Episode 8 The Farm Fixer

Small family farms are in trouble.

This hasn't seen any action for a while.

Business consultant Nick Hewer is going back to his Northern Irish roots

to help them diversify and make radical changes before they go under.

What can you do with 17 acres?

But are the farmers ready for his advice?

I'm not a farming guru with all the answers,

but having observed many companies over more than 40 years,

what I can offer is a great big dollop of common sense.

This series follows eight local farms embarking on a long-term fight for survival.

-You're not turning bookings down, are you?

-There will be tough decisions.

That source will pump forever and a day and they're going to sell it?

But doing nothing is not an option.

-End of a long day, and for me, a depressing day.

-OK.

This week, Nick is in County Armagh.

Phil Brown has taken back the 17-acre family farm

last farmed by his grandparents.

He's given up his car sales job and committed full-time.

Somehow he has to make it work.

Most farmers are trying to get out of farming

but I want to do something I enjoy.

I don't think by any means I'll be a millionaire

or make my fortune at it.

Since the age of 12, Phil has been collecting animals.

A few months ago, he decided to turn his hobby into a business

and set up a mobile petting farm.

He's called it Phil's Farm. Nick Hewer has been called in to help.

So I'm on my way

to meet Northern Ireland's answer to Doctor Dolittle.

He thinks he's got a business.

I really hope he has got a business because it could be a fun business.

Fun or not, Nick knows making a living from 17 acres is incredibly difficult.

He's got just eight months.

It has to work 110%. This is now my livelihood.

-Morning, Phil.

-Morning.

-How are you?

-Nice to meet you.

-Who's this?

-Holly.

-Holly?

-Holly's a wee Jack Russell, a miniature Jack Russell.

-A good sport.

-And you're surrounded with animals, a lot of them quite small.

-Yeah.

-Like this chap.

-The smaller the better!

Nick's first task is to get a feel for the business,

once the formal introductions are out of the way.

-Here's George!

-Here's George.

-George the what?

-George is a micro-pig.

NICK CHUCKLES

-Who's giving me the eye here?

-These are alpacas. That's Joe.

-Joe?

-Who's this?

-This is Victor.

-Victor? They've all got names?

-Yeah.

Why is that?

When I go anywhere, everybody wants to know, even the adults.

Everybody wants to have a name. They have to have a personality.

Phil is already getting bookings but he's struggling to cope.

His only transportation is a Jeep and this trailer.

It's quite small, isn't it? You get them all in here, do you?

Well, some of them go in the boot of the Jeep as well.

How many do you get in here?

The bigger ones, maybe two or three, like a lamb and an alpaca.

Phil's transport is inadequate and Nick's about to find out

it's not the only fundamental flaw in Phil's current business plan.

How many bookings could you do in a day?

I wouldn't want to do any more than two, to be honest.

I've even tried, earlier on in the year, to do one in the morning and one in the afternoon

and you're kind of rushing from one to the other.

I'd rather go to somewhere and spend a bit longer and do the thing properly.

So you're limited really? Two max? Max.

If you've got a booking at the far end of Donegal, you can only do one.

I have to have enough animals. Animals can't be taken every day.

-You're not turning bookings down, are you?

-At the minute I have had to.

And pricing, what's the average sort of take per visit?

It will be from £150 maybe to £300-£400.

There is a business here. There's a business here that has no ambition.

It can't have ambition because the scope and growth potential of the business

is limited by Phil's ability to fulfil bookings himself.

There's a ceiling that this business can never break through in its current form

and that's what we've got to address.

Phil's business is not sustainable in the long-term.

The time has come to get serious.

I want to ask you a very simple question.

Is your Phil's Farm just for you, just to put bread on the table

or are you a bit more ambitious?

Do you want to spread your wings, really grow a business?

No, I want to get a business out of it. It's not...

At the minute it's just ticking over.

I could almost tell you now what your maximum earning capacity is

because it's all down just to you. It's you.

-But this is just the start.

-Have you got a plan for the future?

-Shall I tell you what my plan is?

-Yes.

-OK.

What I'd like you to do is to rent a barn on a farm somewhere,

to open a branch office in Donegal or Dundalk or, I don't know, Sligo,

with you providing the livestock.

Suddenly before you know where you are, you've got, I don't know, five or six

and you're running a real business.

