S1 E5: Green Dirt Farm Talks Scaling to Achieve Economic Sustainability

08/16/22 • 31 min

Maven Minds: Trailblazers of Modern Business

Sarah Hoffman is blazing a new trail in agri-business with her grass-fed, sheep dairy farm. With a strong team of women to support her endeavors, she’s gone from a sheep farmer to cheese maker to restaurateur. Throughout the years, Green Dirt Farm has garnered accolades as one of Food and Wine’s best artisan cheese makers and has won several awards from the American Cheese Society.

While staying true to the handcraft tradition of cheese making, Sarah talks about how they’ve evolved their process to make the most out of the low volume of raw materials that sheep provide.

“We are constantly looking for ways that continue to celebrate and use the old methods, but also improve on those and create more efficiencies in the process.” – Sarah Hoffman, Green Dirt Farm

In this episode, Sarah Hoffman discusses:

The challenges of offering a unique product that’s not well known to consumers
Creating efficiencies and techniques that celebrate an old-school craft while still accommodating scale
Utilizing a team to increase opportunities to expand their product

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

Are you making your product available in a cost-effective manner?
Are there other ways of getting your product into the hands of people that could be more cost-effective? Can you find distributors to hold your product? Can you get other people to talk about it and get it into the hands of customers? Can you partner with a shop? Can it end up on a menu? What are some other creative ideas you have?
What are you doing to educate your customers?
Do they need it? Do they need to know more about your product or the process, or the benefits? Is it understandable out of the gate? Do they know what your product is or how it works? What questions can you answer for your customers? Are they confused in a spot that you didn’t quite realize? How can you help them along? How can you help them complete that purchase journey?
Where are the responsibilities on your team?
Where is the structure? How are you creating operational efficiencies across those? Do you have owners, champions, and people leading? Do you have the support you need to get everyday tasks done?

Key themes

Operational efficiency
Scalability
Consumer education
Brick and mortar expansion
Niche product

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

–

Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

While staying true to the handcraft tradition of cheese making, Sarah talks about how they’ve evolved their process to make the most out of the low volume of raw materials that sheep provide.

In this episode, Sarah Hoffman discusses:

The challenges of offering a unique product that’s not well known to consumers
Creating efficiencies and techniques that celebrate an old-school craft while still accommodating scale
Utilizing a team to increase opportunities to expand their product

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

Are you making your product available in a cost-effective manner?
Are there other ways of getting your product into the hands of people that could be more cost-effective? Can you find distributors to hold your product? Can you get other people to talk about it and get it into the hands of customers? Can you partner with a shop? Can it end up on a menu? What are some other creative ideas you have?
What are you doing to educate your customers?
Do they need it? Do they need to know more about your product or the process, or the benefits? Is it understandable out of the gate? Do they know what your product is or how it works? What questions can you answer for your customers? Are they confused in a spot that you didn’t quite realize? How can you help them along? How can you help them complete that purchase journey?
Where are the responsibilities on your team?
Where is the structure? How are you creating operational efficiencies across those? Do you have owners, champions, and people leading? Do you have the support you need to get everyday tasks done?

Key themes

Operational efficiency
Scalability
Consumer education
Brick and mortar expansion
Niche product

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

–

Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

Previous Episode

S1 E4: Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro Talks Rapid Scale and Culture in Small Business

As Kansas City’s first artisanal brigadeiro shop, owners Jessica Harris and mom Regina, are bringing the heart of Brazilian tradition to the midwest. Similar to chocolate truffles, brigadeiro is soft in texture, luxuriously creamy, and can be crafted with a unique mix of flavor combinations.

Jessica and Regina started Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro on the side of their corporate jobs and have since been able to scale to a storefront with a certified kitchen and have landed features in major publications such as Good Morning America and New York Live.

“I’ve learned one thing - that everybody deserves publicity. You just have to do the work. ” – Jessica Harris, Sweet Kiss Brigaderio

In this episode, Jessica discusses:

Building a brand that embraces cultural traditions
Using PR to scale beyond their local area
And expanding their focus on a unique customer experience

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

Consider what it takes to take something from concept to execution.
Where in that process are you at with your business today? If you’re in those earliest stages, what is it going to take to get you to that next step? What is your most immediate goal? What is your long-term goal?
What is the role that PR could play in your company?
How would additional exposure help you? Is your product accessible online? Are there other opportunities that would additionally be beneficial?
What role does culture play in your business?
Are you telling that cultural story? Is that culture reflected internally as much as it is externally? Does that culture create a niche? Is there differentiation in how your product is conveyed to customers?
What are you doing to market your business?
Have you taken an audit of your marketing? Do you know how your marketing efforts are performing? Are you making the most efficient marketing decisions? Are you getting a return on your marketing investments? Are you tracking conversions? Are you aware of what it costs to bring in new customers?

Key themes

Small business ownership
Public relations
Cultural experience
Marketing
Scale and visibility

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers

–

Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

Next Episode

S1 E6: CoSchedule’s Nathan Ellering Talks Making Content Marketing Easier and More Efficient with Data-Driven Tools

As the head of marketing, Nathan Ellering and the rest of the team at CoSchedule have soared to new heights since their inception in 2013. Growing from a plug-in for WordPress to a full-fledged web-based management software for marketers, in just a few short years. CoSchedule is able to cater to businesses of all sizes, helping them to organize and schedule their content marketing in the most efficient way. Nathan and his team are continuously working to break down barriers in the marketplace, making it easier for marketers to optimize their messaging for the best exposure.

“I think of marketing as an experience. No matter what stage you are in the customer journey, marketers are there trying to influence profitable customer action by delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.” – Nathan Ellering

In this episode, Nathan Ellering of CoSchedule discusses:

Widespread adoption of content marketing
Utilizing team collaboration and customer feedback for product development
Positioning and staying ahead of the market
Realigning vision and mission with product evolution

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

What are you doing in your business to gather feedback?
Do you have a form, a survey, an email address that can be used to collect information? Are you just asking people directly? Do you have a way to document and share that information within your organization? Do you have a way of bringing that feedback back to the people that are developing your product? Do you have a way of making that feedback impactful to your business?
What are you doing in your business to get content out there in front of people?
Are you marketing in other ways? Would content be able to make your strategy a bit more well-rounded? Would it get you in front of more people? Do you need a blog or a podcast? Do you need scheduled posts, interactions and engagements with your customers?
How are you championing collaboration in your own organization?
How are you breaking down silos and barriers between teams? Are you allowing for that communication to happen in multiple avenues? How are you making sure that what the customer says to your customer success team or what the product engineering team thinks is indeed the right next move? How do you pull all of that together and move your product forward? Are you offering avenues for collaboration in your organization? Are there meetings scheduled intent on creating collaboration? Are there spaces in your organization that allow for multiple groups to gather together?

Key themes