The 7-Figure Blueprint for Rural Farm Success
Learn how Peter Bartlett of Bartlett Farms transformed a remote North Dakota operation into a high-revenue business by mastering rural logistics and premium branding.
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[00:00:00] 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 into today's Independent Farmer Podcast.
James Maiocco: Welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast. I'm James, the Chief operating Officer and your host for today's episode. As you may be aware, Barner Door provides a solution for independent farmers to help them make more money, ditch the office work, and look like a pro. We're all about helping farmers build their brand, own their customers, and sell direct, online [00:01:00] and in person.
In today's conversation, we're gonna get into what it looks like to build a business in a very rural location of all people. Today I'm happy to welcome back Peter Bartlett from Bartlett Farms, who has a farm in North Dakota, and he's part of our farm advisory network. He's worked with us for a number of years and has lots of great advice to share with us about how to build a viable business in a very rural part of the country.
So welcome back, Peter. It's great to see you, how have you been?
Peter Bartlett: We've been well, thanks for having me back. It's always fun.
James Maiocco: Well, it's early March, or late March, I should say. In North Dakota, what temperature is it there right now? Because I know it's spring in some parts of the country, but North Dakota may not be just yet.
Peter Bartlett: Yes. We are lagging behind, but thankfully we've been experiencing a spring thaw, and it is about 50 degrees here. We're seeing the snow melt, disappearing. We just had a delivery van leave this morning and we had to tow it using a four wheel drive pickup, you know, the entire length of our quarter mile driveway to get it off the farm.
So snow melting, causing mud, is always a part of the season. But, we're excited for the [00:02:00] summer ahead.
James Maiocco: Well, before we dive into today's podcast about building success in rural areas, why don't you share a little bit more with our listeners about your farm journey? I mean, how did you get to North Dakota?
Peter Bartlett: So I know I've shared this in previous podcasts, but a little bit of our story. My family does not come from a long line of farmers. My parents lived in Fargo, which is the largest city in North Dakota, and my dad taught engineering at the university there for a number of years. We were homeschooled our entire childhood, and his passion was to have a Christian worldview of economics and agriculture and all these things, and a part of that involved working together as a family. And we realized that the urban rat race was, not always healthy for, family, not always healthy for the kids to be able to spread their wings and do what God called them to do. And we were encouraged from an early age to take up what we believe God had called us to, with giving us unique skills and talents. I remember living in town and telling my parents that I wanted to be a zookeeper and I must have been only about five years [00:03:00] old.
You know, I obviously had a love for animals at an early age. So we kind of grew out of our city-lot. My parents wanted to move us to a place that had more land and we kind of scanned the area. We felt like the Midwest was our home and North Dakota was our slice of heaven. So we
put money down on land in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota. It's a very, you know, rolling hills and trees area in a rather flat state. So that was kind of why we ended up here. We wanted hills, trees, and lakes, and my mom was from Minnesota. My dad is originally from New Hampshire, and so
We landed here on a piece of raw land, 165 acres in 2004. And that was well in advance of the modern homesteading movement. My dad has always been a visionary, always been willing to go against the tide and the norm and be able to perceive shifts happening and things in the future.
So he started out with a vision to create a sustainable living on 165 acres based upon Agrarian authors that we had come across. The names that people would be [00:04:00] familiar with would be, you know, kind of the Wendell Berry type people. There's an author, Alan Carlson, that talks about bringing back the family economy and what has happened to our country as the family has been disintegrated.
And, you know, a lot of that has to do with the way the population has shifted into more urban areas. So definitely a very deliberate transition to a rural life. And as a result, we grew up, you know, homeschooling, very entrepreneurial, started growing our own food. We had chickens to begin with… gardens.
We had some mentors who happened to be in the area that we connected with. And they were very influential in teaching us how to get out there in the garden and pull the weeds, while there's the window of opportunity. You know, all these things. And then in order to bring in some income.
'cause my dad directed the North Dakota Homeschool Association, back in the day. And then other than that, he was working on some Christian education avenues for income, but we didn't have a lot to go on as far as a salary. So we were growing our own food and then we were being scrappy and selling what we could of our own production.
And we live [00:05:00] about two miles from a little lake resort area. So North Dakota, as I mentioned, is a very flat farming country. We've got a lot of grain, you know, wheat, barley, canola, all that. You know, the farmers have their lake house. In the old days nobody went on vacation.
