#17 - Empowering Homesteading and Building Community with Shelby DeVore

 Homesteading Success: Shelby DeVore on Building a Thriving Community and Business

In this episode, Parker engages with Shelby DeVore, founder of Garden Farm Thrive, to delineate her journey from aspiring veterinarian to successful entrepreneur in the homesteading realm. Shelby shares insights on teaching women global skills like gardening, raising livestock, and food preservation while also fostering community and family engagement. They discuss her personal encounters with health scares that prompted a deeper dive into holistic, self-sustaining lifestyles, drawing parallels with Blue Zones. Shelby highlights her successful business model, leveraging summit funnels to generate consistent revenue and membership growth. They conclude with strategies for expanding her brand's impact, including thoughts on leveraging YouTube as a prelude to a potential TV show. The conversation underscores the transformative power of entrepreneurship in creating healthier, self-reliant, and connected communities.

 If you want to learn more about what Shelby does, Homesteading, Eating Better, and living a homegrown life, grab a free ticket to their summit here: https://www.homegrownlivingsummit.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLCsc1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFPVDkyRXV6TEM1OGpReHNJAR7mwosMbiVfBEskF7J-cxV7XxmmabvR1A3Sl6lkfGsMjN5ggYTwarracWpnyA_aem_z6_C-1ztQwhaVAOlfy2zDQ

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
01:26 Shelby Devore's Journey to Entrepreneurship
03:23 Challenges and Realizations in Veterinary Path
06:34 Transition to Teaching and Further Career Shifts
08:45 Starting Garden Farm Thrive
10:31 Impact Stories and Community Building
17:32 Teaching Homesteading Online
22:59 Building a Supportive Community
26:54 Personal Health Journey and Homesteading Benefits
40:54 Understanding the Cause and Risk of Recurrence
43:33 Discovering Blue Zones and Lifestyle Changes
46:08 The Benefits of Homegrown Food
47:31 Nutrient Density and the Importance of Fresh Produce
49:06 Personal Experiences with Health and Diet
54:09 Successful Business Strategies for Entrepreneurs
54:35 The Power of Summit Funnels
01:00:37 Maximizing Membership Programs
01:05:24 Exploring New Avenues for Growth
01:08:37 The Potential of YouTube for Business Expansion
01:20:25 Final Thoughts and Future Plans 

Transcript

0:00

As entrepreneurs, we often like to think that we are self-sufficient, but what if I told you there was a way that you and your family could be more sufficient and efficient and a better, healthier performer? I'm here today with an awesome guest, Shelby Devore, who is the founder of Garden Farm Thrive Garden Farm. Thrive. Yes. And tell us a little bit about what Garden Farm Thrive does. So we teach women, oh man. It gives me chills when I think about it. We teach women all over the world how to do really cool things, like grow amazing gardens in their backyard, have chickens and livestock. We also teach traditional skills. So we teach them how to produce more of their own food that's clean, organic, healthy, uh, gets their bodies moving. Mm-hmm. But then also translate it into like how to do even more with it. Uh, so we talk about things like canning and preserving traditional foods, how to, uh, create more community, tighter knit families. Like all the things. It's, it's amazing. I love it. So Awesome. I have a couple thoughts already. I'm like, one, it takes a very special person to be an entrepreneur to begin with. Yeah. Like there's a lot of obstacles. You have to be strong to go down that line of work, but then I think about the amount of work that it takes to manage a garden or to manage a home and to do like sourdough and stuff like that. Yeah. I'm like, that's a lot of work too. So obviously there's a very special individual behind that vision. So what brought you to that line of entrepreneurship and how did you maybe get into that? Um, that, that's a really good question. So I think I've always kind of had the, the want to do things for myself and, um, I'm super competitive, so I don't know if you're familiar with like Clifton strengths. I am. Okay. Competition is my number one strength and so it really frustrates me when I see people that are doing things that, um, are better than I am. Yeah. More efficiently than I am. I'm like, why did I think of that? Why am I doing that? Like, we're doing this the wrong way. So that's, I've always had that piece of me. Um, I've always been pretty driven as well. Sure. And I think that kind of goes with like competition. You know, I'm also very goal oriented. And, uh, so that piece of it just made sense for me, but I didn't actually take initiative on that, um, until several years ago. So I kind of went down the traditional path, like successful path that everybody hears about. Sure. Um, go, you know, go to college, get good grades, get a good job, you're totally fine to bring it in. Thank you. Um, go to college, get good grades, you'll get a good paying job. And that was kind of the avenue that I went. Um, I actually thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, so I was smart, you know, made good grades in school. Mm-hmm. And I love animals. Well, when you have that combination as a kid, everybody tells you the same thing. Oh, you need to go to vet school, you need to be a vet. And so that was the route that I pursued. Um, so I'm getting my bachelor's bachelor's degree. And that was kind of the plan was like, I'm gonna go to vet school and I'm gonna get a good paying job doing something that I love, right? Mm-hmm. Super passionate about animals. When you're trying to build an application to get into vet school, it is brutal. And one of the pieces that they tell you is you need to have like a ridiculous number of volunteer hours, um, doing stuff that's animal related. Okay? Like, we're talking like 2000 plus hours. Wow. Um, and you've got like four years to make this happen, right? Mm-hmm. But that's, it's still a lot of volunteer hours over the course of a couple years. It's a lot. So, um, thankfully, I, I've got my bachelor's degree at Mississippi State. They have their own vet school. Mm-hmm. And so if you go into there with the intention of getting into vet school, it's a really easy process to sign up to be a volunteer. And I thought, okay, this is it. I'm gonna do that. Do you know I hated it. Really. I got to the point where I dreaded going to volunteer because it's such a high stress environment. Sure. And you know, people, they, they bring their animals in, which is like a family member to them. They're stressed out and they don't just bring 'em in for a check checkups like you, most of the patients that you would see, like it's life or death situation, family's super stressed, you know? Yeah. So it was just constant stress, stress, stress, stress, stress. And so that started to put a bug in me that, ah, I don't know if I want to do this. You know, this doesn't feel amazing. Um, and we had something called the pre-vet club. And every Wednesday night we would meet and it was all of the students that were trying to get into vet school. And so we would have different people come talk to us each week about how to make your application better. Um, we would, uh, I mean the topics were like, it's like ran the gamut of improving your application, what to expect when you get in vet school, all like all of the things. And I remember a lady coming and talking to us and about the fact that she, um, she was in vet school, she had gotten her bachelor's degree, spent a bunch of money on that, was getting her going through the vet school program, spending a lot of money on that. And she said, by the time I graduate vet school, I will owe right at half a million dollars. Wow. And the average salary for veterinarians is about 55.