Parenting, Fashion, & Creating A Platform For Ag Jobs With Jessie Jarvis

Jessie Jarvis [00:00:00] Fashion is one of those things that just daily allows me to flex that confidence muscle because like any muscle you have to put in those reps. Confidence isn't something that you're just born with one day and you're gonna have it for the rest of your life.

Vance Crowe [00:00:12] So how would you describe that kind of archetypal western woman?

Jessie Jarvis [00:00:16] I feel like we've kind of lost the sense of community because, you know, retirees aren't necessarily going to support the high school in their games and you know, they're not going to basketball games and football games and, and then we just have this disconnect because again, in order to have this community, you have to have people involved. Hi everyone. Oliver Crowe, a second grade student and an aspiring YouTuber and you're listening to the Vance Crowe podcast.

Vance Crowe [00:00:44] Welcome back to the podcast. I'm glad you're here. Today we have Jessie Jarvis, a western fashionista who runs the website of the West, which is an HR website. You may be asking yourself, what in the world are we gonna listen to when we hear about fashion and western ag jobs? But I can tell you that the reason that I connected with Jesse was I was a guest on her podcast. And when the podcast eventually aired, I had never experienced so many people interacting with me, talking with her about what she heard in the episode, what they liked. It was such an amazing engagement that I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know more about how she thought about promoting her company, how she thinks about fashion, and how she has built such a great community. This is a really wide ranging and interesting interview with a mom of a couple kids, a, a wife that's on an operation and really a business owner. I am really excited to get to this episode, but first I wanna tell a little bit of a story that's close to my heart. A few months ago I had been approached by one of my family members to interview their father for a legacy interview. We had worked it all out, but for some reason we put it off for a few months. After those few months, her father had suffered a stroke and he certainly lost a lot of the memories that he had. This was a man that I had looked up to my whole life. Every time he would come over for Thanksgiving or other gatherings, I would be sitting at the table badgering him to tell me more stories about being a fighter jet pilot and some of the travels and mischief that he got into.

Vance Crowe [00:02:24] Sadly, when we sat down to do the interview, he actually didn't have as many of the memories as he used to have. This is totally understandable, but it was something that I think broke all of our hearts. We wanted to be able to capture all of those stories of this once vibrant man, but we did what we could and we were able to capture his gentle nature and the way that he thought about challenges and really just got a chance for him to talk about how much he loves his daughter, her husband, and their whole family. I'm really grateful that we got to do that. And just recently he passed away and I can say from the bottom of my heart that I am so, so grateful that we were able to do a legacy interview. Even though it wasn't in his prime, we still have his voice, we still have some of the stories that he was so fond of telling and we still have an image of him. I, I never want to push people on Legacy Interviews to say like, Hey, what if, what could happen? But I can tell you that it happened in our family and I wish that we would've done something earlier. I wish I would've pushed my family members a little bit harder to get in here. I wish we could have all made that time, but we didn't. And so we're left with what we have. But what we have is wonderful. If you've been thinking about doing a legacy interview for one of your loved ones, I want to say from the bottom of my heart, let's do it now. Let's not wait. Let's not expect that we will have another chance sometime in the future.

Vance Crowe [00:03:58] Let's make sure that we take the opportunities that we have to capture those stories, that wisdom, that tone of voice, the laughter, the experiences that they've had, and allow them to express their love and how much they've cherished their family members so that we can always remember it. If you're interested in having me sit down with one of your loved ones, go to Legacy Interviews dot com to find out more. Alright, without further ado, let's head to the interview with fashionista Jessie Jarvis. Jessie Jarvis, welcome to the podcast.

Jessie Jarvis [00:04:34] Well, thank you for inviting me. I am honored to be here.

Vance Crowe [00:04:37] I've been podcasting for about five years and I have had a lot of times when I've been interviewed on other people's podcasts, but I have to say uniquely, after our podcast aired on your show, I have never felt the amount of excitement and anticipation going on in social media. And your podcast is an HR podcast for agriculture. And so I'm, I have to ask from the very beginning, how in the world did you build up such a following that they love what you're doing so much? It's actually incredible.

Jessie Jarvis [00:05:11] Oh gosh. Well, that, that is honestly a difficult question. And I will say, 'cause we have been on the podcast side of things, we've had a podcast for a little over a year now, but I feel like I've been working at this for a whole lot longer than that. So of the West, the company that we own that kind of coincides with this podcast, we started that in 2021. But even before that, I've always had a presence online or a personal brand, if you would call it on the agriculture side of things, on more of like the Western fashion side of things. And I would not call myself a lifestyle influencer by any means, but that's kind of how over time I've built this really, really strong engaged audience and community. I, I really do, I hate to use the word audience 'cause that kind of feels like you're just talking to them and they're sitting there listening to you. Like, I really value my people as a community. Like when they send messages, I respond to almost every message that I get. And we really do. Like we, we create conversation amongst one another. But because of that, I feel like I have been able to create a really, like a, for lack of a better word, for lack of a better word, a like sisterhood if you will, even though there are men included in that. But just a really strong engaged community of people who, when I, you know, share things, whether it is on the, of the west side of things with jobs and careers, or if it's a family funny thing or you know, something more about the podcast, people really do listen in that regard. So that was kind of a long way of, of answering that question, but I feel like I've been working at it for a very long time.

Jessie Jarvis [00:06:44] So for you to say that you felt that, that that's a good feeling because it is something that I continue to cultivate every single day.

Vance Crowe [00:06:50] Yeah, without question. I mean, I had people reach out to me afterwards, they were as engaged in that podcast as you were as a host, and I think I was really struck by the fact that people were excited for, for you or for what you were putting out there. And I think that that's rare in, in this world.

Jessie Jarvis [00:07:08] Well, you know, I think too, I'm a big believer in quality over quantity in all things that I do. So if I share something or somebody, or if I have a, you know, somebody on as a guest on the podcast or we work with a new company that I'm talking about, or anything that I do, I always really stop to think, is this going to matter to people? Is this going to impact people? Because as, as we all can probably recognize there's a lot of noise out there, I don't wanna contribute to the noise, but at the same time I know that there's a lot of really great stuff out there that needs to be shared. And so I want to be the person who is known for sharing really great things. Again, whether that is introducing people to somebody that they've maybe never heard of, or if it's some little life hack that you know, moms have never heard of, that makes their life 10 times easier, you know, whatever it is. I am really focused on quantity over on quality, over quantity. And so because of that I am very particular about, you know, what I stamp our name on or what I, what I share. But again, it just goes back to, because I've worked so hard at that for a long time now, I feel like I do have that responsive community.

Vance Crowe [00:08:23] So let's talk a little bit about of the West. What is that and how did it get started?

Jessie Jarvis [00:08:28] Yeah, so I've mentioned of the west a little bit. So of the West is a job platform, but unlike other job platforms, we specifically focus on jobs in agriculture and western industries. So western meaning western lifestyle like the boot companies and hat companies and clothing companies that we all wear for agricultural wear, if you will, Western sports. So rodeo, reigned, cow, horse reigning, any kind of equine thing is, is kind of lumped in that as well. So back in 2021 is when we launched the site and since then we have worked with over 600 employers and we've ha worked with about 6,000 job seekers. So slowly but surely we are, we're making our mark just to help continue to connect job seekers and employers. So I grew up on my family's ranching operation in southern Idaho and you know, I went to college and I had worked outside of our ranching operation for a few years and then I came back and then after my husband and I got married, he came full-time on our ranch. And then that allowed me the flexibility of doing other things. So that's kind of how I had gotten into the western lifestyle or western fashion side of things, if you will. And one of those things that I knew across all of the industries that my husband and I had these really strong networks in, whether it was farming, ranching, western sports, western lifestyle is the people in our industries are the best people in the world. And I would talk to job seekers and I would talk to employers and both of the, these groups of people would say, man, I'm really struggling to find a job, or Hey, I'm struggling to find somebody to work for me.

