Having the Seattle Times Over to the Ranch to Visit!
One of the toughest parts of running a business solely fueled by passion instead of numbers or graphs is that sometimes you wonder if others share even a sliver of those emotions that you and your loved ones feel for the product you are producing. It is hard to quantify whether or not you are being successful since, as a business, you are not fulfilling some predetermined quota for the quarter or the amount of sales that you should be closing per week. All you really know is the bills that need to be paid to continue to feed the animals that you love. As well as the finances needed to continue to feed into the dream that you are so passionate about that you couldn’t imagine chasing anything else. For a bit there sales were low, aside from a very loyal restaurant with which we have been fortunate to maintain such a fantastic business relationship. It was tough not to be nervous about the future.
However, as of 3–4 weeks ago, the hopeful light at the end of the tunnel came in the form of a phone call from a Seattle Times reporter named Jackie. She simply asked my father if he would be willing to chat about the Wagyu industry in Washington State, as she was doing research for an article that she was writing. Being the transparent, upfront guy my dad is, he told her all about the ins and outs of the commercial industry that we have been exposed to, as well as how we do things on our ranch. I got to sit in on a couple of phone interviews and give my insight on the nutritional sciences behind feeding cattle that I learned during my time going to college at WSU. To my surprise, Jackie also asked me a number of questions about why I am passionate about what we are doing on the ranch, as well as what it was like moving from the heart of Seattle to rural Eastern Washington as a kid. I thought that this story was just going to be about the Wagyu industry in Washington and that these questions were a bit off-topic. I figured Jackie was just being nice and trying to get to know us. However, I later learned that this story was quickly evolving and becoming about more than just the overall Wagyu industry.
During each of our conversations with Jackie, we made it very clear that our cattle operation is about as far from standard as it gets. Dad told her that we do not do things by the book. So, if she was looking for an “industry standard” conversation, we would tell her what we know about the industry, but it is far from the practices that we exercise on our ranch. That seemed to catch Jackie's attention and lead to many more phone calls, her wanting to meet Dad in person in Seattle as he delivered beef to Café Campagne, as well as eventually driving across the state to Eastern Washington to spend some time with us on the ranch to see how we do things.
Jackie was a joy to have over, filled with questions, constant laughter, and fun stories of her own, which she used to follow up some of our stories on the ranch. Truly a fantastic guest, I was immediately impressed by her vocabulary. I had not spent any time around professional writers before Jackie’s visit, and wow. Listening to Jackie articulate a story has the same professionally practiced feeling as watching a master chef cook in front of you in a kitchen. It is artistic yet deliberate. The article she wrote is a fantastic example of her skills, which are just as evident off the page during conversations with her as they are in an article diving deep into a topic.
In the weeks leading up to the article, I was very nervous—it’s the Seattle Times! This is a huge deal and has the ability to make a monumental impact on our business; however, I really didn’t want to get my hopes up in case nothing big happened.
Boy, did something big happen though! I run my family’s business social media accounts, and the Saturday morning the online article came out, when I looked at my phone around 6:30 am, I had over 10 brand new followers and 3 messages exclaiming how great the article was and how captivating our story is. I was instantly in tears—haha, what a great way to start the day! Then I opened the article to find a huge photo of me and my best cow friend, Rose, at the top of the page— followed by more tears. I honestly don’t care too much about having my photo in the article. I think it’s cool and fun, but to have Rose in there means a lot to me. She is such a special cow and holds my heart in her hooves.
That morning, our website manager Connor, owner of Station Seven, a local web design business we use was at the ranch helping with beef inventory to restock the website. Nervously, the three of us watched as the number of visits to the site climbed to 50 before 10 am (normally we get around 10-15 visits a day, so this was a big deal). We watched this number climb, then one sale, which caused celebration, then another sale, more visits, more sales. I got flooded with messages and comments on Instagram and Facebook about the article, with folks asking me what life is like on the ranch. Heartwarmingly, several conversations I would have with people on social media would be followed by a beef order from the same person.
This refreshingly successful weekend finished with more over-the-phone beef conversations, restaurants reaching out, and online beef orders than we have had in the last 8 months combined. What an amazing weekend. Thank you, Jackie, and everyone involved in making this article happen.
If you would like to read the article, it is linked here!
-Ryley