The Farmer's Edge - On-Line Business Course + Consulting Collective

Each week, you will be given activities to help reinforce your learning. This may include reviewing the videos from the previous week, taking a quiz, or working through a problem set.

While the homework isn’t required, it’s a great way to reinforce the learning. It gives you a chance to practice the skills learned. You can expect to spend 1 – 2 hours per week outside of class-time reviewing the content and doing the homework.

There are several options for getting additional support:

• Julia is always available by email for questions.
• Julia hosts regular office hours, so you can pop in and ask questions.
• If you need more support, you can always schedule a one-on-one coaching call.

While it’s not required to know QuickBooks, a willingness to use it and basic understanding is helpful. We will spend two sessions discussing QuickBooks, but it is not enough time to really master it. Since much of the financial analysis we’ll discuss during the course (channel analysis and reading financial statements, as examples) is based on data exported from QuickBooks, it helps to have your own system set-up so you can follow along with your own numbers.

There are several options to catch up on missed material:

• You can watch the self-paced videos online.
• The slides will be posted to the website as well as the recording of the session.
• You can visit Julia during office hours to ask questions.

Julia Shanks brings a broad range of professional experience to her clients, from pilot to chef to serial entrepreneur. She combines the practicality of an accountant with the creativity of a chef.

Each business is different — whether a farm, food producer or chef; and the support the businesses need to grow vary.  Julia draws on a variety of tools and methodologies to support her clients’ growth and success: from writing businesses plans and creating financial feasibility models to recipe development.  Some of Julia’s most intriguing projects include developing a Cricket Cracker recipe for Aspire Food Group and refining the growth strategy of Boston’s first rooftop farm.

With a mission of supporting a sustainable and just food system, Julia wrote The Farmer’s Office: Tools, Tips and Template for Successfully Managing a Growing Farm Business.  The book coaches farmers to think like entrepreneurs so they can build a financially sustainable business. The Farmers Market Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Fresh, Local, Seasonal Produce, co-authored with Brett Grohsgal and cited as a reference in Michelle Obama’s American Grown, highlights the joys of local produce; and helps consumers make the most of local farmers’ bounties.

Julia’s career started at the FAA as an aviation analyst and quickly swerved into the culinary arts. After more than a decade of professional cooking, she earned her MBA, taught graduate and undergraduate accounting, and helped small companies create business plans to get the financing they needed for growth.

Julia received her professional training as a chef at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, her BA from Hampshire College and an MBA, Magna Cum Laude in Entrepreneurship, from Babson College. She sits on the advisory boards of Future Chefsand Mass Farmers Markets. She is a QuickBooks certified Pro Advisor.

Ellen Polishuk, co-author of Start Your Farm, is a farm consultant and workshop leader. She leverages her 35 years of biological vegetable farming experience to help growers around the country to achieve more satisfaction and better profitability from their farm businesses. Her client work touches on all aspects of production, soil fertility, quality of life, as well as farm finances and bookkeeping. Ellen was one of three owners of Potomac Vegetable Farms in Northern Virginia where she grew Ecoganic produce for 7 farmers markets, a 550 member CSA and two roadside stands. She lives in suburban Maryland with her husband, where she gardens like crazy. Ellen is also a Quickbooks Pro Advisor.

Yes it does! As long as you live in one of these states.