They just went to the lake for the week or whatever in the summer. And so that lake area is two miles from where our farm is located, and that was our first toe in the water as far as direct marketing. We set up a table and sold, handpicked raspberries from our berry patch and just people stopping by at the convenience store saw that we had something for sale and one thing led to another, we started offering broiler chickens, you know, inspired by the Polyface, pastured Poultry profits book.
and then we realized that this could be a viable enterprise and I had an interest in livestock, you know, and I was milking goats. And so eventually we got our first milk cow, started hand milking and we started a cow share dairy. So I can go as long or as short as you want, but yeah.
James Maiocco: I'm sure our listeners appreciate the history. ' cause you know, it has been quite the journey and I know talking with your dad, [00:06:00] he's a wonderful man, like you said, and a visionary, right? Like he was ahead of the whole homesteader movement. Great to see how much inertia that ball is really rolling out, seeing so many young couples, like you said, wanting to escape city life and go and provide a better life and experience for their family.
So, really again, you know, props to your dad for being at the front end of that movement raising you and your family. Now you're continuing in that tradition and that's really great to see that you've been able to do so and do so successfully.
So let's shift gears on that, right? Because you guys went from, you know, selling some berries and selling some pastured chickens, to now having really a full scale operation that's supporting quite a family, right? That you guys have been able to grow there. When did you get started with Barn2Door?
Because you guys have grown into becoming the most successful, the largest raw milk producer in the state of North Dakota. That just didn't happen overnight. So let's take a couple steps back.
Peter Bartlett: Yeah. So early on I realized the value of technology.
I have three brothers, besides myself, so there's just the four boys, no sisters in my family. And, you know, [00:07:00] being entrepreneurial and being encouraged to pursue the interest that we had. My one brother really loved the technology and design and, you know, computer graphics side.
And so we stood out early on by a farm that had a website, you know, early on being 2004 through 2010. Pretty much nobody had access to the tools to build a website at that time. And so he put together, a site, a domain, all these things, which was, at the time, very unique. Nowadays, practically everybody has access to a website or an AI tool to build something.
But, we stood out, as unique in that time with the website. You know, as a farm, we began with an order form. So basically a paper, PDF, you know, print this out, send it to us, we'll send you a yearly newsletter in the mail. And that was, how things worked. A lot of people were unaware of the benefits of pastured products and grass fed beef. And so
We really just started out trying to bridge the gap from a farm producing these foods to getting it to our [00:08:00] customers, but implementing technology one piece at a time. And so we started with another software that had a delivery feature, but it was clunky and it wasn't built for farmers. It was built for more of a shipping setup.
So we joined Barn2Door in, I believe it was 2016, maybe I'm getting my dates wrong, but it was well before the 2020 COVID crisis type thing. And we joined it in large part due to the fact that it was built specifically for farmers and the language of the software was something that we understood. So we started with Barn2Door. We liked the subscription features, and that allowed us to build a business model that kept customers loyal.
When we started our dairy in 2009 you know, as I mentioned, we started hand milking and then eventually after four cows moved into a milking machine and got a little bit more organized that way. But we started with a cow share dairy. So if your listeners aren't aware, a cow share dairy basically is a workaround for [00:09:00] states that do not allow the retail sale of raw milk. And what it does is a customer will purchase ownership rights to the cow and be obligated to receive a portion of their cow's milk production using a legal waiver and agreement.
So we started with that. We realized that you're dealing with an ongoing relationship and we want to nurture that relationship and make it convenient. Instead of sending a check each quarter is how we began. Then we could eventually move to credit cards and people could pay online and we could get that subscription automated.
We've done basically from square one, we've done it the hard way. And then we've improved slowly one feature at a time, and we really feel like when we joined Barn2Door, the features matched our needs. And to this day all of the feedback that has been given to Barn2Door, we've seen them iterate over and over improvements and solutions and things that have kept the software competitive and relevant to us as a growing business and to our customers because it's easy to use.
So [00:10:00] yeah, just trying to get back to where Barn2Door took us. So that was pre COVID. What we saw through the COVID phenomenon was a complete shift of the customer's mind. People began to not think that food came from the grocery store only. People were disappointed and shocked that you could have empty grocery shelves in a place like America.
As a result, people started looking to farmer's markets or farmers, and because farmer's markets were closed, the shift that happened was that people were willing to purchase directly from farmers. We have had a social media presence and put ourselves out on Facebook and Instagram, you know, over that time we saw a huge uptick in interest from consumers wanting to purchase from the farm.
So through that the market shifted the mindset of the consumer. We've always tried to stay ahead of it and make it the most convenient. As I mentioned, cow shares were the only way to legally provide milk in the state. At the very beginning, cow shares were not even [00:11:00] listed in the law, and the state threatened to clamp down on it.
