10 Reasons Series: #2 Brown Sugar Produce

 I'm currently drinking coffee before sunrise on a Saturday morning while getting my computer work done for the day.  A day that promises to be a nice one, so I always strive to get away from the screen by the time it's warm enough to work outside.  I do this most days, and find the hours between 5 - 8 are greatly productive and help with getting organized for the day and feeling ready.  I answer all my emails, look up things I wanted to research from the day before, do my social media and online marketing for the business, and order supplies, pay bills, etc.

But, you know what?  If I wanted to sleep until noon, that would be fine, too.  For a day or two at least, not every day.  That's the thing about being self-employed: I'm the boss, and I can do what I want!  I've learned that it takes a special sort of person who is self-motivated enough to drive themselves as an entrepreneur.  I have that characteristic, so I'm my own worst enemy sometimes: setting unrealistic goals for myself and piling work on and making deadlines and doing things just a certain way because I believe it's the right way.  At the same time, without that drive, it would be easy to choose to read a book instead of weeding.

I may not be primarily motivated by money, but I AM motivated by success.  But, what is it, exactly?  It's not unrelated  to money, because the reality is that we need a certain level of income to make our farm sustainable.  If we make no money, we would go out of business, just like any other business.  Is success selling out at the farmers' market?  Is it attaining our production goals like certified organic?  Is is having a good relationship with my family?

Success to me is days like yesterday.  I had a bunch of errands to run, and so ran into a lot of people that are in my network and had enough time to squeeze in some "pay it forward" actions just because I wanted to.  I connected with a friend who I am growing potatoes for about planting dates, in a quick conversation across a shopping mall.  I picked up a customer's deposit and got some supplements and advice.  I visited Sherman, the man who owns our farm, and learned something new about the farm as I often do when I visit him.  I ran into a friend and found out she had something in common with someone else I know, so I connected them.  I visited the farmers' market and touched in on project progress with our board, and met the new vendors. Delivered cookies to my hard working friends at Patmore's, suggested a partnership to a business I support, got groceries and washed Mom's car.  Then I came home and we weeded the perennials and trimmed the onions and started setting up irrigation.

What a range of different things in one day!  That's what I love most about farming: so many different skills make up the perfect farmer, and none of us are perfect, so that's where teams come into play.  In our farm team, Mom and Jon are best at production.  Not me!  I will do any and all of the work required to keep the farm running, but it's not what I gravitate towards.  Sitting on the tractor feels slow and boring and like I should be working harder than I am.  If I never plant another seed in my life I could care less, so long as somebody does it.  But, take away the farmers' market and I'll immediately notice a gap in my life.

I have consistently been involved with a farmers' market every season except one in the past 15 years.  It started with Brown Sugar Produce at the Brandon Farmers' Market, and so it's come full circle now.  I LOVE the market, I love talking to customers and building displays and making signs and harvesting veggies and washing them and packaging them and coming up with ideas to increase sales and all of that realm.  As an extension of that, I love marketing our produce online, on our website and social media.  I am definitely wired for sales, but I'm also wired for relationships, which is what gives our marketing the personal touch.  I want to connect with as many great people as I can and keep them in my circle, because it's much more effective to connect with people than to try to do it all yourself.

Farming can be isolating, and so I try to get out in the world and meet people when I can.  It doesn't mean I want people around me all the time-- in fact, quite the opposite-- but I love connecting with people.  Finding out what they excel and and finding out where we can help each other.  Sharing what we do and finding out more about what someone else does.  Knowing who I can call for advice when any eventuality happens.  I am still building my networks in Manitoba, but I have made good progress and I am proud of the list of people I have gotten to know.

I love running our business.  My Dad ran his own business for almost 30 years, and so he is a great resource when it comes to planning, systems, accounting, infrastructure, equipment, and maintenance.  Together we watch our bookkeeping and make sure there is money in the bank account and we are achieving our financial needs as a farm.  He shows me how to run equipment and the basics of maintenance.  He fixes things, anything that needs it, and returns anything borrowed in better condition than he got it.  He understands the value in systems and offers advice and feedback in developing our own.  Systems are something that I love investing thought and time into, and I am good at coming up with things that work well for us.  He has a different perspective than I do and thinks of different things than I would, so it creates an important broad thinking that helps inform what we do and why.

My Mom left her career to start the business.  It became Brown Sugar Produce when a family friend commented on Mom's deep tan from toiling outside all day in the field.  From my Mom I get support, encouragement, an insane work ethic, and inspiration to be passionate about what I do.  If you've never seen passion, watch my Mom work.  She tends her fields like the plants are her babies, and the level of pride she has when she brings veggies to market is unmatched.  Her first concern is growing delicious and beautiful produce, and she goes above and beyond to achieve it.  Her second concern is customer satisfaction.  She will do anything for anyone, even if it means she has to sacrifice herself to achieve it.  Restaurant order for salad just before dark?  She'll put on a headlamp and stay up until it's washed and ready in the cooler.  I can't say that I am this devoted to our customers, but it's inspiring to see my Mom's complete devotion to what she loves.

I love our business, too, and I love our customers.  They are why we do what we do.  They are supportive, adventurous, engaged, and committed.  They'll try any new crop we grow because they trust us that it's delicious or nutritious or all of the above.  They'll let us know what works for them and what doesn't and how we can make things easier for them.  They'll make us feel appreciated when we go the extra mile to accommodate their special request.  They support local and they share our ideals, and show it by buying from us.  They appreciate us sharing our day-to-day from the farm, and it's not about sales-- it's about relationships.  In my marketing, I focus on sharing what we are doing rather than what we are selling.  It's been great to have all of our supporters on board for our journey, and just when I think "Man, our customers are great", someone refers a friend to us and another wonderful person joins our fanbase, and I'm forever grateful for that.

I put my whole heart into what I do, and running our business the last year has been the most

rewarding endeavor I've ever taken on.  Putting my energy towards Brown Sugar Produce is like making an investment every day, in something that will grow and change and carry us forward in our goals.  An hourly or even salaried job can't do this in the same way, no matter how great your boss or workplace.  The business is like a living entity, a member of the family, and so it will be a part of our future for a long time, possibly longer than our lifetime if we have kids and they are interested in farming.  I am grateful to my Mom & Dad for welcoming us into the business and working hard to make it work.  Lets be realistic: working with family is tough.  It makes us want to quit sometimes.  But, you can't quit family, and so you try harder and you work at it, and in that process, you learn and you get better.  You lean on your supporters to boost you up when things get hard, and that makes it a little easier.  We're learning and growing and getting better every day, but we couldn't do it without each other and without our customers.