$60,000, no joke. And when I, it's 10 years of salary. Yes. Wow. And when I heard that, I thought, I can't do that. That was my entire plan. I was a junior in college. Mm-hmm. When I heard that and I thought, you know, I already don't feel awesome about just volunteering. Yeah. I can't imagine spending half a million dollars and then maybe not even like making a good return on that. Right. Yeah, definitely. So my entire career path shifted. Mm-hmm. And I decided, um, I, I, I had been involved with some research projects, uh, again trying to fluff up my application for vet school. Um, so I did some reproductive research with dairy cows. Um, so random fact about me and, um, we. I, I really enjoyed that. So I thought, okay, maybe I'll go like the PhD route. Okay. And I'll teach and do research because I'm obsessed with animals and agriculture and, and all of the things I could talk your head off for days about that. Mm-hmm. Um, so shifted my path my junior year and nobody told me. It is super hard to go that route, especially in something like agriculture because the spots for those jobs are just very, very limited. Mm-hmm. And so I ended up, I got my bachelor's degree, um, moved back home. The doors kind of opened for me to teach agriculture and, uh, work on my master's degree at the same time. And so that's what I did. I thought I was like making progress until I had been doing it for a few years. Had my master's degree was doing all of the things, and I had topped out my salary at like $40,000 a year. Wow. And I thought, I have spent so much time, so much money. I have so much knowledge. Yeah. That I feel like, I mean, I, I know I was teaching students and they were getting stuff out of it, but I didn't feel like I was making a real difference like I could have been Sure. Turning it into a business and reaching the masses. Mm-hmm. Um, so I just kind of got to the point where I was tired of not making money, having a stressful job, working crazy hours. And it was almost like that last resort thing. Yeah. Um, that happened. And so December, 2019 is when I officially retired from teaching and, uh, started trying to pursue an online business. And it. It blew my mind that I could do something that I absolutely love, reach so many people. Yeah. Um, like we, we have had people that we've impacted in like some of the remote places in the world that like don't have internet, which blows my mind. They found us. Like it's just, it's just nuts. Yeah. I never would've been able to do that in the position that I was in before. And on top of that to generate like a nice income for my family where we can leave a legacy for our kids. Like, I look at it from that lens and I'm like, why would you do it any other way? Mm-hmm. You know, it's, so that's kind of how, how we got into it and how I got started. Well, I love that story and you've talked about something that I am always preaching. It feels like. You had this obsession with animals. Mm-hmm. You loved learning and the research behind it. You were really able to take your passion, create a business around it, and then also share that with the world. Yes. To a point where now you can actually leverage your passion to make the world a better place for other people. Exactly. At the end of the day, I think that's the beauty of entrepreneurship, right? You can do something that you love, you can make a difference, and not just a difference for yourself and your family, but also make a difference for your community. Yes. And that makes a difference at scale. And I'm just, I'm very passionate about seeing people who get into that. Can I tell, can I share a story with you real quick? Please do this, this, oh my gosh. This, this story gives me chill bumps still. So, um, it was like, uh, I think it was like three months after I started, you know, really pursuing this. Mm-hmm. And trying to turn it into a business. Uh, we had. Um, a lady reached out to us, she was having an issue with her chicken. She couldn't figure out what was going on. She had taken it to the vet and they couldn't figure out what was going on. And, um, so she had reached out to me and, uh, I had seen, actually seen this in the vet school and I was like, oh, you're dealing with this condition. It's called water belly. Um, there's not really a cure for it, but you can potentially treat it. And I gave her some options and, um, she was so excited it worked. She sent us an email and was like, oh my gosh. She, you, it was kind of nuts. She, like, her chicken, like lived inside and it was like a whole thing. But she was super excited and, um, she had told me that she had tried to do research and when I told her what it was, she tried to look up the condition. She couldn't find any information about it. And so I wrote a blog quote. And compiled all the information because I thought if she has this question, how many other people and she can't find it. Exactly. How many other people have this question? So I wrote the blog post and um, probably six months go by. Mm-hmm. And I forgot about it. Right. This conversation happened. I helped her. That was amazing. Well, we get this email from this guy, and at first I thought it was a scam, um, because like the English was bad and it was like kind of broken, you know, like, and I'm like, is this a scam email or not sure. Um, but it was a guy who had read our article about water bely and he lived in a really remote village in Kenya, and he was responsible for raising all of the meat chickens that was the meat source for his village. Like that was his job. There was no go to the grocery store and get it. Like that was their meat source. And he started losing chicken. Like hundreds of chickens. This is his village's source of protein for the year. It's kind of a big deal. Yeah. So he's like freaking out. They don't have veterinarians where he is, so that wasn't an option. And so we get an email from him and I'm like, oh, this is what's going on. Um, I pulled up like the, the scientific names of some treatments mm-hmm. That he could try. Uh, 'cause I wasn't really sure what he had access to. So I gave him like all of the ideas and I was like, get whatever you can find. These are your options. Obviously I'm not a vet, but you don't even have access to a vet, so this is better than, yeah, better than, nothing know than anything, than, and, um, you know, let me know how it goes. And I didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks and I again kind of forgot about it. Well, he reached back out to me to let me know that, um. Um, it, the treatment, he was able to find something. It actually worked. And uh, this is when he told me, you know, we raise a couple of thousand chickens each year for our village that is our protein source. We had already lost a couple of hundred. We, wow. He didn't have internet where he lived, so he had to get on a bus drive one way three hours to like, do you remember those, like old, uh, like computer lab lounge? Mm-hmm. Things. It was like that situation Wow. That he had to get, he got like a card for like 30 minutes and he stumbled across that article and reached out to us. And I mean, like, I just think about the impact that stuff like that has definitely that we never would've been able to do any other way. Well, I, I mean, I'm just thinking about what was that man and his situation like? For sure. And, and honestly, the fact that you pursued a business and a blog post in your area of passion potentially saved the lives of people in that village. Exactly. Your passion may have very well prevented starvation. Exactly. Holy smokes. I mean, talk about pursuing, you know, your beliefs and making the world a better place through that effort. Yeah. That's freaking awesome. Uh, no one has ever shared a story like that on my, on my podcast before. Well, I'm glad I'm a little bit stunned. It, uh, like I said, I still, it still amazes me. Yeah. You know, like he, he literally was probably at his wit's end and didn't know what to do, and I'm sure was having some of those thoughts of like, if I can't fix this. My friends, my family, we, we perish. Exactly. Exactly. Holy smokes. And then he found us from, you know, just this blog post that I, I put up and yeah, it's, it's really good. But we, that, I feel like that's an extreme case. Yeah. You know, but we do hear probably at least a couple of times a week from people that we have impacted positively in various ways. Um, you know, different people. Just last night we were at a mastermind session and, uh, I had actually asked for some help in my business and was getting some input from other entrepreneurs. And, um, at the end somebody stood up and said, oh, I just wanted to let you know. By the way, this doesn't really answer your question, but. I went through your stuff because I was trying to see how your business was running, and he said, I actually learned stuff that rekindled the marriage that my wife and I have holy smoke. And I was, I, I, I cried. I was like, I thank you for telling me, but you can have so much impact and do stuff that you love at the same time. Definitely. Like, it's, it's amazing. So I, I know that, um, faith also plays a role Yes. In, in your business too. It does with mine for sure. But hearing things like that, to me, I always just take that as a sign. It's like, it's like God telling you, you are on the right path. You're doing what you're supposed to do. Mm-hmm. Because you are making such a positive impact in everyone's lives around you, and you can just see that there's genuine good stemming from your efforts. Yes. Beautiful. Yeah. Um, okay, so we kind of talked about your background and how you got into this, this business. Let's talk about the business itself. I'm curious, you know, you teach homesteading and it seems like it's pretty all encompassing when it comes to that, that term. Yes. So how do you, you know, package that in a, a way that you can present? You said you, you do this online, correct? Yes, we do it online. Um, and I think one of the things is, uh, I think a lot of people get hung up on how you can present things, um, and the fact that it needs to be in person versus virtual and, and all of that stuff. So when I was a teacher mm-hmm. We could do like one-on-one things. We could, we could do hands-on stuff with the kids. But if you think about it from a teaching perspective, it's not that much different teaching a classroom or a college classroom as to how you would do it online. Exactly.'cause it's still like