Community Highlights: Meet Linda Mark of Farmers Market Fairy LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Mark.

Hi Linda, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Linda Mark. I grew up on Long Island in New York, where I had dreams of becoming a professional singer/songwriter. I studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and had to support myself by working multiple jobs, one of which was working at a restaurant. It was by far the most fun, challenging, and rewarding job I’ve ever had (aside from what I do now). You will often hear me talking about how I learned the most valuable things I know about work ethic, multi tasking, and business from my tough as nails boss, Val. I did everything from washing dishes, to slicing meat, to serving, managing, and bookkeeping. When I realized I was merely tolerating the cold in Boston, I moved to Los Angeles. I continued to support myself by working in bars and restaurants, while half heartedly pursuing my music career. I’m not the best at self promotion, and trying to book shows was a really unpleasant experience. Eventually, I joined my drummer in running his SAT tutoring company. Needless to say, that was uninspiring, and I ended up making little to no money. At this point, I started brainstorming a way to make some money to supplement my income, and pretty much started Farmers Market Fairy out of desperation. I had a real love of food from growing up in New York and working in restaurants. I started shopping at farmers markets as soon as I moved to Los Angeles, and truly loved the experience of being outside, buying beautiful fruits and vegetables. It became clear to me very quickly that the produce at the farmers markets was far superior than what was sold at any grocery store. Friends would come over and be flabbergasted at my tomatoes and I’d hear them discussing their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes- which are really a terrific way to support local farms, but they don’t work for everyone. They’d tell me how they got a box full of melons and eggplant, which they hated. In the back of my mind, I thought- maybe I could shop for people and get them everything they actually need and want. I casually mentioned to my husband, Dave, one night at dinner that I had a thought about how I could potentially bring in some money doing something I really enjoyed. I thought he’d think the idea of doing personal farmers market shopping would be silly, but he was completely on board. I had no plan whatsoever. I made some fliers, hung them up in my building, printed business cards, dropped them off in buildings around my neighborhood, and at local butchers. I had intended for it to be more of a side hustle initially, but my friend/drummer/boss was pretty unsupportive, so I decided, fuck it- I’m going to make this happen. I started getting a small amount of press, and would get clients by interacting with other people at the market. Word of mouth started to catch on, which is now how I get most of my clients.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road, but it’s been more of a slow, winding road. I continued to work my other job for 3 years, while slowly acquiring one client at a time. I mean, SLOWLY. Sometimes it felt like I had sort of a make believe business with just a few clients keeping things going. I was finally able to quit the SAT company job when I felt like it was starting to interfere with my Farmers Market Fairy business. It was certainly a bit of a leap, but eventually, I had a solid amount of clients, and was even able to afford a vacation here and there. Flash forward to the pandemic. I experienced total whiplash. So many of my clients just dropped off. They didn’t want me to touch their food. Then within a matter of hours, I was inundated with messages coming at me from all angles. Texts, calls, emails, social media messages, you name it. People were really scared, and they wanted someone to go out into the world for them. At the same time, farmers markets also had so many restrictions, and I realized I couldn’t continue with my current business model, which was honestly pretty inefficient. So, I didn’t sleep for a couple of weeks, while I revamped everything. I hired an out of work friend, and just busted my ass all day, EVERY day. I thought it would be a Covid bump, but it actually hasn’t stopped. I’m the busiest I’ve ever been, but I’ve learned to manage my time better, which really just means that I work longer on some days in order to work less on others. I have systems for every little thing. I never thought I’d be so organized, and I really hate waking up early, but here I am, detailed as hell, and waking up at 4:30 in the morning. I still don’t enjoy the waking up part, but I only have myself to blame. I feel so fortunate to have the group of clients that I have now. They are all so passionate about food, and nothing brings me more joy than spending their money to support some of the most incredible farmers in Southern California (other than a nice, stiff cocktail). There have also been a variety of financial crises in Los Angeles over the past several years. Pandemic, strikes, fires. Farmers Market Fairy has somehow been able to survive everything so far. I never take that for granted, and am so grateful to be able to make a living doing what I do.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
What sets my business apart from others is that it is truly one of a kind, and quite old fashioned. It can be pretty grueling both physically and mentally, but it’s also extremely fulfilling. It has certainly filled the creative void of moving on from my music career. There is very little technology involved, because there just can’t be when it comes to hand selecting the best produce. I quite literally have my hands on everything. I’ve seen some tech companies with a lot of investment money behind them roll in and try to do a point and click type of purchasing website, but it never lasts. They either end up right back in the CSA model, or backing out altogether. It’s hard to be profitable selling produce. Companies cut corners, relying on deep discounts from farmers in order to help with their bottom line, and they pay their staff a minimal amount of money. There are no shortcuts, you have to put in the hard work, and honestly, not to sound cheesy, but you have to care. It’s like cooking. I always say, the secret ingredient is love. I am most proud of paying farmers full price for their hard work and incredible food, and my helpers a very good hourly wage.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.farmersmarketfairy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmersmarketfairy/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/farmers-market-fairy-los-angeles

Image Credits
Linda Mark/Farmers Market Fairy