I have a fun announcement today. It is that I am offering five farmers $1,500 scholarships to my Profitable Mindset Marketing Training Program. And I want to share a little bit about all the details. So it started with years ago, I asked when I was young. I asked a man in my town for $400 and he was very wealthy. He could have written the check without blinking for the whole thing, but he only gave me $100 and it turned out to be the best thing anyone could have done for me.

So I’ll share that whole story in a second because it’s the reason I’m doing what I’m doing this week. And that is I’m giving, like I said, five farmers $1,500 scholarships. The opening to apply is only one week. So let me share with you how to apply, who it’s for, and how we are going to select who gets those scholarships.

So I’m Charlotte Smith. If you didn’t already know that, this is the Profitable Mindset Podcast. I have helped farmers for over a decade now build sustainable, profitable farms. All right. What I teach is not theory. It’s proven over and over again to work. If farmers implement what I teach and coach on, they’ll make money. So today’s episode is all about this new scholarship program.

Now, like I said, the application window is fairly short. Maybe it’s a week and applications are due by midnight Eastern on November 2nd. So if you’re listening to that, it’s next Monday. You can get the application. It’s very short. You can get it at charlottemsmith.com forward slash scholarship. You’ll enter your name and email. We’ll send it over. It’s a couple short questions. That’s it.

Now, here’s why it’s a $1,500 scholarship. It’s a partial scholarship for the whole program. And yes, that is free money. It is offered for a program where you are going to make more money than you ever imagined possible on your farm when you implement what I teach in there.

So back to the story. When I was young, I qualified for the World Championship Quarter Horse Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now, I live in Oregon. It’s a long way to travel. And I didn’t have all the money to get there. So I had a job. I worked for my horse trainer so I could afford to show horses, but I still didn’t have enough to make the trip. And my horse trainer challenged me to go find the rest of the money.

I started thinking of who I could ask for help. And this local gentleman came up, and think of it as like me asking for a grant, just like I’m offering you here. So our neighbor that I grew up next to was a very wealthy man. And I made an appointment to go to his corporate office and speak to him one-on-one privately in his office. And I asked him for the $400 that I needed.

Now he could have paid for the whole trip, like I mentioned. And of course, I was secretly hoping he would, but he gave me $100 and he said, I could pay for the whole thing, but I’m giving you $100 because I know you’ll learn so much from having to do the work and talk to more people and work hard to get the rest of the money you need. And I remember feeling a little disappointed, but also at the same time, I felt really challenged. I had something to prove.

And he was right. I dove in. I worked really hard. I talked to people that I never would have talked to. And I made it to Tulsa, Oklahoma to compete in the championships. And before I left his office, he shared with me that about 20 years before, my grandfather had given him money when he needed it. And this was his way of paying it forward. So he was paying it forward to me, doing something my grandpa had started 20 years earlier. And he made me work for the rest on purpose because the part you work for grew me. That’s what changes you. That’s what grows you. It turns you into a more resilient and resourceful and determined and tenacious person. That’s who I became in that process.

I have thought about that so many times since then. I think about it every time a farmer in my program raises her prices and finally sells out at a profit and tells me she can’t believe she did it. The part that she worked for is the part that grew her, changed her, transformed her, her family, her farm. So now it’s my turn. I’m so excited to be able to do this and be on your team, helping you build the skills that will change your life.

So this week I’ve got these applications open for the Profitable Farmer Scholarship. Five farmers will get $1,500 free money off the tuition for the Profitable Farmer Marketing Coaching Program. You’ve got to use it this round. And I want to be really clear what it is because you might be listening, wondering if it’s for you. And so I’ll tell you what it is, who it’s for, and how to apply.