Jessie Jarvis [00:09:59] Do you happen to know of anybody? And so I kind of thought to myself, man, if if job seekers are having a problem finding employers and employers are having the same problem trying to find, you know, great people to bring into their companies, clearly we have this issue of, of connection there. So I always call myself, if I had a superpower, it would be, it would be connecting people. I love to connect people who need people. I love to connect people with answers. And so of the West is a, a platform for connection. So employers will pay to post their positions online and then we share those open positions through our various networks of job seekers that we're always working to develop.

Vance Crowe [00:10:36] So what's going on in the world of, you know, ag and and western wear in terms of jobs? Are there lots of jobs out there?

Jessie Jarvis [00:10:45] You know, yes and no. So I think like anything, there are always jobs available, right? We, we, in this day and age, especially now post COVID, I, it seems like you can drive anywhere and there's a help wanted sign, right? And this is, that's not just specifically in regards to agriculture. I think that that is something that all industries across America are experiencing right now. But at the same time, we also know that the number of people in agriculture has been decreasing since the 1980s. So obviously there's, there is a need for more people to come into agriculture so that we can continue to produce food, especially for this growing population. But that being said, there are always jobs in our industry and we know that our industries need to continue to grow, but you've gotta get the right people in the right seats. So that's one of those things that we really focus on is continuing to help companies find those right people because as they find the right people, they're going to be able to grow, which is great for our industries all around.

Vance Crowe [00:11:44] Where do you think all the people went for the jobs? You know, if you think about before COVID, you know, maybe there were job openings, but it seems like, like you had said, so many help wanted signs and I, I know even me personally, like it's very difficult to find people to work. Where did they all go?

Jessie Jarvis [00:12:03] That is the million dollar question, Vance. I truly don't know. I will say, I think one of the things that has maybe impacted that is we had what was called the, the great resignation where a lot of people left their, their office jobs or their corporate jobs and they went back to basically work through themselves or become solo entrepreneurs. And so I do think that there is a shift to where we do have more of those entrepreneurial type people who are now working for themselves instead of working for other businesses. But to be quite honest, I don't necessarily understand that either because we're continuing to have this growing population, so that should be more people coming into the job market. I don't know, maybe it's laziness. I can't imagine that their, that the, that their government check is, is still four years later somehow working out for 'em unless they invested it better than I did.

Vance Crowe [00:12:59] Yeah, I mean I think that's one of the interesting things about all the, the government checks that came out was that the vast majority of it did go into the stock market, right? Like the people that, that needed the check in order to be able to pay their rent and buy food seemed to do that, but that would not hold you over. And then the, the people in the wealthier classes that got checks, I think popped 'em right in the stock market and pumped that up. So it doesn't make any sense to me that the 'cause the most help wanted signs you see are often entry level positions or positions that you know, anybody could do if they're willing to work. And it is just staggering to me how many there are out there.

Jessie Jarvis [00:13:36] Oh, absolutely. And two, the, the starting weight for those positions is outrageous compared to, I don't wanna date you or I, but when you or I started out in those entry level positions, whether it was, you know, our high school job or our college job, we started out at what, like $10 an hour maybe now that starting wage has doubled and they're still struggling to find people.

Vance Crowe [00:13:56] Oh yeah. And I was just reading, you know, just out in the west there was something on Reddit this morning about, you know, the cost of living going up, including people's taxes. So a guy was saying, you know, just a few years ago I paid $700 a year in property taxes and now that's gone up to $7,000 and he's an older person, so he is on a really contained, you know, income spread. So he is like, I'm going to have to take a job just to be able to pay my real estate taxes, which like, this has gotta be happening to everyone. I know my own real estate, my insurance, every single price, everything I pay for has gone become more expensive. And, and yet money doesn't flow faster or easier to me.

Jessie Jarvis [00:14:38] No it doesn't. And I think too, the, the average price of a home in America is now $420,000. I just read that a couple of weeks ago. That is absolutely wild. But you know, you bring up a really good point on how everything else has increased as far as the cost. But what we are making necessarily hasn't, I think about how that's impacted agriculture because obviously producers, they're not necessarily getting any more money than they ever were. And and that is one of those things that is really people in in agriculture are feeling that crunch.

Vance Crowe [00:15:09] Yeah. And at the same time, the temptation to to leave. So if, if your commodity prices are either staying the same or going down and then all your input prices are going up, you're feeling that margin squeeze down. I heard a, a consultant for dairies saying, you know, he knows dairies that haven't made any money in 15 years and the only reason they're able to stay in business is that they're able to keep turning over the tax burden and be able to keep moving that forward. But if you've been feeling this squeeze on your margins and your land prices are going up, up, up, up, up, then the temptation to sell and get out just has to be through the roof right now.

Jessie Jarvis [00:15:46] Oh, it absolutely is. And then we look and, you know, we see these, what used to be farm fields are now turning into subdivisions and then you wonder, well, how are we going to continue to feed this growing population of people that I've talked about? If we are now losing all of this farmland to development, we're, I will say, in the next 10 to 20 years, I feel like we are, we are going to see whether it's a massive shift or the perfect storm of who knows what will happen.

Vance Crowe [00:16:13] Yeah, I think I, so I'm gonna push back on you on the growing population. 'cause I think we do in the US still have a growing population largely because of immigration. But our repopulation rate, the numbers just came out I think on Friday. You know, most women are having less than two children now. And, and so that means you're not actually above replacement rate. And you know, I worked for Monsanto and their, their whole reason for why do we need GMOs? Why do we need to use pesticides? It was always like, we have to feed this growing population. Well what we're actually going to have in the next 20, 25 years is going to be a cliff where we don't actually reach the replacement rate and the number of people that are living is actually going to go down on the earth.

Jessie Jarvis [00:16:59] Interesting. I man, you're good with these numbers. You would, that just came out Friday and we're, we're on a Monday already. That's

Vance Crowe [00:17:05] Impressive. Well, I did do a lot of Mother's Day cooking over the weekend, so I was listening to all my podcasts.

Jessie Jarvis [00:17:11] Well, you know, as a mother myself, I understand why mothers are maybe only having two or fewer children because holy cow, those kids, they'll put you through the ringer, won't they?

Vance Crowe [00:17:21] Well, let's talk about that. Actually, this was my, my wife and I were like, we had to come to terms with the fact that this morning we had tension between us that really we were not mad at each other. Both of us were working as hard as we possibly could, but like the amount of stress on parents these days, we have two children, if anything interrupts your schedule. If you, if a funeral comes up, if something unexpected happens now the pressure on people's time seems to be ratcheted up. And it's easy for me to imagine that it's harder than it was in our parents' day. But, you know, when I was growing up, my, my mother didn't work outside of the home. My wife's mother, you know, had a, had a really flexible job and she was at home. To, to be able to manage your stress while running two businesses simultaneously is, is incredibly difficult right now.

