AP 1171: Where Are They Now: Pam Farley from Brown Thumb Mama

AP 1171: Where Are They Now: Pam Farley from Brown Thumb Mama

Pat Flynn:
What's up everybody Pat Flynn here and welcome to episode 1,171 of AskPat 2.0. And what you're about to listen to is actually a Where Are They Now? episode. So normally on this show, we do a coaching call with somebody who needs help right now. And then you get to listen in. That's what most of the shows are about. However, this particular show, we do this once a month, we bring somebody who was once on the show before back to the show to talk about what they did, what they didn't do, what they discovered and where are they now? So today we're going to talk with Pam Farley from BrownThumbMama.com. Again, BrownThumbMama.com. And she did some things, discovered some things, and is doing some things. And so I can't wait to share those things with you because this is just what happens when you take action. It's awesome. So, lots of time saved, lots of money saved. You'll hear how, right now. Here she is. Pam Farley from BrownThumbMama.com.

Pam. Welcome back to AskPat. How are you doing?

Pam Farley:
Thanks. I'm doing awesome. Thanks for having me.

Pat:
The last time we chatted, it was a while back, it was episode 1,049. We were talking about the fact that you were doing some stuff and your audience wasn't really responding the way you wanted to. If you can recall some of the big lessons that you learned and takeaways from that episode, might you be able to remember what we talked about?

Pam:
Absolutely. And one of the things that I did as a result of that, I've three main pillars on my website, three main content pillars: vegetable gardening, nontoxic home, and copycat recipes of boxed foods. So to figure out what my readers really wanted, I made three separate opt-ins, three separate email funnels. And I have discovered that my people are not coming to me for recipes. So—

Pat:
Mm-hmm. Interesting.

Pam:
I've stopped - I had been hiring a food photographer to do fancy pictures because that's not in my skillset. And so I've dialed that back and the recipes, I will still add them on occasion but I'm sticking to the top two content pillars which are vegetable gardening and nontoxic home.

Pat:
That's an awesome realization. That to me means money saved, time saved. And what is now this extra time enabled you to do, with regards to the other two pillars?

Pam:
Well, the extra time and the extra cost savings have enabled me to start... I'm at the very beginning of making YouTube videos.

Yeah. And one of our friends is a professional full-time YouTuber and so I asked to go to his studio and see his setup. And he has five cameras and he has all this fancy stuff. And so I was in despair and I thought, "Oh, I can't afford all that stuff. I don't have the space." And then I thought, "Wonder if I could just rent space from him? And rent all his cameras?" So, we have to hang up a curtain because his background is not conducive to my audience. But we hang up a curtain and then I've got five cameras and studio lights and fancy doodads and...

Pat:
Wow.

Pam:
So that's that's my next step. Yeah.

Pat:
What's the name of the YouTube channel? Or how do we find that? I'm going to go check it out right now, actually.

Pam:
So, his channel is Odin Makes.

Pat:
Odin Makes.

Pam:
And you'll love him. He makes props from all sci-fi movies and...

Pat:
I see, 542,000 subscribers for Odin Makes. That's really cool. I'll definitely subscribe and check that out. And how about yours? Have you started your YouTube channel yet and started publishing content?

Pam:
I have a few videos that are homegrown about using essential oils for your stinky teenager's room and stuff like that. So I haven't published any of the professional videos yet. But, like I said, we're still at the very beginning.

Pat:
Cool. Well, I might need to hit up that video about stinky teenagers in a couple of years here, because my son is 11 now.

Pam:
Your kids are still little.

Pat:
He's already 11, my daughter is eight. But yeah, they're starting to get a little stinky. So, I think I could use some help there. But. Okay. So, I want to go back to when you were running this experiment with the three lead magnets and trying to decide how this worked. I'd love to know, how you executed all that. I think this is absolutely massive in terms of what it's taught you. But for those who are listening who are like, "Wow, I want to do the same thing," how would you help them through that process?

Pam:
The first thing that I had to do was to narrow myself down to three main pillars. I began Brown Thumb Mama by documenting all of the tips that the other moms at my then corporate job were asking me because during the recession we were living on one income, my income. And so, how do you make ends meet? How do you do things? So I was sharing recipes for how to bake bread, little kitchen tips, emergency preparedness. I had stuff all over the place and I had to decide what my main topics were.