one to many, right? Mm-hmm. It's not. One-on-one all the time. So, um, we do a lot of like video demonstrations, um, and I like to think about how different people learn and different people consume content. So again, going back to, uh, the time when I was a teacher, I learned different people learn and retain information in different ways. Mm-hmm. So some people have to do it with their hands. So if we're talking about planting a garden, it's not gonna click for'em until they're physically doing it themselves with their hands. Definitely. Some people just need to watch a video. Some people read, some people prefer to listen. So we put all of our resources inside of a membership program and we have all of those different modes of learning for people. So, um, with our, our kind of our lower ticket membership program. Um, it's a little bit harder to get that hands-on, one-on-one thing, but we try to create resources that they can take out with them that like, um, I'm just thinking about, we have a seed starting guide, for example. Mm-hmm. Uh, which is kind of a technical process. Um, it's more like a more advanced gardening process. But we have a guide where it, we've got a lot of pictures, lots of illustrations, and it's very like, step one, you're gonna do this, step two, you're gonna do this. So even though I'm not there with them, it's as close to that as they could get. Yeah. And then if they don't want, like the printout version, we've got videos that they can pause mm-hmm. And go step by step. Um, so I do think some people get hung up and I did the same thing, like, how do I teach this? Yeah. Virtually how do I show people. Um, and I just, I do the best I can and I think people are getting more and more used to learning things online. Definitely. Whereas maybe, maybe 10 years ago it would've been a lot harder to, you know, people would've had more resistance to learning stuff online. Um, I think it's a little bit easier now. So you brought up a couple things that I wanna unpack, and I'm sure I'm gonna start talking about one and forget the others. You mentioned, um, how you started packaging the, the information and, uh, in the Army what you described is called the step action drill. It's step one, do this, step two, do that. If you're looking for a place to start on how to teach a, a process, I always found that it was easiest for me to go back and create the step action drill of how to do something or implement something or execute the framework. Uh, so I rec, I end up coaching, um, you know, leadership and team development. And that's something that I often end up teaching people to implement is just the process of simplifying into steps. Yeah. So that anyone can read it and learn it. Yes. The other thing that I thought was really important, you just mentioned, uh, and I hope our viewers picked up on it too. You talked about learning everything you could learn in veterinary medicine and, uh, the things that you were learning through the volunteer and the experience. Then you talked about learning how other people learn, and then you talked about learning how to teach and sell one to many. The concept of continuous learning, I think is absolutely necessary for entrepreneurs. Yes. If you're not continually learning, you're not staying at the forefront of your game and field, and at some point you are giving people an outdated, underdeveloped product. Yes. Or service. So if you're always learning, you're always improving. You're always in a position to continue winning. Yep. I'm a big advocate of that. Yes. Okay. So that's really, really, uh, an awesome kind of setup for business. One of the problems that a lot of. My listeners have, and I know they have it'cause they message me and I have it too. And so I don't have anything great to tell 'em. Um, is the community building aspect, so, you know, people think that their world is a little bit too niche to do something, um, online and, and drive traffic to it. But when I think about, well that's not true. Anyone can do it with their passion project. You are doing it with homesteading. How do you create the sense of community that people feel the belonging and the desire they want to join and learn from you? That's a really good question. So, um, like I mentioned, we have a membership program, which a big piece of that has to be community. Definitely. So how we, we have this conversation all the time. How can we constantly improve our community? Mm-hmm. And, uh, to kind of reiterate on the fact like you're always learning new things as an, as a business owner and an entrepreneur. Um, and that goes for like, all aspects of your business, right? So we're constantly looking at how can we improve, what are things that other people are doing that we can implement and, and put that into play to make our business like the place that people want to go to, right? Yeah. So when it comes to community, um, it's actually not as hard as you think to build an amazing community when you find your people. So when you find your people, which I think is a lot easier to do if you are very niched. Mm-hmm. Um, so we have identified our target customer is a busy mom. She, um, she's interested in this lifestyle. She usually homeschools, uh, stay at home mom, or she has a job that she wishes. She was a stay at home mom, right? Yeah. Like she, she wants to make that transition. Um, so that's about half of our audience. The other half is also a mom. But she's in a different phase of life. So she's an empty nester. Um, recently retired and suddenly has time, whereas before she didn't have the time. So one of the cool things that we do is we do the basic stuff. So like we offer, um, a private Facebook group for our people. Um, and we're very picky about who is in. So like you're only allowed in if you're positive, if you don't have positive things to say, we kick you out of the program. Um, refunding your money, whatever.'cause we wanna cultivate that and encouraging space because let's be honest, there are brutal be gone Berg free Facebook groups that people can go to. Yeah. You know, so if they, if they come at it with that mentality, they need to be in a free Facebook group somewhere else. We have a friend, I know he's in the frame of the camera, so I love that. I was talking to Jessica Cunningham last night. I love her. She, she did the last episode of the podcast, uh, and she actually brought up, you know, the fear of, maybe fear is not the right way to phrase it, but the question, and, and second guessing that comes with removing people from your Facebook group. Mm-hmm. My thought on that was that it's actually a positive thing for your community building. Right? It is. If you maintain toxicity in your community and in your group, the group will deteriorate. It does, you'll lose morale. You'll lose the, the joy in the community sense that people have and they won't want to be there anymore. Exactly. It's like I was telling, uh, Michael, your husband at lunch, Reddit was a cesspool that I, I want absolutely nothing to do with. I won't go on there and advertise, I won't go on there and, and promote business just because there's so much negativity. There's so much tearing people down. Yes. I, I try very hard to associate with people that are gonna build up the people around them in their communities. Yeah. So. I love the concept of homesteading also for that.'cause you're building people's capability. Yes. You're feeding their interest. And, and like I said at the start of the podcast with my totally awesome hook, you're making a version of them that's more capable, more self-reliant. Yes. And in the end, I think, you know, the outcome is also a healthier individual mentally as well as physically. Yes. Because I mean, your food, your intake, those things make a difference. Right? A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. Uh, have you had any, I guess if you don't mind me asking the case study or the review about how homesteading has influenced people's health, I'm just kind of curious about that. Oh, totally, totally. We have, um, so we, uh, and at. Before I forget, I do wanna circle back to, we just started implementing something new in our community that I think works really, really well. Okay. Let's it so we can circle back to that. You wanna do it now or you wanna come back to it? Let's do it now while we're on community. Okay. Sorry. The health thing was just kind of the, I know that if I homestead, I'm eating healthier because I'm eating my own. Oh. Homegrown things. So I was thinking about health, but community. I wanna know about the community. Okay, let's do community.'cause you're actually, you're probably way better at building a community than you give yourself credit for. And the reason I know this is because my wife has known you for 24 hours and she is sold, she's in love, love. She wants to awesome. Join the program. Like, okay. And she just met you. Okay, good. But she feels the sense of belonging that you would expect someone to have after maybe, you know, months of ongoing communication and community building. Good. But it's like you said, um. You know, you know your avatar, you know your people, and she's the stay