Nick is convinced the only way Phil's 17-acre farm will survive

is by expanding and opening mobile farm branches all over the island of Ireland.

Before he can do that, he needs to make his business future-proof.

So we're going to have to look, perhaps, at rebranding.

Phil's Farm, and you're going to hate this, changes its name. Why?

Phil's Farm is only relevant when you're around because you're Phil.

Can I turn to your transportation problem? I see it as a problem, you don't!

There are two problems there. First, it's too small.

Secondly, where's the branding? No branding.

You've got the perfect opportunity to have two billboards, one either side,

rushing round the countryside informing people that you exist.

-Where would you go to get that?

-Well, we'll have to find somebody and point you in the right direction.

What I'm trying to shape up for you is something that you could build,

earn well from it, and sell it, maybe, one day.

Expansion will increase Phil's turnover

but in the short-term new transport and rebranding will cost money.

Fortunately, Nick has an idea that will bring in extra revenue immediately.

There are petting farms in the greater centres of population

but they can do all the other things that you can't do.

You can't really have a gift shop attached to the other end of the van.

You've got to try and get some of that, inasmuch as is possible, in a mobile environment.

For instance, some sort of photo booth.

Take a picture of the kids sitting on the llama or the goat or whatever it is.

But you've got a goer here, you really have.

You've got a goer that's capable of growing and that is the important thing.

'What's really excited me is that he's done no marketing at all

'and yet the business is coming to him.'

I wonder whether he's got the real will to drive this into a national business.

Nick has left Phil with a lot to think about.

But running around after school and children's party bookings

is making it impossible to concentrate on Nick's plans for expansion.

He's still only one, still one.

Back at the farm, one of Phil's micro-pigs has had piglets.

Four boys and four girls. Three pink-and-black and five pink.

As long as they're warm. Pigs are always happy when they're warm.

Phil has also invested in some reindeer

which he plans to use for his seasonal bookings.

As well as feeding and cleaning, every animal needs extra handling

to make sure it's tame enough for the public.

This is time-consuming.

With over 100 animals,

the only thing that isn't being looked after is Phil's business.

It's been two months since Nick's visit

and there's still no progress on the expansion plan.

Nick is getting worried.

We talked about creating a name that would have a national appeal,

that wouldn't be tied to you specifically. So how's that doing?

I haven't asked anybody to come up with different names,

just with trying to organise different things for Christmas.

I know it is something I really would need to be doing.

I haven't ruled it out but I haven't ruled it in, if you know what I mean.

-No, no, I understand. We need to get this thing moving forward.

-Yes.

With so little progress,

Nick at least wants to push ahead with merchandising.

He wants Phil to use his reindeer and go after the Santa's grotto market.

From what I understand, you're looking to get into some reindeer, which I think is a great idea.

So I've got a challenge for you, to get you thinking about merchandising

and adding extra value to what you're currently offering. Get a sleigh made.

The kids can sit in the sleigh with a Santa.

Take pictures of them and then take orders for cards.

It could be a very lucrative sideline coming up to Christmas.

-You could roll it right out across every town in the North.

-Yeah.

When I see you next, let's get a pitch and see how it works.

It's December at The Quays Shopping Centre in Newry.

Nick is back to oversee his merchandising challenge.

-You've got Santa. And the reindeer. Are you happy?

-So far, so good.

Brilliant, brilliant.

-Are you fixed for a job?

-Why?

Excuse me!

You're Santa's little helper. I'm Phil's helper!

Although Phil has decided against selling bespoke Christmas cards,

he is offering photos at £10 each.

His girlfriend Vicky, a professional photographer, is taking the pictures.

Great. Thank you.

They've got a good pitch near the entrance but Nick is not happy.

I accept, you know, that Vicky is taking the pictures.

I'm not altogether sure she should have her wedding advertisement poster up.

There's a box there over which you can easily trip.

Shall I tell you the biggest worry that I have? It's not a worry.

It is a criticism and that is that there's nobody saying,

"Roll up. Madam, would your children like their picture taken with the reindeer?"

There's nobody bringing them in.

You're waiting for people to come and see what this is all about.

It's a short season and a short day, and you've got people to pay here too.

-How much do you want to take? 1,000 quid?

-I'd like to.

