(slow rock music) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag".

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I'm a farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

I've had livestock on my farm for the majority of my farming career.

When I did, it was awful hard to get away.

You couldn't go on vacations, even, you know, the school, kids' things, all that stuff that you kind of wanna get away from, you couldn't because you were tied to that farm because of the livestock.

Well, today's guest might have a solution for you.

Today we're talking with Chris Youngmark.

How you doing, Chris?

- Doing great, Rob, thanks for having me.

- Yeah, you're from Mackinaw.

- Mackinaw, Illinois, right in the center of Central Illinois.

- Are you originally from there?

- No, migrated there from Bloomington-Normal after college.

- Gotcha.

It's fun to say, Mackinaw.

- Mackinaw?

Yeah.

- Easily confused with Mackinac Island in Michigan.

Different spelling, but people are often confused on what we're actually intending there.

- No, they're not.

(Chris laughs) Have you ever heard that?

- I've been to Mackinac Island.

It's a beautiful place, but yeah, they just spell it wrong in Michigan, so.

- [Rob] Okay.

(laughs) You are the creator of Farm Sitter.

Tell me what that is.

- Sure, The Farm Sitter is a pet-sitting solution for farm and rural families, where being able to get away from the farm, like you described, can be a challenge.

And so we discovered this through our own personal hobby farm, and a situation where a great neighbor of ours eventually moved away, and we were left looking to find a solution so that we could travel again.

And so, you know, one thing led to another, and I realized that, surely if we were in this situation, then other families were as well.

- [Rob] Yeah, I guess when, like, normal people leave the house, they bring in somebody to look at their kids and make sure they're doing okay.

- That's right.

- [Rob] Not a Farm Sitter, but a kid sitter.

- Kid sitter, that's right.

- [Rob] So it makes sense.

- Yeah.

And we know that people's pets are a part of their family, so this is just continuing to grow.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Do you have a farm background?

- I grew up farm-adjacent.

We were always, you know, on the edge of a cornfield, a new neighborhood, things like that.

But really, in the heart of central Illinois.

Now that our family's established and growing, we've started to incorporate that into our lives as well with a small hobby farm.

- Gotcha, and so you're on a hobby farm.

You're married, correct?

- That's correct, yep.

17 years, just celebrated.

- [Rob] Two daughters.

- Two daughters, yeah.

- [Rob] How old are they?

- My oldest just centered high school, so.

- [Rob] Oh, goodnight.

- I'm super excited about that.

- [Rob] You poor, poor man.

I remember those days.

(Chris laughs) (Rob screams) (Chris laughs) - Youngest is coming into fourth grade, but they're both levelheaded, great kids, super smart, very active.

- [Rob] They are for now.

- Yeah.

That's right.

- [Rob] They're about ready to flip.

- That's right.

That's right, so.

- And where'd you meet your wife?

- We met at Illinois State University.

We actually lived on the same (bell dings) dorm floor, and, if you can believe, love blossom from there, so.

- [Rob] Is that allowed?

You can have co-ed dorm?

- Co-ed dormitories, yeah.

- Really?

- At least in the nineties, you could.

- So it was a different time, wasn't it?

- It was, yeah.

Yeah.

- Okay.

And so, you guys now live on a rural farm, hobby farm?

- That's correct.

Yep.

We're on about 10 acres in the Mackinaw area.

- Nice!

- Yeah.

- And what do you have for critters?

- We're blessed with some horses, chickens, - [Rob] Whoa, whoa, whoa.

(Chris chuckles) Stop the damn interview.

Did you just say, "We are blessed with some horses?"

- Yeah, yeah.

- No.

- Yes.

- No.

- Yeah.

- Maybe your wife can say that, but you're not allowed.

- Oh yeah.

I'm there to clean up and care for the stalls, and make sure that everything's running, but, - She's blessed, he's cursed.

- For those who enjoy being on horseback and trotting around, yeah, it's a great opportunity.

- [Rob] They eat every day.

- Yes.

- [Rob] Every single day, you have to feed 'em.

- We have to grow hay for them to eat.

I mean, it is a all-encompassing.

(Rob sighs) I had, you know, a pretty good buffer of getting to know my wife and understand her equestrian, you know, ventures, so.

- So you knew, going in?

- I knew.

I was prepped early as to what my future was gonna be.

- I promised my wife I'd get her horse to get her to marry me, and then I found out, if you got her pregnant, right?

You could delay that for like 18, 20 months, right?

- There you go.

Yeah.

- But then, eventually, I realized it's gonna be a lot cheaper to get a horse than keep having kids.