And then I had to figure out what was an appealing lead magnet. So, I've made three separate booklets. They're just PDF files for companion plants because there are some plants that if you plant next to each other, neither one of them will grow well. Natural cleaning recipes and then copycat recipes, like making Rice-A-Roni at home, that kind of thing. So that was the basic one. And I could have stopped right there and it would have worked really well. I also decided to put them into an email series, a little funnel that would then lead them to - I have a few products for sale and we're always working on more. So it leads them down the funnel to hopefully buy the product once they're in the newsletter and comfortable and have learned.

Pat:
Got it. Now, did you get people coming into the recipe one? What data did you read to go, "Oh, this isn't working the way it's supposed to."

Pam:
I had significantly less, but there were still a few. So, I'm certainly not going to delete that content off my site or anything. It just gave me the data to change my focus. During lockdown, everybody was really interested in gardening and that's one of my main pillars. I was able to do some just-in-time content like making bread, no-knead bread where you just mix everything up and let it sit overnight and then bake it. So, I was able to fill some immediate needs. And apparently, natural cleaning is really big on Tik Tok but I haven't gotten to Tik Tok yet. So that was what the young folks told me that the... So, I'll have to work on that later.

Pat:
I can see that going really well. And so that's data on helping you understand what the pillars should be, versus what you thought they should be. That's excellent. And then moving forward from there, you'd mentioned that now as a result of this, you have this YouTube channel coming out, or you're starting this process of creating videos again within those pillars. What else has happened? What have you done with that information and what else has been created since the last time we chatted?

Pam:
So I have, as always, 8 million ideas for different ebooks that can help my audience grow great tomatoes, things like that. And so I'm working on a new book for natural cleaners, homemade natural cleaners for every room in your home. And it's almost ready to launch and yeah. And I said, "Oh." Because they always, they sell, they just can chug along. And I was talking to a colleague and she said, "If you want to explode your business, you need to go big. You need to do a course." And I thought, "Well, that's great but what am I going to make videos of me pouring vinegar into a spray bottle and going, here you go." And she said, "No, no, no, no, no. Your ebook can be a textbook."

And this idea, it just blew my mind. Your ebook is a textbook but your course expands on that and teaches about things like, you don't want to use non-stick pans because when they're heated up, they can emit dangerous gases. What can you use instead? What weird stuff is in your tap water that you don't know about? And so that was really an amazing idea. Like, "Oh, I don't have to talk to the textbook." You can do like in college where you read the book and the professor just talks about other things, and the literature of that time and what was happening in the world when the author wrote it and stuff like that.

Pat:
That's true. And that's what I was going to say, it seems like a professor textbook situation. So, I'm glad you said that. And I think that's a great idea and a great way to frame it. And then of course you can do that with the books that are most popular, right? You can use the books now as a way to analyze the data, to see what you could do. Have you launched any of those courses yet? Or are you still in the middle of thinking about those?

Pam:
Still finishing the ebook and then I have a lot of things to say, I just haven't gotten to it yet with life and school and all the things. But it's coming.

Pat:
And you had mentioned life and school. And so kids at the house with the pandemic happening, I'm assuming. And so how are you managing and balancing the work and the ideas with family life at home during these crazy times?

Pam:
It's definitely been a change, especially since we pulled our daughter out of school to homeschool her. It's working so much better, especially with the individual attention. But I'm back to working around the edges like I did. When I had a corporate job, I would take the kids to daycare, go to work, and then I would dictate blog posts into my phone on the way to pick them up, because I had been thinking about things all day. So, I'm back to doing things in the margins. I've tried some ghost writers but well, the only one that did really awesome went back to college. Darn it. So, she doesn't have any openings anymore. So I'm trying different things, experimenting with different ideas, and using VA's when I can. So, I'm doing things around the edges but this is a phase and it won't last forever. And it's okay to flex and it's flexibility I sure wouldn't have had in my corporate job.

Pat:
Yeah. That's very true. Thank you for opening up about that. How is the traffic then? I'm curious to see how COVID has impacted your stuff. I know that a lot of people in the gardening space have definitely been seeing a surge. And I'd love to know, what's that done for you and your business also, if anything?

