City boy helps farmers grow their businesses
DALLAS — Nick Burton is a self-proclaimed city boy, a businessman first and a farmer second. He’s also an educator, a mentor and the kind of friend who wants others to succeed.
When someone is struggling with their business and needs some advice, people often say, “Oh, do you know Nick? You should really talk to Nick.”
Burton, 39, runs Blue Collar Paris Victory Gardens in Paris, Texas, where he grows vegetables hydroponically and in soil. It used to be a nursery but now functions as the source of his subscriptionbased salad delivery business, Victory Lunch Club.
A New Mexico native, Burton moved to Texas in 2001. He started a lawn and landscaping business and grew from there. The “self-development junkie” says he became addicted to business coaching, which ranges from speaker training to technical expertise to image consulting.
“Whenever I got outside coaching, that’s when my business took off,” he says. “And whenever I couldn’t afford it was when I needed it most.”
Now Burton’s the coach. Earlier this year, he launched another business, a passion project called State of the Soil. The series of virtual seminars is designed to educate farmers on business and marketing tactics. Recordings of the webinars are available any time online for a fee, but live webinars are available for free a few times a year. As a farmer, Burton feels obligated to pass along where he has made mistakes and to give back to the agricultural community.
“Farmers are not used to having to pay for training because of the USDA and other programs,” Burton says. “But with that they are not getting great education, especially when it comes to the business side of things.”
Farming, by nature, can be a solitary career choice — and a calling for many — that’s full of trial and error and a lot of learning the hard way. Farmers are not used to networking or asking for help, and they’re driven more by pride in their work than by market demands.
“I want to give people permission to tell their story, and sometimes I have to give people permission to make a profit,” Burton says. “But a lot of these are small family farms, and if they don’t succeed, they are going to lose it all.”
Burton is all about the tough love, however. He wants to help farmers build a community full of collaboration, innovation and support, but only if they are willing. No whining allowed.
“When we didn’t have good sales, I didn’t blame the market, I blamed myself,” he says. “Many people just grow what they like, but they have to grow what the market demands. It’s not about the farmer, it’s about the client.”