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Finding Your Niche in the Strangest Places: The Story of Farmwell

This 3 minute video shows how it took a personal crises, a 5-year ultra-low budget trip around the world and a romance with permaculture to discover my niche in life. It tells the story of Farmwell — how any local farmer or food hub can now jumpstart their business online with easy access to the same technology that global corporations have used to take over the world.

I used to do lot of WWOOFing. I loved working outside on the land and in the fresh air. The only problem was that after a few days I always found myself working indoors — building or fixing the farmer’s website. It used to drive me nuts. I’d think to myself, “I came here to pick fruit, tend stock and do markets. If I wanted to play with computers, I’d go back into corporate consulting — where you get a heck of a lot more than just room and board.”

But I saw how happy farmers became when I saved them hours of their time, lots of money and helped them sell more. Oddly, in a way this was more rewarding than getting big bucks with the Fortune 500.

Then, when I was farm manager at the Permaculture Institute in Tasmania, it finally hit me. I need to stop denying who I am and do what I’m really good at — but apply it meaningfully. I need to use my experience with big enterprise management systems to help small farmers run their farm like a profitable business, to get that white-collar salary they deserve.

So I spent two years building the necessary infrastructure so that farmers and food hubs don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They can hit the ground running with simple yet powerful internet tools purpose-built for polyculture farming, direct marketing and local food distribution.

I called it Farmwell, and it’s already helping farmers, food hubs and locavores all over the world.

Special discounts…

Starting today, I’m offering a special 50% discount on all Farmwell plans for a full year! But to qualify you’ll have to act fast as it’s limited to the first 100 farmers or food hubs who sign up and continue after their no-risk free trial ends.

But that’s not all!

The first 25 farmers or food hubs who get an order from their 25th customer in Farmwell, will also get their next month completely free!

Don’t miss out on this one-time special offer that won’t last long. Sign up now and get started!

Your farm, your business and your customers will all thank you….

P.S. If you’re not a farmer but would love to buy fresh local food easily online, forward this info to a local farmer to get the ball rolling in your area. Or start a little food hub yourself — we’ve made it pretty easy to turn a passion for local food into a thriving business. You can start small and then quit your day job when it takes off!

6 Comments

  1. Since finishing my PDC In 2009 I found it hard to know exactly how it would all integrate with my life ahead. How was I going to express my passion for the culture and approach I had learnt while still fulfilling certain obligations to myself and my family? I’m not ashamed to say that it was actually quite a daunting prospect….at times feeling more like a curse than a blessing.
    Like many, I don’t come from a farming background and at age 31, apart from my “permaculture pilgrimage” to Australia, I hadn’t exactly gained the experience, education or assets to naturally provide for the lifestyle and profession I now craved.
    Incidentally I ended up working again at a local Private Bank as a relationship manager, which has allowed me of course to live a decent life and provide for loved ones. But I need not go into detail about the hole that this left in my heart.

    Thus, I can relate really well to Fraser’s experience and this is probably part of the reason why his software has made such an impact on me. I also just appreciate the way it works and shows the type of systems thinking that for me epitomizes permaculture.
    I’ve already signed up both as a consumer and a Hub (to be) and the unexpected bonus is that the process of setting up the profile alone has started to guide me in my thinking around my business structure and possibilities. I’m now genuinely seeing the likelihood of setting up a functional local food network in my area and it excites me to say the least that I can be a driver of this.

    I suppose it’s just the sort of tool you want to see emerging out of permaculture thinking in the context of the challenges that lie ahead for our jumbled, out of scale communities….and it’s something I think everyone involved will be very proud of in the future.

    Thanks again Fraser.

    1. Thank you for sharing your story, David. It is truly wonderful to hear such feedback.

      I’ve intended from the start for it not only to be software, but a business model or template (created by the pioneers in the local food movement) combined with the infrastructure to make it happen in one simple package.

      I’m excited to support your work! We’ll have to celebrate when you’re up and running and can finally quit the 9-to-5!

  2. Hi Fraser – met you at the PVC in March. I forwarded info on to my local farmer group about the software and wondering how I might forward responses on to you personally.

    1. Hi Laurie,

      Great to hear from you! It was nice speaking with you at Permaculture Voices! Thank you for your support. I hope this finds you well.

      I’m happy to answer any questions, or just have a chat about local food systems. I can be reached directly at “my first name” (at) farmwell.com .

      Take care,
      Fraser

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