When Your Best-Selling Farm Product Disappears - Inside a FMS Coaching Call

Summary

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Podcast Summary: My Digital Farmer Podcast

Episode 336 – When Your Best-Selling Farm Product Disappears – Inside a FMS Coaching Call
Host: Corinna Bench
Date: October 29, 2025

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Overview of Episode Theme

In this episode, host and CSA farmer Corinna Bench features a live coaching call from her Farm Marketing School. The episode revolves around a real and pressing issue: what happens when a farm’s best-selling product – in this case, beef – disappears from inventory, perhaps for months or even years? Through a direct coaching conversation with farm member Stacy, Corinna guides listeners through the tangible fears, scarcity mindset, and business anxieties that such a situation creates, while modeling how to reframe these challenges as opportunities for growth, innovation, and mindset evolution.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Stacy’s Dilemma: Running Out of Her Best-Seller

• Situation: Stacy runs a farm membership offering meat (beef, pork, chicken) to monthly subscribers. Her beef inventory is entirely depleted, with no more expected for at least 9 months.
• Primary Concerns:
  • Fear of Customer Loss: “If beef is not on the table, people may leave. Will my members see value if they can’t get beef?” (10:30–12:34)
  • Revenue Impact: Worrying about a significant drop in sales and losing momentum, given that beef has historically seemed to “bring people in.”
  • Competitive Pressures: A new market competitor is selling beef (and pork) at significantly lower prices.

2. Scarcity Mindset & Catastrophizing

Corinna identifies that Stacy, like many entrepreneurs, is following a natural tendency to anticipate worst-case scenarios:

• “Our reptilian brain decides to warn us by creating a scenario in our head of the absolute worst thing that could happen…” (19:52–21:46)
• Assumptions Stacy voiced:
  • “If we don't have beef, we're not gonna sell as much as we have been.” (15:39)
  • “They’re going to find somebody else that has beef more consistently… they don’t buy from us anymore.” (14:38–14:52)

3. Challenging Assumptions with Reality & Data

Corinna pushes Stacy (and the audience) to look at actual sales data and customer behavior:

• Beef isn’t necessarily the highest revenue generator; pork actually is for Stacy.
• Other products (pork and chicken) might be what regular customers value most.

Corinna: “We assume our customers care about the thing that we are fixated on, even when the real data is telling a slightly different story.” (19:52–21:00)

4. Mindset Shift: From Crisis to Opportunity

Corinna introduces the idea of reframing the situation:

• Learning to Let Go: Being forced to be still and realizing you can't always control everything as a business owner. (26:31–27:09)
• Resilience Through Uncertainty: “It’s not an emergency… I’m still going to be successful no matter how many beef I have on the ground.” (27:20–27:42)
• Creativity Under Constraint: “What if you discover another really cool moneymaker because you had to?” (28:06–28:16)
• Innovation Trigger: Necessity often forces entrepreneurs to innovate and discover new revenue streams or improve their systems.

Corinna: “Every time we've faced a systems issue in our business… I'm so grateful now for that circumstance because our business became better because of it.” (29:40–31:04)

5. Practical Strategies and Advice Offered

• Communicate Authentically: Be transparent with customers about supply issues; many will be understanding and loyal.
• Leverage Scarcity: Being sold out can increase future demand (and price elasticity). Use this period to build anticipation and waitlists.
• Experiment with New Offers: While beef is absent, bundle other products, run special promotions, or offer classes and experiences.
• Monitor Data: Track actual retention and preferences, so decisions are data-driven, not just fear-based.

6. The Entrepreneurial Journey: Evolving Through Challenge

• Growth Mindset: The best entrepreneurs use difficult periods to become more resilient and creative.
• Practice Makes Progress: Mindset shifts require active practice through journaling and reflection.

Corinna: “Your business is not defined by a single product. Your business is defined by your ability to create value no matter what.” (44:10–44:30)

• Invitation to Growth: Situations like Stacy’s are “the crucible in which you are becoming” the next-level entrepreneur you need to be.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Stacy (Farm Coaching Member), on her fear:

  “If I'm not gonna have beef for another 8 months… I don't know if they're that loyal to, like, hang around for this farm membership if beef is not on the table.” (11:28–12:34)

• Corinna, on mindset:

  "We create stories in our head. We assume our customers care about the thing that we are fixated on, even when the real data is telling a slightly different story." (19:52–21:00)

• Stacy, realizing it's not all about beef:

  “Even with the beef we had, it's still not our top performing category by a long shot. Pork is.” (15:03–15:28)

• Corinna, reframing the crisis:

  “What if losing beef is the thing that forces me to finally build the most profitable, creative, exciting version of my business yet?” (31:04–32:00)

• On authenticity and customer loyalty:

  “I found the understanding customers are the ones I want.” (36:53–37:48, C)

• On growth opportunities:

  “Be grateful for the challenges you get, because they are always a teacher and you may just not see the lesson yet.” (41:08–41:41)

• Corinna, final wisdom:

  “The reason it’s an issue and a challenge is because you simply haven't become the person that you are required to become to manage that situation.” (44:10–44:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction of Stacy’s Problem: 10:30–12:34
• Unpacking Fear & Scarcity Mindset: 13:39–19:52
• Discussion of Data vs. Stories: 15:03–17:49
• Reframing: Opportunity & Mindset Shift: 26:22–29:42
• Peer Advice on Communication: 35:36–37:48
• Addressing Competition and Price Wars: 37:48–39:44
• Future-Oriented Strategic Planning: 41:08–44:09
• Final Takeaways and Mindset Recap: 44:09–end

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Episode Structure Highlights

Tone & Language:

• Candid, encouraging, and relatable, with Corinna frequently sharing her own challenges and mindset hurdles.
• Stacy is open, vulnerable, occasionally anxious but receptive to new perspectives.

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Key Takeaways

• Most business crises are won or lost in the mind, not in the marketplace; mindset shapes strategy and results.
• Don’t let fear and assumptions drive your decisions—look to your actual data and listen to your loyal customers.
• Temporary shortages or setbacks are not business-ending; they can be invitations to innovate, improve, and grow into a more resilient entrepreneur.
• Practice reframing obstacles as opportunities: “Who is this challenge asking me to become?”
• Transparent communication and a willingness to experiment will deepen customer loyalty and sustain your farm through hard seasons.

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For farmers (or any entrepreneur) who fear losing customers when a flagship product disappears, this episode is a must-listen for learning actionable mindset shifts and practical strategies to come out stronger on the other side.

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Transcript

[A]