Jessie Jarvis [00:18:12] You know, it totally is. And I, and I think about that too because what was that, when we were kids, it seemed like life moved slower maybe, and because my mom, she also worked on our operations, so she didn't necessarily have an out, an outside job or outside income source, but, you know, and maybe it's because they were small business owners, and so their schedules were always flexible so they could fit things in. But it seems like now we're busier than ever before. And even with me, I, for the next two weeks, I have it on my calendar where I'm not taking any meetings just so that I can kind of, you know, get caught up on all the things that I'm, I can't seem to get done during the day when I do have meetings. But if you don't have meetings, then how are you gonna move a business forward? Like you get in this catch 22, if you will.

Vance Crowe [00:18:54] Yeah, I mean, I, to me, longtime listeners to the podcast know I'm always talking about inflation, and this is, you know, a huge reason for it. If you're, if a house, like you said at the beginning has just moved up to $400,000 as the average house, this means that you have to have more people working. I, I one time heard something somewhat controversial, but that it was when women entered the workforce, what you did was you essentially doubled the working population, which meant there was more competition for jobs, which meant wage pressure was down. And it meant that now pe more and more women had to enter the market because their husband's wages weren't going up in, in, in tandem with the inflation rate. And so you got ourselves into a situation where at first we thought it was a very empowering thing, and now we find that it is somewhat of a trap Now if, if you're going to have a middle class lifestyle, it requires both parents to be working, even if that's, you know, not what the family wants or even what's best for the family or even the nation,

Jessie Jarvis [00:19:55] You know? That is so fascinating because yeah, you are absolutely right. As we, as we double the, the number of people who are working, then that obviously decreases the wage because you're, I mean, there's more competition out there. And now, and I've also heard too on the, on the side of women is, man, we had life pretty good back when we really only had to worry about our families. Now we have to juggle all of this as far as job and, and kids and your family like, which I'm glad we did, but at the same time, we, we doubled, we doubled the work that we have to do in a day.

Vance Crowe [00:20:26] Oh yeah. And like the amount of things I like, I like the things that we do. I think like we are trying to do more all the time. You're trying to take your kids to gymnastics and dance and all of the activities, and if both parents are working, then no matter what one of them has to give, and that giving is like a certain amount of tension that happens there. And then you are still having the exact same husband and wife tension fight of like, who's going to take on these responsibilities? And if both parents are trying to earn a good wage, trying to keep a business afloat, this tension is is, I mean it's very, very difficult to wrap your mind around how to do this with grace and with compassion for the other person because that tension ratchets up so fast.

Jessie Jarvis [00:21:15] Oh, absolutely. I will say, I think that's one thing, one good thing maybe about having a husband who is focused on ranch work is cows always come first. So I know my schedule is the one that's gonna bend to any of our kids' needs, whether they're sick and they're home from school or they have to be taken somewhere because animals, they can't rely on anybody else. They're gonna have to rely on my husband. So I think that maybe makes, we, we have less of those fights, so maybe I should think those cows for that

Vance Crowe [00:21:42] For us, like, so in my wife and i's situation, like my job is to bring in the, the bulk of the income for the family, but the challenge is she works in the medical field. So if we're like, Hey honey, you're gonna knock off early today to go pick up a sick kid. She knows that there's somebody that's in pain that is not going to get, you know, care. And so then you have this added element where you're like, okay, well even though mine is supposed to take priority, you have some sense of humanity with you that like this person has been waiting several weeks to get in to see her and to not to to just be like, Hey, sorry, we're gonna have to reschedule that. And her schedule is full. So not, not to bring all of my issues into this, but I have to imagine that my wife and I are actually not special or unique in this, but that this tension is very high and it makes it really difficult to say, well, do we wanna make the jump from two kids to three? What will that do to our lives?

Jessie Jarvis [00:22:36] No kidding. I think that, I think that you and your wife definitely represent the majority of Americans in that just the discomfort that is faced when it comes to balancing and managing a family and successful careers and a good home life and a good relationship. It is hard. I don't think that we give ourselves enough credit for what we, what we are able to accomplish and how much we do actually do

Vance Crowe [00:23:01] Well. So you have been, as far as I can tell, extremely successful. Is this because you are really ambitious? Do you have a voice in your head that's like, get outta bed, Jesse, go, go, go. You don't go to sleep yet, you need to keep working. What, what's going on in your mind?

Jessie Jarvis [00:23:17] You know, I was just telling somebody that yesterday, so we were sitting down at a barbecue for Mother's day, and I'm the kind of person that energy makes energy. If I am not moving, if I'm not doing something, like that's the thing that gives me energy when I just sit and have a drink and chat with friends, I will get downright tired. Like I have to continue to be moving and doing something, whether it's mentally or physically to keep up my energy. And I don't necessarily know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But that being said, I, I've, I've been raised around two people, my parents who are incredibly ambitious and hard workers and my husband outworks anybody that I know and is always, you know, thinking of how could we make this better or how could we do more? And in a good way, not in a, not in a manic way. And so I think just being around high achievers, I am a high achiever myself, but I've definitely always been, I'm naturally wired that way. I always say I am a type AAA kind of person.

Vance Crowe [00:24:18] And when you like, are this type aa, right? You're, let's say you're sitting around at the barbecue, do you have like a conversation with yourself? Like are you like, oh, is there, is there like a voice that's like, Jesse, you're not working hard. I mean mother's day, maybe you give yourself some slack, but like is there a voice in your head saying you need to get going? Or is it just like a restlessness? How would you describe it?

Jessie Jarvis [00:24:40] Oh yeah, I think all of the above. There's definitely a voice in my head that says like, oh, instead of sitting here, maybe you should go in and see like, do the dishes need to be done? Or like, what can you, what you can do to contribute? Like even even when we're not at my own house, right? I am just some, like, I, I always want to be active and helping. Like, I'm not gonna be the one after dinner who's just sitting down. I'm gonna be the one cleaning things up or doing the dishes or like I see what needs done and I do it. And I'm very thankful for my parents in just instilling that in me. I never, I don't necessarily have to be asked to do things. I see what needs done and I, and I do it. And I think that that's something that's always been able to contribute to part of the success that I've had in life. But there is definitely a restlessness. Like I am somebody, it doesn't necessarily bother me to have something on my to-do list every single day. Like for the week, let's say the work week, right? Monday through through Friday. I don't mind doing a little bit of work on a Saturday or a Sunday just because I know that, hey, I have a couple hours to kill and I could get ahead on this. And that's almost better for me if I do chip away at things every single day. If I go on a vacation for a week, I am stressed for the next two weeks because I just took a week off of life. And then I have a a week's worth of stuff that I didn't get done, plus the, the upcoming week's worth of stuff. And somehow you're gonna have to fit all of last week's stuff in there. Like I, I do, I like to be active and I like to be productive every single day.