at home mom. She's busy with kids. Yeah. She gets 'em into their activities and she wants to do more when it comes to the self-reliance and the awesome traditional, you know, well, you just send her our way. When you guys get ready, you just send her an hour away and we'll take care of her. I think Michael actually sold her at lunch. Oh, okay. Well, we will take care of her. Um, so I mentioned that we have, we have two core groups of women. Right? Okay. So we have, um, moms that have younger kids at home. Life feels insanely nuts. Some days they're like, I don't even know what I'm doing. Much less like trying to learn all of this other stuff. And then we've got, oh, that scared me. Oh, there's like an iguana on the ground next to us, a a kind of large iguana. Um, so we have this group of women who. Have told us, you know, some days I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Yeah. And they're just trying to make it through another day. We've also got this group of women who he's coming up under you, just so you know. Okay. Who is a, is um, a little older, a little wiser. They've had kids, they've been in those situations and they've been in those scenarios. So we actually had, um, a lady reach out to us and she said, um, I noticed that a lot of women in this group are older than me and they're, uh, you know, their kids are grown or they're in, you know, they've got all this extra time and I don't know that I belong. And so I, I dug into the demographics of our group and I thought, like, I wanna make sure before I reach out to her that. You know, she's not wrong. Yeah. So that's when I'm like, oh, we do have kind of two, two sets of women. We need to use this to our advantage. And this actually came to me, um, at a bible study that I participated in, uh, that our church does, where all of the older women who are empty nesters, their kids are grown. They have all this time, they do a very small group bible study with the women who are like my age. They have younger kids at home. Life is busy. Um, and it's a six week bible study that you go through. We met once a week. They catered to us. Yeah. And it was so eye-opening, just all of the wisdom that they could pour, pour into us. So when this woman reached out to us, I had the thought of, we have these two groups of women, why don't we do the same thing? Yeah. You know, why don't we have these older women who, you know, like if let's say we have a woman that has three kids that are sick and they're all trying to make it to soccer practice and all the stuff, you know, let's pair them up with mm-hmm. One of the older women to where if they need help and they need that wisdom to tap into, it's there. That's really awesome. And, um, we reached out to our members and we were like, is this something you guys would be interested in? Like, almost like a mentorship type program. And they went nuts. They were like, oh my God. And on both ends, we had women that were like, oh my gosh, I would love to teach what I'm doing. Or I would love to like help women. That are where I have been. And holy smokes. You know, the younger women were like, oh my gosh, I need that so bad. And so I think if you can, part of, part of what we do is all about solving problems. Yeah. Right. And it just felt like an easy way to solve so many problems at the same time. And then like with our older women, they're empty nesters. Mm-hmm. Their kids have left and they're in a weird spot of I don't feel needed anymore. Yeah. And this gives them away to, oh my. So good. Right. This is so good. Yeah. What a genius move. You know, uh, we're out here at Mastermind in Paradise in Cancun. One of the things that's kind of been a repetitive topic that's come up the last couple days is the thing that, you know, people want to be recognized, the people in your community. Yes. And we need to do a good job of doing it and, and. While this isn't necessarily handing someone an award, this is recognizing the experience and the value that those women can bring not only to themselves, but to other people's lives. And not just to your community, but to the growth as a whole. Yes. For the, the organization. It's genius because you leverage your existing people while also filling a need that they have. Yep. Wow. Yeah. Good. Right. Really smart. I, um, like I said, I wish I would've come up with the idea myself. I was kind of influenced by going through that, that program. But um, yeah, I mean just that little things like that I think are the type of community people are looking for. Definitely. We're so sucked into our phones and social media and screens that I noticed, um, even 10 years ago when I was teaching. That the kids that I was teaching there, and we would have conversations about this. Mm-hmm. Uh, openly. And they would tell me they knew that like their, what they viewed as a friendship wasn't a real friendship. Like they recognized that, but they were so ingrained in like their phones and social media and all the things that you don't feel as connected. Exactly. So we just try to be intentional about how can we, how can we make people feel more connected? Um, another fun thing that we did for our members last Saturday was we did a family fun day for our members. Everybody in the membership program was invited. Um, we had it, I live in Fort Worth, so we had it in downtown Fort Worth at the historic stockyards. Right on. Um, very cool. They like do live cattle drives through the middle of downtown Fort Worth. It's like Cowboys central. It's amazing. Um, and we bought everybody's lunch. Mm-hmm. So we told people, bring your spouse, bring your families. Like let's just go have fun. I didn't have an agenda. We just wanted to hang out with our members. Yeah. Um, the member that drove the furthest drove 12 hours to be there for like a four hour no joke. Wow. And was thrilled to be there. That's community. That's community. Yeah. Yeah. So she signed up and she said, you, I'm coming. Send me the details later. Like she didn't even care. She just wanted to be there and wanted to meet people in person that she had been talking to online, which is Yeah, definitely. Amazing. Amazing. I love that. I, um, actually just a week or two ago I was down in the Fort Fort Worth area, speaking of, in a different mastermind. Nice. But it was. It's, I had the thought afterwards, you know, I was flying a few hours, spending the night, flying back a few hours just to be around and talk to other people on a similar journey. Learning. And, you know, something you, you touched on over the last decade, really, the last 15 years, we've become more and more digitally dependent. Yes. And that's stemmed down into our, our kids' lives and social media. And I know, you know, now the more and more we become AI dependent and the more and more AI generated content is out there, you know, we know that it's not real. Kinda like you mentioned, those kids knew those friendships weren't maybe real friendships. Right. But like, it leaves us with a craving for that community aspect. Yes. So I think that that, I mean, what you're doing, building the community around, not just, you know. Not just selling an info product or selling coaching, but to have the community aspect. I think that that's something necessary that all the young entrepreneurs or the new entrepreneurs, you should be striving to find a way to implement that into your business. Yes. Because at the end of the day, as we become more AI dependent and that content takes over the world, it leaves us more and more wanting authentic and real connection. 101 that leaves us feeling fulfilled. Yeah. Okay. I'm not forgetting the health stuff. Yes. Okay. We, how much time do you have? We can literally, I will go forever. Okay. So, um, let's, let's talk about this because this is, um, I had an epiphany moment a few years ago, so a little bit of additional background about myself. Mm-hmm. I am from very rural Tennessee. Everybody farmed, everybody had livestock. Um, shout out to my aunt Pam. Um, so. Uh, we did, I grew up on a small farm. We had a large garden. My mom canned every summer. Uh mm-hmm. We did a lot of food preservation. Um, to put it in context, the closest Walmart was like, not even open. 24 hours. Yeah. It's like a small Walmart and it was like 45 minutes on the highway driving to get to it. So it's like 70 miles away. Yeah. Not super close. Right. Not a convenient trip. Yes, yes. So we learned a lot of these traditional skills just kind of out of necessity. Right. Um, I, I grew up that way. I thought that's what everybody did. And I got to college and my first apartment balcony had a vegetable garden on it. And I remember, um, I was picking a tomato one day and this guy like walks past my apartment balcony and he goes, what are you doing? And I'm like, have a tomato in my hand. And I'm like, picking a tomato. What are you doing? And he was like, his mind was blown. He was like, you know how to grow tomatoes. And I was like, doesn't everyone, doesn't everybody know how to do this? And anyways, that's my most successful crop, by the way. Is it? Yes. Nice. You know, that's kind of one of the more complicated ones to grow. Did you know that? Is