If you've ever thought my customers will leave, if I can't offer that one thing, then this episode is for you. Today we're digging into a live coaching call in farm marketing school where we turn scarcity, fear and assumptions into strategy and confidence and a mindset shift. So many of our business challenges will be one in our minds. Let's get started. Hey there, this is Corinna Bench and welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast. In today's market, it's not enough to just grow your product, you've got to know how to sell it too. Welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast where we reveal online marketing strategies and tips to help farmers like you get better and more confident at marketing, learn how to find more customers, increase your sales, and build a strong brand for your farm. Let's start the show. Well. Welcome to episode 336 of the My Digital Farmer Podcast. I'm your host, Corinna Bench, one of the farmers at Shared Legacy Farms out in Elmore, Ohio. I'm also the founder of mydigitalfarmer.com which is all about trying to help other farmers like you get more confident in your marketing and sales strategy so that you can grow a profitable business. How's everyone doing today? Welcome back to the podcast. Big shout out to my listeners. Really glad you're here. If you're new to the show, make sure you subscribe to the podcast and go check out my first 10 episodes because I designed them to be an on ramp into the marketing lingo. If you have no idea about the basic framework of marketing, that's the place to go. Another good thing to do would be get on to get onto my free email list because when you do, I'm going to send you an email every four or five days for about three months and they're going to basically walk you through the jungle of farm marketing and teach you the ropes. The key insights and principles point you to the most important episodes. Follow people you should be following, resources you should have and know about. A lot of freebies. It's really good, so just go to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe and you can get started on that. Today's podcast is sponsored by my friends at localline. If managing orders, customers and inventory feels chaotic this season, it might be time for a better system. Localline is the all in one sales platform built for farms and food hubs. Whether you're selling direct to consumer or managing wholesale buyers, or running a CSA with tools like E commerce, automated inventory management, subscriptions barcode scanning box builder and pos. Localline helps you simplify operations and grow your sales. In fact, farmers using localline increase their annual sales by 23% and boost their average order size by 9.5%. Switching is easy. No setup fees, no sales commissions, and your onboarding manager will migrate your storefront for free. No joke, so that you can get started without missing a beat. As a podcast listener, you'll also get one premium feature for free for a full year when you use my code MDF2025 at checkout. So head to mydigitalfarmer.com localline use that coupon code and you'll be on your way. Start selling smarter this season with localline. And now back to the show. Well, happy Halloween everyone. That's coming up in a couple of days and this is a fun fact, but tomorrow is my birthday. Yes, I was almost a Halloween baby and my husband is probably going to be planting garlic. He always seems to do that on my birthday. We'll see if that happens again this year. We have just finished our CSA season last week and so this has been a different week for me. I have a lot less on my plate, more rest, more bandwidth and frankly, I have just been taking some time to do nothing. It feels really weird. It feels really weird to not be busy all the time and I have to actually calm the voice down in my head that tells me I should be working and that I'm not valuable unless I'm working. Do you guys ever have that voice? Yeah, like. Like I feel guilty getting caught in my lazy boy reading a book. So this is always a shift that I go through when, when we're transitioning from the really busy season to the winter season when we get a little bit of a break. But anyway, today's episode is going to be a little bit different. A few weeks ago, inside of Farm Marketing School, we have a monthly zoom call where the members can come and just bring anything into the room. We sometimes share really cool things that are working in their businesses, share ideas. Sometimes they bring a question to the table and ask for some coaching support or ask the group for some ideas. And we had a live group call with several members. During that call, one of our farmers, Stacy, opened up about a really stressful problem that she was having in her business. She sells meat. She has a membership model where her customers pay monthly to get first access to all her products. And right now she is completely out of beef. Like zero inventory and she's not going to have any for at least nine Months. And she thinks that beef is the item her customers love and always want. It's her highest priced product. So she has a really high profit margin on it. And she's watching beef just go out the door in other places for ridiculous amounts of money. Right. And she's just seeing this lost opportunity. And you know, to make things worse, it's just going to be several years before her own cows are ready. So she's, she's kind of in a tough spot. I wouldn't say she was panicking, but she sounded frustrated. And the big question that she brings into the room is, how do I keep selling when I don't have the one product everyone wants? What if people leave? What if they go to my competitor? What if my membership loses value because I just don't have beef for sale? And that's the thing that people want. And so I want you to listen in to the conversation. This was actually an hour long zoom meeting. We had several other things that we discussed, but I only chose this. I pulled out this excerpt because I have a feeling that this is something that comes up for some of you. And I thought that it was just really interesting to walk around the thoughts and the feelings that were going on inside of her and to notice them and to talk about how do we need to shift how we think about this because that's what's going to unlock us. So I think you're going to see how there's some, some really big mindset shifts that happen in the conversation that are powerful. There were some assumptions that were made. There was a lot of scarcity mindset. And I don't know if we like solved the problem or she, you know, Stacy was like gangbusters right off that call to go change and save the world. But I do think that she could see the perspective that we were talking about and it gave her something to think about, to journal about and to work on and to practice A lot of like when, when I get coached by my own coach and I bring issues to the table with her every week, the problem doesn't go away just because we talk it out. Like I have to practice a new way of being, a new way of thinking about it. And practicing still feels uncomfortable. Practicing is awkward. I notice the, the feelings that come up as I'm trying to practice being in a different way. Sometimes I have to the feeling to be there as I'm practicing being the new version of myself. And I have to be comfortable with the both and. Right. So I just want you to listen in on a coaching conversation and just see how we go about challenging the assumptions, how this process kind of works, because this may not be the specific issue that you're dealing with, but I can promise you that whatever challenge you're facing, a lot of it is likely based on thoughts that you're telling yourself that may or may not be the only way you can look at it. And so I just want to show you how it's possible to change the outcome by simply changing how you think about things. Okay, so I'm going to play a few clips from that live conversation. In between the clips, I'm going to jump in, share some commentary, because there's some really big lessons in here that I want to tease out a little bit more. And I just want to say a huge thank you to Stacy, who shared so openly with the rest of the group. You know, it's really hard to be vulnerable like this, and they all know before I get started on the show or on the zoom call with them that some of this might end up on a podcast. And I just really appreciate how Stacy shared, like, something that's very real and raw to her, and she was willing to kind of put herself in the hot seat and let us kind of tear apart the issue and look at it from lots of different angles and that she was really open to seeing things from a different angle. So this episode isn't just for farmers who sell meat who have this very specific situation. It's for any farmer who has ever felt stuck or afraid or unsure of how you should move forward. So let's dive into this conversation, and I will meet you on the other side of the first clip.

[B]

Kind of sort of have a problem. I need more. More beef. And we just don't have the supply for the demand that we have right now. And apparently that is a common theme with everyone that's pretty much close to us. So I just lost this far membership thinking that we would have beef lined up. So that was kind of like the incentive for them to sign up.

[C]

For.

[B]

Subscription model, because they would get first and probably only access to the next upcoming beef that until 20, possibly the earliest would be June of 2026. Yeah, I'm just kind of struggling with.

[A]

When did you promise it? Like, what are they expecting?

[B]

They didn't necessarily promise it. It was just more of like, since our stakes sold out in 24 hours. This was kind of, you know, this was just one of the incentives of, you know, becoming a farm member that whenever it did come back in stock, I didn't get a date because I wasn't sure on it anyways. But whenever beef did come back in stock that, you know, they would. They would have first dibs. So my. My thought is that if I'm not gonna have beef for another eight months, that's. They pay 125amonth, which they get access to the rest of our products. They still get the 5% off discount, but everybody wants beef. And so I don't. I mean, I got some loyal customers, but I don't know if they're that loyal to, like, hang around for this farm membership if beef is not on the table.