We were actually involved in the 2011 legislature when they were going to ban the practice of cow sharing as a way to provide raw milk and instead of banning it, the legislative assembly asked us, you know, we were teenagers talking to legislators, and they were saying, what can we do to help you. And we said we just don't want the state involved in our business. So they put a statute in the law that said cow sharing was exempt from regulation and the state could not put any additional rules on it. So that was how we conducted business through 2020 up to 2023 I believe.
And in that legislative session, consumer opinion has shifted and the interest in local foods and healthy foods, you know, a distrust in the CDC and the FDA and the standards that would say, stay away from raw milk because it's going to hurt you. That perception shifted, and so raw milk was gaining popularity and the legislators even themselves started looking at the opportunity [00:12:00] for raw milk to become legalized. And in 2023, they passed the law that allows us to sell retail raw milk just outright. So we were able to shift away from the cow share model to more of a direct sale.
And in doing so, we still kept the features that Barn2Door offers as a subscription. So we speak of it more as a traditional subscription now, because we are allowed to sell it in our state. And then in addition to that just this last year they passed additional clarifying legislation to allow all raw milk products to be sold.
So now we have raw butter, keefer yogurt, chocolate milk, are available through Barn2Door from our farm. And that has opened up the ceiling on what we can do because as a dairy, when you have one customer you are already delivering product to them, and it's a very easy upsell to take that one customer and to sell them, you know, another half gallon of chocolate milk and another half gallon of yogurt.
You know, all these other things that allow us to be a lot more profitable with the same number of customers.
James Maiocco: Well, I hope any dairy [00:13:00] farmers who have listened to you in other parts of the country where raw milk is still restricted are inspired by your story because it definitely does underscore the importance of talking to your legislators, of talking to Congress people, who want to support small business.
And like you said, I think the consumer sentiment has changed dramatically. I think the Maha movement right now is very inspiring and I think, you know, if you look at the data. The 25 to 39-year-old segment of the market now has the largest disposable income in America. And these are all these young Maha moms who over their dead body, are gonna put something under their children's mouths that they dunno exactly where it came from.
' cause people are beginning to have a much healthier skepticism of what they've been sold by Big Ag. Right? So I think that's been a really great boon and shift to farmers like yourself who can capitalize on that demand. Now let's shift towards the topic here, which is, I think people see this demand, it's palpable and it's real.
They know it's there. And I think a lot of farmers perceive how that can work in a city like Nashville, where I am, where you have millions of people that [00:14:00] live within 50 to a hundred miles of many, many farms. But you're in the middle of North Dakota, you're in one of the most remote spartan areas of the country.
Right, how do farmers in rural areas, you know, who might be timid about this idea of going online and selling direct? What was the light bulb moment for you that made you realize like, look, we need to invest here in the concept of putting things on the doorstep of our buyers even in a rural market.
Like what convinced you to take that bet and begin to offer that?
Peter Bartlett: Yeah, that's a great question. And I think that when it comes to the key light bulb moment. It probably has the most to do with realizing that what we're selling is not for everyone. That was something that was really hard to get your mind around because as you're starting out, you want everybody who's interested in what you do to be a customer, and what you have to realize is that there are certain characteristics, certain habits, certain buying patterns, certain personas of people that just simply are the kind of [00:15:00] customer that will pay what it takes for you to sell product and stay in business. So when it comes to the messaging and the face-to-face interaction, if you have a product like what we sell our milk for, we sell it for $25 to $28 a gallon and that's not for everyone. And it was difficult you know, as you're growing to come to grips with the fact that we're gonna have to raise our price here because we're not gonna stay in business. And what we have to think of is that in order for us to serve our state, like I was just looking at, the population of North Dakota is about 800,000.
Our entire state is what you have in Nashville. so we have to realize that there's only so many people who fit the persona that will pay the price to keep us in business. And then you have to think of it as where do they live?
Right. We live in Botno, which is about three hours from a larger city, Bismarck, or Fargo is about four and a half hours away. Williston is another three hours away. It's about 35,000 people. Botno is [00:16:00] 2000 people. You know, there's only a fraction of those, population centers will even potentially be able to have the income to afford to pay
$25 to $28 a gallon and you know, it seems like it's a disservice when you have to pay such a premium price. But think of it this way, if you go outta business, you're not helping anybody, right? So if you need to charge enough, you know, charge a premium price to stay in business for the long haul. You're going to be of more service to the community through your education, through all of your marketing, through the economy that you stimulate. So even if you only serve a fraction of the population, you are still more beneficial to the state, to the community by charging a premium price. And then what that ends up doing is it forces people to think and value the product that you're offering for what it is. We live in a time when the price of dairy, especially, let's just talk about dairy for the moment. We bought some cows from a dairy that was just recently closing. I think it was last year or the year before in [00:17:00] a part of our state. They were getting paid, I think it was $18, a hundred weight for their milk.
