James Reid

And his mantra was bricks, clicks, and paper, as he put it.

And so, I mean, I asked him, what does that mean?

And he's a big believer in direct mail, just posting things to people.

Because he says so little now is done that way, but it works.

So I'm thinking in this model, if these local farms were to mail their neighborhoods saying this service is available through Ubi or direct from our shop, that might help.

I think especially when it's sort of targeted in a way that is really helpful to people rather than dreaded sort of junk mail.

exactly no i agree this really is i mean to have this i mean you know you can order from a supermarket online or you can order from ubi exactly yeah and meet the person who grew it yeah well you won't order from ubi you order direct from that farm yeah so we're just in the background you're the platform where the platform in the background exactly the marketplace yeah exactly what have you learned along the way you know to get ubi established so that it's now working as you say effectively it's now a question of awareness yes

From the original idea, what were the sort of challenges and difficulties you faced and how did you go forward one step at a time?

And that pivot you feel was crucial to the current success and growth.

There's an interesting lesson in that, I mean, for entrepreneurs listening.

What is it?

I mean, don't try and do too much or pay close attention to what's working and what's not.

You can't be good at two things, focus on one.

Yeah, don't try and ride two horses.

Can't ride two horses.

Is there anything you'd wish you had known when you started Ubi that you know now that you could share with us?

Right, interesting.

So your younger self saw it maybe as a quicker opportunity that would establish itself.

yeah i'll give that a missile okay i'll go do something actually makes money so just as well you didn't know that so it's a good thing i didn't know all right good to say so you're a steward owned business yes uh ubi and um i'm curious what that actually means because i've come across it a lot yeah i thought you might be able to explain steward owned we so we're a for-profit company

So that was very much your idea at the outset, was it?