It would be a great day, but I tell you what, at this rate, probably not.

The reindeer and sleigh have cost Phil around £8,000.

And there's only a few weeks to make the money back.

Despite Nick's advice, Phil is still struggling to make many sales.

Nick is getting increasingly frustrated.

The whole point is you have somebody front of house attracting people in,

but the guy with the heap of leaflets is further up the road, giving them out

so they've got time to read them as they approach the site.

There's no point giving leaflets out in front of the entrance. They're already there.

-These leaflets should be given out further up at the end, do you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

They're all coming down this way.

There's a wee leaflet, if you want to get your picture taken.

Sorry, excuse me. There's a wee leaflet there,

if you want to get your picture taken with the reindeer.

It's maybe a bit late to be doing this now. It's gone a bit too quiet.

If I get anybody at this stage it's a bonus.

Today was Phil's first attempt to expand into merchandising.

Hopefully it's been a valuable experience, whatever the final turnover.

Sorry. There's a wee leaflet,

if you want your children taken with Santa Claus and the reindeer.

We're only here for today.

I have learnt a lot from today. The whole thing was new, the photo shoot thing.

It's not something I've done. And the reindeer and sleigh.

There's a wee flyer. You have one? Thank you.

Even small things, like keeping them clean

and keeping people away from them and keeping hazards away.

Today was always going to be a learning curve, something we built on for the future.

Phil's target today was £1,000.

It's time to see if he got anywhere close.

It's near enough the end of the day. What sort of money have you taken so far?

-At an estimate, round about £600.

-600? All right.

So on a good day, properly organised, with a bit more of a run at it, you could make a thousand.

The reason this challenge was set was so that you could think about merchandising.

You've got the experience for kids, you're taking money for photographs

but Christmas cards would have been a great idea for merchandising, which is a volume issue.

One Christmas card you sell for two quid. You sell 30, excuse me, that's 60 quid.

-That's very good profit.

-It is.

I probably will do Christmas cards and probably even keyrings the next time.

Tonight, for the first night, I wanted to keep it simple.

You've tasted success. There is a business here.

And we're going to sort that out another day.

-Anyway, well done.

-Thank you.

-OK.

Nick is convinced that the name Phil's Farm is holding the business back,

so he's sent in branding expert Mark Thompson to work on a new name and logo.

Today they have come to Cortamlet Primary School.

We are going to help Phil to rename his mobile petting farm.

Nick knows primary schools are Phil's biggest customers.

Hopefully the children will help Mark and Phil produce a brand

that has the potential for expansion.

One of the things that I often do with other clients is focus groups.

So you test your ideas on the target audience.

You just get a freshness of thinking. It can be really exciting.

You can get some real nuggets in there.

What's your name going to be?

-Farm On The Move.

-Farm On The Move.

That would go well with a cow, wouldn't it? Mooove!

The children have come up with plenty to think about.

The question is, will it be enough to convince Phil to change the name?

There was a couple that did stand out,

for example, on cows, Farm On The Mooove.

But it's not something that I'll think of overnight and say, "Right, we're going with this."

Nick's back to keep the pressure on the name change and expansion plan.

Today they have come to one of Northern Ireland's biggest horsebox companies.

They're looking at suitable transport for Phil's animals.

Mark Thompson is also here to think about the vehicle's branding.

-What do you reckon?

-Wouldn't mind one of these.

One day! One day, Phil, a fleet of them.

This is a stall for five horses.

Nick is hoping the visit will encourage Phil to think big and get rid of the old trailer.

You're talking £170,000 here.

But Phil's budget is tight. It wouldn't stretch to more than £30,000.

Not big enough for you?

Something in between the two is what I would need.

Something about 20 foot, a useful area in the back of it, probably a 7.5 tonne chassis.

So on a seven tonne chassis, what sort of price?

Round about £80,000 with a brand-new chassis on it.

Obviously we'll do a conversion. You're taking £20,000 or £30,000 off the price straightaway.

Phil may need to up his investment but the size of the vehicle

is not the only thing that Nick wants Phil to think about.

We've had a good old look around here

but all the conversation has revolved around layout and price and size and cost.

What we haven't discussed, really, is visibility and that's hugely important.

What we're looking at here is a mobile advertising hoarding full of animals, right?