Vance Crowe [00:26:03] I remember, so in order to pay for school, I worked construction, I worked paving, and at the time it was like very, very difficult work. Had to wake up super early and I remember looking at other people and being like, man, I would love to have an office job. I'd love to have my own company. But one of the things that I didn't realize before I started running my own company is if you're running things, every single thing that you do is your decision. And that you have to like find a way to keep yourself saying, this is gonna move me forward. You have to like sit there and say, what thing am I gonna focus on? Am I doing, am I focusing on this 'cause it's easier for me to focus on it or is it, am I focusing on it because this is what needs to be done? And I sometimes drive past construction sites and, and I look at a guy that's there working today, I'm envious and I'm like, man, it sure would be nice to have somebody tell me what to do and I could just make money by doing what I'm, you know, the next thing I'm supposed to do. Do you,

Jessie Jarvis [00:27:01] Oh man, I feel the exact same way sometimes. 'cause it is, it's so easy to do those things on your list that they're easy and you're just gonna be check 'em, check 'em off, and you're gonna feel accomplished because you did something that day. But that's not necessarily the thing that moves the needle forward. And you have to continually be moving the needle forward and, you know, doing the 20 that brings in 80. And that's, that's not necessarily always an easy balance because those things that are moving the needle forward are usually the harder things. And who doesn't wanna do the easier thing that, heck, heck, I can do that in 10 minutes and check it off the list and I'm gonna feel good about the day, but I didn't actually, the effort that I put in didn't necessarily bring the return that it could have had I put that into something else.

Vance Crowe [00:27:44] Well, and you, you've proven to be successful in building a community and that takes time and effort and like real work. How is it that you think about these things when it can feel like, hey, posting this thing on social media or spending like the extra 10 minutes to get this graphic right, instead of just being like, I just want it to be done. How, how, how did, how do you figure this out?

Jessie Jarvis [00:28:09] You know, again, i i it all goes back to agriculture and being raised on our operation because I'm always somebody who's focused on the long game and not the short game. Yes, we all need those little short term wins that are gonna, you know, pump air in our sales and, and kind of keep us going. But the long term is really when things pay off. And I think, you know, we are a society now that revolves around instant gratification. And those of us who grew up in agriculture, especially on farming and ranching operations, realize there is no such thing as instant gratification unless maybe you're like hoing weeds or cleaning pens where you, you got the weed and okay, instant gratification, right? But, but when it comes to a crop, this is a six to nine month journey when it comes to raising a calf, again, that's a six to nine month journey. There's nothing, nothing worth having ever comes easy. And so you really do have to be focused on the long game. And so that has really aided me in business because I will tell you, I've gone through periods where it feels like for a year, 12 months straight, we didn't necessarily have any short term wins. But I, and so then you wonder, man, I'm putting out a lot of effort. What am I really getting back? But I know I'm building that foundation that someday in the long term, I'm going to have a solid foundation that I'm going to be able to build this incredibly sturdy business on because there's gonna be no cracks in this foundation, even though it feels like I may be, I'm running around in circles right now and I'm not necessarily making an impact.

Jessie Jarvis [00:29:41] I'm, I'm building the, you know, that bottom layer of what is going to be a, a big long-term success.

Vance Crowe [00:29:49] I totally agree with you that agriculture has a different sense of time. In fact, like I think about this a lot, that if you're a person living in the city and you wake up in the morning and your apartment or your house is air conditioned, you go to your heated or cooled garage, you get in that vehicle, it's heated and cooled, you drive to an office, you know, it doesn't matter to you if it's raining, it doesn't really matter what month of the year it is, maybe that has some small impact on the traffic. But that by, by pulling human beings away from nature, their experience of time and what they should expect within that time is, is like so radically changed that it's actually a different culture. How does that sit with you?

Jessie Jarvis [00:30:33] No, I completely agree. And I think too, I mean I can, I'm not a, a nerd as far as like our bodies, but I cannot imagine that that's necessarily good for our natural rhythms either.

Vance Crowe [00:30:46] Yeah, I mean, I personally, I remember I moved to California and I was living in this place that was absolutely beautiful. It was like the best spring or fall day that you can imagine for like 365 days a year. And at first I loved it. It was like, this is awesome. But then I started to feel extremely restless and very uncomfortable because there wasn't a changing of the seasons. And I had grown up in small town, the Midwest where there's very clearly four seasons, and that rhythm, you know, made me feel a part of things. And so if you're living in a major city or you're living in a climate that's just perfectly beautiful and, and Mediterranean it, I don't know if it's, I don't think it's okay to say that it's bad, but it's definitely different and it puts you in a different timescale. And like you had said, if you're, if one group is building long term and another one is immediate gratification, these, these people are after different interests.

Jessie Jarvis [00:31:42] Oh, absolutely. Well, and I think too, like the, how that works as far as the body, like you said, it's not necessarily bad, but I don't necessarily think that it's, it allows us to live at our fullest potential. Like we need light in our eyes first thing in the morning. We need fresh, not filtered, you know, room air. And you do, you have to be around like allergens and pollen and all of those things to, to again, like get your body used to it. Like we have to, I don't, again, I don't wanna sound like I'm some hippie because I'm not, but like you do have to get back to nature for your body to, to really live to its fullest potential. I think

Vance Crowe [00:32:22] There is a famous drawing by a guy named Stewart Brand called Pace layering. And Pace layering describes like how fast do things change. So on the very core, right, nature changes very, very slowly. And then on top of that you have culture, which changes a little bit faster than nature. And then on top of that you have governance and then you have commerce. And each one of these, as you go out out of the circle, it goes faster and faster until you get to the layer of fashion. And fashion is moving really fast, right? And it's going in all these different directions. It goes backwards and forwards and around in circles. And I think that that strikes me with you because you're talking about living in a world where time is much slower, but you are also in the world of fashion, which changes its speed and tempo and direction all the time. What it, what draws you to fashion? Why is that something you connect with?

Jessie Jarvis [00:33:18] I think that that is probably accurate with the exception of the Midwest because I will tell you that anybody in rural America knows what is, what is cool and what is fashionable on the coasts. So like New York and LA maybe two and a half years later is gonna come to rural America. So I don't know what that is. Maybe it's because we don't like change, but fashion on the coast moves at a completely different speed than it does in the middle of America, which is kind of interesting.

Vance Crowe [00:33:46] I have a hypothesis about that and I think it's, tell me, I think it is that ideas move faster depending on the density of population. And the way that I think this is, there's a study done at the Santa Fe Institute where they found out you can track people walking a hundred meters and how fast they're walking. You can determine within 10,000 people how dense their city is. So it's because like people living in more dense places move much faster and it's because there's so many more networks, so many more ideas popping all around back and forth. But,

Jessie Jarvis [00:34:17] Well, and I think, oh, go ahead. I was just gonna say on the set of fashion too, I think that when you see other people wearing it, like the first time you're like, oh, that's interesting. And then the next time you see you're like, oh, okay, I've seen that once before. But then as more people, as you see more people wearing it, then you're like, oh, well that's gotta be what's in and what's trending. But again, in rural America, far less dense in population, far fewer people wearing it. You may be, you may be see somebody wearing it today, you may see that same trend not for another four months and then not for another four months after that. Like it's, again, it's the the time in which you see that and then adopt that as, oh, this is what's in now.

