#318: How Haven Hills Farm Grew Sales 75% at One Farmers Market

FREE Event: The Farm Marketing Fix – October 5th Sign up HERE Ethan and Natalie Brinegar raise grass-fed beef, lamb, and pastured chicken at Haven Hills Farm in Webster, Minnesota. They both work full time. Their daughter is two. They sell at one farmers market. Eleven months ago they joined The Profitable Farmer. Since then, farmers market sales climbed 60% and direct sales climbed 75%. Prices doubled over two years. They shut off shipping. And this February they used the 5-Day Sales Launch to sell an entire season of beef before the cattle ever reached the processor. Inside: why they abandoned a paid e-commerce site before it launched, how time management changed the way Ethan ends his day, what happened the first time they raised prices 20%, and the customer conversation that turned a "too expensive" into two packages sold five minutes later. If you know your prices are too low and are afraid to fix it, start here. Farm Marketing Fix (Free Masterclass October 5th) - If you're heading into another season unsure how to price or where to start, this is a full week of marketing help at no cost, and a real taste of what a year of coaching looks like. Save your seat at charlottemsmith.com/masterclass  

FREE Event: Farm Marketing Week – October 5th Sign up HERE Every farmer in the valley told Kate Gessford she could not make it. There are no frost-free days on record where she farms. The market season runs ten weeks. Last year she hauled vegetables home and made $120 on a good day. This year she sells out in 30 minutes, raised her chicken from $6 to $10 a pound with zero pushback, and sold out a five-day launch in three days. We talk about the pricing math, the emails, the launch, and the part she did not see coming: her autoimmune symptoms cleared, her marriage shifted, and she finally let people help her. If you are working harder than anyone you know and still packing product back into the truck, start here. Farm Marketing Week starts October 5th: charlottemsmith.com/masterclass

FREE Event: Farm Marketing Week - October 5th Sign up HERE My dad's farm went bankrupt in the 80s. We lived on hundreds of acres and still had food scarcity. After 13 years of coaching farmers, here's what I've learned: your success isn't limited by your location, your competition, or your website. It's limited by what you think is possible. Farmers in my program average a 200% increase in sales their first year, and most earn back their investment within 90 days. They get the same training as everyone else. What changes is their thinking. In this episode: The simple thoughts that keep skilled farmers stuck Why "I can't raise my prices" is a belief, not a fact The one question that unlocks pricing confidence How to kill overwhelm in your busiest season Works for flowers, meat, milk, eggs, produce, fiber, and every direct to consumer farm. Farm Marketing Week starts October 5th, join us at: charlottemsmith.com/masterclass

FREE Event: Farm Marketing Week - October 5th. Sign up HERE "I should be further along by now." Notice what that sentence does to your shoulders. That reaction is your clue. Charlotte Smith calls this success expectancy, and it is one of the most expensive thoughts her clients bring to coaching calls. It feels like an accurate description of your life. It is a mindset, and it is the thing standing between you and the result you want. In this episode you will hear real coaching examples: the client who stopped marketing for weeks, and the client planning 18-hour days to hit a deadline she invented. You will learn the four expectations hiding underneath the thought and the three-step protocol to replace it. Your only assignment this week is to notice whether that sentence is running in the background. What You'll Learn Why "I should be further along" is a thought you can change, not a fact you have to live with How expecting success can actively prevent success The four hidden expectations underneath the thought: timeline, effort, skills, and investment The three-step thought protocol Charlotte uses with clients to build a mindset that holds up in month nine Key Takeaways Feelings drive actions. Nobody has ever felt defeated and then taken big, strategic action. Defeat produces quitting or frantic busywork. The lens distorts everything. With that thought running, your business, body, home, and website all look broken. Most of them just needed more time. Check the source of the target. If you did not set the deadline from a plan and self-confidence, you are not behind. Awareness first. Catch the thought, label it, and stop rearranging your external life to fix an internal problem. FAQ Q: What is success expectancy? A: Expecting you should already have it. That expectation creates frustration, and frustration drives the actions that keep you stuck. Q: Isn't expecting success the point? A: Believing you are capable opens you up. Being frustrated it has not happened yet shuts you down. Those are two different thoughts. Q: Why does "I Should Be Further Along" feel like a fact? A: Repetition. You said it enough times that it stopped sounding like an opinion. Q: What do I think instead? A: "I'm giving this all the time it takes." Resources Mentioned Free masterclass, October 5th: How to Say No Without Losing the People You Love. Live coaching included. Last time this year. Sign up at: charlottemsmith.com/class Profitable Mindset Academy. Weekly coaching and the goal setting training from this episode. Registration opens once more before year end: charlottemsmith.com/coaching  

Ready to stop saying yes when you mean no? Free masterclass October 5th: Sign up HERE What's the one thing you wish you'd said no to instead of yes? I asked 1,500 women that question on a free masterclass. Hundreds answered. The volunteer role. The mom who calls daily. The invitation you dread. Then I asked how it feels. Anxious. Guilty. Behind. Resentful. We coached for 20 minutes using one skill. When I asked again, the chat filled up: lighter, relieved, hopeful. Nothing in their lives had changed. Same people. Same problems. Same calendar. In this episode I break down what actually shifted, share what happened to Jen and Julie, and answer the question I get more than any other: isn't spending time and money on myself selfish?   Then I do the thing I've waited 25 years to do and open the doors to the Profitable Mindset Academy. I've taught marketing to farmers for decades. This is not that. The Academy is for every woman, every age, every background. I've coached women from 17 to their late 70s and the skills work the same for all of them. Doors close Friday, August 21st at midnight Eastern. Join the Academy: charlottemsmith.com/coaching Free strategy call: charlottemsmith.com/strategy  