it really? Yeah. Yeah. I just, honestly, I set up my little tomato, uh, what's, what are they called? Tomato baskets. Oh yeah. Plant my seed. I let the thing grow. I water it. Okay. Look, if you can grow, I'm really tomato based about that stuff. If you can grow tomato, you can grow anything. Um, so that was kind of my first like, oh, people don't know how to do this. Yeah. Um, which I've always been fascinated by. So, um, I, I guess I kind of took it for granted, you know, that growing up as a kid, we, we raised a lot of the meat that we ate and. You know, it was before like grass fed and pasture raised and free range were like trendy topics. Yeah. That's just how we did things. And so we had access to really, really nutrient dense food, fresh food as a kid. And, um, my husband and I got married, we had our own farm. We started doing the same thing. Um, you know, we had, we had a large garden, we had an orchard, we had a milk cow and goats and chickens and like, you name it, we had it right. Um, March of 2021. March 16th. Actually I was 30 years old at the time. I had a heart attack and I had a stroke, and I did not have any pre-existing conditions. There was no logical reason that it should have happened. Huh. Um. I had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, which basically means your artery just bursts open on the back of my heart in two different places. So it's just pumping blood into my chest cavity, essentially. Yeah. Um, it's a very, very rare thing that happens. Mm-hmm. Uh, so we didn't just get a cardiologist. We got a team of cardiologists. Um, they came into the room and explained to us what happened and said, uh, you know, my first question was, so why did, why did this happen? You know, like, what was it? The food that we eat? Is it, am I not active enough? Like, what, what did, what are we doing wrong? And they said, well, actually it's none of those things. Um, we don't really know what causes it. But we can count on our hands how many people this has happened to. So we don't know much about it. The only thing that we do know is it could be hormonally related, it could be genetic. Um, it usually happens in younger women who have recently had a baby. My third child was six months old at the time, so she was young, but not like brand new, you know? Yeah. It wasn't immediate. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but what got me was they said, the only thing that we do know is from this point on, you will always have a one out of five chance that this is gonna happen again. And you got lucky Wow. Where it happened. Um, which completely changed the question. Yeah. You know, from why did this happen to. How do we keep this from happening? Or if it happens again since I am obviously high risk for this, how can I set myself up to survive if it does happen again? And um, I was going through physical therapy, which when you something like that happens, it's really tacky. So like I was 30 years old doing cardiac physical therapy. I had had a stroke, so I'm doing physical therapy for that. Everybody else in the room with me doing physical therapy was like 80, not Wow, not 30. Um, so I had a really good conversation with one of my cardiologists one day and I told him, I don't wanna be on medication for this the rest of my life. I'm 30 years old. Yeah. I do not want to take statins and blood pressure medicine and aspirin, and. You know, they put you on, they call it the heart attack protocol. Yeah. Um, I don't wanna do that. Like, I, I, I just don't wanna take medication every single day of my life. So what do I need to do to change so that we don't have to do that? Yeah. And he brought up the idea of Blue Zones. We had, um, been around each other enough that he knew I love to research things. I would go deep on things. Yeah. And he said, I think you really need to look into this.'cause I think that would be just a really great lifestyle for you. Are you familiar with what Blue Zones are? No, I'm not. Okay. So, um, there's a researcher that identified five places in the world where the average lifespan is 20 to 30 years longer on average. Okay. I am familiar with that. Yeah. Than the Western lifespan. Right. They also have the highest rate of centenarians. Which are people that are over a hundred years old. Mm-hmm. And, um, so my doctor said, I, I think you should look into what these people are doing and you know, just do as much of it as you can. And Parker, it blew my mind because you look at what people in Blue Zones are doing. Mm-hmm. You look at what people who want to homestead, want, like this homegrown lifestyle, what they're trying to accomplish. It is the same thing. It's literally the same thing. So some of the pillars between the two are access to fresh, organic, homegrown food. So like food right out of your back door. Yeah. People in these blue zone lifestyle or blue zone areas, they're growing their own food. Their main form of exercise is actually gardening. Wow. In Blue Zones, like that's what they consider exercise. They're not going out for a run. They're not jogging, they're not doing triathlons or heavy weight lifting. It's, it's gardening, it's walking. Yeah. It's just moving your body more throughout the day in natural ways. Yes. It's consistent activity. Yes. Yes. So that was, that was a big one for me. Um, community and purpose and intention is also like key in Blue Zones for sure. Which is the same stuff that people interested in homesteading one, right? Like they're looking for community. They want tighter knit families. They want intentional time with their kids. Definitely. And so as I'm reading, I mean, I just devoured the research around Blue Zones and I was like, we are, we. Why do more people not connect the dots Yeah. On these two things. So, um, we've really started putting more of that idea out there to people that you can take your backyard and create a mini blue zone mm-hmm. In your backyard, like for your family. It's not super complicated. It's not super time consuming. I mean, the people that live in these blue zones, um, they do this as a community. So it's not like they are completely like 100% self-sufficient as a family. They're doing it as a community. Yeah. So let's say like you and I live next door to one another, maybe you're really good at growing tomatoes and so you grow enough tomatoes for both of us. I'm really good at raising chickens, so I'm gonna raise chickens for both of us, and we just swap. That's literally what the people in these blue zones are doing. Mm-hmm. To kind of cut out the middleman of the grocery store. And, um, when you look at, I mean the people in these areas, they don't take prescription medications. They don't take supplements. Yeah. They get everything that they need from their food supply. It's fresh, it's nutrient dense. It's like you can't get any more local or fresh than what you can get out of your backyard. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so we do talk about that a lot. And, um, like the, we'll just talk briefly about the nutrient density of food. Um, we'll talk about spinach. So spinach has a really high vitamin content, vitamins in any type of food have a half-life. So they break down over time. They're not. Shelf stable, essentially. It's a naturally formed compound and naturally formed compounds break down over time. So when you harvest spinach, people think, oh, I'm gonna get a lot of vitamin A from this and zinc and like all of these other nutrients. Not necessarily. Even if you're buying organic, even if you're buying, you know, looking at the label and picking the, the use by date, that's the furthest out because the reality is as soon as that is harvested, those nutrients immediately start to break down. Yeah. So some of your produce, the nutrients break down within like 12 hours and they're gone. So that's like 12 hours after harvesting. So some of the shipping times, by the time it gets to you, it's been Oh, sure. In shipment for like six weeks. So yeah, it's healthy in the sense there's nothing bad in it for you. Okay. But you're still not getting the, the same quality, so Yeah. You're not getting the vitamins and nutrients inside of it that you Yeah. Think you're getting. Exactly. Exactly. And then people wonder why the supplement industry is massive. Yeah, definitely. Because it's not, it's not in our food anymore. So I, I've was curious, part of the reason I asked, uh, earlier, so I have arthritis in my right shoulder stemming from a dislocation that happened when I was on active duty in the Army. And I notice that when I'm eating, I am gonna use the term healthier, but maybe that's not exactly the right term. But, uh, you know, we, we typically run a garden in our backyard and, you know, I, I grow tomatoes, I grow jalapenos, we do cucumbers, strawberries, um, really we have just a variety of fruits and veggies that we can grow. You know, some peaches, plums, apples, pears. Uh, and when I eat those. I notice and I wonder if it's, you know, maybe connected to the antioxidant level and different fruits and foods or whatever. But I notice that I have less arthritic symptoms if I eat those consistently. And it's not necessarily