article Did We Really Just Prove It?

We’ve had a simple plan from the beginning:

Prove it in Chicago
Do it again somewhere else
Then take it across the country

Everything hinges on step one: prove it.

For us, that wasn’t abstract. It had a number attached to it.

$100,000 per month.

Not because it’s a big, flashy number.
Because it’s the point where this becomes sustainable.

Where MariKate and I can finally take a salary.
Where the business can stand on its own.
Where we stop digging… and start building.

Up until now, we’ve been self-funding all of it.

2025: The Year That Nearly Broke Us

Last year was hard.

We lost close to $200,000 between bird flu and a series of hits that just kept coming.

We didn’t have $200,000.

So we kept going. Took on more debt than I ever thought we would. Stretched things further than felt comfortable.

Because we believed we could get there.

But belief doesn’t extend your runway forever.

The reality is, we were running out of room.

If another major hit came… the next move would have been putting our home on the line.

We were prepared to do it. But we were also trying to find a path that wouldn’t require that.

The Light Was There… But the Path Wasn’t

What made this especially difficult is that we could see it working.

Customers were coming back. Orders were growing. The model made sense.

The light at the end of the tunnel was there.

But the path to get there was anything but smooth.

Potholes. Setbacks. Weeks where things felt like they were slipping backwards.

This Is What It Actually Looked Like

I want to show you something.

This is our revenue over time.

Blue = Online
Gray = Farm Market
Green = Farmers Markets

If you look at this… nothing about it is clean or predictable.

For a long time, it’s just grinding. Slow growth. Volatility. Ups and downs.

And then… something shows up that wasn’t part of the plan.

The farm market.

An Experiment That Changed Everything

The farm market started as exactly that… an experiment.

Not part of the financial model.
Not something we were counting on.
More of the “spiritual side” of Kakadoodle than the economic engine.

A way for people to come out, see the farm, connect to their food.

We thought it would support the business.

We did not think it would change it.

Then… It Did

People showed up.

And kept showing up.

What started as a simple weekend market turned into something much bigger, much faster than we expected.

And if you look at the chart… you can actually see the moment it kicks in.

Not gradually.

All at once.

We Crossed It

For the first time, Kakadoodle crossed $100,000 in monthly revenue.

The number we’ve been working toward.

The number that means this can work.

What $100K Actually Means

I want to be really clear about this.

$100,000/month does not mean we’ve made it.

It doesn’t mean there’s a bunch of extra money sitting around.
It doesn’t mean things are easy from here.

What it means is:

We can finally start paying ourselves
We can keep going without digging a deeper hole
And we have a real shot at building something that lasts

That’s it.

That’s what “prove it” meant for us.

What This Chart Really Shows

If anything, this chart reinforces something I keep coming back to:

We don’t have as much control as we think we do.

There was no version of our plan where we said:

“Farm market revenue will emerge and push us over the edge.”

We didn’t model it.
We didn’t predict it.
We didn’t build toward it in a deliberate way.

And yet… it’s one of the biggest reasons we’re here.

So What Do We Actually Control?

Not outcomes.

Not timing.

Not how things come together.

What we can control is:

Showing up every week
Taking care of customers
Working with farmers we trust
Continuing to experiment

And staying in it long enough for something to break in the right direction.

A Bit of Perspective

After the year we had… this feels like a gift.

Not in a vague way. In a very real, tangible way.

A moment where things finally moved in the right direction.

So… Did We Prove It?

I think the answer is:

Yes.

But not because everything went according to plan.

Because it didn’t.

And maybe that’s the point.

We’re just getting started. God willing.