[A]

Okay, this is Corinna interrupting here real quick. I just want you to go back and listen to that, because she very articulately explained what her fear is. Did you catch it? That if beef isn't on the table, isn't in the store, that people will not want to continue with this monthly membership fee to have access to her products. And she's kind of decided and assumed that her product, her membership isn't valuable to her customer unless beef is part of the equation. Now, I'm not sure that's actually true, but that is kind of an assumption she's making, and I want you to just notice that. So let's jump back in. So what do you find yourself doing or thinking?

[B]

I'm, like, frantically searching for a beef supplier.

[A]

Okay. And what are you talking. What are you. And what are you telling yourself? That maybe you haven't said it out loud to anybody or you haven't said this to your customers, but what's going on in your head? Because I. I hear scarcity and fear a little bit. So what's. What exactly?

[B]

Yeah, I. I kind of like. I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know what my thought is around it other than I can't deliver.

[A]

Okay, so let's just assume that's a fact. You're not going to be able to deliver until, let's just say, July. It sounds like you don't want to tell your customers this. Why? I'm not saying you won't. I'm not saying you won't. You will. But, like, just why are you having anxiety? Like, what. What do you think's gonna happen?

[B]

They're gonna find somebody else that has beef more consistently.

[A]

Okay, and what does that mean? What does that translate?

[B]

Yeah, they don't buy from us anymore or as much.

[A]

So you're seeing lost revenue?

[B]

Yes and no. I just. Well, I just pulled up all of our Sales for this year. And even with the beef we had, it's still not our top performing category by a long shot. Pork is. So that was kind of. That was relieving. But I also know that beef brings people in.

[A]

Okay, so you're making an assumption there. If you don't have beef, what's going to happen to your business? Play it out in your head. I'm not saying this is true, but what's going on in your head?

[B]

Yeah, if. If we don't have beef, we're not gonna. We're not gonna sell as much as we have been. So I pulled back. I pulled the data back from the first time that we offered beef, which was last year in November. And we've had beef pretty consistently over, really, until now. I just sold my last 10 pounds of ground beef to somebody a couple weeks ago, and that's it. I literally have soup bones and fat.

[C]

Left.

[B]

And even soup bones are flying out for some. Well, you know, it's broth making season. But I was looking back on the sales, and it said our overall sales significantly increased literally the moment that we had beef. So I know that it is a. It's one. It. It's kind of like. Kind of like eggs used to be for us. Eggs would draw people in, and then they would buy other things. Beef is. Is what draws people in. And then they'll buy our other stuff if they don't know us. If they know us, it's usually our chicken or our pork that. That brings people in. I know that for a fact. But I'm also like, I can't. Our farm will not be sustainable just based on the customers that are buying from us now. I still need to bring in new customers. And so the beef is kind of the way that we do that. And I'm very well. You know, my prices are up there, and it's still. I. I still cannot keep it. I'm not. Like, I charged $14 a pound for our ground beef, and somebody bought the last 10 pounds that I had at that price. Like, I kept raising it. Every time we'd sell out, I would raise it a dollar. And I did that with our steaks. I mean, I was selling fillets for 57 a pound. Our rib eyes are right. Well, when we get ribeyes back in stock, they'll be $32 a pound.

[A]

You're inspiring, by the way. That's just great. We're all just sitting here in awe. I could never charge that much for a carrot. I don't.

[B]

I don't mean to make light frustrating too. I'm like, I could literally charge a hundred dollars. Like, no lie, I could charge a hundred dollars a pound for a ribeye or for a New York strip or a T bone or whatever it is, and no one would blink. And it's, it's not even because of, like, it's not because they know me. I had somebody buy eight fillets from me. Never met them before. They'd never bought from us before and turned around about eight fillets. It's just like the beef market right now because they're. Overall, it's just the scarcity of the, the beef market. And more and more people are realizing like, the tariffs that are happening on imported beef that's skyrocketing grocery store beef. So. But I just like, I, I want to raise our own, but I don't, I just don't have, like, I have the beef on the ground right now, but they're only three months old, so I have to wait, you know, two years and yeah, I don't know. I'm feeling frustrated because I don't have the product I have. I, I know what it is. I. It's the fear of missing out. By the time that I do have product in 2027, beef will be 10 cents a pound is what I fear. I don't think that's gonna happen.

[A]

No, that's what, yeah, that's what you're.

[B]

Telling the way the beef is going right now. But it's just a fear of, like, when I do have all of this beef, nobody's gonna buy or somebody. They're already gonna have somebody that's, you know, they're gonna choose somebody that's already established regardless if they're still buying pork and chicken from us. That's just the thought. The reality is, I mean, if I have all three proteins that everybody eats, then nine times out of 10, they're just gonna make a one stop shop because we're still a convenience, you know, we're still in a convenience error.

