Episode #30
Bin it, bubbles and good in a crisis: real talk on building a rural life, with Louise Gibson
Louise Gibson is a self described side quest queen, and once you hear her story you understand why. She runs a consultancy, a co working space, an Airbnb and a 110 hectare dairy farm, all while raising two boys with her husband Keith. In this yarn she is refreshingly no bullshit about the things that shaped her, losing both her parents young, building toward farm ownership with no family handout, and learning when to back yourself and when to bin it. It is warm, candid, and full of golden nuggets for anyone building something of their own. In this episode - Why losing her parents young gave Louise a fierce sense that you get one shot at this - How she and Keith built toward farm ownership by doing up rundown properties, not by waiting for a handout - The number one thing people get wrong in share milking and contract milking - Why she keeps an emergency bottle of bubbles in the fridge - What sunshining your mistakes means, and why she shares her proud stuff ups online - The hills she will die on, from what contract milkers deserve to why farmers are greenies - How she thinks about Halter, AI and technology on farm without losing the human bit - Her secret sauce, and why a genuine crisis is exactly where she comes alive Five key takeaways - You get one shot, so get on with it. Louise lost both her parents before either of them turned 50, and it left her with a rule for life. You never know when the road ends, so stop clinging to what is not working and keep moving. - Bin it if it is making you miserable. Walking away is not failing. If something is genuinely making you unhappy, work out why you are hanging on, talk it out with someone, and give yourself permission to let it go. - Scope is the thing everyone gets wrong. In share milking and contract milking most fallouts come down to assumptions, where one party thinks the other is handling something and nobody does. Agree the scope, the feed budget and who pays for what up front, in writing. - You do not need a flash house to build a flash future. Louise and Keith lived in a rundown rented farmhouse while they bought and did up cheap properties, growing their equity their own way on the road to owning a farm. - Celebrate the small wins, even if it is just a glass of bubbles. They keep an emergency bottle in the fridge for exactly this. The tiny celebrations add up, and stopping to be proud of yourself is what keeps you going through the grind. Chapters - 00:00 Margaritas, and how Claire and Louise actually met - 01:20 Who is Louise: a hot mess shaped by her younger years - 02:15 Bin it if it is not working, and knowing when to let go - 03:34 The businesses today: Airbnb, Hayloft Hub, the consultancy and the farm - 04:40 The farm ownership journey and getting on the ladder - 06:18 Doing up rundown properties and building equity their way - 09:30 Share milking to contract milking, explained simply - 11:41 The number one thing people get wrong: scope - 16:20 Growing up milking, and losing her mum at 15 - 18:07 A dad who said yes to every opportunity - 20:05 Losing her dad, and the sense that you get one shot - 21:31 Grandma, and get on with it you jokers - 22:50 Parenting two boys, and treating kids as capable - 27:17 Marriage, shared goals and the emergency bottle of bubbles - 31:29 Proud stuff ups, and sunshining your mistakes - 33:43 Personal growth, counselling and the Barefoot Investor - 37:00 Dealing with people, and putting your hospo face on - 41:30 Finding her niche and building the consultancy slowly - 42:45 Build the plane as you are flying - 48:00 The rural household: midwives, car park babies and corporate farms - 53:47 Starlink, Halter and technology on farm - 55:54 AI as a decision support tool, not a job stealer - 58:32 The hills she will die on - 01:01:37 Her secret sauce: good in a crisis - 01:03:13 Every farm kid asking how they can add value - 01:05:28 Side quest queen: wrapping up Timestamps are based on the raw recording, so nudge them once the intro is trimmed in the edit. About Louise Louise Gibson is a Waikato based rural business owner, consultant and mum of two. Her main gig is Share Farming Consultants, where she helps share milkers, contract milkers and farm owners get their agreements right, and she has recently grown that into contracts, agreements and HR support. Alongside it she and her husband Keith run an Airbnb, the Hayloft Hub co working space in Morrinsville, and Bonnie and Brave Dairies, a 110 hectare dairy farm they bought last December. She lost both her parents young, built toward farm ownership without a family handout, and is a fierce, funny advocate for rural people and the next generation coming through.
