What Will Your Life Look Like in 2 Years?

Every Saturday I share a story about my life in a way that you can hopefully relate to. I believe we are all here to share our journey, both the highs and the lows, as this is how we collectively raise the consciousness of the planet. If anything resonates with you, please share! 🙏

He extended his hand and introduced himself.

I was humbling, to say the least.

I was manning my Vertical Farming Podcast booth at the AgraME conference in Dubai, and the whole experience was still feeling a bit surreal.

What the heck was I doing in Dubai and how did I travel 7,200 miles over 18 hours to be there, you ask?

As I write this on my plane ride home I'm taking time to think about the past few days and the road that led to this moment.

The Gift of Abundance

In late 2019 one of my podcast clients gifted me the book Abundance by Peter Diamandis.

Little did I know how reading this book would have far-reaching implications...

In the book Peter covers the progress made in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies, and how they will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years.

In Chapter 9, he covers the challenges we are facing feeding a global population of 9 billion people. He cites The Vertical Farm by Columbia Professor Dickson Despommier. I was so intrigued I ordered it right away.

Written in 2010, he writes about the nascent vision of addressing the world's food crisis by growing crops indoors.

I was intrigued.

I began to research the industry and read about how, at the time, this was poised to become a multi-billion industry by 2026.

With our agency Fullcast's production support and 200+ Podcast Junkies interviews under my belt, I felt well equipped to start a new show.

Let me give you a peek into my thought process at the time.

Planting the Seeds

First off, I knew that I didn't want potential listeners to have to struggle to find my show. So I gave it the most obvious name possible, Vertical Farming Podcast. It's not hard to figure out what the show is about.

With my marketing cap in place, I immediately secured verticalfarmingpodcast.com. Having seen how important it was to secure social real estate with my first show Podcast Junkies, I nabbed handles on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Those accounts now have a combined 13,000 followers.

Over the next few months I began following any accounts I could find and anything that popped up under the #verticalfarming hashtag. After a few weeks, the light bulb went off, and I registered verticalfarmingweekly.com and verticalfarmingjobs.com. I surmised that if the show took off I would be able to leverage and cross-promote there.

I started researching vertical farming news sites, which provided me with my early guests. I also reasoned that the best path to visibility would be to have high profile guests on the shown, so I focused on CEOs and Founders. I highlighted my interview experience and our agency work, which allowed me to secure those first few important interviews.

The World Shuts Down

In March of 2020, I begin recording interviews.

Then Covid hit.

I vividly remember asking one of my early guests David Farquar of IGS if he still wanted to have the call. In what would turn out to be another fortuitous turn of events, he said yes.

There was something special about those early weeks of the pandemic. Wherever you were in the world, we were all experiencing this global wave of compassion for our fellow brothers and sisters, and craving that human to human connection.

David and I ended ended up having a beautiful and engaging conversation. I asked if IGS might be interested in sponsoring the show, and they ended up being my very first sponsor, for which I will be forever grateful. My premise had been validated.

One of my mantras for sponsor-supported shows is Treat Your Sponsors Like Gold, which is why I will never tire of praising my other past sponsors, Freight Farms, Ceres Greenhouse Solutions, Cultivatd (more on them in a second), NetLED, iGrow News, Indoor AgCon, Indoor AgTech NYC and Vertical Farming World Congress (See what I did there? 😉)

Given my preference for video (thank you SquadCast). Over the course of the next two years, I had dozens of 1-hour face-to-face interactions with leaders of the some of the most fascinating companies in the vertical farming space.

In 2022, I decided it was time to step up my knowledge of the industry, so I attended my first in-person conference, Indoor AgCon in Las Vegas. I was so enthralled at seeing this technology up close and in person, and better yet, meeting some of my past guests face-to-face!

I was hooked.

I connected with the IndoorAgTech NYC team a few months later. Given the growing visibility of the show, I was able to secure a press pass in exchange for promotion show. Win-win. The fact that it was in my hometown NYC made it even more of a no-brainer.

I sat through two days of talks from a wide variety of speakers and leaders and walked away with 20 new names, and a renewed passion and excitement. The journey was evolving.

I was recording consistently, and receiving emails and DM's from listeners praising the show. Given the conversational format, not only were they learning about vertical farming, they were also getting a unique insight into the minds of these inspirational leaders.

It was clear that I was providing a valuable resource.

Cultivatd has been a great sponsor and partner since Season 4. In the words of their CEO, Eric Levesque:

As a podcaster, it doesn't get any better than that.

I would later come to find out that three of Cultivatd's employees found out about the company after listening to the show! That's humbling indeed.

So this past September, when Cultivatd asked if I would be willing to fly to Dubai, and interview a few CEOs on-site, the answer was easy.

And that brings us to present day.

Lessons Learned

There are so many takeaways here for creators who are wondering whether they should start a podcast and what topic to cover.

My advice is go niche, then go one more level deeper. There is an industry you are passionate about that is waiting for you to step in.

But here's the thing. Make sure you are really curious about the topic. It will keep you going during the slow times.

This is important. Re-read this paragraph above and see how you can apply to your idea.

They say that luck is when preparation meets opportunity and that's certainly the case here. It's now clear that the past two days have confirmed what I sensed two years ago.

Vertical farming is a rapidly growing industry and it is exciting to play a small part as an ambassador. More importantly, given concerns over climate change and supply chain disruptions made evident by Covid and the war in Ukraine, these farms are needed now more than ever.

As I mentioned in a recent letter, you never know where the journey will take you unless you're willing to be brave enough to take that first imperfect step.

What I Created This Week

🎧 Vertical Farming Podcast (Season 6) sponsored by Cultivatd

• Episode 71 | Consolidation, Hybridization & Regenerative Agriculture with Agritecture’s Henry Gordon-Smith

 🙋‍♀️ P.S. When You're Ready...

Here are a few of ways I can help…

✡️ Download a free copy of my Conscious Voice Expansion Plan. The most powerful way to transmit and elevate your voice is with a podcast. This plan will outline for you the pillars of success needed prior to the launch of your show!

🎥 Watch my free video, 5 Key Pillars of a Profitable Podcast that every business owner needs to know prior to launching their show.

🎙️ Subscribe to Podcast Junkies + Vertical Farming Podcast to hear inspiring stories guaranteed to make you a better host.

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