[A]

Okay, it's Corinna interjecting again. Oh, this is such a good example. And again, I'm so grateful to Stacy for just being a guinea pig and talking stuff out that was going on in her head because I recognize what she was saying. Like, I've used those same exact arguments in my own farm business, in my own contexts, and I wonder if you have too. But here were some of the things I heard. I'm afraid if I don't have beef, no one will want to buy from Me, they'll go to my competitor, my members will leave. No one's going to renew their membership. But she also kind of anecdotally, casually said, even though pork is actually my biggest revenue product, even though chicken and pork are the drivers, that my current customers kind of go there first. Right? And she immediately jumps to a worst case scenario, which is completely normal. And I have done this too. When we see a problem on the horizon, our reptilian brain decides to warn us by creating a scenario in our head of the absolute worst thing that could happen, so that we'll take action, so that we'll notice it and do something about it. And so I call this catastrophizing the future. I literally do this every week with something with some problem. I will just imagine it rolling out into its worst possible scenario. And we create stories in our head. We assume our customers care about the thing that we are fixated on, even when the real data is telling a slightly different story. And that may not be the only way it could end. And so, you know, Stacy is emotionally reacting here to the absence of beef instead of looking at what her customers are actually also buying and valuing. Is she going to lose a little bit of revenue because she doesn't have the beef? Of course. But does it mean the downfall of her business spiraling out of control? Probably not. There may be a season here where she has to build a new cushion or a new buffer until she gets back to that place where she can continue on her journey to be a sustainable farm. She may have to put that on pause for a little bit and, you know, come up with some other options. But it's very unlikely that her business is going to tank because of this. And, and so I just want to like point out that, you know, we tend to default to fear based assumptions and we decide the outcome before it happens and then we'll show up with less confidence. And when we don't have confidence, it hurts our sales because we're less likely to go out there and push an offer. Right. She's not going to push that membership offer as confidently now if she personally believes that it's not as valuable because. Because she can't offer beef as part of it. Right. And we will look at the fear based assumption. We'll ignore the actual real data or buying behavior. And what if those customers actually value more than just the thing that we're feeling insecure about? It's possible, right? So I see this all the time with farmers where we, we assume that we know what Our customers think, we assume that they're going to be disappointed, that they're going to leave, that they're going to go somewhere cheaper, that they're going to cancel their membership. You guys, I have an amazing track record for my own farm of doing an early bird CSA renewal every October where I get a huge, you know, 70 to 80% of the people will come back. And I've had that now for six, seven years in a row. And still every year I have a voice in my head. The two weeks before I, like, open up the doors and open the card up, I have this crazy, irrational fear that this is going to be the year where a whole bunch of people decide to just quit my CSA and they're not going to support me anymore because I raised the price, $10 or whatever. Maybe they've just been in it too long and they're done. Or they're going to jump over and become online store customers. Like, I just have these irrational thoughts, too. I do the same thing instead of looking at my data, looking at my track record, right? So our customers are already telling us what they value with their wallets. And this is an important mindset shift not to build your business based on your fear or your assumptions, because those are just thoughts in your head and they are not necessarily true. So we want to build it on data. So what if her members actually bought the membership because of the chicken and the pork and the beef was like a little side bonus, right? What if they bought it for first access, for quality, for the relationship, for trust, for wanting to support a local business? What if they are totally happy just getting chicken and pork for the next nine months and then the beef comes back and it's like Christmas, right? What if they're totally going to be fine with that when they hear it? They might be a little bit disappointed, but maybe it isn't going to be a game changer for the majority of people. And you'll hear this come up in the call later, but I just want to point out here that sometimes the story in our head is way scarier than reality. And it stops us in our tracks and it keeps us from taking action and it freezes us. We have this instinct as animals, right? Like creatures just to freeze when we feel like we don't know what to do. And then we stop pitching and we, we, we don't show up with confidence. We undersell, we apologize, we shrink. But when we lead from confidence and clarity, our customers follow our energy. We're thought leaders in this space, so claim It. All right. Okay. I'm gonna jump back into the zoom call. And as we go through the rest of this, I want you to listen in. I want you to imagine that you were in that room. And what advice would you give to Stacy? Like, poke holes in her theory. Can you see where the thoughts in her head are tripping her up? See if you can anticipate what we might coach her to do instead. Okay, here we go.

[B]

I am also. I don't have any patience, and I need it yesterday. Actually, I really need it, like, six months ago.

[C]

But what is.

[A]

What is the universe like? I'm gonna say universe, God, whatever. Like, I feel like there's a lesson here that you as a business owner, are waiting to learn. What. What could. What could this situation teach you if it just is what it is to be still.

[B]

Really? And that I don't have to be in control of everything all the time, which is extremely hard lesson for me to learn.

[A]

What If Stacy realizes 10 months from now that. Fill in the blank.

[B]

It'S not an emergency.

[A]

What else?

[B]

That I'm still going to be successful no matter how many beef I have on the ground. We're in the freezer.