All right. So The Profitable Farmer is my year-long coaching program where we build your whole year of marketing for you and then with you. We build your marketing for you so you get a head start, but then you’re also learning how to build your own marketing too. It is specific to your farm. You get farm marketing from the heart. It’s a marketing course. You get my time management course and you get a sales course and you get a live coaching call with me every single week. It’s recorded every single week for a year. It’s put on a private podcast. You can listen from the tractor, the barn, the greenhouse, the bathroom, wherever. We make it really easy for you to participate and you get an amazing private community with hundreds of farmers who mentor you, they inspire you, they give you positive, encouraging feedback. The community itself is so wonderful, so powerful.

The tuition for the Profitable Farmer is $3,495. So the scholarship takes $1,500 off. As a recipient, you will pay $1,995, just under $2,000. You can pay it over a year if you want, and you’re going to make that $2,000 back right away. On average, our farmers make their investment back in about 90 days. But then you have the skill of making money. You’ll make that $2,000 over and over and over again for a lifetime, not just while you’re in the program. You’re learning the skill of how to make money.

All right, so let’s talk about who this is for. Now, if you thought, oh, this isn’t for me, if you’ve talked yourself out of applying before you even looked at it, hear this part. This scholarship is for the farmer who’s ready to get their marketing built. It’s not about being financially needy. You don’t have to prove that you don’t have enough money at all. That’s off the table. Instead, the questions are designed for you to show me that you’re ready to commit a couple hours a week, three hours a week, four hours a week. You know, most farmers average two to five hours a week in this program to learning some new skills.

All right. You’re going to learn how to write and send emails or show up on social media in a way that people want to pay the prices you need to charge. Even though they can find it cheaper and more conveniently elsewhere, you’ll know how to compel people to want to spend money with you. They’ll love it. You will feel so good about marketing this way. It’s a wonderful way to market. I believe marketing is serving. So when you learn to market this way, it feels good to you and the people you’re serving. So this is a learned skill. It’s not something you either have or you don’t have. You are going to learn, just like everyone else in the program, how to do that.

So there’s just a couple of questions on the scholarship application. And I think I said, you know, 250 words, something like that. So you don’t have to write very much. I just want to hear what’s your dream for your farm? Like what’s your goal? And it can be vague. It doesn’t have to be super specific. I just want to know that you have something in mind, and it doesn’t matter how small it is or how large it is. I just want to hear what’s your dream. What’s your vision? And it’ll show me that you’re open-minded to learning what works in marketing today. All right. That’s what the questions will do. Just a couple of questions. Because after years of coaching farmers, I know this, it’s the ones who changed their farms are the ones who decided and were open to learning some new skills and new ways of thinking.

So if you’re growing something or raising things or making something, and you sell directly to customers, or you’re planning to by next year, this is for you. If you’re a couple years out, you’re a little early. But if you plan on selling within the next 12 months, or you’re already doing it, you could have been in business for 30 years already, but your marketing is someplace you need to grow, it’s okay to apply for this. It’s for new farmers, experienced farmers, and everyone in between. Veggie farmers, fruits, flowers. Any and all kinds of meat, chicken, pork, beef, alpaca, you know, all the venison, all the different meats, eggs, milk, all dairy products, fiber, plants, jam, honey, whatever it is, new farm, established farm, anywhere in the world. Most farmers are in the United States, but this works. We have farmers in 15 different countries in the program too. So it works no matter where you are. Every call is recorded as well. So if you’ve got an idea of what you might want your farm to look like even if you have no idea of how to get there, that’s what we teach, then this is for you. And if you can carve out a few hours a week, then this is for you.

So I made it really simple. To get the scholarship, just go to charlottemsmith.com forward slash scholarship. The application will be sent to you. You’ll fill in just a few basics about you and your farm. Answer the two questions. That’s it. It’s got to be in your own words. You can’t use AI. I want it to sound like you. I’d rather read a couple of sentences from real farmers where you wrote from the heart than two perfect paragraphs from an AI robot. So just know that. I do want it in your own words. I read every single application myself. So if you get that application and sit down tonight with a cup of coffee or tea, you’ll have it done in 20 minutes. I promise. It’s not that big of a deal.

