We finished it! - Module 11 of the Part-Time Farmer Playbook is live
Title Hey Reader, First, today we pause to remember the men and women who gave everything in service to this country. Grateful for their sacrifice and for the families who carry that weight every day. Between the farm, the family, and everything in between, this email got pushed further down the list than I wanted. But we're getting it done, and that's kind of the whole point of this series, isn't it? Module 11 — the final episode of the Part-Time Farmer Playbook — is live. This one wraps...
7 days ago • 2 min readThe Number That Changed How I Farm
Why I Stopped Doing Everything Myself (and What Happened Next) Hey Reader, Quick question: do you know your actual hourly rate for each enterprise on your farm? Not revenue. Not profit. Your hourly rate — net divided by hours spent. Most farmers don't know this number. And it turns out that's a pretty expensive thing not to know. In this week's video I walk through the math, share a few examples that reframed how I think about this whole thing (including one involving Jeff Bezos giving up 90%...
15 days ago • 2 min readStop Selling Cuts - Start Selling Outcomes
The Bundle Strategy That Helps Farms Sell More of Everything Hey Reader, First things first — happy Mother's Day. I wouldn't be where I am without my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, nor my wife and mother to three awesome daughters. A lot of you probably feel the same way. And if you're a mom who's out there farming, raising a family, and building something real — today's especially for you. What you're doing matters more than most people will ever understand. Thanks for all you do and...
22 days ago • 2 min readHow Many Steps Does It Take To Buy From Your Farm?
Your Farm is Losing Sales You Don't Know About There's a customer who found your farm a few months ago. They ordered once. Maybe twice. Loved the product. Told a friend about you. Then they stopped. No complaint. No cancellation. They just quietly disappeared. You never found out why. And that's the problem. In most cases it wasn't the price. It wasn't the quality. It was the process. Too many steps between "I want this" and "I bought this." A DM that took two days to get answered. A Venmo...
29 days ago • 2 min readNobody Buys From a Farm They've Never Heard Of
Why Your Farm Has Great Products Nobody Knows About Hey Reader I want to ask you something honest. How many people bought from you last week who you couldn't reach again if you needed to? No phone number. No email. No way to tell them you have product ready. If the answer is most of them, then that's the problem. Not your pricing. Not your product. Not your farm. The audience. Most farmers build their customer base on borrowed land. Facebook followers, Instagram likes, a post that did well...
about 1 month ago • 2 min readYou're Probably Charging Too Little (Here's How to Fix That)
Farm Pricing: How to Charge What Your Product Is Actually Worth Many farmers are undercharging. Not by a little. By a lot. And the frustrating part is they're working just as hard as the farm down the road that's actually getting ahead. Same animals. Same hours. Same product. Different price. That's it. That's the whole difference. Module 6 of the Part-Time Farmer Playbook is live this week and it's the one I wish someone had put in front of me a lot earlier. We talk about why farmers...
about 1 month ago • 2 min readThe Math Many Farmers Never Do
Before You Raise Another Animal, Do This First Many farms plateau at the same number every year, or wonder why they're not growing revenue or profits. It's not because they're bad farmers. It's not because their product isn't good enough. It's because they started producing before they ever did the math. That's what Module 5 is about. You can't hit a target you haven't set yet. And most farms never set one. They just raise what they can and hope the sales follow. The farms that actually get...
about 2 months ago • 2 min readSet Up Your Farm Business Right (Before You Need To)
Set Up Your Farm Business Right (Before You Need To) A few years into farming I realized something that nobody had told me. A neighbor had a friend trip and fall ... and now that "friend" was sueing them. If someone got hurt on my property during a pickup - a customer tripping on uneven ground, a kid getting too close to an animal - I wasn't just dealing with a bad day. I was dealing with a lawsuit filed against me personally. My house. My land. Everything. That's what operating as a sole...
about 2 months ago • 2 min readMost Farmers Try to Do This Alone. That's the Problem.
Most Farmers Try to Do This Alone. That's the Problem. There's a version of farming where you figure everything out yourself. No outside help. No programs. No community. Just you, your animals, and your stubbornness. I know that version well. I lived it longer than I should have. The problem is it's slow. It's expensive. And completely unnecessary. When we were getting Longbottom Farm going, we had a neighbor who let us cut his 17 acres of grass in exchange for the hay. That one relationship...
2 months ago • 3 min readWhy We Kept Our Jobs When We Started Farming
The Truth About Starting a Farm Nobody Wants to Say Hey Reader, Module 2 of The Part-Time Farmer Playbook is live. This one is about money, but not in the way most farm business content talks about it. I'm not talking about grants or loans or investors. I'm talking about the thing that actually funded Longbottom Farm in the early years. Our jobs. When we started farming we had school loans, renovation debt on an 1800s house, a tractor to buy, fencing to run, and a hundred other things that...
2 months ago • 2 min read