We haven't touched on it.

You could wrap the entire vehicle and do something eye-catching and full-colour all the way round.

Or you could do something as simple as putting your logo, "Phil's Farm", on the side and bonnet.

Phil's what? Phil's Farm?

I thought we had shelved that idea.

I've got a few ideas that I want to share.

Have we got a fight on our hands?

It's too cold to discuss it out here. Let's have a brawl inside.

Nick's expansion plan hinged on changing the name.

The fact that "Phil's Farm" is still in the mix is a bit of a bombshell.

I think you can keep "Phil's Farm" very much as the core of what the business is all about.

Rather than using an ordinary word like "mobile",

you could do something a wee bit more playful and have On The Mooove,

which was one of the lines that we used, just as a tagline.

-I like this.

-That is good with the animals.

-I like that. It's fun.

On a big vehicle, that would look terrific.

There's great creativity, certainly, but Phil's still there.

My reservation is, he's Phil. People expect to see Phil.

With "Phil's Farm", it is nice, even if it does move on,

that I know and other people will know that it will come back.

It will come back and they will know that I was Phil of Phil's Farm.

Make sure it's not vanity, Phil. Make sure it's not vanity.

It's a powerful emotion. Anyway, carry on.

It's something I put a lot of thought into before I did come up with it.

I did come up with 20 or 30 names.

"Phil's Farm" is short and sweet and very, very catchy.

Just think ahead ten years when you might want to exit.

I just want to make it easier to exit,

knock over some hurdles that might appear.

There is another way which could solve the problem.

The brand name Farmtastic.

There's the potential with a name like that

where you could start in the initial number of years as Phil's Farmtastic,

but as it grows, you simply drop off "Phil's" and it becomes Farmtastic alone.

What you're saying is for the moment satisfy Phil by keeping him in

and then you can drop the "Phil". Except he won't.

So he's just keeping me happy by saying he'll drop it and he won't.

At least you're structuring something for the future.

There's a lot now suddenly going on. We're looking at vehicles, this sort of thing,

and what I want to do, really, is say, "Look,

"in three months' time, let's set a target," and that is we have a new van,

we'll have registered Farmtastic, hopefully,

we'll have a big launch and the launch will involve you opening up in a new area

to show the first step in an expansion programme.

It's spring and Phil's Farm is busy with new arrivals.

There is now just over a month to go until Nick's challenge.

With so many mouths to feed and no sign of full-time staff,

progress on expansion has been non-existent.

Phil thinks Nick is pushing him too fast.

I think what Nick's saying is definitely right

but I think he's a bit further on down the line.

I think he's expecting a wee bit too much.

Before I can do anything, morning and night, everything has to be fed.

The animals have to be looked after first and when you get time,

that's when I need to start trying to do things to try and expand.

At the minute, what I need to do comes first.

Until then, I need to keep juggling away and doing what I have to do.

Nick's determined not to give up the fight.

He's on the phone to finalise the details of his challenge.

I've got some good news for you. At least I think it's good news.

-We've got a pitch in Monaghan on the St Patrick's Day parade.

-Good.

For me it's a chance to show that you're expanding the business,

an opportunity, maybe, to show you're open to taking on some new staff.

And, of course, you're expanding into the South.

What I'm sort of concerned about slightly,

or certainly wondering about, is what are we launching?

Do you have any new marketing in place? What about the truck?

I looked at a truck, actually, on Friday.

I looked at another one on Saturday, just to try and see.

It's just to come up with something that actually ties in

and something that will be fairly suitable for me.

-What about the name?

-I am going to keep the name

but I'm going to use the other things around it as well,

like On The Mooove and Farmtastic

and those ideas as well that all tie into it as well.

The thing is, if I can be a bit gentle about this,

the slight lack of progress is down to the fact you're doing it all on your own.

Of course that's part of the problem, you know.

What we've got to do is look at ways of growing the business

because if you don't grow it, it simply won't survive.

We've only got a month to go. We have to make this launch as professional as possible.

-You with me?

-Yes, yes, exactly.

The Farmtastic logo that we have, can we put it round the wheel arch?

There is now just a week to go until Phil launches down south.

Today he is finally branding the Jeep.

It's not the big truck that Nick was hoping for

and Phil is still using the old logo,

but at least the Farmtastic brand will get its first public outing.