All right, let’s talk about how we choose. I read every single application first, and then my team reads every single application. We’re looking for four things. We’re looking for your vision or your dream for your farm. And again, big or small doesn’t matter. It can be a small vision. I’m not looking for grand. I’m just looking for what it is you have in mind. I just want to know that you have some idea of what you want it to look like, not how you will get there, but just your vision. And the other part that we’re using to choose, the other criteria, is readiness. I want to know that you’re ready to figure out how to spend three, four, five hours a week on this program. You’re ready to get your first year of marketing done for you now so you can hit the ground running with your marketing in early 2027, because of the timing. And also, are you a fit for this program? Which means, do you sell direct to consumer? All right. And the other part that we are judging these on is the commitment. I want you to commit to follow through and share your success with us in the next 12 months. We’ll invite you back to share a story or you’ll come here on the podcast. Tell us what it was like. We want to hear all the experience, like the hard stuff, the good stuff, the fun stuff, the mistakes, the growth. We’d love to hear your experience in the program. That’s it. So those are the four criteria of how we’re making the decision. And we will select and announce the selections on November 6th.

And all right, now let me talk to you. If you’re listening to this right now and you’re thinking something like, I’m probably not the one who needs it most. Well, I just want you to know that’s a thought. It feels like a fact. It feels like maybe you’re being humble or being realistic. But if you have that thought like, I don’t know if I need this, it’s keeping you from applying. So I’ll ask you what I would ask you on a coaching call if we were coaching together. What if you are exactly who this is for? What if you’re a great fit? You haven’t even applied yet. So apply. All right. It can’t hurt you. It’s only going to grow you. Just the process of applying will be amazing.

So the other thing is, it’s not like you’re going to walk away with nothing if you apply. Everyone who applies will receive a strategy session with us for free. It’s a 30-minute session. You’ll sit down with me or Rebecca or my daughter Hayden. Rebecca’s our farm coach. And we will have your application in front of us and we’ll talk through your goal, where you are now, what’s in the way of that goal, and how we can help. So even if you’re sitting there thinking you probably won’t be chosen, please apply anyway. You never know. Writing your goal down and telling someone out loud is the first step. And I’ve watched just the process of applying change people. So please give it a try.

All right. And then, as I mentioned, every scholarship recipient needs to be able to agree to one thing, that a year from now you’ll come back and tell us what changed. And like I said, it can be a podcast, but it can also just be a written testimonial. And think of it like a note to the farmers who will be applying next year. Because a man in my town gave me $100 because my grandpa once helped him get his business off the ground. Now that man has the largest dental supply company in the world. My grandpa helped him create that. And I’m giving you a $1,500 leg up because he helped me. And your story is how the next farmer finds the courage to start. That’s how we keep this going. See how we use this to inspire everyone to grow and change and keep striving for more.

All right. So again, thanks for listening. Applications are open. They close Monday, November 2nd at midnight Eastern. Don’t wait. It won’t take you very long. We’re going to announce the scholarship winners on Friday, November 6th. And then the very next week, November 9th through 13th, we get started. That’s the Farm Marketing Fix where I go live every day that week, fixing farmers’ marketing. And that’s that.

So the other thing. If you know other farmers who should hear this, please send it to them too. You can just send them a text with the link, charlottemsmith.com forward slash scholarship. Tell them to apply too. Or if you’re part of a farmers market or a growers group, Facebook group for farmers, you have an organization, share it with your followers, your farmers in your network. I would be so grateful. The farmers who need this most, often they haven’t even heard of me and you are how they find out.

All right. So quick recap, five farmers, $1,500 scholarships for my Profitable Farmer Marketing Coaching Program, where we build a year of marketing for you while you learn to do it for yourself alongside us. And applications close this Monday, November 2nd. All right. My neighbor gave me $100 and it grew me in ways that have served me the rest of my life to this day. And this is me giving you that same opportunity. All right, take care. I hope to see your application soon and hear all about your farm dream.