Vance Crowe [00:34:58] How do you keep track of what's in now? Is it what you see other people wearing? Are you tracking through magazines or how does it do or

Jessie Jarvis [00:35:05] Yet yes and no. So I am somebody who, and I will say while I may be fashionable, if you will, I have not always been this way. I remember when I was in middle school and I wore my hair in the same slicked back bun every single day, and I wore the same gray hooded sweatshirt to school every day. To the point where my dad told me, if you wear that hoodie to school again today, I will burn it. Like I was a tomboy of all tomboys. And I still am obviously, you know, being around ranch things, it's not like I wear high heels every day by any means. In fact, that's not my thing at all. But it wasn't actually until I worked for our state cattle association. And so part of my role was we would go down to the state house during the legislative session and every woman there was wearing the same black pants suit. It didn't matter if she was a senator, if she was a representative, if she was a lobbyist, if she was, you know, just talking that day, whatever it was, everybody was wearing the same black suit. And I was like, man, you guys all look the same. And I was really proud to be there in representing Idaho cattle producers. And so I wanted to look like the cowgirl that I was, so I would wear cowboy boots or I would wear a turquoise necklace or you know, whatever. It was something that kind of dressed up what I was wearing and made people realize like, oh, she's here on behalf of the state's cattle producers. And that was kind of where that love of fashion kind of, kind of came from, if you will. And I also think too, I was out of college and you know, when you're in high school, you're dependent on your parents' money

Vance Crowe [00:36:38] For

Jessie Jarvis [00:36:38] What you can and can't buy for the most part, right? When it comes to clothes and in college chances are you're not buying any new clothes because you're living off ramen. So then when you, when you first step out into the world and you can really like make your own decisions and you're responsible for what you're purchasing and, and so that was, that was definitely where my love of fashion really bloomed. But to get back to your other, your original question of, of how I determine, you know, what's cool or what's in, I really like to look unique, so I'm not necessarily as focused on what's trending just because if it's trending, everybody's wearing it and if everybody's wearing it and then I'm wearing it, I don't necessarily look any different than anybody else. And so it goes back to that same idea of everybody at the state house wearing their black pants suit. If I am wearing the same trend that everybody else is wearing, that's me and my sea of black pants suits. So I really focus on wearing stuff that I like, whether it is trendy or not, and wearing stuff that like, makes me feel good in my body. So that's something if like trends, for instance, maybe a trend isn't flattering on my body. Well if it's not flattering on me, if it makes me feel frumpy or you know, it doesn't make me feel like I'm looking my best, then that's not gonna bring me confidence. So for me personally, I really like to focus on what is going to flatter my body type. Like how, how am I going to feel like I'm looking the best and then how am I going to look a little bit unique?

Vance Crowe [00:38:07] Yeah, and there's an interesting tension in, in that because like, you wanna look unique, but to be fashionable isn't just to be different, right? You still have to fit within whatever the Overton window is of acceptable ideas. You might want to be on the edge of that, but like, you don't wanna be outside of it, right? You

Jessie Jarvis [00:38:25] Don't wanna be way too out

Vance Crowe [00:38:25] There. Yeah, yeah. You could be really unique in a lot of different things. That's what's so interesting about fashion is because there, the, the way to do it is to have some sort of a constraint. There's some something there that keeps you within the bounds of what other people will think is, you know, looks good or looks like it fits, but then also to be stretching and to push that line, that's a takes a special kind of mind.

Jessie Jarvis [00:38:49] Oh, absolutely. And I think you're right, like it is, it's, you know, it's what is in, but then I wanna push a little bit further. Like, I don't necessarily wanna get completely outside of the box that we're coloring in. Maybe my, maybe my crayon goes outside the lines, but I'm not just gonna start way outside the lines. You're you're absolutely correct on that. But I think too, when it comes to like western fashion, right? We all kind of have this idea of what a cowgirl looks like and you know, I really like retro type stuff, so maybe things that were really popular in like the 1950s or the 1960s, like the little smile pockets on a shirt or things like that that the day elevens of cowgirl used to wear that it's still western and it's still really cool, but it's just not trending right now. So if I, you know, if I'm able to find a, and honestly like if I, I can go shopping at, you know, Macy's or Dillard's or Nordstrom and, and a lot of those like cowgirl styles, they might have that little smile yolk on a shirt or the little pocket and then so I can wear something that, hey, this has a nod to western and it, you know, so it makes sense, but it's different than what other people are wearing.

Vance Crowe [00:39:58] So you're a parent and you have children. Do you desire that your children are fashionable or you put them in the latest trends?

Jessie Jarvis [00:40:07] No, not at all. I am notorious for, I will go to Target and buy the $3 basic t-shirt for my kids, and that is what they live in. And, and again, it's almost like, you know, and you probably won't relate to this as much as maybe your female audience will, as oftentimes you're really good at doing your own makeup or your own hair, but you, if, if your wife was to say, Hey, can you do my makeup? Or Hey, can you do my hair? I wouldn't know the slightest thing of, of what to do. Like I know how to, I know how to do my makeup, I know how to do my hair, I know how to dress. For me, I don't necessarily get overly excited about dressing my kids. Like I want them to look good and presentable and cute, but like, I want my own my daughter to find her style herself. Like again, I just go back to like, oh, let's get this basic, this basic black T-shirt, put it on, put on some cute shoes, you're headed out the door, like you've got your pants on your shoes, your shirt, you, you can walk into the grocery store, you're fine.

Vance Crowe [00:41:02] Yeah. And there's something like that's, that is very adult about fashion and being noticed for what you're wearing. These kinds of things seem like. Yeah, because if it's an expression of you, there's something really important in, in like you have to have a sense of your own self. What is the benefit, like when you think, hey, I wanna look unique, I wanna fit in? What, what benefit has being into fashion been for you?

Jessie Jarvis [00:41:31] Ooh, you know, I think that it's definitely a place that has allowed me to really find and create a lot of confidence. And again, it's part of like, you look like everybody else, but you look a little bit different, right? So you're, there's a little bit of like uncomfortableness in that because you're going to, to draw more attention to yourself, but that is then potentially going to create some more confidence. It's kind of like stepping on stage, right? You can go to an event and you can sit in the room and nobody's necessarily gonna notice you, but when you step on stage, you're going to take a lot more of that, of that notice. And so in order to do that, you have to have confidence. And so I think that fashion is one of those things that just daily allows me to flex that confidence muscle because like any muscle you have to put in those reps, confidence isn't something that you're just born with one day and you're gonna have it for the rest of your life. You consistently have to create it. And you know, just like working out and pumping reps at the gym, like you have to continue to build that. And so I think that allowing, I've allowed fashion to help me create that inner confidence as far as not putting myself out there. Not, not too drastically by any means, but just knowing like people may be looking at me and, but it's a good thing. Like it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Vance Crowe [00:42:52] So when you look back on, you know, photographs of the last five years, 10 years, is it inevitable that you will feel a sense of like, ugh, what was I thinking? Or do you, do you still have the context that makes it so like, yeah, I was confident there and I should have been,

Jessie Jarvis [00:43:09] You know, again, I think though, because I'm not necessarily somebody who worries about trends, I feel like if you're constantly wearing trends, then yes, you're like, oh man, I can't believe I fell for that trend, right? But I've always just really worn what I was drawn to and a lot of the stuff that I wore 5, 6, 10 years ago, I still have in my closet today and I still wear it. Like the shirt is one of them, right? So I think that because I, I really do, like, I know who I am and I'm always true to myself. Whether that's what's cool or what's not cool that I like, that keeps me grounded in that way.

Vance Crowe [00:43:43] You mentioned that the motif, you were like, yeah, I mean everybody can picture the western, you know, cowgirl kind of motif. But actually I don't think that, I think that that if, if you and I were to draw whatever that, you know, is mine would look really different than yours and most of the people in let's say urban and suburban environments would have a radically different view than you. So how would you describe that kind of archetypal western woman?