- Yeah.

Well, horses might help you do some chores.

Kids, on the other hand, a little tougher to do.

- Yeah.

Irregardless, (both chuckle) Okay, so you have this deal.

You had a neighbor that would come in and feed your horses when you were gone?

- That's right.

Yeah.

I mean, just the ability to pick up and go, leave for a weekend or plan a vacation and be able to leave, you know, comfortably, that there was somebody that was gonna be trustworthy and reliable to handle the chores on a regular basis.

And then, not only that, but then to be there the next time we were looking to leave.

And so, when that pattern was disrupted, that's where I saw that opportunity.

- Okay.

So are you a entrepreneur-minded guy?

- I am.

I don't know where it came from.

I didn't study it in school.

I studied construction management, and - [Rob] Actually, I got a question.

- Started my early career in that field.

Yes, sir.

- I'm fascinated by entrepreneurs, so I would like to know, were your parents entrepreneurs?

- No.

- Really?

- They were teachers, and most of my family's been either teachers or military.

No other entrepreneurs in the bunch.

- What's wrong with you?

- (chuckling) I don't know.

I must have gotten kicked by a horse or something along along the way, but I've always had that desire to be creative, to do my own thing.

I mean, I do enjoy working with other folks as well, but this is my second startup venture.

I got into it and I got my first taste of entrepreneurial life in just the early 2010s with my first company, and, you know, after that, I just kind of caught the bug and wanted to stay involved in it.

- You just don't like working for people.

- To a degree, but yeah, I do split my time between a couple of different roles.

And so, I do really enjoy working with people, and I love working in a rural capacity, focusing on rural communities and doing what we can to strengthen, you know, either the urban-rural divide, or just the economies in general.

- Yeah.

Must be nice to like to work with people.

Anyway, so having this idea, right?

It's one thing.

Everybody has a lot of great ideas, but actually turning it into a business, completely different.

- Yeah.

Ideas are ideas until you take action, right?

And it's your best hypothesis going in, but we really have to test that marketplace and get some feedback to understand, are we really on target for what our customers or eventual clients are gonna need?

You know, so it's just that theory, that hypothesis going in, but you've gotta get out there and test it and talk to people, and, you know, be willing to accept feedback, constructive criticism, and make those adjustments so you can continue to grow.

- I hate that part.

This just seems like a chicken and egg type of thing, right?

How do you get to sitters without the customers?

How do you get to customers without the sitters?

- Yeah, that's a really great question.

One that we are consistently trying to answer.

Our demand, our customer demand, has been through the roof.

Not only here in central Illinois and Illinois greater, but the entire United States.

I've had inquiries from 50 states across the union, - [Rob] Really?

- from three countries out of the United States.

Yes.

Well, you know, thanks to you and some of the broadcasting that you've been able to do with us on the Sirius XM.

- SharkFarmer Radio, Sirius XM.

(bell dings) (Chris chuckles) - I had a client, potential client reach out to me from the middle of New Mexico after that.

So you've got some reach as well.

- [Rob] Yeah, you should tell my advertisers.

- There you go.

We can partner up on that and brag on each other, but it just goes to show that this isn't, you know, something that's just for central Illinois, this is really helping in something that people need all across the nation, and three countries outside of the US, as well.

- Okay.

So, still.

What's that first step?

Like, the first thing, you're like, "Okay, this is gonna be a business now."

- It's, you know, finding somebody who has that need and being willing to listen and talk with them to understand what their expectations are.

So, if we have clear expectations, we can execute the job.

But it is that consistency, the reliability, and having a degree of specialized care.

I feel that not anybody can jump in and start to work with large animals, or jump in and start to work in a farm situation.

You kind of have to have that inherent experience or maybe something in your professional career has exposed you there, but, you know, so we wanna make sure that our sitters, without having to train them, they have that understanding.

They have some of that background that's gonna blend right into the work that they're doing.

- [Rob] Man, how do you get that?

You just interview 'em?

- It's interviewing.

It's knowing, you know, what experience lends itself well to sitting, and then, do they have a desire?

We like to focus on either student age, 18 to 22, maybe students that are in ag sciences, animal sciences, you know, vet techs, things like that.

- [Rob] Do you not like old people?

- Well, on the other hand, active retirees.

Folks that, maybe they've had a whole lifetime of experience of working with farm animals or on farms, but they don't wanna do it as a professional career and they're enjoying retirement, but a little bit of extra cash, and frankly, the experience of working outdoor and with these animals is appealing to a lot of the people that reach out to us.

- Mmhm.

