Mindful - one word we would use to describe Samantha, an Industrial Engineering Graduate who fell in love with the self-sustained farming process and became passionate about organic food.
Upon graduating from university, she was faced with the dilemma - to apply for a consulting job, or follow her curiosity to go back to nature and start farming.
So start farming she did. From the months she spent living in her parent’s farm located 30 minutes away from Bogor city, getting to know the farmer community around her farm to conducting workshops and selling her peanut butter and chips to the urban Jakarta people - how did she start?
Here are three things we learned from Samantha on how she started and maintains Blueboots farm, a happy little farm with the awe-inspiring goal to produce and supply organic, sustainable food products:
- Start from your closest circle
Your circle of family and friends might be the best option for you now to support your business (bootstrapping is fine!), not only in funding but also for other support such as legal, human resource, and etc.
- Start from the potential of your surroundings
In her words, “We realised being sustainable is more about balancing the cycle of people, planet and profit.” So instead of planting the usual or high demand vegetables, she wants to understand the condition of the soil and see what kind of vegetable that would be the best to grow in that season.
- Start small
With a big dream of sourcing organic, self-sustained food products, Samantha started with humble beginnings. With only 1.5 people (her and a part-time partner) in her team, she started with just 1 to 2 products which she carefully curates.
So there you go! We hope her story inspires you as much as it did us and gives you a little kick in your quest to build a sustainable business!