Pam:
My biggest quarter is quarter two because everybody's getting gardening, getting started and stuff.

Pat:
It's spring time, right?

Pam:
Yes, spring time. But it just went through the roof last year. So double previous years, best year ever, was super, super thankful because my husband's business was closed for several months during lockdown. So I was able to carry us through. I feel like I've reached some people and now I've snowballed enough that I have enough extra revenue and extra knowledge. And so now I can devote a little bit of money toward advertising, so I can help more people. I've kind of gotten to that tipping point so I'm not just making it but now I can help. I can spread my ripples out and help more people. So, that's really exciting.

Pat:
Right. You can amplify the message a little bit more in that way, which is great. Can you remind me what the monetization methods are on your website? Just, I'd love to know a little bit more about how the income is coming in. And I know you said ebooks is perhaps one way. Are there any other ways that income is being impacted by the pandemic and the rise in traffic here?

Pam:
Still the biggest majority is ads. So I'm with AdThrive and they are - doing fine with them. But of course, you always want to have lots of revenue streams. So I have advertising, ebooks. Oh, I have merch. My teenager was just mortified. I said, "Look, I have merch!" He said, "Oh mom."

Pat:
So, what merch? What might we see on your website?

Pam:
Teeshirts, mugs, and totes.

Pat:
Okay.

Pam:
Sweat shirts. That kind of thing.Yeah.

Pat:
BrownThumbMama.com for everybody who wants to check it out. Again, BrownThumbMama.com. I can imagine that and I'm curious, if you've ever explored any Brown Thumb specific or Green Thumb specific, if you will, merch? Like, pots or grower trays or anything like that. Have you thought about products in that realm, ever?

Pam:
I do - one of my sponsor companies, which is another revenue stream, is Smart Pots and they are fabric growing pots. And I know that they work with a flower and landscape gardening person, and she has custom pots. So, we're at the beginning of our relationship. So I haven't waltzed up to the door and said, "Hi, I want to have co-branded pots."

Pat:
No, that's okay.

Pam:
So, we'll may get there some day. Yeah.

Pat:
I think some grow bags might be cool too. Those are a little bit easier to ship. And there's a whole mess of things. I have a friend, his name is Kevin Espiritu, from Epic Gardening. And he is starting to do a lot of product deals like I'm sure you have the opportunity to do now, and it's pretty lucrative because a lot of people when they see the tools that you're using, they want to use the same exact tools, right? Because they want to do it the same exact way you are.

Pam:
Exactly. But I don't want to ship them. I want them to drop ship from the company.

Pat:
Exactly. And that's good to know too because you don't want to have a garage full of stuff that you have to then ship out and deal with. Well, that's great. Well, what are some of the next steps for you? What's the rest of the 2021 year looking like in terms of your plans? I'd love to see how I might be able to help you with that, if at all?

Pam:
Awesome. Well, one of the things that I've just started dipping my toe in - again, there's 6,000 things in the air juggling at all times. But speaking of the products and the merch, one of the things that you might have seen, I think it was last year, a meme of different plant tags. And they were saying funny things like, "Heck if I know," and "I didn't plant this," and "[lease don't die." And so I have a friend with a laser cutter, thing, a jigger. And we're talking about plant markers. So, usually they say, "Carrots, parsley, brussels sprouts." But if I can make them with the funny sayings and use my logo layout with the pot and the little flower and then the funny saying. So, we're going to test that out. I can test it under $100 and if it goes well then we can run with it and they're lightweight to ship. So, that's the next experiment. And then of course, videos, more content, the right content, that's important, not just posting every week just because. It's not how it works anymore. Back then we used to post every week just to post.

Pat:
Yeah. I'm curious about your content calendar. How often are you publishing on the blog now? And how far out are you planned ahead of time?

Pam:
I try to update at least one or two older posts because of course, always trying to move up into the top 10 or into the top three, if I can. So, I try to do one or two of those a month. Publish new content and some of it goes really great and some of it is too niche. I found out that nobody wants to grow jicama even though I grow jicama and I think it's really cool. I'm like, "Oh, this is really niche. I can dominate this." And nobody searches for it. So nobody's searching for it.

Pat:
Nobody is searching for jicama.