[A]

What else. What else do you know about Stacy?

[B]

If I can't sell the beef, I can sell the. For a really good amount of money. It's true.

[A]

Stacy will figure it out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Remember that comment about something will arrive on the radar screen? Oftentimes, it's things like this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That force us to get creative. What if you discover another really cool moneymaker because you had to.

[B]

Yeah, I could definitely do that.

[A]

I just, like, I want you to maybe journal and reflect this month on this question of how could this. You started out by saying, I've got a challenge. You're. You're looking at it glass half empty. How could this be an opportunity for you? And this is going to require you to imagine future stories that haven't happened yet. But let's just imagine that someone gets out of their DeLorean. They go, you know, went into the future, and they saw your life, and they come back, they get out of the DeLorean, and they're like, it all works out. Let me tell you. And they may give you, like, five things that are going to happen. Ways for you that you're going to end up being okay, if not better, like, journaling out. Like, how could this perhaps be an amazing opportunity? What could happen? How could. What, like, either. What lesson could you learn? What literally could happen? Opportunity could open up outcomes. And this Will all be conjecture. But, yeah, that is a really good exercise that my coach makes me do sometimes when I'm in this similar space and I get on this rabbit trail and I go down, I catastrophize the future, and I assume everything's going to unravel.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, this is me jumping back in. Let's. Let's slow this down, because I think this is a really key turning point. You know, Stacy thinks the problem is I don't have beef, which is the product my customers want, so they're all gonna leave, and my business is gonna suffer. But what if that's not actually the real issue? What if the real opportunity is this? What if it's things like, what else could I create? What new offers could emerge? What new revenue streams are waiting to be discovered because beef is temporarily off the table? I don't know about you, but some of the best business ideas that we've come up with were born when something stopped working and we had to innovate. Remember the year of COVID I mean, we had to shift some things dramatically. And I am so grateful now for that circumstance because our business became better because of it. Every time we've faced a systems issue in our business, and this is kind of a systems issue for Stacy. She has a huge demand, and she is not set up to scale yet. Right. This would all go away if she had enough cows. If she'd had the foresight to know that there was going to be this huge demand, she would have raised a whole lot more, and they'd be ready. But she's growing faster than she thought, and she doesn't have the product. And so this is a very normal situation to happen for a business when you're shifting and graduating from one scale to the next. And so she's just caught in that transition land, that no man's land, unfortunately, it's a hard place to be, a hard lesson to learn while you're going through it, but it's also very common, and there is a way to fix it. It just means, oh, the market has proved that I can actually scale up now. And now I'm going to start that process. This may be the turning point. This may be the trigger that forces her and makes her realize, yes, it is safe for me to scale up. So when markets shift, products run out, a door closes, we are forced to get scrappy. We get creative, we get innovative, and sometimes we just are forced to finally build the system that's going to allow us to scale. Innovation does not often come when things are easy, it comes when our back is against the wall a lot of times. So I just want you to realize there's a lot of abundance still in Stacy's ecosystem. Right? She still has chicken, she still has pork. She still has smoked products, bones, organs, broth kits, bundles, dog food, cooking classes, subscriptions, freezer packages. You should go look at the categories. She's the category queen. Look at the categories on her local line store. It'll blow you away. She has a loyal audience who trusts her. She has an email list. And sometimes we get so focused on what we don't have that we completely miss the value of what we do have. So what if beef running out isn't actually a crisis, but a catalyst? Fill in the blank for your business. What if the thing that you're turning into a crisis is actually a gift from the universe? It's a catalyst that's going to make you adjust and evolve. What if this is the moment that she reinvents her offer? She decides to build something even better than before, and she'll look back at this moment and say, this was why I did so. Most breakthrough products and most of our growth periods in our business are actually born from these challenges, these moments of feeling constrained. And when we can't do it the old way, we're forced to ask, what else is possible? And that question is where innovation lives. So instead of asking, how do I survive without beef? The better question is, what if losing beef is the thing that forces me to finally build the most profitable, creative, exciting version of my business yet? What if it's the thing that forces me to create a system, a production system, so that this doesn't happen again? What if this is the thing that forces me to graduate into a new level of entrepreneur? Right? We don't get to stay the same and expect our business to expand. Every time you hit a wall, it's actually an invitation. Are you going to rise to the challenge? Are you going to learn to think differently? Are you going to become the next version of yourself? And Stacy is bumping up right up at that edge, and it's a beautiful place to be. Stacy, if you're listening to this, it is a beautiful but also a scary place to be, because on the other side of that mindset shift is a more resilient, a more confident, a more innovative entrepreneur. And she is going to have to change how she thinks, how she works in the world, the kinds of things she does with her time if she wants to become that next version of entrepreneur. This is that crucible moment. So if you're listening and you're feeling stuck, maybe the question isn't, how do I fix this problem? Maybe the real question is, who is this challenge asking me to become? All right. And that mindset shift, seeing obstacles as invitations, is going to lead us into our next lesson. So let's take a listen to this part.