That was, you know, high component Jersey milk from a conventional dairy of 120 cows and at $18 a hundred weight. It's only a couple dollars a gallon at the most. And the price that it was costing them to produce it was about $20 a gallon. So here they were losing money, milking a hundred cows and not getting paid due to the price fixing controls that our dairy industry has institutionalized on a policy level. So the agricultural community has been in a really sticky situation, especially in the dairy community because the price is so artificial. It's not based on the cost of production, it's not even based on the consumer's willingness to pay.
And so they're stuck because they can't market their product at a price that they control. They have to get big or get out. As a small producer, you have to realize we are the creamery, we are the distribution, we are the farmer, and we can keep all of those dollars [00:18:00] in house, but we have to make sure we charge enough.
So I guess what I'm getting at is that you have to come to a place where you're willing to charge what it takes to keep your business profitable, but then you're going to have to go the extra mile in order to market that because your neighbor is going to just shake their head when they hear the prices that you have to charge.
And if they're smart, they're gonna realize that's the real cost of food. It's not the artificial, massive industrial scale, food and you get what you pay for.
James Maiocco: I was gonna say a couple things on that side because I know you do a really fantastic job at this. And in particular, you know, you talk about the premium price.
One of the reasons why I know you guys have done such a great job. Conveying the value of your products like you don't just say, Hey, we're selling milk. Maybe you can share with our listeners a little bit more about how you talk about the practices, how you talk about the inputs, right?
That this is a premium product, soy free grain free, et cetera, but on top of. Convenience with an absolute guarantee. It's gonna be on your doorstep and it's gonna be fresh. If you have any questions, we'll [00:19:00] replace it like you guys really offer a service that's above and beyond anything that they would expect from a local grocer.
Peter Bartlett: Yeah, let me go into a little bit of how we think about that and how we frame that. There's a really good book my brother actually came across in the film industry, and it's written by a photographer, but it's called Worth Every Penny by Sarah Petty. And in the book she describes essentially how to become worth every penny and as a premium
entrepreneur, the term she uses is a boutique experience. You know, you think of the little shop that's got, you know, a curated selection of just the premium products and it's, you know, it's priced way out of range of what you normally find at a big box store, right?
So the boutique experience or the premium experience is something that is directly related to the brand and the value that you're offering your customer. And so you don't want to get into a position where you're competing on price. The shoppers like you mentioned, the people with the affluent income range, are [00:20:00] values based purchasers in large part.
And so when you think of it, large brands like Apple or Nike or some of these other huge conglomerates, they position themselves as a premium service. But they also go the extra mile to make sure that every touch point with their product is an experience. It goes beyond just the utility of the product.
And that's what we were conscious of starting out. So in my mind, beginning, you know, early on when we were pricing things, I had a kind of a concept in my head that I wanted to create a subscription mentality rather than paying for milk by the gallon. You know, especially at the time, 10 years ago people would look at, you know, you and compare you to something else at the store.
I wanted to disassociate from the comparison and say what would it take to justify someone spending $25 or say it's $50 a month? So in my marketing, I would say how much you [00:21:00] would need to budget to afford this service. So let's say instead of saying my milk costs $25 a gallon, that sounds pretty expensive.
But if you say for $50 I'll deliver two deliveries every month of milk in glass bottles from grass fed Jersey cows and that milk will arrive fresh. If you find it doesn't last 10 to 14 days to the best by date, we will replace it for no additional charge. If you have, uh, desire for custom dairy options is the way we said it, at first or if you're outta town on vacation, we will take your order that you have would be, giving up and we will make that into butter or yogurt or cream and provide that to you when you return. So I was wrapping up the offering as a service, that it was a premium offer. You just pay me, you know, $50 a month and this will become a part of your lifestyle. And then in communicating that, think about the benefit to the consumer. So as you're asking this question you mentioned, you know, talk about the production practices or the cows or whatever.
And [00:22:00] to be honest, the customer doesn't necessarily want to know the production of the cows, or the way the milk is handled. Those things, those are all important, but those we would call features. There's a difference between features and benefits .