Ready to stop saying yes when you mean no? Free masterclass August 17th: Sign up HERE  A doctor told me I would not live to raise my babies. I was a young mom with a newborn and a three year old, and my body was showing signs of a stroke from anxiety. I tried everything. Churches, meditation, mantras, journaling. Each one helped for about a minute. Then someone said one word to me: coaching. In this episode: The wake up call that changed the direction of my life Why short term fixes stop working How my client Deidre Clifton (episode 312) stopped losing sleep and started saying no without guilt Why 250 to 300 women a year say the mindset work changed every area of their life What I am teaching live and free on Monday, August 17th Open to every woman. No business required. Save your seat: charlottemsmith.com/class  

What if the secret to a profitable farm is doing less? Deidre Clifton of Prairie Peak Farms was making cheese, bread, soap, selling milk, and selling registered goats — and barely making a dime. She was behind on homeschooling, running on stress, and freshly diagnosed with two autoimmune conditions. She thought it was just farm life. In this episode, Deidre shares how focusing on ONE product, raising her prices, mastering her time, and doing the mindset work changed everything — her income, her marriage, her parenting, and her health. Her autoimmune symptoms? Gone. This summer? Two months off, guilt-free, for the first time in years. If you're a farm woman who feels behind and convinced the answer is to hustle harder, this one's for you. 💛  

Ready to stop saying yes when you mean no? Free masterclass August 17th: Sign up HERE A year ago, Julie ended her farmers market season calling it a total bomb — and she was sure the fix was lowering her lamb prices. Instead, she raised them significantly. Now, her product is flying out of the freezer, and the items she raised prices on the most sold out first. Nothing about her product changed. Same animals, same quality, same markets. What changed was one sentence in her head. In this episode, I walk you through exactly how to catch the thought that's costing you sales, profit, and maybe the farm itself. You'll learn: Why "my prices are too high" feels completely true when sales are slow — and why it's almost never a fact The three-step skill that separates what actually happened from the story your brain tells you about it The one rule to follow before making any pricing decision: never decide from a discouraged thought If your thoughts might be holding you back, come to my free class on August 17th — The Mindset Fix. I'm teaching the single most foundational coaching skill, the one that saved my life 25 years ago. There will be a replay. Save your seat: charlottemsmith.com/class The Profitable Mindset Academy starts late August — all 26 coaching skills, weekly coaching calls for a year, open to all women, everywhere. If this episode helped you, follow the show and leave a review — it helps more farmers find this work. 🩷

You bought the planner. You color-coded the calendar. And you're still lying awake with 40 things buzzing in your head. Here's the truth nobody taught you: overwhelm is not a calendar problem, it's a mindset problem. And no planner can fix the belief that you should be able to do more than is humanly possible. In this episode, I walk you through a real coaching call with a homeschooling farm mom who was completely overwhelmed and beating herself up for "failing." We did the math on what she was actually expecting of herself: 45 hours a week of farm work, plus keeping house, plus homeschooling. And everything shifted in about 20 minutes. No new planner required. You'll learn: Why overwhelm is not a calendar problem — and why a new planner will never fix it The "five gallons into a one-gallon container" picture that explains why you feel like you're failing (you're not) The one question to ask yourself before you touch another productivity tool If you recognized yourself anywhere in this episode, come to my free class on August 17th. I'm teaching the one foundational coaching skill that makes all the others work — the skill that saved my life 25 years ago. There will be a replay. Save your seat: charlottemsmith.com/class The Profitable Mindset Academy starts late August. I'll teach all 26 coaching skills the most successful women I know use in every area of their lives. If this episode helped you, follow the show and leave a review. It helps more farmers find this work. 🩷

Ready to stop saying yes when you mean no? Free masterclass August 17th: Sign up HERE The biggest asset on your farm is not your land, your herd, or your equipment — it's your customer relationships. One loyal customer can be worth $10,000–$20,000 or more over her lifetime, and the farmers who treat those relationships as their most valuable asset sell out faster, raise prices without losing anyone, and stop scrambling for the next customer. In this episode, I do the math with you — and it's going to change how you look at your farm on a random Wednesday morning. In this episode: Why the customer who's bought eggs from you for four years is worth more than your best tractor — with real 'customer lifetime value' math you can run on your own farm The three reasons most farmers neglect their most profitable asset (including the guilt that stops you from hitting "send") How Sarah sold $100,000 of beef in five days, Brooke sold out 90 flower shares, Valerie 10X'd her farm stand in six months, and Hannah raised prices 70% without losing a single customer The difference between nurturing relationships and people-pleasing — they sound similar, but they're opposite forces Three things to do this week, plus one hard thing I want you to stop doing Key moments: "The woman who's bought eggs from you every week for four years is worth more than your best tractor." The leaky-bucket problem: why chasing new customers keeps you broke Never burn a bridge — the rule my coach taught me that I've adopted completely One email that emptied a freezer of 12 hogs in a few hours Resources: 🩷 Free class, August 17: I'm teaching the single most important coaching skill I use in my own life and with all my clients — especially if you say yes when you want to say no. Sign up at charlottemsmith.com/class The Profitable Farmer — my program where farmers learn relationship-based marketing that sells out seasons: charlottemsmith.com/mastery If this episode helped you, follow the show and leave a review — it helps more farmers find this work.