Jessie Jarvis [00:44:13] Ooh, you know, that is a good question and it's definitely one that changes through the ages, right? So I think that like Western has always been cool in my mind, but Western was really cool back in like the forties, fifties, and sixties because when you think about what te television shows were available to people, it was the gun smokes, it was the Bonanzas and the, you know, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Like that's what people watched on tv. So it was, and and again, people weren't as far removed from farms and ranches and cowgirls and horses and agriculture. So I think that that that cowgirl, she's definitely a lot different than she is today as far as what is worn. But one thing that's really interesting is I think the cowgirl spirit, regardless of if, if it of, if it is today in 2024 or if it was in 1944, is the same thing. And I think that, you know, women who are have grit and they're willing to take risks and they're willing, willing to be courageous even when they don't necessarily feel courageous and they can do anything that they put their minds to. Like, that is the cowgirl spirit. And I think that that is something that definitely has remained unchanged, if you will. But as far as clothing goes, I think that it's different, you know, a cowgirl, maybe she's wearing a hat, maybe she's not, you know, maybe she's in in boots and pants and she's getting ready to catch a horse, or maybe she's in a dress and she's walking into the boardroom. Like that is one thing that, that I really do think is cool about America and about cowboys and cowgirls, is you can still have that inner cowboy or cowgirl and you, whether you're on the ranch or in an ag business or walking down Wall Street.

Vance Crowe [00:45:56] It's so funny you mentioned the inner cowgirl. So my oldest child is a girly girl, right? Like the, the tears that were shed this morning was that her stick on earrings fell off in the night and she just couldn't, you know, couldn't comprehend that she didn't have her earrings on. But just the other night I was, I was showing her mutton busting. 'cause I thought we have a little book. One of our, my listeners sent it to us about Cowboy Cody and he rides on these muttons. So I was like, I'm gonna show this to Violet. And Violet was absolutely appalled. She had no interest whatsoever in riding on this, on this sheep, you know, 'cause for anybody that doesn't know, they put these kids in like a helmet and like this padded jacket. And then they get them on all fours on the sheep and then they let it out and it just goes crazy. And the kids can ride for eight, 10 seconds, something like that. So I was like, all right, I'm about to shut this off. I'm gonna probably give her nightmares. And she sees the cowgirl that's holding the buckle and she is like, who is that? And just absolutely exploded with this. And I was like, you, you wanna know who the cowgirl is. And she wanted to like stop freeze frame on it. So I don't really know where to go with this other than to say like, there is something deeply appealing to people about or to, to young women about this motif. And it was so natural. My, my daughter had never seen that before.

Jessie Jarvis [00:47:19] Violet is gonna be a rodeo queen. We, we now know this. There is no doubt in my mind. In your mind. No. You know what's so in, what's so interesting is I think especially little girls are so enamored with unicorns and horses, which is the, you know, the real life version of a unicorn and, and Barbie and her cowgirl nature. And you know, it's funny, I went actually to go stock up on some t-shirts for my children and I was shopping online and I had typed into Google toddler girl band tea. 'cause I was like, maybe I shouldn't get something that's just basic. Like maybe we could get a graphic on this. And I was kind of expecting like rolling Stones or you know, pink Floyd type shirts to show up. And I was absolutely shocked at the number of cowgirl oriented shirts that came up, like toddler girl band tea that has nothing to do with a cowgirl. And I'm not talking like, it wasn't Dolly Parton and Shania Twain on these shirts either. It was, you know, Barbie on horses and girls on horses and cowgirl spirit. And, and it really made me realize, one, how cool is it that little girls almost everywhere have this desire at some time in their life to be around horses or to be a cowgirl? That is something that is so special. And I, I hope that our industry does, does them proud. And I hope that we, that we give them as many touchpoints as they can with that. Because I think, man, what an opportunity that, that has the potential to be lost if we, if we don't get to share that with them.

Vance Crowe [00:48:56] Yeah, I mean, my children have had very, very little contact with actual animals, but I have so many listeners and friends can Candace and Dan Plummer, I should throw their names out there. They send me videos of their sons roping steers and, and my daughter just absolutely loves this. And there's something like almost magical about that connection that I don't know if it's little girls or just children have with this like cowboy lifestyle because there's nothing that says like, you know, the cowboy is, is like naturally intrinsic to being a child, but they, they're my kids at least are completely drawn to it.

Jessie Jarvis [00:49:36] You know, and I will, I will challenge that and say, I don't think it's just little kids. I think it is everybody. Because I will tell you anytime that I get into an Uber and the Uber driver says, oh, what do you do for a living? And I tell them that I'm a rancher. I blow their minds half the time. They have never met a rural rancher in life. And I've never ever had an Uber driver that said, oh, that is so unfortunate, right? I believe this negative story about agriculture that I see online or read online or hear online or in the news or tv, everybody is absolutely floored by the fact, wait, you're a rancher, like with cows. How cool is that? Like I really do think that everybody has this like inner cowboy or cowgirl within them that is at some point in, in their, in their history, like they've wanted it to come out.

Vance Crowe [00:50:31] I, I think that's probably fair. I mean, I think that there's, you know, like we as Americans definitely have a strong connection with that Western motif. And there's something like in all the, the words you were using to describe the women, I think men want to have those things, grit and confidence. I think those are all, they're all correct. What do you think the big issues are right now for, you said mentioned that employers are like looking for employees. They're, they're struggling. Where is the big growth coming in ag in the rural world right now?

Jessie Jarvis [00:51:01] You know, that is tough because we've obviously, again, post COVID had this great migration of people moving to rural America. And a lot of the reason of that is because companies went remote. So you could live anywhere and you could still work for this company and you, you know, you got to have your cake and eat it too, or the best of both worlds. But while that allowed people to, you know, buy homes in rural America and move their families to rural America, that didn't necessarily add to the jobs in rural America because again, these people are still working remote, you know, for the companies that they previously worked for. But one of the things that I've really noticed is we do, we have this interesting, like, dynamic, if you will, because we have people moving to rural America who aren't from rural America, which is great. We need more people, but people who were raised in rural America are leaving rural America and moving to more populated areas. So yes, I guess we could be netting our population, but one of these things that we also see in addition to this great migration is people from rural America who are leaving rural America and who, who are not bringing their families back necessarily. I know, you know, we live in a, a local community. I was raised here, our operation has been here since the 1940s. Both my dad, myself, and now my children have gone to the same school. It's a K through 12 school system all in one building. And, you know, we have a, our town and the, the number of people, the population here is continuing to decrease. And a lot of that is because there's not enough jobs here in our area to where we can bring in new people.

Jessie Jarvis [00:52:37] And we also have this, you know, this new found group of retirees who have moved in, which is great. 'cause then, you know, they can volunteer for things, but because they are retired, they, they don't need the job aspect, but then they're not necessarily bringing new kids into the school system. And, you know, so while I love retirees, like we, we in our specific area have really lost this model of the traditional family who, both parents have a job in town and their kids go to the school system. And like, but, and the, the whole point of me bringing, bringing that up is because of that, I feel like we've kind of lost this sense of community because, you know, retirees aren't necessarily going to support the high school in their games and, you know, they're not going to basketball games and football games. And, and then we just have this disconnect because again, in order to have this community, you have to have people involved and engaged at all levels on the job side, on the housing side, on the school side, on the events side and the sporting side, you know, whatever it is. Like it, it's this, this perfect little full circle. And that's one thing that our specific area I have really noticed in the last five to 10 years has unfortunately lost.

