read SUPERCHARGED online

Welcome to SUPERCHARGED, the weekly email for rural entrepreneurs. Don't forget to Supercharge friends and colleagues buy sharing this email with them. 

Let's Supercharge You!

As producers, farmers and rural landowners, we know your time & attention is precious. With this weekly digest, the team will serve up a tidy crop of ideas & concepts to help you keep your farm business thriving for generations to come. 

CREATE OFFICE SPACE FOR STABLE RETURNS?

Co-working spaces on rural land may seem like a hard sell, but all you need is to think outside the box. You may have outbuildings or stables ripe for conversion into small office spaces with a little work. And that's all pretty practical and doable. But how do you fill them?

Three ways to think about marketing it. 

DEEP COUNTRYSIDE, DEEP WORK
There's a major trend for anyone in the knowledge or service economy for avoiding the constant distractions of office life and always-on messaging and the like. If you're able to offer office space at a decent rate, your occupants don't need to be there five days a week to make it pay. Pitch it as their 'deep work' space, in a quieter, countryside environment than the typical urban office setting. 

OFFICE HOURS FOR THE AREA
In many rural areas, solid tax & legal advice is in short supply. Help occupants build a plan around your farm as their local base for regular rural 'office hours' and you might attract major firms to take a space as their branch office. Locating in a professional space on a farm is a great way for them to establish an in-touch, in-context service. Got a family member who moved away to build skills in accountancy or legal? What a great way to get them back on the farm regularly - offer them a built-in client base. 

FARMYARD PROFESSIONALS
Don't just rent and forget. Your co-working tenants could be a community to share a cuppa or some advice. Find a regular time, once a month, to host or organise a meetup with them. It may generate new business, start new conversations, but it's guaranteed to keep them happy and paying rent for longer. 

GROWING A FOLLOWING

While you're thinking about what other diversified businesses you might grow on your land, start thinking about what makes you a farmer. That's all it took for Barrie Quinn to build a farm and a 423k-follower Instagram account in under 5 years. 

His account for Portnoo Market Garden in Donegal on Ireland's wild north-west coast is a steady stream of gentle but persuasive walk-and-talks. Barrie talks about his passion for locally-grown, chemical-free produce, and it's got a calming ASMR quality that comes from its bare bones simplicity. It's honest and no-frills and, by all means, it's true to who Barrie is. He shares tips and tricks, he stakes out what he loves and loathes, and radiates calming I-can-do-that-too enthusiasm.

It's helped him build community connections, sell merch and become a trusted source of advice and advocacy - all of which is a helpful thing when you're trying to find good routes to market and sell your produce at a premium.

Check our our breakdown of Barrie's approach and how you might apply it here. 

👨🏻‍🌾 💣 TOM'S BOMBS: BUILDING INFINITE BRANDS

Tom Chatfield runs Make Hay - a consultancy that helps producers find purpose and turn it into sustainable, driven business. 

I’m constantly referencing the “infinite game”  from Simon Sinek, with his five neat parts to it: 1) find a just cause, 2) build trusting teams, 3) study worthy rivals, 4) prepare for existential flexibility, and 5) demonstrate the courage to lead. 

Sinek articulates what you should be looking for when you're building your brand better than anyone else I can think of. The same goes for how he describes your core values.

So often I see people muddled up about all this – even marketing pros that ought to know better – so these videos are a simple way to put you streets ahead. 

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure on this one, I’m offering a free 30-minute chat for the first five readers of Supercharged to apply. Drop me an email to book in. 

RESOURCE: FARM SUCCESSION FOR WOMEN

In case you missed this superb guide on farm succession for females from UK-based Farmers Weekly, which dropped before Christmas. It includes practical how-to for planning succession with female heirs involved, case studies from female farmers who've been through the gauntlet, and also ways to overcome and account for gender biases in the process. A joint effort with a group of very solid lawyers, tax advisers and farm business strategists, this is a must-read, and their Jan 23 webinar is also worth a look too.