We saw a movie last night called The Real Dirt On Farmer John. It’s an inspiring movie of a man, John Peterson, who grew up on a family farm in Illinois through the fifties and sixties until now. It’s an inspiring movie about how someone with persistence, an ability to see things differently, and willingness to receive help can make it despite all obstacles.
Angelic Organics is the epitome of a heart-centered business. Sustainable, growing, connected to it’s customers and the earth, and moved by heart and something deeper, an artistic vision that I would call spiritual, I would say to you: “Hey, go watch this film.”
Imagine my surprise when I was looking through my email inbox and noticed that someone named John Peterson had recently bought Unveiling the Heart of Your Business and one of John’s employees had asked us to send the book on to him in New Zealand, where he’s on tour with the film. And yup, it’s the same Farmer John!
Of course, we take no credit- he’d done all the good work long before he even saw the book. But for me, it’s an even stronger testimony, because his business, his farm, has been living out some of the core principals taught in the book, and it’s seeing the success that comes from it. I didn’t invent any truth, I’m just telling it as I learned it, and seeing it shaped out in the world as a reflection of a larger Truth that we all abide by, consciously or unconsciously.
There are many heart-centered principals evident in The Three Journeys.
John’s story is about how long-term relationships are built with clients/customers, and how they come to feel they own a piece of your business, when they care that deeply. John’s farm, which is actually now co-owned by some of the members of his Community-Supported Agriculture program stays in relationship with his clients week after week after week, season after season.
Often times, businesses expect to grow quickly, they expect clients to act quickly, to buy quickly. And, sometimes they do. But, more often, they don’t. That’s where the The Three Journeys. comes in. Through their CSA program, week after week they keep communicating and connecting with their customers, and week after week the customers refer others, and refer others, and refer others.
What started out as a small effort with about 25 families buying shares of the produce, now has over 1200 families involved, with customers helping to the farm to purchase additional land to expand- at a time when family farms have been struggling, shutting down, and going under for decades.
It’s an inspiring story. And it’s a story that’s entirely within your grasp. John faced mounting, crippling debt, a surrounding community that thought he was crazy, even a ‘devil-worshipping cult leader’, and years of hard work. And yet, it worked.
The film itself will tell you the whole story. But, in the meantime, what kind of lessons can you draw from this for your own business?
How can The Three Journeys help you?
