61 Interview with Dan Brisebois of Ferme Tourne-Sol on Being an Entrepreneur
June 17, 2020 by Corinna
In this episode, I interview Dan Brisebois from Ferme Tourne-Tol. I originally asked him on the show because he had a thriving CSA (and I wanted to share some of his secret sauce). But I also discovered that along the way, he has built a seed business AND a new online business, teaching farmers all about how to maximize their spreadsheets for farm planning. As we kept talking, I kept hearing threads of entrepreneurialism in his words. So at the end of the episode, I decided I would title our show “On Being an Entrepreneur.”
Dan Brisebois is a founding member of Tourne-Sol co-operative farm where he leads the seed team. Tourne-Sol produces certified organic seeds for their online seed store and seed rack program. Tourne-Sol also produces organic for 500 weekly CSA members.
Dan also runs the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy where he help farmers improve their planning and management by mastering their farm spreadsheets.
Dan talks about what he thinks defines a successful CSA. I heard phrases like, “You have to earn a good CSA.” He talks about “developing an entrepreneurial mind,” how to better serve the people we already have in our area of influence, and the importance of seeing things in systems. Dan is a deep thinker, and so I really enjoyed this episode. I should also mention that we recorded this episode 3 months before airing it. It was originally slotted to go live in early May. Then COVID-19 hit, and it just didn’t feel right to casually be talking about entrepreneurship. It’s interesting to listen to this episode, knowing it was recorded in a different context. Dan sent me a recording 2 weeks ago — a kind of update on how he was doing — and I decided to add that into the backend of the episode.
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Some of the resources mentioned in this episode:
- Find my Facebook group for farmers! I jump in here every week to teach farmers tips and fundamentals of marketing.
- Learn more about Dan’s farm and seed enterprise on his website https://www.fermetournesol.qc.ca/en/
- Follow Dan on Instragram @spreadsheetmaniac
- Dan’s YouTube Channel is here. Find more information about FarmerSpreadsheetAcademy.com here.
- Find Dan’s Facebook group MoveYourFarmStoreOnline here.
- My CSA Membership Academy — This tool has been a lifeline for my CSA members. Join this online library on a monthly or annual basis and get access to the “success path” I’ve created for my CSA members to help them become really good at using their box. I have a lot of farmers who purchase the Academy to help them get ideas and templates for their own training system. Join now for a month, and cancel anytime!
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My hope is to feature guests periodically on the show. If you know someone who is innovating in the area of marketing as a farmer, please send me an email at mydigitalfarmers@gmail.com.
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