Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Benji Ballmer, co-founder of Yellowbird Foodshed, located in Mount Vernon, Ohio, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Working with over 100 food growers and producers from Ohio, our community of eaters has CAST THEIR VOTE with their fork. Each product that we eat has been sustainably raised, harvested, transported, and consumed.
Our members are constantly striving to create solutions to help restore one of the planet's most fundamental yet most corrupted systems...FOOD.
By asking ourselves and our customers, "Who Grew Your Food?" we are partnering with both food growers and consumers to create a sustainable model that DEcentralizes our current food system.
Tell us about yourself
When my wife and I had our first child (who just turned 16!), we were very concerned about what we were feeding her...that passion turned into a lifestyle, and that lifestyle turned into a calling.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Watching our local foodshed grow. We can visibly see change and solutions in real-time at a local level, to problems that we know are global but that anyone could duplicate.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Unnecessarily carrying burdens that no human can shoulder alone.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- You better love it...even if there is no money in it. If you don't, you will grow to hate it.
- Set boundaries early...it's a lot easier to give a little more than it is to try and take back what you've already given away.
- Constantly challenge yourself.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Stop having a meeting about stuff, and just do the things that you have been talking about...figure it out as you go.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://yellowbirdfs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YellowBirdFS/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yellowbirdfoodshed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yellowbirdfs
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.