Sonoma Mountain Beef Company founder wins North Bay Forty Under 40 award
Responsibilities with your company: I am the sole proprietor so I handle everything from the daily management of my herd of cattle, managing the books, marketing my products, selling at the farmer's market and managing and delivering my product to my customers, which includes retail, restaurateurs, private chefs, and individuals.
How do you exemplify the spirit of being a top Forty Under 40 professional?
I believe I exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit- starting my own company with a sound business plan, a strong work ethic, and a passion for what I do.
Years with company: 6
Length of time in current position: 6
Number of companywide employees: 0
Number who report to you: 0
Greatest professional accomplishment: Starting Sonoma Mountain Beef Company in order to provide high quality, hormone free, sustainably farmed meat to consumers, restaurants, and retail in Sonoma County.
Seeing my company succeed to even greater heights each year has been quite thrilling!
Greatest professional challenge: The biggest challenge for me right now is getting everything done that needs to get done, but I'm a multi-tasker and I like to stay really busy.
On another note, COVID has presented its challenges, especially in the beginning of it last spring where I lost restaurant placements, due to them having to close down. Where one door closed another door opened for me, which allowed my DTC business to expand greatly.
Best advice received: Be patient, be humble and be kind (I think that might be a song!).
Not everything is going to be easy. Keep your head held high, use your brain, and work through the issues.
Single most important event in your professional life in the last 12 months: The day when Sonoma County had to shut down due to the COVID pandemic.
Both good and bad. I was at loss at first due to all the restaurants that had to shut down. That had quite a dramatic effect to my bottom line.
At the same time, it gave me an opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and to shift my focus to consumer direct and build a stronger customer base for Sonoma Mountain Beef Co.
This opened up so many doors of marketing ideas and opportunities for me to revise and update my business plan, which included the rollout of my SMBCo Beef Club.
What’s the biggest change COVID-19, the restrictions and the economic impact has had on your work and personal life?
It has been hard on me personally because I love to socialize and communicate with people but now I can't really do that as easily because I have a difficult time talking to people due to the mask ordinance.
I am hearing impaired and am very good at reading people's lips. With masks on, it’s just not as easy to communicate with my customers. It was tough at first for my business when the pandemic hit because restaurants were shut down and I lost several accounts.
But ultimately the pandemic has impacted my business in a positive way.
It has given me an opportunity to grow more by gaining a stronger consumer direct base. People really want to buy a local, wholesome product to feed themselves and their families.
And I have to admit, it's just not that much fun to go grocery shopping at the store any more. People are really appreciating the door to door delivery service and we can also ship direct.
I am really grateful to have customers that actually care and support local businesses like Sonoma Mountain Beef Co.
And what’s the biggest lesson you’ve taken from that experience?
With everything being shut down and the demand through DTC continuing to grow, I ended up with a lot of ‘Nos' and ‘Cants' as I tried to find additional processors to handle my increased volume.
It was a wakeup call for me that I had to do something about it because I didn't want to disappoint and lose my added customer base.
That was a big lesson for me to learn after a few years that I have to do whatever it takes to satisfy my customers with products that meet my high standards.
That's when I came up with an added product line: lamb. While still offering my customers the beef products that they had come to enjoy and purchase consistently, the addition of high end lamb helped to continue to expand my market opportunities.
What steps is your company taking to sustain your organization and morale in the current economy?
Building more volume to expand my growing customer base. I'll have to add an employee soon to help with the daily sales and marketing efforts needed, including my on-line presence.
Next professional goal: Starting another business that's related to the cattle business. Not sure what that looks like yet. Or possibly adding another line of product that is complimentary to what I am already doing.
