“Quick, honey! Roll up the windows!”
Late in 2008, my husband and I were traveling down Interstate 5 from Sacramento to L.A. in our tiny Civic del Sol. No air conditioning. Hot sun. Hot air. Unbelievable stench. Off in the distance we could see the feedlots, and from very far away we could smell them. To say that this upset me would be an understatement.
When we returned from our trip, I hit the ‘net in search of a local source for beef that was raised humanely. I found a one-page site and Jim Gates, the guy behind Nevada County Free Range Beef. And, I found an incredible story about land and resource management, compassion, 18-hour days, and a bootstrapped operation that had great marketing but needed better exposure online. Jim agreed, and we went to work.
After brushing up on my understanding of html and JavaScript, I rode the range with Jim, took photos, interviewed Jim’s staff, wrote copy, found a host, and in the fall of 2009 launched the new site: NevadaCountyFreeRangeBeef.com.
In January of 2010 I set up facebook and WordPress for Jim’s outfit, with the facebook posts rolling to Twitter. Another innovation: I set Jim up on AT&T cloud voicemail, with sub-mailboxes that could be checked and managed by members of his team, offloading Jim.
Since then, Jim has grown his customer base. His sales manager, Susan, now spends less time on the phone with customers because the website explains the details—and the incredibly high quality—of Jim’s product. His marketing manager, Kathy, is having a blast doing postings to facebook. Jim’s following is growing, as are his sales. Here’s what Jim has to say about joining the 21st century.