The consumer is in our situation, a young mom who has gone to the dermatologist and the doctor, the walk-in clinic for her kids' eczema. She's got a rash covering their skin and the kid just is not getting better. They're putting topical steroids on. Trying all these prescription creams.
They're not finding a solution. It's just not working. And then they're on Google or they're on a mom Facebook group and somebody says that they tried raw milk and it helped their kid. Then that mom goes and searches raw milk on Facebook or nowadays it's AI chat. And if your farm is out there, they're gonna find it.
And so what they're looking for as a benefit to them, is they want to know that this farm has what it takes for my kids eczema to clear up. And if you have a testimonial on your website from another [00:23:00] parent who said, my kid was having rashes like crazy. I switched to raw milk and it's been cleared up.
And, in 24 hours I noticed a difference. that relates directly to the benefit that the consumer is looking for. So, you know, as much as it's tempting as a farm to talk about, we move the cows every day. We leave the calf with the mom, we make sure the calf gets the colostrum, you know, they're sweet, cuddly cows, all these things.
Yes, there's some value to that for the customer to know those things. But in a big way, the customer's so busy, they don't really care about those things. They want their kid to feel better. They want to have peace of mind. Which is one of the words that we use on our website, peace of mind, and a settled stomach.
So they want the peace of mind knowing that if their kid refuses a snack or refuses to eat anything good in the morning before school or whatever, at least they had their raw milk and they know that that raw milk has good nutrition for 'em and that. It has proven that kids who grow up with farm fresh foods are more robust, healthier, you know, skin issues clear up, they have less allergies, less days being sick, all those [00:24:00] things.
So as your listeners are hearing this, I would challenge them to put themselves in the shoes of the customer that they find coming to them. And, you know, do some kind of probing questions. Get some feedback from your customer and see what it is that they're coming to you for. You know, if you're a beef producer and you're looking at, you know, how do I sell more beef? You can say, my beef is fed on grass, local hay, and it's moved daily and it's got regenerative practices. At the end of the day, your customer is working on the fact that their metabolic health is having issues and they're trying the carnivore diet and they wanna know that your beef cuts are, thick enough that they don't get dried out when they cook 'em because they tried Joe's down the street and he had a tough stake, whatever
it is. So you want to think of it as far as the customer is concerned. What is it that's the pain point that they're experiencing, and then how can you present what you're offering as a benefit. Whether that's, juicy steaks that work well [00:25:00] with a carnivore diet plan, or if it's raw milk, heals eczema.
Here's a testimonial about that thinking of our customers that purchase eggs, we, positioned ourselves, we, we don't feed corn or soy. Or wheat in our chicken ration. And we found that people who have had a celiac issue, which is a sensitivity to gluten in large part, some of those gluten grains or the estrogen mimicking soy or the inflammatory corn, are able to eat the eggs that we provide.
In large part, we believe because the chickens are eating more. Natural to chicken grains, which would be, you know, more like wild seeds and things that birds should eat. So, yeah, just think of doing, business in relation to the ideal customer. And then what that does is it allows you to charge whatever you need to stay profitable.
So for us, you know, we've raised the price multiple times, but we've also been in business now 15 years, and it's not slowing down.
James Maiocco: So to that end Peter, really great feedback. You know about identifying and understanding the preferences of your ideal customer profile, right?
Your ICP and then [00:26:00] pricing for what they're willing to pay, right? So let's say I go through that exercise, but I'm in a rural area like you, right? It's, again, different than Nashville, where you have buyer density.
There's tons of people sitting here in Nashville at schools and churches that they can look around there like a lot of people. But in a place like North Dakota, where it's pretty Spartan, how do you balance between like, hey, identifying who those people are clearly building a subscription based revenue's probably good in terms of knowing you at least have consistency of revenue. But how do you offset the cost or how do you think about fulfilling that promise in a sparsely populated area. How do you, you know, think about the delivery cost or, again, investing in that because that, can be pretty intimidating for a lot of firearms who are in sparsely populated areas.
Peter Bartlett: Yes. That is the elephant in the room. I talk to a lot of farms on your connect, sessions that they're in rural areas and they wanna know how do I find people that will pay what I need to charge. The secret is first of all, know that they're there. There are people out there. You know, like I mentioned earlier, you have to be willing to say that we are [00:27:00] not going to cater to everybody.
We're going to search out for those who will pay what we need. And then I think sometimes I forget how hard it is at the beginning because it gets easier as you go along, as you get referrals, as you get more reputation, it gets easier. But starting out you have to be prospecting. That's kind of the technical term.
