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So many consumers still have this image of farmers in overalls with a pitchfork and a wagon in the back of their mind whenever they think about agriculture. Logically, they may know Old MacDonald is just a kids' song, but the archetype is embedded deep into our minds.

What consumers don't often think about with farming are things like drone swarms to control weeds in fields, measuring the health of cows by having an AI analyze milk in real time, and many of the other exciting things happening in the world of ag startups. That's just what we dove into with Tim Hammerich on our most recent LIVE session!

Tim's Background

Tim runs the Future of Agriculture podcast, which showcases the latest in ag innovations. He's spent years working with the best and the brightest in recruitment for the modern ag industry, and now he has shifted his focus to communications consulting. He's sharing his expertise in what's coming up for ag. 

Our Conversation

We could have talked ag innovations with...

Last Thursday, we got the chance to sit down and chat with Dr. Stephanie Langel, a faculty member at Duke University with a PhD in Virology who is teaching and doing research. Specifically, she studies coronaviruses and how they impact animal health and human health.

Stephanie's Background

Stephanie's background sets her apart. Her focus on farming, livestock, and the veterinary aspect of coronaviruses gives her the ability to really connect with a farmer's perspective on health and viruses. She started as a 4Her, showing livestock and milking cows. Her passion for animal care continued into college where she applied to vet school, but when she didn't get in, she decided to shift gears and study viruses. Now, she's a professor at Duke University and runs a lab that focuses on coronaviruses!

Our Conversation

This Live Session was one of our most engaging yet — members seemed to move in and questions kept coming! With Stephanie here to answer our questions and give...

Even if you have only dabbled with LinkedIn, you are probably familiar with the fact many use it during a job search and as a way to get their resume out. It's the "work" social media channel, right?

Well, yes, but there is so much more to LinkedIn than resumes and job searching. In this new 40-minute course, Janice takes you through the powerful ways LinkedIn can help you grow your influence and reach your business goals. She will walk you through:

• How LinkedIn can help you reach your business goals
• Networking and content on LinkedIn
• Underutilized aspects of the LinkedIn profile

And yes, she will also give an overview of using LinkedIn for resumes if you need a quick refresher. 

This class also includes a downloadable that will help you plan and execute your new LinkedIn strategy and an in-depth infographic that takes you piece by piece through the LinkedIn profile with all the details you need to get your profile polished up and representing you and your business in...

If you are actively cultivating an audience on social media, chances are, you are trying to grow that audience. You may be asking yourself:

• Are your social media properties doing everything they can to meet your outreach goals?
• Could you be doing more with your Twitter account?
• Are there ways you can streamline your Instagram account to make it easier to use and reach more of your target audience? 
• And how do you know you're really putting out the right content to reach your audience?

Getting a handle on all of the little details can be daunting, especially if you have more than one job of running social media full-time.

For our Growth Members, don't worry. We've got your back. A Growth Membership includes an annual review of up to four of your social media properties.

We start by sitting down with you and talking about your goals, challenges, and what you hope to achieve with each property. Then we dig in to each property. During the review...

This past Tuesday, we enjoyed having a conversation with Adriana Martin of Adriana's Best Recipes about the massive changes that have taken place in blogging as it has evolved over the last decade.

What's shifting?

Ten years ago, blogs were all anyone was talking about.

• What are they?
• How do they work?
• Can blogging help me reach my audience?
• How can companies work with bloggers to promote their products and stories?

Nowadays, though, the conversation has shifted and part of that is due to the shifts bloggers have been undergoing. Bloggers think like entrepreneurs more broadly, and they continue to innovate. They have diversified and pursued multiple social media outlets. We don't even call them bloggers anymore. We call them influencers, and they are publishing books, landing TV deals, and much, much more.

Adriana's Path to Publishing

Adriana started her blog a decade ago and has evolved like many peers. Her path is food focused and the latest...

Grocery shopping is one of those everyday chores that took on a tremendous significance during the pandemic.  With people--especially in urban areas--staying home and avoiding leaving the house, services like Instacart and Market Wagon took off. But what do those services look like and what do they mean for agriculture? Do they make it harder or easier for farmers to reach an audience of consumers and interact with potential customers?

Janice takes us through how online grocery shopping has changed in the face of the pandemic and how agriculture can leverage these changes.

The Growth Membership tier includes a full hour of one-on-one consultation time with our founder Janice Person every six months. But what does this mean? How can her consultations help you reach the next level?

Janice has worked at small, medium, and large companies (see her experience on LinkedIn). She understands that individuals and companies have different needs, but the reality is, all of us are being pushed to do more with what we have. The creative and resourceful mind of someone not living with a project or decision can be a gamechanger. Even if it is just asking you questions you haven't considered. That helps produce well-vetted plans, goals, and actionable strategy that really makes a difference. 

Consulting Tailored to Meet Your Needs

Whether you are an individual looking for help leveling up your influence game or a member of a larger organization looking to develop strategies to elevate the organization, Janice will bring her expertise to bear on helping...

We recently sat down with Mary Emma Young of the Pet Foods Institute to learn how relationships with their pets has evolved over time and how the last year has accelerated that change.

While people on farms are well acquainted with working dogs, barn cats, etc., few of our counterparts in urban and suburban environments are unfamiliar with that. And they may even see cats and dogs as valued family members that are worth sparing any expense for.

The partnership with animals has deepened and intensified for many Americans. With the pandemic keeping people closer to home, even more folks adopted animals 

What does this mean for agriculture?

Mary Emma took us through the origins of pet food and animal kibble and through to the refrigerated food found even in big box stores.

You can watch the highlights here, and as always, the full recording of the event is available for members in the Grounded and Rising Community. You can click the button below to learn more...

When you want to share information with an audience, storytelling can be a compelling way for folks to connect with the subject on an emotional level. This storytelling course will help others internalize the new information and remember what you've told them.

By pairing emotion with a sensory experience or image and stack that with information, you can draw your audience deeper into what you are trying to share in a way that they will remember.

This 40-minute class will help you make your information sharing unforgettable and compelling with stories. We will:

• Explore why storytelling is so powerful and compelling
• Take a successful story apart to examine why and how it succeeded
• Examine the pieces you need to build your experiences into a story

At the end of the class, you will be able to download a pdf reference so that you can have the tools you need at your fingertips as you craft your stories.

So buckle up and get ready to tell your story. 

Note: We know that it can...

As the number of covid cases drops and as more Americans are vaccinated, the idea of returning to normal keeps being discussed. It's not just in the media, but as friends & family start seeing loved ones they haven't seen in some time.

For many students, this spring has seen a return to in-person schools and while many professionals continue to work remotely for office jobs, the discussions about how to navigate the change are starting. 

Many who have always worked in highly dynamic offices are longing for those days where colleagues take turns coming up with new ideas and jotting down possible plans on white boards. 

Pets & Stay At Home

But there are family members in many homes that do not necessarily want people to return... pets! Well, maybe some cats will welcome time alone.... But many animals loved having their humans at home. The frequent walks. The extra treats now and then. And pets have offered a lot of stress-relief for families. 

Working remotely...