Vance Crowe [00:53:49] Yeah. Once that birth rate drops off and you don't have those young parents that are involved, then that totally changes the makeup of a community. I was just out in Visalia, California, which is this, it's in the Central Valley and there are huge dairy operations, like bigger dairy operations than I'd ever seen in my life. And, and the result of this is that because those dairy operations are there, they need a lot of workers. And this many employees just doesn't happen in, in central Illinois where I grew up, you know, you only need a few people out there driving giant tractors. And so the result of having this many employees that are in this like lower middle to middle income role is that the town of Visalia is vibrant. They've got a movie theater, they've got places for people to shop. They've got all kinds of restaurants, which then creates the rest of the economy for other jobs and businesses. I was walking down this street and I was like, this is what we've lost in our country. Everyone wants this small downtown. This is, everybody wants a place where they can have plenty of space in their own, you know, yard, backyard, whatever. But then they have a place where they can congregate and come, but we just don't have the density in rural areas to be able to make that work in the way that it used to.

Jessie Jarvis [00:55:12] No, we don't. And I will, Visalia California, one of my friends, Shane Holman, she owns a boutique envy boutique that has a storefront there. So you probably walked right past it. No, you're, you're spot on. And, and one of those things too that's really interesting is you have to have more than one business, right? If there's a little downtown area and there's one store there, you're gonna get some people to stop. But if there are three and four and five and 10 stores, then it becomes a destination and people are willing to hit those breaks and find a parking spot because there's more than one thing to hold their attention. And it is then become a destination. And that is something that we really need to focus on as we want to grow our, you know, those rural towns and, and really focus on, we can't just have one business even though we have like businesses. That's actually really important because again, that's what will, that is what will help make people stop and then they'll put their money into your town. And then obviously we know what happens then, right? All good things.

Vance Crowe [00:56:14] So when people are advertising for jobs on your site, what types of jobs are they advertising for? What are you noticing as a trend there?

Jessie Jarvis [00:56:23] You know, so we, one of the things that we pride ourselves on is we have jobs from anything in agriculture in western industries. You can find it on of the west if you're looking for a farm hand or a ranch hand or eloping position at a, you know, a stable or for a horse trainer. Or if you are searching for that entry level job right out of college or maybe a C-suite position, or the executive vice president role for various companies. We have had all of it on the site because we know that everybody is in a different stage of life. And so you do have to have a little bit of something for everybody in order to bring people where you want them. But that being said, when you say trending jobs, I will say marketing, holy cow marketing positions probably get 10 times the applicants that other positions get. And as you can imagine, remote opportunities get about 10 times the, the applicants that a traditional in office position will get. So if there is ever a remote marketing position on the site, holy cow, those things have often been filled in the first few days just based sheer on the volume of the applicants.

Vance Crowe [00:57:28] That's, that's incredible. But I can totally understand it. I mean, the difference between having a marketing person and not is huge. But then the difference between an a marketing person and a b marketing person is night and day. It's, it's like completely different. The, a marketing person can make things happen that you didn't even imagine possible. And the b marketing B level person, you need 10 of 'em just to keep up with the, the one that's an a.

Jessie Jarvis [00:57:55] Well, and I think that's one of those things too that we've seen in agriculture is half of those companies who are hiring for those marketing roles, they already have marketing teams or departments, and they're really doubling down on that because they see the impact of good marketing and they realize that it is a science, it's not just something that anybody can do. And so they are are making more opportunities on those teams because they, they're also looking to the, to the future and they're, they're seeing that man marketing is going to continue to be crucial to what it is that we do. The other type of person that I see is those companies who, they hire their administrative assistant and they said, oh, by the way, can you just post on social media for us too? And now they're realizing, wait a minute, the administrative assistant, while she is fabulous at what she does, doesn't necessarily have the science or the, like the actual, the know-how. This isn't something that we can just be having anybody do. We really have to have some strategy behind this. So maybe the, maybe the administrative assistant is also moving into that role and she's opening up her, her past or his past administrative assistant role, and that's what people are hiring for. But the point is, a lot of companies have realized you can't just throw marketing on somebody's desk and know that it's going to work because there is so much strategy behind it. So that's kind of those two areas that I see is those larger companies making more room in those departments or on those teams and then those smaller businesses realizing, okay, we've actually gotta get a dedicated person for this because we see how valuable it is.

Vance Crowe [00:59:25] Yeah, one of my favorite lines about marketing was half of my marketing is completely wasted and the other half works really, really well. I just don't know which half it is.

Jessie Jarvis [00:59:36] Oh, I feel that, honestly, it's one of those things that is consistently changing. And so it, because of that, it can be really hard to develop strategy behind it or it, it's kind of like kids what worked now they've, you know, in their next three months of how their body and how their mind has changed and grown. Now that's not working anymore. And so you're constantly having to, I don't wanna say reinvent the wheel, but just continue to, to work and to grow and to, to redevelop that.

Vance Crowe [01:00:03] Yeah. And that goes right back to where we started in the beginning where we talked about how it's so hard to put effort towards something that's just going to go out into the world and it's gone, right? You just, you've, you spent all this time to put it out there. Maybe it does, well, maybe it doesn't, maybe it does well, but it doesn't result in any kind of a sale. And maybe you have all of this interaction, but does it reflect back and bring you those sales? And so having a person that is dedicated, they're sitting down every single day and that's what they're focused on, not delivering the product, not, you know, all the other things that go into running a business. So I can understand that. What is a, what is a marketing person in, in ag? What, what's their salary band? What do they hope to make?

Jessie Jarvis [01:00:48] You know, that's a great question. And again, it, it depends just like all other sectors of the industry, I would say it's going to depend on, you know, the geographic location where they're at, you know, the type of company that they're working for. Again, if it's a large company, if it's a small company, it, it honestly varies so much that I can't even give you like a base to and, and feel confident in sharing that just because it changes everywhere.

Vance Crowe [01:01:17] I think one of the interesting things about marketing that didn't used to be true, I mean, when I was in college, you could be a work for a marketing company and you're putting ads on newspaper or radio or television and it's just like, whew, gone. But now you can actually see is the marketing that you're doing getting impressions? Is it getting, drawing people to your website? You can use promo codes, you can, you know, the, when you get into the world of like tagging people that visit your website, it's like you can watch exactly what's happening. And so there's gotta be a huge divide between people that have delivered results and people that, that haven't.

Jessie Jarvis [01:01:55] Well, and I think too, it's one of those things that is, especially 'cause obviously we've seen more of a move towards online marketing, right? Whether that's social media, websites, paid advertising, but we still do have this method of print advertising. But I think that one of those reasons that you are, you're absolutely correct and, and why people like online marketing so much is there's a lot more as far as data and analytics that can prove the ROI when it comes to print media, not necessarily as much. Yes, you can have a QR code and you can track that link or you can, you know, have a special URL and, and, and you can, you can definitely track things, but it's much easier to do on the online side of things just because then you kind of own that contact. And so I think that that's one of those things and, and reasons that we've seen that shift for sure.

Vance Crowe [01:02:45] So how did you get of the West to have the sort of, I mean, huge name recognition that you've done? What, what marketing path did you go down?

Jessie Jarvis [01:02:55] You know, I will say two things. Having a personal brand absolutely set us up for success. If I would not have had the personal brand prior to launching of the West, who knows where we would be today. And, and that again kind of goes back to the beginning of this conversation where just continuing to, you know, to water and fertilize this community that I had created really, really benefited me just because that then they knew that everything that I had shared up with them up until then was something that was good. It was something that was quality. It wasn't something that was, you know, a scam or it was a quick fix. And so when of the West came to be, they knew that, well, if Jesse's gonna put her name on this, she's gonna do a good job with it. And so I'm thankful that they believed in me because I will tell you that without them who knows where we would be today. But I will also say that when it comes to marketing, I don't know if anybody's ever read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller. If you haven't and you are into marketing or you're, you're looking at changing your marketing, I cannot recommend it enough. So basically it's the psychology behind how you market. And it, and I think actually maybe Vance, you and I talked about this on the episode that you did on our podcast with, it's this store, it's the, the guide and the hero. And in our marketing, we really try to be the hero, right? We, we but the person, our customer, they are the hero and we are the guide.

