Profitable Mindset

#294: How this Flower Farmer Makes over $100K Annually, With Profit (and lunch dates with her husband)

FREE Master Class: The Farm Marketing Fix Sign Up HERE [https://charlottemsmith.com/masterclass] What does a profitable flower farm actually look like from the inside? Not just the revenue numbers, but the daily life? Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers in Ithaca, New York gives us the real picture. A former teacher with 20+ years in the classroom, Brooke started her flower farm knowing she could grow, but having no idea how to sell. Her first year solo was rough. Then she joined Farm Marketing Mastery, and three years later she hasn't looked back. In this update episode, Brooke shares what year five actually looks like: six figures in revenue, profitable for the third year in a row, workshops that sell out with waitlists, and a winter tulip CSA that went from 1,000 bulbs to 20,000. She's also made a decision most farmers struggle to make — she's choosing to stop growing, because she's found her sweet spot. We dig into the email marketing crash that happened mid-launch and became her best launch ever, the spring crop failure that forced hard conversations with customers, why her calendar has become her most powerful business tool, and the simple morning mindset ritual that rewired her thinking over three years. If you've ever wondered whether the calm, profitable farm life is actually possible — or whether it's just something other farmers get — Brooke's story is your answer. Click HERE and Let's Meet! [https://charlottemsmith.com/strategy] Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.

#293: Mom, Dad, a Daughter-in-Law - and the Marketing Magic that Transformed Their Farm 🌸

FREE Master Class: The Farm Marketing Fix Sign Up HERE [https://charlottemsmith.com/masterclass] What happens when a family-run farm stops trying to out-advertise everyone and starts genuinely loving their customers instead? Magic. That's the only word for it. Craig, Melynda, and Ellie Koetsier are a third-generation retail greenhouse in Grand Rapids, Michigan (find them at koetsiers.com). They spent years cycling through every marketing tactic out there: local newspapers, billboards, radio, TV, direct mail coupons, digital agencies. Lots of money spent. Little they could track. And a constant, nagging feeling that they were interrupting people rather than serving them. Then Craig stumbled onto The Profitable Farmer podcast, started devouring every episode, and eventually joined the coaching program. What shifted? They stopped chasing tactics that felt wrong and started building real relationships — through email marketing, authentic storytelling, and a community-first mindset. Now Ellie gets stopped in grocery stores by people who say, "You're the one who writes the emails!" Customers come to their classes, pay their prices without blinking, and return season after season — not because of a coupon, but because they trust the Koetsiers. In this episode, we talk about: why relationship marketing works when interruption marketing doesn't, how to write emails that make customers feel seen, transferring a marketing mindset to your staff, pricing without guilt, doing it scared (especially as a self-proclaimed perfectionist), and why failure really is just feedback — and freedom — to try another way. If you've ever wondered why people aren't buying from you — and what to actually do about it — this episode is your answer. Click HERE and Let's Meet! [https://charlottemsmith.com/strategy] Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.

#292: How This Farmer Went from Laid-Off to Sold-Out in 9 Months

FREE Master Class: The Farm Marketing Fix Sign Up HERE [https://charlottemsmith.com/masterclass] What does it actually take to turn a struggling farm into a profitable, joy-filled business? In this episode, we hear from Judith, a sheep and lamb farmer who joined the Farm Marketing Mastery program in April and sold out of her lamb entirely by the end of the year. She opens up about the mindset shifts that changed everything: moving from feeling like she was "throwing good time after bad" to waking up at 5am, excited to get to work. She talks about learning to see herself as the CEO of her farm, using the Sunday Start Strong planning method to stay focused and organized, and why she believes the confidence she gained is more valuable than any marketing tactic. Her story also touches on the guilt many farmers — especially women — feel about investing in themselves, the power of being surrounded by a community of like-minded farmers doing the mindset work, and her plan to double her sales while raising prices this year. If you're a farmer on the fence about getting help, questioning whether you're "worthy" enough to invest in your business, or wondering if a profitable farm is even possible — this episode was made for you. Key Takeaways: * Why mindset coaching is inseparable from farm marketing success * How the CEO mindset transforms the way you manage and grow your farm * The role community plays in sustaining motivation and momentum * How to scale incrementally while protecting profitability Click HERE and Let's Meet! [https://charlottemsmith.com/strategy] Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.

