BUSINESS SECRETS WEEKLY

LionBerry’s Weekly Delusion & Re-Illusion Update Lion’s Mane Mushroom Powder in Your Coffee Isn’t Lifting Your Brain Fog. Welcome to Health Food Washing 101: Where Marketing Is the Science and the Label Is the Proof. If It’s on the Label, It Must Be True??? THE BOTTOM LINE — FOR THOSE WHO DON’T READ THE WHOLE […]

Presentation at the Great Plains Growers Conference

Heartland Elderberry Collaborative (Heartland ECo) “Instead of asking each farm to grow bigger, we’re building shared capacity so farms can stay viable at their current scale while accessing value-added markets.” An AgriCluster Pilot for Shared Infrastructure and Value-Added Market AccessEastern Kansas / Western Missouri PROBLEM CONTEXT Small and mid-sized farms face persistent structural barriers to […]

Elderberry’s Reputation Problem Doing It Right So It Actually Works

We make two products with elderberry: LionBerry Regenerative Hydration and Elderberry Sips. Neither one is a syrup. Syrup is fine for pancakes. Thicker is not better. For elderberry — as food, as medicine, for maximum benefit — drop the pH, pasteurize fast, protect plant properties, no powders. Long, slow steeping in heat — like simmering […]

When Words Lose Their Meaning

The phrase “food is medicine” has become the wellness world’s version of “thoughts and prayers.” Everyone says it. Everyone feels good saying it. And almost nobody means anything real when they do. That’s the danger—not the phrase itself, but what happens when language gets stretched so far it stops pointing to anything true. The original […]

Fortifying the Heartland: My Christmas Wish for Hy-Vee.

This week’s delusion is pretending our grocery stores don’t have a weak point. This week’s re-illusion is remembering that strength comes from building on what already works, not acting like we’re starting from scratch. Hy-Vee does a really good job bringing in local barbecue sauces, jams, honey, and other value-added foods from the Heartland. We’re […]

Local value-added products aren’t cute. They’re insurance.

People act like small batch is a hobby. Nope. Every bottle from a small farmer is a value-added product inside a value food chain. That chain is made of humans, not container ships. If global trade gets tariffed to death, or the truckers strike, or a war kicks off, or a fuel shortage hits, or […]

The rising tide lifts all boats.

We can support our competitors! Its ok to cheer each other on!!! I’m hard wired for this, but I should take more time to  explain why…  Because if your niche is tiny, you don’t need to “win the market,” you need to grow the market. A niche doesn’t get big because one company dominates it. […]

The rising tide lifts all boats.

Lionberry 's Weekly Delusion and Re-illusion Update.

We can support our competitors! Its ok to cheer each other on!!!

I’m hard wired for this, but I should take more time to  explain why… 

Because if your niche is tiny, you don’t need to “win the market,” you need to grow the market.

A niche doesn’t get big because one company dominates it.

A niche gets big because multiple companies prove the category exists, educate consumers, normalize the product, and make the market safer, easier, and more familiar to enter.

Cheering your competitors on is not charity.

It’s category creation.

When your competitor gets press, or distribution, or a rave review — they’re not “stealing your customers.” They’re doing free education, building demand, and making it easier for the next person in that buyer’s journey to understand exactly what your product is.

You don’t need a bigger slice of the pie.

You need a bigger pie.

Or a Rising Tide that raises all boats!!! (Yey! I caught a fish!)