Pam:
But darn it, I would be right there if they were. And then my sponsored content, I try to do only one or two a quarter because I only have a few companies that our brands mesh and that I work with on a routine basis.

Pat:
Cool. It sounds there's a lot of things going on and a lot of plans, of course. How are you going to make sure that you execute on all the ideas? I think, a lot of us who are listening can relate to having a ton of ideas. And, I think, in most cases, most of us don't ever get to all of them. What are you putting into place or how are you managing your time and your plans moving forward, to make headway on all that stuff?

Pam:
A lot of it is testing and data. So for example, before I made the little plant markers, I sketched them out and posted them in a couple of groups and said, "Hey, do you think this would be... Would you buy these?" And so some people said, "Oh yeah, that would be a fun mother's day gift. Or it would be fun to use in my garden or give to my girlfriends." That kind of thing. If I put it out there and I get crickets, then I don't move forward with it. I just, I leave it in my idea notebook and come back to it later. The ebook that I'm working on now about the natural feeders has been in my idea book for ages. So, it just wasn't the right time to do it. So planning, data, and some things just don't get done. And you have to, what's that decision matrix that's urgent? And I forget the squares, but is it an emergency and...

Pat:
Right. A nice to have versus a must have and those kinds of things. So, that's good. I think it's really smart to go, "Okay, here are all my ideas. Let me test them out. Let me verify and validate whether or not they should be something I move forward with." But at the same time, not being too disgruntled if it doesn't work out because you're clearing more room and not being too upset, if you don't get to something because you're always working and making headway in other things that are proven. And I think that's the big thing is trying to remove as much guesswork as possible. And I really love that. So this is awesome, Pam, thank you so much for the update today. It's been really good to see that things are going well. And I hope things continue to skyrocket for the blog and your products and your merch and all that stuff. One more time, where can people go to follow you and see all all the good stuff?

Pam:
BrownThumbMama.com. M-A-M-A. And my social is Brown Thumb Mama on everything.

Pat:
Cool.

Pam:
So, easy to find.

Pat:
Nice and easy.

Pam:
Yeah.

Pat:
Nice and easy. Thank you, Pam. Thanks for coming back.

Pam:
Thanks very much.

Pat:
These are my favorite episodes, always. Because I can just see what happens when a person takes action. And I get to learn so much just as a coach to see, and to come back. Almost like therapy in a way where just one session alone isn't going to really work. It's multiple sessions and that teaches a therapist something about how a person is and what they can do to better serve that person continually in the future.

And that person isn't just Pam here. And Pam, thank you so much for today, I appreciate you. Again, BrownThumbMama.com. But that person is you, the listener. Because guess what? You're getting an insight on what can happen, not just when you take action, but when you take some of those specific advices that you hear here on the show and you implement them, and what they can do for you. And Pam talked about, earlier in the episode today about how she saved time and money that allowed her to open up to do YouTube videos.

Again, check her on YouTube as well, Brown Thumb Mama. The possibilities open up when you finally learn what your audience is about. And it might not be what you think, which is why it's really important to have these conversations. And there's so much to unpack for this episode. I'm super proud of you, Pam. Keep up the good work and keep going because we can all still continue to improve and optimize. So, BrownThumbMama.com.

And if you're listening to this and you're like, "Wow. Pam got on the show once and then she got on again. How do I just even get on once?" Well, it's quite simple, to give yourself a chance at least, all you have to do is go to AskPat.com and you can fill out the application on that page to potentially get a call from us to come on the show so I can coach you. And then maybe you might come back again and then again and then again. We're going to keep it going. Anyway, it's been super fun. Thank you so much for listening in. I appreciate all of you and the reviews that have been coming in have been absolutely incredible and stellar. They just keep motivating me. So, thank you in advance. If you haven't done one already, just takes a couple minutes on Apple, super helpful, and I appreciate you so much. Looking forward to seeing you next week. Cheers, take care and as always, Team Flynn for the win.

Thanks for listening to AskPat at AskPat.com. I'm your host, Pat Flynn. Sound design and editing by Paul Grigoras. Our senior producer is Sara Jane Hess, our series producer is David Grabowski, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. AskPat is a production of SPI Media. We'll catch you in the next session.