- Yeah.

- So what's your bread and butter animal?

- We tend to focus on the horses because that's our specific niche at home.

But really, horses and hobby farms is the broad range that we get into, and we found that the variety, the menagerie of different animals that folks have is really astounding and intriguing, - [Rob] Oh yeah.

- and very exciting.

- What about dogs?

- Yeah.

Everybody's got a farm dog too, right?

Barn cats, farm dogs.

- [Rob] Hamsters.

- Hamsters!

Yeah.

I just got a guinea pig request the other day, so.

- [Rob] Really?

- You never know.

And we know where our competition is and what lanes they operate well in.

We're trying to do something different, but yeah.

You know, it's still a matter of serving our customers.

- But your competition.

Is there other people doing this?

- Not that I'm aware of.

Not in the horse and farm aspect.

There are people when it comes to cats and dogs.

- [Rob] Oh, I gotcha.

- Right.

More urban-centric.

- Plus, I mean, you're competing with the neighbor kid.

- That's right.

Really, our strongest competitor is the neighbor kid.

And believe me, that is okay, - [Rob] Little brat.

- If you've got, - [Rob] You want that little brat in your house?

- Hey, that's up to the customer, but, you know, if you have a good neighbor, if you can trade chores, we wanna encourage that.

We wanna encourage more community, but we see that gap and that's what we're addressing, is that gap in care and coverage.

Friends and family and neighbors are spread out further and further these days.

- Okay.

What about a dairy farmer?

- If it was a single cow or, you know, a smaller situation, sure, but we tend to stay away from the commercial operations for a variety of reasons.

Insurance reasons, communicable diseases.

We just wanna stay away from that.

And, you know, understanding those operations often have their own workforce associated with them already.

- Yeah.

Yeah, I think that would be very hard, too, 'cause I mean, those are so specific on so many levels.

- Sure, sure.

On the other hand, you know, when it comes, say, an equestrian center or other B2B-type situations, we can plug and play.

We can provide a skilled worker who can fit into that routine.

They don't necessarily have to take the lead or manage, but in addressing workforce shortages, we're a solution in that realm, too.

- Okay.

See, this is what would annoy me.

Or would worry me if I were you, right?

You set this guy up with a sitter, and then they're like, "You know what?

Why don't we just cut out the middleman?"

- Yeah, that's fair.

- [Rob] No, it's not fair.

- No, it's fair to make that point.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- But we are distinguishing ourselves as having a higher degree of specialization, right?

We work with our sitters in developing relationships and with our clients in that matter too, so, you know, I wanna put out the fact that we're driving this, we're bringing the customers in, we're setting things up so this system works, and we have our own measures and controls to try to mitigate that, but it's really about education and personal satisfaction, and comfort.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- What's a gBETA?

- gBETA is a, - [Rob] It's a fish?

- It could be.

It could be, yeah.

- [Rob] You get those at the fair, yeah.

- A through G. Yeah, exactly.

- A little bowl.

- gBETA is a local to Peoria, but it's also a national program that is a no cost seven week business accelerator for startup companies, and so, I was fortunate to be a part of the spring 2023 cohort, along with five other local businesses, and it really sets you up, it exposes you to pitch presentations, the ability to, you know, talk to advisors and mentors and investors to better, you know, understand how you can develop your company and present it, so great experience.

- Again, going back to the entrepreneur thing, I mean, that idea, and it might not be that the person doesn't have the work ethic or the desire, just not the knowledge how to, I don't know, load a printer.

That stuff.

- (chuckles) The technology advances faster than we can possibly keep up with it, right?

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So, but it's important, I think, and this is something I discovered through time, and it wasn't initially with my first business or even at the onset of my second business, is the value of mentorship, of having an advisor, of having somebody who can be an accountable partner for you so you don't feel stuck in a silo, so you can express your thoughts and get honest feedback.

And that's really been a game changer for me, and it also set me up for what is my other career.

- You mean, just like advice and business in general Because nobody else is gonna have advice on how to do a farm sitter.

- Right, right.

But you can draw parallels to other industries or other companies that are working and serving customers.

So we use technology as a tool, but it's not the basis of our company.

The basis of our company is trust and honesty and personal relationships, but we use technology to help facilitate and help us grow into, you know, and scale into a larger setting.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So how does this work?

I'm gonna leave town.

My wife has a horse, and I need somebody to feed it.

- Yeah, we'd like for you to give us a call or send us an email early in the process so we can get to know you.

- [Rob] No.

- But if it's a last minute, - [Rob] That's not gonna happen.