that I'm only eating those things. We still, you know, eat other stuff and DoorDash and whatever. Yeah. But I noticed that when I eat those things, it almost has a similar effect as taking like ibuprofen or a curcumin subs. Yes. Um, what's it called? Sub, sub supplement. How embarrassing. Awkward, we just use the word. Yeah. So I, I'm an advocate for sure. For growing some of your own stuff. Yeah. Right. And, and I'm trying to learn, you know, more about the different things. For example, I'm learning about, uh, B vitamins and your purple foods and the role that those antioxidants play in cancer prevention. Yes. And I'm like. How do people not take the time, I guess, to learn or know about that stuff? Yeah. When you have the option, for example, I know you teach about raised garden beds. We have four raised garden beds at our house. We use 'em to grow our food. Or at least, you know, a little bit of our food. But like you could grow things to provide that supplement to literally prolong your life Yes. And prevent cancer. Yes. You can. Like school wouldn't wanna do that. Exactly, exactly. It is, and you know, I think, I think honestly people probably think it is more complicated to understand the benefits or maybe they think, you know, well, I'm not a medical doctor so I don't, I don't know these things. Yeah. And they, they just kind of brush it off where it's like you said, like, why, who wouldn't want to do that? Right. Like. Um, and, and you mentioned purple foods. I thought this was interesting because you can look at the Blue Zones and every blue zone has a local purple food that is like a staple part of their diet. No, Joe. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you mentioned the, the arthritis. Mm-hmm. So, um, that, okay. I, I have broken 17 bones in my left foot from the ankle down. Wow. And so I've had a bone graft, part of the foot died and actually was rotten inside and they had to take some of it out and like reconstruct some stuff like it's nuts. I, um, I will get wicked arthritis in that foot when I eat clean, and I keep a lot of those fresh, organic, healthier foods in my diet. Yeah, definitely. I don't even notice that it's an issue. Hmm. If I, let's say, go off track and like, we, um, I'll use this as an example. We went to Florida about a month ago on vacation, and we were there for three weeks. Mm-hmm. Which is another amazing thing about being an entrepreneur. You can like, shape this incredible life. But Yeah. Um, we, so we went to Florida for three weeks with our kids. Uh, we spent like a week in Disney. There was nothing healthy to eat at Disney. Nope. And by the end of the trip, my foot actually bothered me for the first time in like, three years. Wow. And I thought, okay, it's because we're eating like trash. Everything is processed. Yeah. Well for me it's specifically processed foods. And when I'm saying processed foods, I'm talking about the chips and the fried things. Yes. And, and you know, like you said, I, I don't necessarily get the same pains, aches, or pains when I eat. The tomatoes from the supermarket. Yeah. We're not getting the benefit, but I don't get the same Exactly. Problems. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, so we, we go to Disney World every other year or so, and I, I have a similar problem, especially you're out in the parks, you know, you're eating the park food. Yeah. At best you're getting a fried Turkey leg. Right. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Struggle is real. Okay. So we've touched on, you know, your background. We've talked about your business, what you do, why it matters, and how it can change people's lives for our young entrepreneurs. Is there anything that you're doing in your business that is particularly successful that you could maybe share with them that, that they could learn from and maybe implement? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Um, so we have a lot of, uh, success with a summit funnel. So I just learned about these summit funnels. It's new to me. It's amazing. It's amazing. So, um, it, and we were actually talking about the differences between a summit funnel and a challenge funnel and, you know, funnels are just ways that we get people into our world and get 'em into our ecosystem. So, um, a challenge, you know, you, I picture somebody going through a challenge and having like an, a specific outcome Yeah. By the end of the challenge. So like I shared with you at lunch, we have a sourdough challenge where it's seven days and we teach women how to create a starter that they can use to bake sourdough bread. Um, and then we push people into our membership program on the back end of that, where they can then go through our entire sourdough course and they have access to all of our recipes and our baking. Videos and all of that content. Okay. Um, so that's how I picture a challenge is they come up with a desired, there's some desired outcome by the end of it, and then your course or your membership is the next logical step, right? Yeah. So you give them a little win and then they go into your program. So a lot of people think of Summit Funnels as being one-off events, and we actually do them, we do them differently. We actually coach, we have some clients going through, uh, our coaching program for this called the Summit Scale System, okay. Where we teach them how to, uh, take a one off event that was successful and turn it into like an, uh, you know, like an automated webinar or an automated challenge, but it's an automated summit that will run weekly for them. Um, so the way it works. Is we, we have affiliates that promote these. We also do a lot of paid ads, so we push people to a free registration page. Mm-hmm. The summit is free to attend, which is great if you have a lot of time. Right. Each presentation is drift out. It's available for free for 24 hours. Um, so you can just go through the presentations. It's a three day event. Yeah. And we have really amazing content that we have different curated speakers come and present on. And so that's the free option. So anytime you run paid traffic, you need to sell something, right? Yeah. So we sell an upgraded ticket in the back, which we call an all access pass. So with the free ticket, there are no recordings. You have a 24 hour window to watch the content. If you miss it, you miss it. Yeah. Our all access pass, um, gives them unlimited access, actually gives them instant and unlimited access to all of the presentations. And we've got some extra stuff in there. Like there's a workbook that goes along with it. They get a podcast version of the summit, so if they just wanna listen. Okay. Um, we also have, uh, we like to tell 'em that we took all of the notes for them. So we have, um, edited transcripts, so if they wanna like highlight along, we've got everything written down for 'em. We also turn them into one page cheat sheets. Yeah. So if they want to come back six months from now and they're like, who was it that was talking about, you know, companion planting or strawberries or whatever, they can look at the cheat sheet. They don't have to sift through all of the content to try to find it. Mm-hmm. And then our speakers also put their own bonuses in there as well. Um, so there's like additional recipes and little mini workshops and courses and stuff. So that is an amazing package for people. Um, and they can upgrade their ticket from a free ticket, get access to all of this amazing stuff. Can we talk about how awesome that is real quick? Yeah. So if, if you didn't pick up on this, right. Traffic is being driven to a Summit funnel and they have the option for a free ticket. Yes. And the free ticket lets 'em view everything within that 24 hour period. Now keep in mind they're still getting the same presentations. They're still being sold on Yes. Your course or your coaching program. Right. And the beauty here is that there's also the VIP paid ticket. Yes. That gives you all of the awesome benefits, the notes, the transcripts, everything. Yeah. But then it's unlimited access. Right? The beauty here is that you can immediately have a paid thing that covers the cost of running the ads to get more people into the summit funnel. Yes. So you're able to run, essentially a lot of people in, in the coaching or info product space, they run ads at a loss on the front end knowing they make their money on the back end. But what Shelby's talking about here allows you to run ads without a loss on the front end. Yep. Did I get that right? Yeah. Yeah. That's freaking awesome. And I, it's a concept I never would've thought of before today, and we've seen people sell VIP tickets before. But I don't think they're doing it with that intent and that purpose is just a way to get a little bit more money. And so, can I even blow your mind a little bit more? Please do. Okay. So they get all of this amazing stuff in the all access pass. That in itself converts well and like I, like we talked about, it will cover your ad spin. Um, and then when we go through the summit, we pitch them, you know, our membership program. We're constantly talking about that, but there's an additional piece in our all access pass