so much from other farmers, and obviously every farm is different, and every farm is going to operate differently, but it's cool to see what other farms are doing, to maybe bounce ideas off of, maybe get inspired to do something similar, or even to just give you the confidence to like, Hey, I know this is what we need to do.
It's really big. It's really scary. It's like a change. And just kind of gives you that confidence to take that step forward, and do what you know you need to do for your farm or in whatever season of life, you know, when like us, we're having another kid. I had to hand off some more responsibilities and that was scary.
But, just knowing Okay, how do we hire people? What does that look like? How do I be a good leader of a team kind of thing? And just having those other farmers to connect with and just to kind of help you along, has been really huge for us. And then, yeah, like [00:28:00] having someone you're pouring into too, because you might think you don't have it all figured out and, I mean, we never really do, but you still have a lot to offer those people that are behind you as well.
And like, that kind of can help boost your morale. At least for me, like I'm someone that always struggles with like being confident in my decisions. Is this the right thing? Is it not? But like knowing that your little bit of experience has value and it can help someone else too.
It can help put wind in your sails to keep pushing forward with your own farm and knowing that like you are a business owner for a reason and with any changes that come, you're going to be able to tackle them and make decisions and tweaks and adjustments as you need to.
Because yeah, you're the only one that knows your farm like the way that the animals are managed, you're the only one that can do that for yourself. There's no cookie cutter farm and so you've got to build that confidence in yourself to know that like you're the only person that can make those decisions and yeah, you might mess up and that's okay.
Then you can go back and make some tweaks and adjustments and go from [00:29:00] there. But yeah, just having those relationships with other farmers, I think it's really important.
James Maiocco: Great feedback. Wisdom comes from any counselors, right? And if we're all in this race and obviously I know I pray for perseverance every day to keep running the race, cause it's just a lot of work, right?
And like you said, everyone's at a different timeline on that journey, right? And so, really love your suggestion too to also pour in and invest in other people too. So that's really, really well said. Well, I want to extend my thanks to Rachel for joining us on this week's episode. You can check out more of Rachel and their farm on Instagram @ShenkFamilyFarm.
That's one word, at Shenk, S, H E N K family farm. Here at Barn2Door, we are humbled to support thousands of independent farmers like Shenk Family Farm all across the country and delighted to offer services and tools to help farmers access more customers, increase sales, and save time. If you're curious to learn more about Barn2Door, you can go to Barn2Door.com/Learn-More, and I want to thank you for [00:30:00] joining us on today's episode, and we look forward to seeing you next time on the Independent Farmer Podcast.
Thank you for joining us on the Independent Farmer Podcast. At Barn2Door, we are passionate about empowering independent farmers to build a thriving business. To all the farmers out there, thank you for all you do to grow amazing food, care for the soil, and serve your local communities. You are the backbone of our country.
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