[C]

I have a question. Did you have some beef lined up and it fell through, or was it just not there?

[B]

Yeah, we had some people that we could buy on hoof from, and they just never. They just never followed through.

[C]

They probably just hold it to the auction.

[B]

We're done with it. 100. Because I'm not like, right now. I just don't have the in storage to buy, you know, 10, 10 head and send to the processor. At least right now. We will here in about six months. But we, you know, so I'm looking to buy like two to three at a time, which, you know, anybody that is doing this. Well, I mean, even at the market, I mean, even at the, you know, the sale, it's just. It's astronomical.

[C]

Yeah, we have beef too. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

We raise our. We have a hundred cows, so we raise our own. But we also do some sourcing, too. And I've seen that very common, especially in the last year, as these prices went crazy, that people. It's easier to haul it and be done. So I know you're concerned about income and that kind of stuff, but you could also maybe just mention that to your customers that, hey, it lined up. But because of all this other craziness. Yeah, it's gonna be July. Yeah, yeah, I've done that with some other stuff because we also source from other. I call them our partner farms. They raise to our standards and things happen. I had one guy just randomly retire, but he was in his 80s, and it caused some supply issues for us. And I kept telling people that he retired. I had very little notice. We're working on it, and sometimes people are understanding and sometimes they're not, but sometimes I found the understanding customers are the ones I want. That's just my experience that I've had. So anyways, I understand it, though, because you do see the money just kind of not there because of it, and it's difficult. But you do get creative, I think, as you work through it.

[B]

So anyways, and another problem that I see happening, too, is like, we have a new meat farmer at our new meat producer at the market who. They have very little beef too, but they are undercutting me something terrible. I'm still selling out, but it's frustrating because they're at $10 a pound for ground beef. I'm now at 14. So all my customers are gonna see, this is the thought. It's not happening, but it's the thought. All my customers are gonna see that their beef is cheaper. They actually have beef. We're gonna go down there for them. They also sell pork, too.

[A]

So.

[B]

And they're way cheaper than me when it comes to pork. So, yeah, that's, that's the fear is, you know, these, these other people that are charging way less are going to, like, they're going to go to them and they're, they're only going to buy it for a couple of years. That's all these people are going to be in business for. But it's also, you know, like that couple years you kind of just bought from me. Yeah.

[A]

So, yeah.

[C]

Have you ever spun it to be, like, in, like, your emails or even your marketing, like social media, just, hey, you're supporting longevity here, paying the prices we have. I mean, I try not to make anything price focused, but I do. We've had this before at our farmers market where someone will come in and charge way less than us. And somebody like, why are you more. I'm like, well, this is what it costs to bring it to the table. The other person's not going to be here in two years. And then, honestly, no joke, three years later, the person came back and they're like, you were right. Yeah, but it's tough in the meantime. I won't deny that.

[A]

So, I mean, what if you do lose some people in your subscription?

[B]

I find other ways to get money more consistently.

[A]

You make it sound like, I mean, first of all, you're sold out. That's a really good problem to have in some ways because it creates a lot of demand and it inflates, you know, the value of your product. When it does come back online, it's going to go crazy. You're going to have even more loyal fans. So this is almost like a, in this waiting period, you could begin to strategically plan so that this doesn't happen again or so that you, if there is such demand, you can begin to get things into position so that two years from now, like, you're just going to be, you know, hopping. So this is one of those, like, learning curve moments. And yeah, it stinks because you have to sit in there and you see the money like you could have made. But the lesson you're learning, is it valuable? Is this the Thing that finally makes you scale or do the hard thing that you didn't want to do or grow the mental muscle that's required to be that next level entrepreneur.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Challenges are so like, be grateful for the challenges you get because they are always a teacher and you may just not see the lesson yet. But the less the breakthrough will come. I want you to tell me what it is when you spot it because eventually it will arrive. This is an opportunity. And the fact that you're sold out and you are in demand, people are going to, I think, be very understanding. They may decide not to do your subscription while they wait for the beef to come. That's possible. So maybe that means if, if that's what's stressing you out, oh, I'm going to lose that, you know, xyz, whatever that amount of dollars is, I got to make that up somehow. Well then that's the creative opportunity there to figure out an offer stack, a new offer stack or a new thing you can tease and hold in front of them. If you stick around with me, this is what you'll get when the beef comes in. That's an option too. Or you could just assume they're going to be okay with it. Before you give away something, you could just try something and see if people stay loyal. You might be surprised. You only lose 10%. I don't know. Don't immediately assume people are going to leave.