You have to keep your eyes out. Think of it as if you're going out west to the gold rush, right? You gotta go prospecting, you gotta go find where's the gold dust? And you don't know where to start. You just have to start. You have to think of if you are selling, you know, in our case, healthy, grass fed meats, eggs, dairy, think of the kind of person who is associating with those products, as another business.
So we've had a lot of success, with partnering with a chiropractor. A chiropractor is somebody who's already thinking about alternative health. And recommending things to their clients. And the whole idea that the consumer is dealing with problems means that, you know, typically when they go to their doctor, they're going to [00:28:00] share issues that they have.
You know, whether that's a kid with allergies or lactose intolerance or a dairy sensitivity. Those people who have a high level of trust and that relationship with those clients are the ones that you wanna get to know. So, if I was going to a brand new community and saying, where can I find connections and establish relationships, especially with the kind of people that will pay the price that I need to be profitable?
I would start by, I guess the obvious one would be the farmer's market, right? You're gonna find a certain number of people browsing the farmer's market. Chances are most of the people at the farmer's market are going to be price sensitive, at least in my experience. A lot of them are gonna be comparing their options.
You know, there's Joe down the street, got the same thing. Why is yours better? If he's cheaper? You know, that kind of a thing. And you don't want to build your business off of people who are just shopping for the price. So farmer's market, getting emails, getting eyeballs, that's a good thing. Make sure you have a way to collect email addresses and phone numbers if you can [00:29:00] build an email list, that's a great way to maintain a connection with those prospects, those potential customers.
In addition to that in your community, finding people like the Chiropractors are a great one. Alternative health minded, you know, that's kind of the niche that I'm in. That's why I'm speaking to that mostly, you know, think of massage therapists or think of people that are like Chamber of Commerce type connections where they know, oh, this person and that person, and just, just get to know people. You can also give samples to them. So if you, let's say you wanna build a relationship with a chiropractor, and you know that they have, clientele with disposable income who are generally more health conscious, looking for farm to table quality food. Give them some samples. You know, say, Hey, this is what we do. Here's a pack of steaks for the grill. You know, try 'em out. Let me know what you think, or eggs or milk.
A lot of times these people actually really appreciate somebody going the extra mile and reaching out to them. And if you're a benefit to them, if they feel like they really like you, they're going to tell their people just organically. They're not even gonna want a kickback or a [00:30:00] referral credit or anything like that.
They're just gonna be happy to tell their clients that they have a connection to a farmer who's doing a great job. And so then what we found is we often will get looped in to certain business functions that they're doing. So we've built a relationship with a chiropractor and we attend their patient appreciation day.
We bring a calf or we bring goats and we bring chickens, and we have kids that come to experience, you know, their free, bouncy house, you know, once a year at the chiropractic office. Then they'll, you know, pet the goats and they'll start to hear about these things and then they'll transfer the trust that they have with their
healthcare provider to the farmer, because essentially we're on the same mission, like I mentioned, the benefits, if they're looking for, pregnancy related chiropractic adjustments or pediatric kids, related things, you know those, that age of raising kids, people are looking for good quality food. By building that relationship, the trust they have and the problems they share with their chiropractor that chiropractor is then going to recommend you to them and vice versa. [00:31:00] So you kind of build this synergy you know, like, I said, it gets easier and easier because you become more and more well known, for your reputation.
So, we found that, social media is the new word of mouth and the more you can be posting, things that people can like and share or, connecting people to the farm, then those things enhance your presence when you do, you know, community event or you do a table at a health fair or whatever.
James Maiocco: That's really great advice. I mean partnering is spot on, right? Like with, too often I think people are apprehensive about reaching out, but like you said, that chiropractor, that homeopath, the massage therapist, the CrossFit studio, they all are serving like-minded people and they actually wanna be a referral for their customer base as well.
And so to your point, it's actually a win-win. Right when you go in, you partner with one of those folks, like you said, not only future engineer your products, but even doing some cross marketing, doing some joint posts on social media where their followers now get to see your products, your products get in front of their followers.
It's a win-win for everybody. And like you [00:32:00] said. You don't have to do any rev share or any kickbacks like that, you're just doing the right thing because you both believe in each other. You're trying to service your clientele together. And it's just a great way, and I too often farmers are a little apprehensive about having that conversation.
But you know you have nothing to lose. Right. Why not ask? Don't be afraid. Just the same way with raising your prices. Right. You know, some people are gonna say, no, hey, that's too high. Like, okay, I'm sorry. But you've gotta stay in business.
