#202 - You Don’t Have to Inherit a Farm to Build a Great One - Tim & Hannah from The Food Farm

Achieving a successful startup as a first-generation farmer is a tough assignment. On top of that, achieving a ‘direct to consumer, first generation farm’ is even harder. Tens of thousands, as you all know, have tried. Very few have succeeded.

Meet Tim and Hannah and The Food Farm.

Their story is remarkable. Their passion inspiring. Their determination unwavering.

5 years ago, Tim was a sole-operator contractor… surviving on borrowed machinery and blind faith. Hannah an opera singer from inner-Adelaide. Their first $2,000 came from a potato harvest festival that was nearly washed out by floods. It bought their first chicken caravan, towed home to New South Wales from Victoria.

Today, and where they've arrived to is something to be immensely proud of. Tim and Hannah now lead a team of ten, run their own on-farm butchery, and grow pasture-raised chicken that has been awarded at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show three times. Their organic, quality produce and endeavour even earned them a recent audience with our King!

Every week, 600 to 700 people sit down to beautiful produce grown by Tim, Hannah and their passionate team.

In this episode, Tim, Hannah and I explore:

the mindset shift that saw them focus and scale their revenues;

why direct-to-consumer farmers are really competing with their own self-worth, more so than the supermarkets;

the challenges of hiring (and firing) then building their now dedicated team, and learning to lead as young business owners; and

the personal development work that has underpinned their growth and success.

Entrepreneurship is ‘jumping off a cliff and building the parachute on the way down’. Tim and Hannah do that constantly and as their way of doing business… and now, as Hannah says, "we have built a business that can buy a farm."