It is going to be bigger than I ever thought, to be honest.

It is a bit strange, seeing... I never ever thought I was going to be my own boss

but it is becoming more of a reality rather than just something you always hoped would happen.

It's all part of the future now.

It's St Patrick's Day. Nick is on his way to Monaghan.

Today Phil launches his mobile petting farm to a whole new market

but Nick's still not sure what to expect.

What I'd like to see today is a big truck

with Farmtastic splashed down the side of it, bags of merchandising, bags of branding,

with Phil pushing the whole thing as an all-Ireland concern.

I've got my doubts but there's no harm in dreaming, I suppose.

Let's have a look at the Jeep. Phil's Farm.

What about that global branding we were talking about?

-I've got it. It's in here too.

-Oh, you've tucked it up the front.

-You're beginning quietly with Farmtastic.

-We're getting there. We're breaking it in slowly.

-Is that...?

-We're going to get bigger and then when we get a lorry...

Look what a difference that makes. This doesn't say anything to me.

Have you got your eyes on a truck? Are you really making progress?

That's the one I saw eight months ago.

-It's not going to be part of the parade. Don't worry about that.

-All right.

Well, Phil's disappointed me again.

This is meant to be a launch, a launch into the South.

To me it just looks like another booking.

I fixed it - he's not even getting paid,

but if there's anything to rescue from it, people seem to like it and he's talking to them.

Despite the poor weather, the turnout is good.

The next hour is about telling as many people as possible about Phil's Farm and Farmtastic.

It's my great pleasure to have been working over the months with Phil's Farm, part of Farmtastic.

It's our first time in Monaghan,

so thank you very much indeed for allowing us in.

Thank you very much for having us.

See you again and happy St Patrick's Day.

Today was not quite the all-Ireland launch that Nick had visualised,

but despite Nick's misgivings, Phil is more than happy.

Oh, definitely. Today was definitely worthwhile, without a doubt.

On the stand this morning, before the parade, there was a lot of interest.

People were very interested in different events.

I'd like to think I'll get a lot out of today.

'Phil's problem is that he won't delegate. He's got to be in control of everything.'

Unless he changes his attitude,

he'll always be a little one-man band, or one-man farm in his case.

When we met for the first time all those months ago,

I posed the question, "Do you want to be an entrepreneur, expand the business?"

Or do you really just want to put food on the table?

You said, "No, no, no. I want to build a business."

Do you know something? I think you've fallen into that classic start-up business mentality

where the owner is the only person there and they do everything.

They don't trust anybody else to do it as well as they do cos they know where everything is.

I think if you got on the phone, you would be amazed.

You wouldn't have to worry about all the ancillary stuff.

You would build a business in no time at all.

I know it's all about delegating and getting people,

but if I start up a branch in Galway and I franchise it and I put somebody in charge of it,

if next year they get all the bookings, next year they'll have all them in the diary,

all the contacts, and they can ring up and say,

"To be honest, we're not working under Phil's Farm or Farmtastic, whatever.

-"We have now changed our name to whatever."

-Yeah.

When you employ them there are certain contractual conditions

that can slow them down on that sort of thing

but also you've got to create and strengthen the brand

so that when you're selling in the brand, "It's Phil's Farm we want.

"It's Farmtastic we want, because we know their quality control,

"they've got the respect and support."

But I think the big thing is that what you don't realise

is that you are a good businessman but you love the business so much

you can't get your sticky fingers off the day-to-day stuff.

That's the truth of it. You love it.

Sometimes you've got to say, "I've got to stand back, turn around, and do the business on the phone."

I think every now and then I get stuck in a rut

and I do need a kick up the backside and a push.

There's nothing easier, Phil, than saying,

"Hey, this is fun. The phone is ringing and I'm doing OK. Life's good."

Life could be better if you just released yourself.

When I first got together with Phil eight months ago,

we sketched out some sort of route plan, a framework for his business.

I rather wish we'd got a bit further with it, frankly.

Coloured it in a bit, moved forward in some sort of visible way.

He's got a great business opportunity here, you know.

I truly, truly believe it, but we're now at a crossroads.

He can do nothing, just carry on, a one-man band,

or take some proper, crucial decisions and lay the foundations for an expanding nationwide business.

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