We were lucky to catch up with Christina Brunner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christina, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
Burnout is never fun and can be caused by so many factors it is hard sometimes to remember that you are in control. What helps me is remembering that there are things contributing to burnout that I can control and things that I cannot. Once I isolate the things I can control I slowly like to start peeling back the layers and analyzing what is contributing to the burnout Then I brainstorm things I can change to help reduce the stress that is adding to the burnout! I also sometimes struggle on my days off with getting tied up in business tasks and I need to remind myself that spending time in my PJs with a good movie and a crochet book is a perfectly acceptable way to spend my day off! Be sure to listen to your body and take time to focus on you!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
We are small farmers who during the COVID shutdown opened a retail location where we were able to market our products as well as items from other farms in the area. Our motto is local products from local people. We have grown to work with over 125 small farms and businesses throughout the state. We are excited to share that after 2.5 years of being in business we have been able to move into a larger retail space! This new space allows us to expand our product offerings and serve additional customers. We also have plans to offer bulk meat purchases as well as a building a commercial kitchen.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Goal Setting, Planning and knowing when to say yes (or no). Goal Setting or as I call it – dreaming! I am a list writer – I have the dream and then I start making my lists on how I will achieve that dream. I also know that sometimes I can dream too big, and that is okay! Usually while in the planning phase I see other ideas I had not considered, or one that would be a better fit for the big picture. Even more important than having the dreams and making the plans is to know when to say yes, and sometimes no to things. I found myself stretched thin as the move was approaching and had a number of customers and family members who reached out and asked how they could help! We loved everyones enthusiasm and support for what we are doing, and we were able to accomplish more with all of the help!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes – we are always open to ideas! We are bringing in new products fairly regularly – driven by our customers needs/requests. Unfortunately we cannot take every business/farm who reaches out to us, but we try! We are always looking for items to help meet special dietary needs of our customers such as organic, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etc. Priority goes to NC based businesses. We do make some exceptions but only if we cannot find what we are needing locally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dragonfly-farm.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dragonflyfarmnc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dragonfly.farm.NC
Image Credits
Pure & Simple Creations (headshot)
