A Love of Learning and a Passion for the Work, with Greg Peterson

by | Jan 13, 2021 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Episode 70:

“What if there was a garden and fruit tree in every yard?” This is a question that Greg ponders every day. For over 30 years he has been working on one of Phoenix’s first environmental showcase homes for urban farming. This 1/3-acre yard features a primarily edible landscape with over 70 fruit trees, rainwater and greywater harvesting, solar applications, and extensive use of reclaimed and recycled building materials.

Greg is a longtime permaculture advocate who flunked out of university in 1981 because he was bored, then went back 20 years later to earn a bachelor’s degree followed directly by a Masters in Urban and Environmental Planning in 2006. He is a lifelong continual learner.

Greg started his first business at the age of 15 cleaning and servicing fish ponds in Phoenix. From 1979 to 1984 he also owned 11 gift wrap centers in Phoenix malls. Then in 1984, he discovered the Macintosh computer and that sent him on a 20-year journey in technology that included the first laser typesetting business and Apple Authorized Training center in Phoenix plus he ran a software App company for 20 years. Since 1999 he has transitioned to urban farming education.

Greg is the creator of the Urban Farm Fruit Tree Education program in Phoenix Arizona which he began in 1999 when he discovered you could go into most nurseries and they would sell you a fruit tree that would never make fruit. Since then the program hosts thousands of people yearly in free online and in-person classes where they get to preorder fruit trees for planting in the low desert. Each year the program delivers thousands of fruit trees into the local Phoenix market.

Greg is also the host of the UrbanFarmPodcast.com that in just 5 years has released over 600 episodes amassing over 2.5 million listens to date. On his days off he hangs out in his garden with Heidi, his sweetheart, Kismet, his pooch, and their chickens, creating new projects and catching some rays.

What the podcast will teach you:

  • Why Greg sees himself as a “visionary” archetype rather than an “implementer”, and what kinds of hits and misses he has seen over the course of his career
  • How Greg turned his home into an “environmental showcase home” he calls The Urban Farm, where he teaches others how to grow their own food and create edible landscapes
  • Why Greg feels passionate about urban farming, understanding and mastering our food supply chain, and making an impact on others
  • How Greg is guided by a strong, clear Vision that keeps him motivated to make an impact, and how his Vision is helping his business grow
  • What key skills, knowledge, and structure Greg gained from joining the Elite Entrepreneurs community that have created a pathway to help him fulfill his vision
  • Why learning to hire, train, and fire based on the organization’s core beliefs was a transformative realization for Greg
  • How “having fun” became one of the core beliefs at Urban Farm, and why it has made a difference to the passion and energy at the organization
  • How Greg built a team that shares his passion, and what challenges he has faced throughout his career as a seven-figure business owner
  • Why learning to let go of some of the responsibility and trusting his team to manage things was a critical skill for Greg
  • What advice Greg would offer to any seven-figure business owner who is feeling pressured or uncertain about the future

Resources:

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