Peter Bartlett: Yeah. And just thinking of, tagging onto that, as you mentioned, the delivery side, you know, living in a rural place, we chose that for a reason, right?
Like, we don't really wanna live in town. There's a part of that, or maybe somebody listening to this lives a few hours from, the closest larger town. you have to really understand that if you want to serve people, you need to go where they are and building the bridge comes through technology. You know, in our day and age, we have the privilege of getting to know hundreds of people and continuing to maintain that relationship through electronic means. And so you have to use those tools. You have to be willing to put the time into [00:33:00] writing an email and sending it, and taking a picture and posting it.
When you have, let's say, gone through the effort of building a connection in town, you know, you go back to your farm, you produce your food, you're going to need to make sure that it's not a hassle for that person to receive the products that they're excited about. So in our experience, we've done two different things to help bridge that gap.
Early on, we used the pickup group model, and we asked customers to come to the farm and basically carpool their orders back to town. That only was as good as the weakest link in the chain, because you'll have that one person who gets back to town at 10:00 PM or whatever, and then contacted their others that were supposed to get the order, and then it ends up falling through and people are just disappointed because the milk didn't get kept on ice or the meat got mushy, whatever.
So delivery and taking that on as a farmer does allow you to have more of an opportunity to make an impression on that customer and [00:34:00] to really go the extra mile, literally, to see that they are pleased with the product. This is something that, you know, if you are charging a premium price, you're going to have to go the extra mile and we have chosen to prioritize home deliveries because we feel that it allows us to have a longer customer lifetime. And it has proven true that we have customers who were pregnant with their first child when they came to us, and now that child is literally 15, 16 years old and it's amazing. They'll come to the farm and it's just amazing to see that these families have grown because we've made it convenient for them. It's become a staple in their life and they have stuck with us.
James Maiocco: And guess what? Those kids drink more and more milk as they get older. I remember when my kids were in high school, they were each drinking one gallon of milk each per week, right?
So a huge, huge boon to the business, not only building a relationship with the customer, but as their families grow, so does the amount of money they spend with you as, as a business, right? And so that's, that's a really great thing. How have [00:35:00] you thought about, with getting a subscriber and getting that relationship on an ongoing basis?
Again, making that flip over from pickup to doing delivery, have you been able to see some, pickup of additional buyers in those same neighborhoods or proximity from a brand awareness? 'cause people see, wow, gee, Suzy neighbor is getting bartlet milk. Right? That seems really convenient. Maybe I should sign up for that too.
Right? I mean, do you see that as well? Buyer density improves because you do home delivery?
Peter Bartlett: Yes. I think that the referral is kind of a network effect. The more you have, the more you'll get. And there's always a life cycle. You know, in our state, one of the biggest reasons we have a customer quit is because they're moving.
You know, some people just don't like North Dakota, which is understandable for six months of the year. But as you have a certain population, the more you have, the more they'll refer. You know, it's obvious. One of the things is make sure that you have packaging that will present you well.
You know, so if somebody is visiting their relative, let's say, you know, for every person in town, they probably have a family [00:36:00] member and they're gonna expose you to 30 people, probably within their orbit are gonna be aware that they get stuff from you. And so if your packaging like your brand is obvious, it's consistent, it looks professional, in our case, we've upgraded to, easy to pour glass jugs with a tamper-proof lid, it gives a good impression.
Then each product placed in the fridge is going to become a billboard that sells you to their friends. Think of that as you're deciding how to design your logo or how to print your stickers. You know, if it looks like an inkjet printer that gets wet and smears, it's not gonna attract that person's, you know, family member .
So, you know, it gets easier as time goes on. But for example, when we started one of our. Delivery areas to Fargo. It was a good, you know, probably a year, starting with, just one good contact, delivering to that location, you know, asking them to refer their friends. We've done things such as incentivize others to join to get delivery fees down. You know, at the beginning we would say, we need at least $50 in [00:37:00] fuel to get to this new location. So we're gonna split that up between everybody and say, we need 10 people paying $5 each, or whatever. That was something to help if you're in a place where you can't afford to go somewhere. But the more you can go the extra mile, absorb some of the cost and just get yourself into that community and then create the convenience and the referral. It took us probably about a year to start seeing a lot of new synergy.
You know, people telling people to sign up and. It's become one of our most profitable areas now. But it takes time. So I guess what I'm saying is stick with it. you're not gonna see, major, new delivery areas become profitable immediately. It's gonna cost you to get there.