Jessie Jarvis [01:04:25] And so it's the psychology behind like how movies are developed in the storyline. All movies, whether it's comedy or you know, romance or an action movie, they all have the same storyline. There is the hero and there is this guide and, you know, we may have our pitfalls and our high notes, but it's, it's how the, the hero and the guide or working together and, and getting their end results. So building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller is basically the framework of how you develop your marketing message to where you switch from trying to be the hero of the story and you put the customer as your hero, and then you are the guide helping them solve their problems and getting them to where they're going. You're basically the Obi-Wan Kenobi, if you will. But I highly recommend anybody who, whether you've read the book or honestly read it again, we read it often. We use that framework for of the West. But it also really goes back to simplifying your message. And I know we kind of talked in the beginning of this episode about being the noise and not necessarily contributing to noise. Simplifying your marketing message is crucial because we make things too complex and you really do have to, who was this was it, you're gonna have to help me out with this, but who made the commercials about like, even a caveman knows how to do it.

Vance Crowe [01:05:44] Oh yeah. What was it? Is that Geico? No. Yes,

Jessie Jarvis [01:05:48] I think it was Geico, but yeah, you, you, we really do, like, we need to dumb things down. And I don't mean dumb things down like because people are stupid, but we way overcomplicate things and we need to bring it back to that 99 level very simple message, make it easy to understand. Because as much information as people are seeing in a day, the simpler the better. If they have to think too hard about it or think too long, they're on to the next thing. But if you can easily articulate what it is that you do, how you solve the problem, what is the, what is the ramification of if they don't use your product, that's all you need. Those, those three pieces.

Vance Crowe [01:06:29] Yeah, I think one of the hardest lessons to learn in marketing is really difficult for me is that we intuitively sense that people want choice, but the reality is they don't want choice. What they want is just, like I said, I don't want the choice on what I do at, at work. I want somebody just to tell me what to do. My life is so complicated, I wish somebody just came along. And that's the difference between let's say like Instagram and TikTok, is that TikTok figured out how to build an algorithm that takes away choice, but still gives you the thing that you want. And so it's, that's why TikTok is just crushing it, because it's just fitting into what do I want? Just give me the thing that I want and I'll be happy with it. Whereas we, the marketer in us says, Hey, I'm gonna give you, you know, 50 different kinds of ketchup and all the different options that you can have here. But the choice, the number of choices that we have in life are just so astronomical that we want our lives simplified. But for, it's so difficult for me as, as a, as a person talking about what I'm doing, not to be like, oh, I have this choice and I have this choice and I have this choice.

Jessie Jarvis [01:07:36] Decision fatigue is a real thing. And there is a reason that I go to Jimmy John's and I order the number four and I pay, and I walk down to the end. And by the time I get there my number four sandwich, which was I didn't make any choice in 'cause they didn't give me a choice is done. And I'm back in my car and I'm on the road. Like, we do want less choice because we have to make so many choices throughout the day. You're spot on there.

Vance Crowe [01:08:00] Well, Jesse, I feel like you were like a really amazing host when I watched your podcast. What can people expect when they come to your podcast? Who do you talk with and, and what do you talk about?

Jessie Jarvis [01:08:15] Yeah, so we talk a little bit about everything, which I will say you can't necessarily be everything to everybody, so I fully recognize that. But one of the things that we do pride ourselves on is we, you know, we talk with people from across the ag and western industries, so all of the people that that of the West represents, we do kind of focus it more on business and careers just because I felt like there was a void there as far as, you know, I wanna continue to see strong businesses and strong people in our industries. And in order to do that I wanted to provide those types of resources. So that's one of the things that of the West is known for. We do have a lot of great resources on our site when it comes to like hiring and finding jobs, but I wanted to take that a little bit further and how can we, you know, how can we just encourage better people and stronger people? And you know, I also think that there's a lot of relate relatable aspects that all of us have. And so just, you know, bringing those to the forefront. And you know, I think that that's, that's really where we have found our niche. So we do, we talk with employers, we talk with job seekers, we talk with entrepreneurs, we talk with, you know, farmers and ranchers and western sports athletes and a little bit of everybody just again, to, to have that relatable element for people. But I will say whether you know, the guest, whether you, whether you are familiar with them or not, there is something that can be learned from absolutely everybody. I think it's really important for people to listen to those who they're not familiar with. Oftentimes we, we do, we, you know, we're drawn to people we already know because we, you know, we kind of know what to expect.

Jessie Jarvis [01:09:46] But holy cow, the people that I didn't necessarily know prior to interviewing them, those are some of my favorite episodes just because I was able to learn so much. And, you know, whether, you know, maybe you're a farmer in Kansas and the, the episode is a western sports athlete from Washington. Like there is still something that can be garnered from their wisdom and there's still something that you can learn from them.

Vance Crowe [01:10:11] Well, from one podcast host to another, I know that there's always like an episode or a particular guest that that, that you have that you're like, if you only get one chance to tell somebody, Hey, listen to this podcast. 'cause it really is, is the one who's your guest, who's the, who's the one you're like, go check this episode out.

Jessie Jarvis [01:10:30] Oh, that is tough. That's a hard one. Okay. I will say Vance, your episode is really good, although people, people do know you. So that, that would be, that would definitely be one of them. But we had the opportunity to interview Pat Fitzgerald and he is somebody who, he is the CEO or EVP of the National Cowboy in Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma. And prior to that role, he actually worked for Disney and Apple. He was one of the VPs of iTunes. He brought podcasts to life. And the reason that he had that role was because he was actually at Disney prior to that. And Steve Jobs, who was on Disney's board of directors took him from Disney to Apple. Like the man is an absolute legend. And the fact that he has retired from corporate America and came back to rural America and now runs the National Cowboy in Western Heritage Museum was absolutely amazing. It was kind of a pinch me moment to have the man who was such a pillar in the existence of podcasts, being on the podcast. Like that was one of those definitely pinch me moment. But that is somebody who is a wealth of information and you know, most people haven't heard of him and the fact that he is, you know, in hidden in cowboy clothes in our industry, I think there are a lot of those types of people out there. And, and I do, I I love to really shine a light on those special individuals.

Vance Crowe [01:11:54] Well, I'll go check that out for sure. I've been to that museum and I would love to see, I, I would love to hear all about that. If people heard this podcast and they thought, Hey, I wanna be a part of Jesse's community, where would you recommend they go? How do they interface with you and the rest of the people that connected with you and of the West?

Jessie Jarvis [01:12:12] Yeah, absolutely. So across all channels you can find of the West at, oftheWest.co. So that's our web address, that's where we are on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. Me personally, I am at Mrs. J Jar, M-R-S-J-J-A-R-V. You can also find me@jessejarvis.com, but we're pretty easy to find. Oh, and then the podcast is Leaders of the West.

Vance Crowe [01:12:36] Well, Jessie Jarvis, thank you so much for coming on.

Jessie Jarvis [01:12:40] Oh, thank you for having me. Ah.