Stories From The Bush – Our Stories are from our community of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business, stories of Australian’s who work and live in Rural and Regional Australia.
Intro Episode – Get to Know Us!
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Transcript:
Why, hey there. Welcome to Stories From the Bush, a podcast brought to you by Spend With Us, Buy From a Bush Business marketplace, Australia’s premier online marketplace supporting rural and regional small businesses. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have you tuning in to hear 10 amazing stories in Season 1 of the podcast. I am the host, Jenn Donovan. I’m a farmer’s wife, although not a very good one, a mum of three very fast-growing teenage/adult children, a social media and marketing thought leader, a lover of the land, and a person who prefers a beautiful red.
My farm is in the Riverina of New South Wales, and it’s here that I run my other business, Social Media Marketing Australia, and my other podcast, Small Business Made Simple. Along with myself, my business partner, Sarah Britz, the web designing guru behind the marketplace, and Lauren Hateley, a clinical psychologist with the biggest heart for rural Australia, we all ran the Spend With Us marketplace, which you can find at www.spendwithus.com.au, and the massive, and I mean massive, Facebook group Buy From a Bush Business, which currently has over 280,000 members. I wanted to take the time in this little introduction episode to tell you how three country girls got here, running a community, a gigantic Facebook group, and an outstanding marketplace, all aimed at supporting rural and regional small businesses.
For me, it started with my Buy From a Busch Business Facebook group that I set up in October 2019, when I heard from my clients over and over and over that they weren’t looking forward to Christmas because they knew the trade wouldn’t come. Their farms were in drought, the towns were in drought, and if I know anything being an ex retailer highlight in a small regional area, I know if farmers don’t have money, towns don’t have money. So, on a drive home from Hay in New South Wales after a week of talking marketing all around the countryside, I came up with a plan.
I walked in the door, kissed my family hello, got my laptop out and started a Facebook group called Buy From a Bush Business, invited all my friends, invited all my clients, sent an email to my database, and said, “Hey, let’s support rural Australia.” Meanwhile, both Sarah and Lauren, who had been so deeply moved by the bushfire season of 2019/2020, started a website to support small businesses devastated by fire and all that comes with that. All three of us had created amazing communities. Spend With Us and Buy From a Bush Business enjoyed some cross-promotion over the coming months until a conversation was had about merging the two entities. The result of that conversation is what you see today. Spend With Us, Buy From a Bush Business marketplace. If you haven’t checked us out, head to Spend With Us, www.spendwithus.com.au.
The podcast came along because of the stories we’ve heard, the stories of the boom to bust, the stories of loneliness to friendship, and the stories that really just involve our beautiful wide brown land. I have some amazing guests and stories for you to hear. Opal farmers, someone who makes paper from grass which came from dead camels. You just can’t make this stuff up. I know I have your attention with that one, as well as stories of online-only retailers doing amazing things from their houses. Then there are people who live on really big stations that are just supplementing their income. It’s all here, and it’s just for you in season one of the Stories From the Bush.
As you listen, I’d really love you to share this with a friend or to someone that you know who would love to hear these stories, maybe an uncle or a brother or a sister or a friend overseas, or even your grandparents. There is something in this season for everyone. I hope you really enjoy it. There will definitely be more, so make sure you hit that subscribe button so I can alert you whenever a new episode drops. From Lauren, Sarah, and myself, we really hope you enjoy the podcast, and we really hope that you enjoy the communities that we’re creating online. Enjoy the stories we’ve got for you on season one. But, of course, we would also love you to come and support rural and regional small businesses by heading to our marketplace, Spend With Us.
Haven’t checked out our online marketplace as yet? Click here to shop now and show your support for rural and regional small businesses by buying directly from them.