It's literally, we're leaving this afternoon and it needs fed tomorrow.

- That's gonna be tough.

Tougher, because we institute a meet and greet situation.

We need to make sure that that sitter and those animals and you, the pet owner, are all comfortable with each other.

- [Rob] Really?

- So, yeah.

That's paramount.

- I'd rather not know what they look like.

(Chris chuckles) - 'Cause if they don't meet my mind of like, what, Yeah, I don't want to know it.

- Well, do you want them to know where your electrical breakers are, or your water shut off, or hay?

Where's the grain and hay at in your barn?

- I had to learn all that stuff myself.

- Yeah, yeah.

There's room to explore.

We can charge by the hour for that, too.

- So you get these people together before?

- Yeah.

In most situations.

And it's usually a first time set up with that sitter specifically so that they are comfortable, the animals are comfortable with them, and then, ideally, you can go back to that sitter time and time again for consistency.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Is it like a website, an app?

- Yeah.

Right now, we're operating with a website.

It's TheFarmSitter.com, and it's basically submitting an inquiry through our website, and we'll respond to you, and, you know, we can't service everybody.

Obviously, I explained sort of how big our reach is at this point, but we're primarily operating in Illinois, so, you know, depending on where you're at and the availability of a sitter, we try to provide a prompt response and understand what your needs are and what motivated you to reach out to us.

- Are you surprised at how big this has gotten?

- Yes.

- [Rob] Yeah?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Rob] I mean, are you?

'Cause everybody is like, You know, when you're first thinking of ideas, you're like, "Well, if we get 10 horses and 10 sitters, we'll make this much.

But, you know, if we get a million horses," - I like those big numbers myself, but this was, you know, to take us back a little bit in time, before the pandemic, when I first started this idea, I was in between careers, and this was something that, for activity and for a little bit of, you know, additional cash flow, I just thought it was self-serving, right?

It sort of met our needs.

It was flexible.

Young family, I had a lot more free time too, and I just really envision it as a Central Illinois operation.

Cut to, you know, after the pandemic, and we really took a hard hit when folks stopped traveling and they started working from home.

Our demand really evaporated there, so we had some lean months in 2020, and then, as things opened up in 2021, people started traveling again, going back to work, it really just started to take off on its own, too.

I mean, I think that part of that is being out on the internet and being found on Google, and having a website and Facebook, but happy families and friends refer to other families and friends, and it's been snowballing.

- Old word of mouth.

- Yes.

- Nothing better.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

And yeah, especially in rural communities, we understand that value.

- You like to travel?

- I love to travel.

- All 50 states?

- Yeah.

- [Rob] How many countries?

- I think I'm under 10 countries.

Four continents though, so.

- [Rob] Oh.

- North, south.

- [Rob] There's seven of 'em.

- There's seven.

- Yeah.

You got a bunch to go.

- I was so close.

It was at the very southern tip of South America in 2017.

Close enough where there were directional arrows pointing towards Antarctica, but, - [Rob] Oh really?

(chuckles) - Obviously, enough of a ocean gap there to make that a future destination.

- Which state do you like the least?

- Probably just go southern 'cause I'm not a huge fan of the muggy heat.

- [Rob] You don't like the heat, huh?

- Yeah.

Unless there's water attached to it, but yeah.

It culminated with just an amazing trip, RV trip up in Alaska.

That was number 50 for us.

- Oh, you didn't do it all at once, did you?

- No, no, no, no.

- Okay.

- This was over a lifetime, and so, we made it to Alaska.

Epic trip with the family, and toured around for two weeks on the road, and yeah.

What a great way to do it.

So now, subsequently, my wife is in, I think she's at about 43 states with a few to go, and my kids are not far behind there, too, so.

- Oh yeah.

- Great.

Shared experience.

- Puerto Rico?

- Gonna have to start out in territories.

Yeah.

- I think they're gonna be a state next year.

- Maybe.

- I heard something.

- Maybe.

Yeah.

- It's weird.

- Long time coming.

51's an odd number though.

We're gonna have to even it out.

- You're a fire captain.

- I am.

- At the Deer Creek Fire Department.

- That's volunteer?

- All volunteer fire service.

We serve about 32 square miles of a mix of rural, a little bit of in-town, small town.

But then we also cover Interstate 74 as well, a swath of that.

So all volunteer department.

At the same time, you know, 90% or more of us work of full-time, so it's who's available that can respond then.

But fortunately, you know, we're very fortunate and blessed to have good neighbors around us.

Other surrounding towns that are in similar situations, but with a mutual aid setup that we can all cover each other's backs depending on what that situation is.