that is so good. So good. So, um, it's kind of, kind of falls along with the linchpin idea. Mm-hmm. Right? Of, um, making an offer to get somebody into your membership program. Because for me, and I know for a lot of people that do like info products, courses, memberships, you want that monthly recurring revenue in the background, right? Mm-hmm. Um, I'm so pumped about this. So in our all Access Pass, we include a free trial to our membership program, and, um, our content for the All access pass is actually how. Inside of our membership program, so we kind of double dip here a little bit. So, um, we've, we've actually set this up a couple of different ways. So we have made it optional to where they can take advantage of this if we want to with like an opt-in system. Mm-hmm. Um. We're currently running an opt out system to where it automatically puts them into our membership and we let them know, like with reminders and stuff, we're very upfront about it. Um, we don't wanna scam people and let them know like, Hey, you're in this. Take advantage of it while you have it. If you don't want it, no worries. Like you can cancel at any time. And honestly, even if they forget to cancel, if they reach out to us, we just refund them their money, you know? Sure. Um, we want. Them to get in and get results and um, so our all Access Pass is built out inside of our membership program. So they're actually logging in to our membership to get to their all Access Pass. Now, if they back out and say, well, I want to keep, you know, they get lifetime access when they buy the All Access Pass. So we do have some people that back out and say, well, I don't want the membership. Do I still keep my all access pass? And it's like, yeah, of course you bought lifetime access to that. Yeah. So our system we're able to tag them as just being able to access this one block. They can see all of this other stuff, but they can't access it, but they can't access it. But sooner or later they see something they want. Exactly. Very good. And there are. You know, we, um, if they click on something, they see a message that's like, oh, you don't currently have access to this. This is restricted for our academy members. Would you like to upgrade? And so it's all, it's all over the place, you know? Yeah. Um, you're constantly putting the Academy upgrade back into the forefront of their mind. Yes. And sooner or later they're gonna come around. Exactly. Yeah. So that all happens on the front end. So everybody, like I said, right now we're using an opt-out versus an opt-in system, which means a hundred percent of our all access passes become members. Mm-hmm. I don't think you understood what I just said. So think about this for a second. They're buying, they're paying us upfront, right? Uhhuh? That's covering our ads costs. That that's cool, right? Yeah, that's great. All of these buyers are now members. We lose about 28% of them. The rest of them stay month after month after month. Um, talk about continuity. Right. Holy smokes. And then, so this is before the summit has even started. Yeah. Yeah. Which is when we pitch the annual package for our membership and then the, the tier two of our membership program. Wow. So that's what I meant when I said we kind of double dip. So we pick up numbers on the front and, and on the back and on the back. I'm wrapping my head around this. I mean, that's. One, the retention bid is awesome. I mean, look, if you're, if you're retaining 70% of members to churn, like, uh, for example, my community, I churn, I don't know, 40% every year at least. So I'm like, one, you're already crushing the, the churn rate to. You have the continuity, but they're also constantly being exposed to the upgrade and then they still get pitched. The upgrade. Yeah. At the summit. Yeah. It's a gorgeous plan, and I like that you have a constant stream of touch points for that academy to be brought back into their mind, not just when they're on their course access or watching the recordings, but also then they get the pitch. Uh. I'm sure you've got your email newsletters and things like that mm-hmm. That consistently bring it back to the forefront of their mind. Yeah. Yes. Wow. Yes. Okay. So you're, I think you have an awesome business model. I'm inspired by it, but at usually at the end of these episodes, I like to ask, I mean, obviously you, you, you've given me a. A handful of time here and time is valuable and I'm very appreciative of that and I, I know that our, our viewers are gonna get a lot of value out of this. Is there anything that I can do for you? Are there any obstacles that you are struggling to work through that you could use an extra mind on? Actually Yes. Yes. Let's talk about that. So, um, we do have, uh, a business model that is working very well. Mm-hmm. So we're at this point where, um, we have stuff that converts, well, we can get people results in our programs. We just need more people in. I have a goal that. Or a vision for our company that this is one of the ways that we're gonna be able to change the world. Yeah. We're gonna be able to help women literally take like, I'm getting chill bumps, take their family back from. I don't wanna say the point of no return, that's too dark, but, um, take their health back, be more intentional. Like I can just see the ripple effect of this. And I'm like, we, everybody needs to know about this. So we have been thinking about what does that look like and what does that look like maybe outside of social media. Sure. And I think about, um, uh. We had a couple of of clients come through our stuff and um, say like this, you make me think of like the modern day Martha Stewart. Like, you know, she used to teach all these things and everybody was obsessed and you know, it was amazing. Mm-hmm. And so I was thinking about Martha Stewart, who is a household name. Yeah. I want to become, or I want our brand and what we're doing to become household names. So. What does that look like? How, how can we achieve that? And, um, I know, you know, social media is huge. It's a really fast route. Yeah. But I got to thinking, people still watch tv. Mm-hmm. TV is not dead. Nobody is teaching what we teach on tv. Mm. Yeah. So it's, it's actually come up a few times this week. Um. You know, if we did a TV show, what would that look like? Who are the people like? I, I have no idea. Mm-hmm. I have more questions than I have answers, but even like, even strategy behind this. Um, so if you have thoughts, I would love to hear, I have a lot of thoughts. One, amazing. I'm down for it. The first thing that came to my mind was like, yeah, I could definitely see my wife watching something. On Hulu or Netflix or like, yeah, like there's definitely a, a space for that. My initial thought was how active are you on YouTube? I'm not. Um, I think that's the starting point. Okay. So I'm, I'm big on YouTube anyways, bullish on YouTube. It's the, it, it's the YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world behind Google. Now, the beauty of YouTube, specifically for what you're talking about though. Is that it is a place for you to showcase and obtain proof of concept, right? YouTube is actually one of the better platforms at getting your content in front of the right people, right? Just like other social media platforms, they're incentivized to make sure that their viewers stay viewing and engaged. But YouTube does it better than Instagram does, and YouTube does it better than Facebook or TikTok does. And the reason I think YouTube is better at those things. Is because YouTube viewers use YouTube as a search engine where they can look to learn things, right? Yeah. If your TV show concept is to teach, you know, the recipes and the sourdough making and you know, the stuff that was maybe lost when Martha Stewart went to jail. Yeah. Uh, like you have a platform that's already available and accessible to showcase that and obtain viewership, uh. I don't necessarily have any, any immediate points of contact that come to mind. Um, and actually that's not true. Okay. Are you familiar with Darrell Eves? