I am a pretty self-effacing character so when presented with a blank sheet of paper and eager website developer urging me to write about myself and the business it was complete writers block!
But then I concentrated upon the primary reasons for posting a website; to help people appreciate what we do and share some important messages about how we can truly influence the quality of food and drink, and the content started to flow.
It is often a defining moment when you are forced to take time out and look back at yourself and your business, rather like the time when I wrote my business plan whilst on a top fruit tour bus, crossing the Andes between Chile & Argentina.
Writing a website has reinforced the principles by which we have developed our business however this just complicates things further when you are trying to communicate to the general public issues that you are passionate about within a business that total immerses you. It’s very easy to get carried away and become too technical.
Further complicating this is the isolation of working within a farming business for which I often give the example of “Tunnel vision”, spending the day in my orchards, enclosed within and staring down the rows of trees.
This imparts a definite feeling of being out of reach and out of touch with our customers. Equally frustrating is the reciprocal feeling that because farming is so remote from modern lives, there is a lack of understanding of where food comes from and an appreciation of the hardships that are faced in growing it.
So a website is a perfect way to remedy both issues, right?
Actually have you ever tried explaining cricket to an American?
Educating, communicating and writing web content are not the strongest suits of a farmer so it’s a wonder that we ever got past the first page. I place a lot of credit with the incredible patience of the web developer. I have tried to break things down, keep it simple and use graphics and photographs where words are not required.
The bottom line is that we are open to helpful suggestions to improve the website. Also for those who are interested or still have any queries, get in touch via the normal social media channels. Armed with my smart phone, it will be nice to know that I am not alone the next time that I stand in my orchard staring down a row of my trees, that is if our rural mobile signal ever exceeds its record 2.5G!!!!!