But once you get there, you're gonna realize that you're gonna open up new pockets of customers because every new person is going to tell their friends
James Maiocco: Be patient. It's not gonna happen overnight, like you said. And I love your idea too, a view of this as an investment.
and track your costs. 'cause you can mark. Mark the cost off on your income. It is a tax deduction you can take so this is not something that you [00:38:00] just have to eat completely. You can write it off against your income from a tax perspective, but on the flip side, it will take some time.
And I know for instance, myself, I have three different subscriptions in my neighborhood. And sure enough, our farmers have asked, I even offered like we have a neighborhood Facebook group. Guess what? I've got, you know, 150 neighbors in that neighborhood Facebook group. And sure enough, over time, the farmers who delivered to me now are delivering to more than a dozen households in my neighborhood because they just saw how convenient it was.
So don't hesitate to ask your own customers to please share about their experience with your product in a neighborhood Facebook group or Nextdoor group. These are all free avenues for you to get visibility for your farm.
Peter Bartlett: Yes. And make it fun. Make it fun for people, you know? One thing we've recently started doing is working with people who have a farm stand, you know?
Um, so for example, somebody reached out to us and said, Hey, we have a farm stand in Tioga, and we would love to use your product in our fridge. And so we were very happy to work with them. And we give them a percentage and we actually have a product line that's our certified pet [00:39:00] food and we can sell it, retail in North Dakota.
So we give them, you know, 20% of the sale. And so now they're motivated. So now everybody in that part of the state is getting the energy from this, this entrepreneur that wants to talk about the connections they have, they get a kickback for it, but then they're telling all their friends and it's becoming, you know, even more of a trend.
James Maiocco: It's really great to see your story is certainly inspiring and again, props to your father for making this investment and for you now really carrying this forward with your wife and family and, and really living the dream that many homesteaders have. You've given us a lot of great feedback, but what's one other thing you'd like to share with, our listeners in terms of like, what's it going to take to actually build a thriving business direct to market when you live in a rural area like this, you know, what's one piece of advice you'd give to them?
Peter Bartlett: Yeah. There's a book that I've been listening to, during milking, but it's Grant Cardone, called, 10 X. and it's basically the concept that you have to go 10 times harder.
It's gonna take 10 times more effort than you think to get what you want done. You know? And so I think that message to farmers [00:40:00] out there wanting to build a thriving business, you're going to have to put 10 times more effort than you think into making this work. It's not as easy as it looks and patience.
Perseverance really does win out. We've noticed over the years, a lot of people get the bug to start selling raw milk or, get chickens and start selling eggs or whatever, and they, get all excited and it sound so amazing and it fizzes out, you know, after a couple years because they never realized how much dedication it takes to keep it going.
And so speaking to the new people as somebody who's been doing it for over 15 years. I would say you're in it for the long game and that actually in itself does determine your pricing because if you, you know, are cheap, you're gonna go out of business. So, in building a business, you have to, be willing to commit to it, stick with it, and
charge what it takes to make sure you can stay there for generations. Right. Ideally, I would love my sons to be interested in keeping the business going. You know, that means [00:41:00] running it like a business. It's not just a ministry, it's not just a hobby. Um, we wanna be able to serve our community and be a beacon of hope, for a sick culture.
So I think that, you know, all of those things together really combine to make it very meaningful to be a farmer in today's world. It's an honor to get up in the morning and to go work hard and not sleep enough and all these things just to be able to say, I've provided for my family and I've helped a gazillion other people have a good day, because their food was healthy.
James Maiocco: Words. Well said, great wisdom shared. Thank you so much, Peter, for your time today. I want to extend my thanks to you for joining us on this week's podcast episode. For our listeners, you can check out more about Peter and Bartlett Farms on their Instagram handle @ndbartlettfarms. So that's ND for North Dakota Bartlett with two T's Farms, all one word.
Here at Barn2Door we're humbled to support thousands of farms across the country and help offer tools and services to help them build subscription revenue just like Peter has. So we can have consistent revenue through those winter [00:42:00] months and guess what? If you're a farmer that works with Barn2Door, you can talk to Peter anytime during our Connect Office hours.
We offer folks like Peter and other farms who can offer wisdom 'cause we believe wisdom comes from many grain counselors, but you gotta figure out what's right for your business. At Barn2Door, we're delighted to work with farmers all across the country. If you wanna learn more about what we do here, you can go to barn2door.com/learnmore
Thank you for your time tuning in today, and we look forward to joining 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.
For free farm resources, or to listen to prior podcasts, go to barn2door. com/resources. We [00:43:00] hope you join us again and subscribe to the Independent Farmer Podcast wherever you stream your podcasts. Until next time.