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he spoke at some funnel hacking lives and stuff like that? Yeah. Uh oh. Doesn't he own, isn't he involved with like Angel Studios? Yes. He's like the, the executive producer for the Chosen, if you're familiar with that show, love that show, love that show. He's active in the ClickFunnels community. Right. He's done a lot of stuff, uh, in and around us and uses funnels. He would be someone that I would maybe recommend reaching out to. I went through his, it's a good YouTube coaching program not too long ago. Yeah. Uh, creator Jumpstart is what it's called. Okay. But I mean, I think getting active on that platform, I mean, bumping elbows with people who are. In that world, in that space is probably a, a good way to approach that. That's really good. I had not thought of it that way at all. Like, which sounds silly because I know people make shows on YouTube. Mm-hmm. So I just was not putting two and two together. Well, and if you're thinking about transitioning to a TV show, right, a lot of, there's a lot of shows on Hulu. And I know Angel Studios kind of did this for a little bit, but like you're taking shows that were successful on YouTube and adapting them now to be full scale production televised things. Yeah. Um, the YouTube concept I think is really good because it allows you to create an episode, right? Imagine what your show would look like on television. And just make that, and, and there's people like you can do the filming, the recording, all that stuff. Uh, there's people in our community that can help with the editing and things like that. You know, we had lunch with Andre earlier and he's that guy to begin with. Oh, okay. But like, I use Fiverr to be honest. Uh, and for 20 bucks I can pay somebody to do a quick edit for me. Yeah. But also AI's made that stuff really easy. Um, for example. I'm gonna take this podcast recording. I'm gonna go throw it into script. I'm gonna let the script do its studio sound. I'm gonna play with the, uh, sliders when it comes to the lighting and how it looks. Yeah. And then I'm gonna just extract that, export it, and upload it to YouTube and boom, I've got YouTube. I'll throw it on, you know, all the different podcast platforms too. But it's, it's never been easier to get started on YouTube. And YouTube is. The best in the world, in my opinion, at rewarding creators who are creating content in a consistent manner that serves the same audience. They, and especially where you want to be, long form already, like you'll get good reels and you'll get good shorts out of this. Yeah. But if you're doing the television idea, if that's where you want to go with that direction, YouTube is the best platform to do that on. And if it works, you have proof of concept to pitch the show. That's so true. Or people will see it and come and approach you about the show. That's so true. I dunno why I didn't think of that. This is why these types of conversations are amazing. I hope that that was actually amazing. And you're not just saying that'cause we're being recorded. No, I literally had not thought of it that way. I was coming at it from the approach of how do I pitch people this TV concept and like not, how can I just start it? So I, if you didn't know, I, um, did two, maybe three years as a political and economic contributor for news outlets. Okay. I would write, uh, articles, opinion pieces, uh, and pitch them, or I would pitch myself to go on like radio tours or television segments. Mm. And in doing that, it's hard to cold pitch. Yeah. If there's not already proven interest. Or people that they know are gonna watch that, that show that episode, it's, they'll say no every time. So true. Yeah. So I'm like, even if you can just get something created that draws attention ship or viewership, the beauty is you already have a community that you know is interested in this stuff. Yeah. And that community is proof of concept that, you know, there's more women out there that want to learn these things, so let YouTube do the work. Mm-hmm. That's really good. And then you just take that proof of concept and you include it in the pitch. But also, oh my gosh, I gotta tell you this. So funnel hacking live last February, one of the last sessions, I'm sitting next to a dentist, I can't remember his name, sorry, dentist. I know if you see this. Know that I'm on YouTube now because of you. So I'm sitting next to this dentist and the dentist is telling me he does all of his lead generation on YouTube. I'm like, what? You don't do paid ads or anything like that? He's like, no, I get paid for my ads. And I'm like, what do you mean? He says, well, I make videos. I put 'em on YouTube. The videos are how a dentist brushes his teeth. What toothpastes do dentists actually recommend? How do I, you know, approach these issues with dental health? Right, so he just makes informational videos. Mm-hmm. People search for those terms on YouTube to go and learn about them in video format, and he gets traffic. So now he's got thousands of subscribers and he gets hundreds of thousands of views. His clinic is in California, and anyone who is remotely close to his clinic, that searches that goes to him, he's now their provider because he built the trust from having the videos. The videos have the views indicating that other people are trusting this content, so then those people trust him with their dental care. But the kicker is he says he gets paid over $8,000 a month for having his videos on YouTube. So YouTube pays him for the content and sends him the leads. That's amazing. Now you lose that. If you go do a big show, that's true. You might get paid a little bit more upfront. But the beauty of YouTube for you, I think, is that you can put on the show, you can generate the ad sharing revenue from YouTube, and maybe you get to eight, $10,000 a month with a few thousand subscribers. But then you're also, all of that content is a lead for your business. And then the big money comes when they join the Summit Funnel or your academy, right? Or your coaching program on the back end because they've been exposed to you, because they built trust to you through YouTube. And then you get paid from that avenue as well. That's amazing. I hope that that yes. Is something you can run with. That's amazing. So I, since February I wasn't on YouTube at all before February. Uh, there's a guy in the inner Circle, his name's Keats, older gentleman, right? Yes. Yes. He challenged me at Funnel Hacking Live after we're sitting next to this dentist who's telling us he makes all this money from his dental videos. Yeah. He, he challenged me to start on YouTube. And we were in a race, uh, until last April to the last inner circle meeting, who could get the most subscribers? Keith's blew me outta the water. He doubled me. Oh my goodness. He doubled me. Wow. And I was like, I was being consistent on YouTube, but I'm like, okay, I've gotta, I've gotta get better. I need to higher quality content. I need a better camera. I need to be able to, to actually provide value on the platform. And I'm doing it, and it's growing now, but the rate that it's growing. Is even faster than my TikTok, my Instagram, right? Mm-hmm. So I took like Ad Lee's recommendation. I did the trial reels. I'm posting there every single day now, and I've done that religiously since that mastermind. And even doing that and posting dozens of trial reels in a day. I post one video on YouTube, but YouTube has refined faster to who wants to see my content. So I get views at a higher rate on YouTube than I do on Instagram or TikTok. And I think that that's a testament to YouTube's efficacy when it comes to getting your contents in front of the right viewers. Yeah. And I feel like not to knock shorts or short form content, because I think that is valuable as well, but I think when somebody sits through an entire YouTube episode with you, yes, there's a different level of commitment. There's a different level of trust with you. Mm-hmm. That they don't get the same way from a 32nd reel. Yeah. So this is a crazy stat. Crazy stat, and I looked at this earlier today, my podcast on like Spotify and Apple and all the Google podcast, right? Most of my long form podcasts like this one, they get, you know, 300 total views, right? But across, I got YouTube on one side, all other categories on the other side. YouTube, if I get, you know, 50 people that watch the video on YouTube in, you know, a couple weeks, I end up with like, I don't know how long this episode is, but let's say hour per hour. If I have 30 people watching, I end up with like 30 hours of view time. But when I go on all my other podcast platforms, even with, you know, a hundred downloads or something somewhere else, I maybe get 30 hours. The viewership, the connection, the getting it to the right people at the right place at the right time is just better on YouTube. Interesting. And I think it's because people are on YouTube searching for that information. Yeah, yeah. So it's it's a more direct connection. Yeah. Whereas on Instagram, TikTok, it's just putting it in front of you. Yeah. Right. It's just trying to stop the scroll because that's, that's the mindset people are in, is that endless scroll mode. There does not the same intention behind it, like with you two. Mm-hmm. It's really good. Right on. Super helpful that that ended up going way longer there at the end. That's okay. No, that was good. Shelby, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. This was a ton of fun. Absolutely. Where can uh, viewers find you? So the best place to find us is probably our Instagram or our website. So you can look up garden farm thrive.com or find us on Instagram. Same name at Garden Farm Thrive. Thanks so much, Shelby. Yeah, thank you. Okay. That's it. Go team. Awesome. Woo. Thank you so much. Yeah. I don't know how long we went, but that, I think we went for an hour and a half. Sweet. I can talk a lot, which is why I asked you ahead of time, do you have a time limit for this? Not at all. So I've actually, most of my episodes fall within 30 minutes to an hour and a half, and it's just organic conversation. Yeah. I went for like three and a half hours on. I was testing my, like the way my coaching was set up. Yeah. And I did a Zoom call.