#291: The Final Numbers - Part 8: Building Your Farm From Scratch

FREE Guide: The month-by-month roadmap to build your farm business from scratch. Grab it HERE [https://charlottemsmith.com/start] A year ago, Hayden didn't even have a farm name. Now she's filing taxes on a profitable business and planning her exit from corporate. Here are the real numbers: roughly $7,000 in gross sales across subscriptions ($1,000), bulk buckets ($800-$1,000), individual bouquets ($1,000), U-pick events ($1,000), a 60-person corporate bouquet workshop ($800), and dried flowers and wreath workshops ($1,000). Expenses came in around $4,500-$5,000 not counting the $10,000+ she spent from grant money on the greenhouse, electric wheelbarrow, and infrastructure that'll last for years. Profit: about $2,000. Her first year. Most farms don't see profit for five. She's raising prices everywhere. Bulk buckets from $60 to $100. Build-your-own bouquets from $20 to $30-$50. Wreath workshops from $50 to $75+. Bouquet workshop events from roughly $50/person to $125-$175/person. She underpriced almost everything Year 1 and she knows it. The Year 2 goal is $30,000, broken into three seasonal buckets: $10,000 in spring flowers, $10,000 in summer bulk sales, and $10,000 in fall/winter dried flowers and workshops. She's hiring two people — one for harvesting and bouquets, one for manual labor. She's trying farmers markets for May and June only. She's secured drop-off locations in two nearby towns for subscription pickups. And she's already been asked to be the only flower vendor at a 1,000-person Mother's Day market. The biggest shift? She figured out what problem she actually solves. It's not "buy my pretty flowers." It's helping women feel unique, creative, and proud of what they put together — the baby shower that doesn't look like grocery store flowers, the dinner party centerpiece everyone asks about, the DIY wedding that saved thousands but still looked incredible. Once that clicked, her entire marketing strategy made sense. And the biggest news: she's quitting her corporate job by April. She's terrified. She's also never gotten a single grant or scholarship rejected — while getting rejected from dozens of job applications. The universe, as she puts it, keeps telling her she belongs here. This is what building a farm business from scratch actually looks like. No trust fund. No playbook. No one running it for her. Just a woman who decided a year ago that she'd regret it if she didn't try. Click HERE and Let's Meet! [https://charlottemsmith.com/strategy] Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.

#290: Season Wrap-Up – Part 7: Building Your Farm From Scratch

FREE Guide: The month-by-month roadmap to build your farm business from scratch. Grab it HERE [https://charlottemsmith.com/start] It's November. The flower field is cut down. And Hayden is sick for the first time all year — her body finally giving out now that the pressure is off. The last two months were a sprint. She partnered with Annie, a fellow local flower farmer and landscaping designer, to teach a bouquet-making workshop for a 60-person corporate healthcare leadership conference. They harvested over 1,200 stems, sourced wholesale flowers, priced out every vase and every stem — and still undercharged. They split $800 each after expenses on a $3,000 contract. Next time? They've already rebooked for May at $125-$175 per person. That's the real lesson: your first time doing anything is tuition. Price it right the second time or you won't want to do it again. She did two more bouquet bar events at local markets and venues, and a final casual Saturday morning U-pick that drew people who'd been following her all season but hadn't made it out yet. The connections keep compounding — one person from her free nature walk back in May led to the Mac Market connection, which led to a holiday market invitation, which led to a shop owner buying dried flowers for retail. One relationship at a time. The biggest wake-up call? People were leaving her events not knowing her name, her farm name, or how to find her again. No labels on bouquets. No brochures at U-picks. Friends brought friends who had no idea where they were. She's ordered labels with QR codes and is rethinking every touchpoint for next year. She got the Floret Workshop scholarship for 2026 — her first formal flower farming training ever. She's pivoting hard toward early spring flowers with the greenhouse her $15,000 grant is funding. She's selling dried wreaths and arrangements through winter to keep cash flowing. And she made the decision this week to not expand the U-pick field next year — and felt immediate relief. The season can't look like this again. She knows that now. But she also knows what works: relationships, events, community, and showing up even when you're exhausted and your wrist is in a brace and you want to quit. Next episode is the full year financial breakdown. Click HERE and Let's Meet! [https://charlottemsmith.com/strategy] Chat with us to see if The Profitable Farmer can break you out of marketing misery.