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Nestled on four acres in South Florida, Charmed Life Farm has been a labor of love for Erica Zorrilla. She farms pasture-raised chickens, ducks, eggs, sells organic feed, and recently expanded her offerings to include pork. “I maximize every square inch,” she says, and embraces the challenge of pasture-farming on small acreage.
As Erica's farm sales grew, so did her workload, and her ever-increasing to-do list required her to rethink her operations. Her hands-on approach to taking orders, managing inventory, and manual customer communications was time-consuming and challenging to sustain as demand for her products grew.
This is where Local Line came in, offering a tailored solution that met Charmed Life Farm's unique needs.
Erica discovered Local Line while reading Ready Farmer One on a plane ride. “As I was reading, it didn’t even occur to me how simple it would be to make my life easier,” she said. Local Line promised more than she initially expected, giving her the tools to manage sales and orders and handle record keeping, communication, and customer management on one platform.
“I thought it was just going to make my bookkeeping easier,” Erica explained. “And, then I dove into the free trial and realized it’s also a store. I don’t have to talk to every customer and take their order. This is amazing!” Now, Erica has made Local Line an integral part of her business for two and a half years.
Setting up Local Line required an initial investment of time, but the platform’s user-friendly design made the process simple and straightforward. She estimates that building and launching her store took a week. “I wanted to make sure my product photos looked really good, so you could probably do it in less time, but I’m a little extra,” she admitted.
During the first month, Erica learned how to adapt her weekly workflows to maximize the value of the Local Line platform. She discovered the optimal points in the week to update inventory, process orders, and send out customer newsletters. “It was probably a full month of working with it before I perfected my workflow,” she says. However, once she established a routine, Erica found Local Line highly efficient and easy to use.
One of the most immediate benefits Erica experienced was the way Local Line streamlined order management and communication. Previously, customers texted Erica to place their orders, leading to constant communication and difficulty tracking everything efficiently.
With Local Line, customers can order directly through their online store. “It took me a couple of months to train my clients not to text me, but they all got it.” Local Line’s platform enables her to manage orders, update inventory, and communicate with customers in one place, reducing her workload and saving her hours each week.
The platform also enabled Erica to expand her customer base by making it easier for new clients to order. The storefront remains open throughout the week, allowing customers to order at their convenience. They can choose from a range of products—pasture-raised eggs, organic feed, raw milk, and more.
“I don’t really spend a ton of time in front of my computer. I check my orders on Local Line from my phone. I’d say, on average, maybe five to ten minutes a day I’m actually spending on the platform,” she explained, “And I’m able to manage my orders literally from everywhere! The school pick-up line, on the go!”
Before Local Line, Erica managed her inventory and sales records on paper, which required hours of administrative work to transfer data into spreadsheets and calculate sales tax. Local Line’s automated reporting tools simplified this task immensely. “Now, I just run my reports at the end of the month, and it’s a five-minute task,” Erica says. Local Line allows Erica to focus on her core operations and reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks.
Managing raw milk sales with a neighboring farm was another logistical challenge. With Local Line, Erica can categorize raw milk on her storefront and collect pre-orders from customers, which helps her manage weekly orders without the hassle of repeated customer questions. “Without Local Line, my milk ordering and distribution process would take up 3 full work days,” she stated. The platform’s efficiency also allowed her to meet growing customer demand for raw milk, creating a streamlined system for fulfilling and tracking orders.
Local Line gave Erica a new way to communicate with her customers, especially through email marketing. Local Line’s email features allow her to engage her customers directly. These emails provide updates on product availability and share farm news, helping to increase sales, especially during the high-demand winter and spring seasons. “It’s so easy to communicate all this information and link it back to the store.”
Through Local Line, Erica has elevated Charmed Life Farm from a small-scale operation to a full-scale business with a professional online presence.
“I went from being a ‘Crazy Chicken Lady’ just trying to offset feed costs to an actual farmer with an actual business,” she says with pride.
By centralizing her operations on a digital platform, Erica was able to focus on expanding her product offerings and serving a broader customer base while maintaining a high level of service.
With Local Line, Erica’s farm gained the tools to grow sustainably without requiring significant additional labor or time investment. She now enjoys the flexibility to manage orders on the go, communicate more effectively with her customers, and maintain accurate financial records—all without the need for complex or costly software.
Reflecting on her experience, Erica has a few tips for others who may be considering Local Line or similar tools. She emphasizes the importance of taking the time to set up the system initially and suggests that new users might benefit from dedicating some time to testing workflows and customizing the platform to fit their needs. For Erica, Mondays are her dedicated administrative days, which she uses to update inventory, send emails, and set up her week.
Local Line also taught her the value of flexibility in her workflow. “Be prepared to block a little time at the beginning and the end of the day to check in,” she advises. “You can edit that as you go.” This adaptable approach has helped Erica integrate Local Line into her busy life and maximize its benefits.
As she looks forward, Erica is excited about the potential for Charmed Life Farm to grow further, possibly adding new products or expanding her customer base. Her initial skepticism about investing in an online platform has been replaced with a sense of confidence in her business’s stability and potential.
Local Line simplifies operations and scales sustainably for farmers like Erica, demonstrating that even small farms can achieve big things with the right support. In her own words, “I wish that I had done this sooner. It was the tool I needed to take that next step forward.”
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