- There's a lot of people that live in the cities that don't realize that, you know, the rural areas, we can't afford to have full-time firefighters and EMTs.

- That's right.

- And for the most part, it is people like, I mean, when you're on call and that fire bell rings, you've gotta drop your farm sitting, let the horses go, and get to the fire.

- That's exactly right.

Yeah.

I mean, I think the number is somewhere near 70% of the United States is covered by rural fire departments, so.

- [Rob] How much?

- 70% of the United States.

(Rob whistles) So if you think of, you know, outside of any metro area or established cities admittedly, all the in-between towns and all those sections of interstate, as you drive through, it's probably gonna be a volunteer responding.

- Yeah.

And for the young fellas out there that are thinking about, the chicks dig the fire getup, don't they?

- Yeah.

And the young gals, the dudes dig it too, so.

- [Rob] Really?

It goes both ways?

- Yeah.

It definitely goes both ways.

We love our brothers and sisters in the service.

- [Rob] Okay.

- Yep.

- (chuckles) Thank you for doing that, because, you know, it's a thankless job.

- Yeah.

I mean, I would be lying if there wasn't some, you know, excitement that comes with it in some situations, but, you know, middle of the night's middle of the night, and we still have to work the next day in some situations.

Not every scene goes the way we want it to.

- [Rob] That would be the hard part.

- There's a mental, you know, recovery period as well.

But we're well supported and rely on each other quite strongly.

- That seems like that has changed over the years, the significance of like, the mental health when you guys, if you have a bad call or whatever.

- Yeah.

- So that has, even in the rural communities, that's kind of filtered down?

- Yes, yep.

You know, cities like Peoria have been, they extend their services out to us as well.

- [Rob] Oh nice.

- If it's mental health advocates and really, you know, we understand this is just a big brother and sisterhood, like I said, that we can all support each other, no matter where we're at.

- What kind of pets you got?

- Well, we started with the horses and the chickens.

I'm out of honeybees.

I was in the honeybee game, but earlier this spring, things took a turn for the worst.

They got a little bit aggressive on me, and so they had to go live on another farm.

- [Rob] Oh, you didn't get the can of Raid?

That'll work too.

- Nah.

That's the backup plan.

But no, they went to another farm to see if they could behave themselves a little bit better.

but we've got a great farm dog, couple barn cats and, you know, just kind of fit in that typical mold of, you know, family that needs a Farm Sitter.

- Yeah.

Okay.

Where can people find you?

- They can find us on the web, TheFarmSitter.com.

You can find us on google.com.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, so kind of covered our bases there, and I think we're pretty well positioned.

But we're here in central Illinois.

- Is that how you find your customers?

Social media?

- They find us, most often.

And yes, I'd say a combination of either doing a Google search or finding us on social media, to kind of tapping in and following, what we've got going on.

We've been building a big base there.

- I didn't think about it 'til right now, but like, if you have someone that needs their farm sat and you can't find anybody, do you make your daughters do it?

- Unfortunately, they're not old enough yet.

For legal purposes, yeah.

We start at 18 and up, but we're kind of setting them up.

They can watch our place and take care of our animals and train, but before we turn 'em over to the real marketplace, we're gonna make sure that they're legal for it.

- What percentage of the times do you actually go into somebody's house, would you guess?

- Are you saying, like, through the door and into their actual house?

- Yeah.

For the hamster.

- Probably 50% if they have an indoor pet.

Yeah.

And dogs are those animals that do require a little bit of additional attention and care, maybe an added visit throughout the day so they can take a bathroom break, but.

- [Rob] 'Cause she's a good girl.

- Yeah.

But she can only go so long.

- That's right.

I love the entrepreneurial spirit.

I love that.

You know, I always got a soft spot in my heart for it.

It's not for everybody, that's not either good or bad, but you definitely have that vibe to you, so I think it's really cool, and I'm glad you're finding your passion.

Who would've known?

Farm city.

- Just gotta make an attempt, right?

- Yeah.

Very cool.

Chris Youngmark from Mackinaw.

Farm Sitter.

The Farm Sitter.

- The Farm Sitter.

that's right.

- .com.

Okay.

I'm going to check it out because I like to leave my farm, and for some reason, my son forgets to feed the horse.

- How about that?

- Yeah.

She'll call him at like 10 o'clock and, "Did you feed the horse?"

- I can do better, Rob.

We'll send you an email so not to distract you, but we will let you know after that job's been completed, and we'll send you a photo, too.

- We can do better, Rob.

(laughs) Chris, thank you so very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

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