[B]

Yeah. I did a five day sales launch for the membership to my current email subscribers and I met my goal on it. And then I just have like random people sign up. So.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's like, it's one of those evergreen products. Like I don't really have a cap on it. I can serve as many as I need to serve. So. Yeah. And it's really not, I'm not really pushing the beef. So it's not like I'm promising that it's ever going to be there ever again. But. Yeah, it's just the thought of like that's what people want and it may.

[A]

Not be, it may not be as important as you think it is. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And even if it is and they drop out four months into it, when you bring it back online six months, you know, six months later, they're all like, they're going to come back and check it out.

[B]

Yeah. So it might be more expensive.

[A]

And you could even use, you should have dropped out. Yeah. Or you know, use the fact that you don't have this product as a way to grow the wait list. Yeah. I Don't know. I just. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but I can see how you would see it that way at first.

[B]

Yeah, this is helpful.

[A]

You have so much power. So get. Get into that. Get into that journal of yours and start, like, imagining, like, you need to get into that space where you believe and you imagine that your future actually works out really well. And what is that woman doing? What is she thinking every day? What is she doing every day? How is that entrepreneur behaving? And start acting that way now, because you're going to have to be a different woman to overcome this than you are right now. Right.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

Cool. Thank you, Stacy, for being so vulnerable. That's a yes, but a very. A very real place that many of us land in at some point. I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain inside one of our farm marketing school coaching calls. These are real farmers dealing with real issues. And what I wanted you to see from this episode is that most of our difficulties are going on in our mind. They start in our mind, in our thoughts, in our thought world. And once you spot the thought that's driving your feelings and your actions, you can choose to practice another thought. And I'm not saying that it's easy to make that shift and just suddenly think something and totally buy into it right away. It is a practice. That's why it's called practicing. And the more you become aware that you're doing this, that you're letting your mind get ahead of you, that's kind of the first step. And then the next step is to try and imagine another way of being, another way of looking at the situation, another way of responding. Here's what I want you to remember from, from today's episode, that your business is not defined by a single product. Your business is defined by your ability to create value no matter what. And that is the real superpower of an entrepreneur. And you have all kinds of power to innovate, to transform, to become the next version of yourself. And if you want to grow as a business and get to the next level, you will have to become a different version than who you are right now. Whatever issue you're facing in your business right now, the reason it's an issue and a challenge is because you simply haven't become the person that you are required to become to manage that situation. That particular challenge you're facing right now has been faced by many other entrepreneurs before you. And some of them figured it out and some of them didn't. Some of them successfully evolved and some of them didn't. And you will figure it out too, but not from the place where you are right now. You will have to become a different version. You will have to think differently. You will have to have different habits, you'll have to behave differently, you'll have to make different choices. You'll have to commit to things, not commit to other things. And this is all just part of the journey. Figuring that out, that's the wonderful part of being an entrepreneur. So this wasn't really an episode about beef shortages. This was an episode about assumptions, scarcity, mindset, innovation, evolution, and how the challenges that we face in our business are often the very things that grow us into the next version of ourselves. So be grateful for them. They are the crucible in which you are becoming all right, a special thank you to my friend Stacy for sitting in the hot seat and giving us such good material to walk around and learn from. I really value you in my community. Stacy. Thank you for being a part of Farm Marketing School. And if you want to join the fun, we're going to be doing some cool things this winter. I would love to have you join our community for a few months maybe now that the season's winding down and you do a little bit of continuing ed, or maybe this is the time of year where you work on some bigger projects that you don't have time to do when you're out in the field. I want to invite you to consider making marketing be your project this winter, where you're going to come into Farm Marketing School and you're going to build, let's say, three key elements of your marketing machine and I'll help you identify which ones they should be, which ones are the critical ones to handle first and get them done and take care of that piece, shore up those walls. I'd love to have you be a part of our community and invest in you and believe in you and cheer you on and help you get to your finish line. If you want to learn more about how to join Farm Marketing School, you can go to mydigitalfarmer.com FMS Remember, it's a monthly membership. You pay a monthly fee. You can cancel whenever you want. You can just join for a month, see what it's like. If you don't like it, you can stop. The average stay time is around six, seven months, which is pretty good. People can get a lot done in that amount of time. So all right, my friends, that's all I have today. Thank you for joining me for the last Wednesday of October 2025. I will catch you next week. The show notes today can be [e-mail] 336 if you like today's episode, please go. Leave me a rating or a review or send this episode to a friend. Share the link with them. I would love to have as many people as possible know this podcast exists. If you want to get onto my email list and get some marketing wisdom for free, I'll send you a tip like every five days for three months. Just go to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe. You can learn a lot simply from doing that. If you want to get more in depth and really get into the weeds and start building, that's when you can join Farm Marketing School with me and have access to me as your coach through that program. Don't forget, I'm also now on Instagram ydigitalfarmer. I'd love to connect with you there and thanks for joining me today. Have a great week and I'll catch you next time. Remember, I believe in you.