Kim Kocsis is a farmer, a business owner, a mother and a U-Haul neighborhood dealer in Frenchtown, N.J. If you aren’t already impressed, she is also featured on the cover of Pink Tractor, a magazine about women in agriculture.
Though Kocsis isn’t one to seek the spotlight, she has earned it. She left her career as head teller at a local bank to help her husband and become a farmer.
“We were farmers without a farm,” Kocsis said. “We worked other farms until we purchased our own in 2015.”
Kocsis and her husband grow mulch hay that is used primarily as compost to grow mushrooms on a different farm in Philadelphia. Their native grasses are also used to help with sustainable and environmentally friendly erosion control.
Growing the business
The 160-acre property Kocsis and her husband bought had self-storage facilities on it, and Kocsis could see the potential of that business to help supplement their farm. But Kocsis knew she needed a way to drive more customers to their location for it to be successful.
“We’d never managed a self-storage facility, so I was looking for different franchise options to help promote our new business,” Kocsis said. “U-Haul was the best option because we knew it would bring in moving customers, which would help increase our self-storage business. Plus, there was no upfront investment to becoming a U-Haul dealer.”
Not long after she chose U-Haul, Kocsis was open for business as Delaware Valley Storage Farm and U-Haul Dealership. She was quick to thank the U-Haul Company of Central New Jersey team, including her former area field manager (and current reservation manager) Miriam Orama, current AFM Antejuan McMillan, marketing company president Jared Merlin and executive assistant Rose Muir.
“I relied on them a lot — and still do,” Kocsis said. “They guided me and were very helpful. They answered any questions we had about our self-storage business.”
In addition to becoming a prime location for U-Haul truck and trailer sharing, Delaware Valley Storage Farm also rents U-Box portable moving and storage containers.
She has it covered
Kocsis’s keen business sense and hardworking nature are securing a bright future for her family’s farm. Those traits made her the perfect candidate to be featured on the cover of Pink Tractor. Kocsis’s husband was eager to sing her praises.
“My husband saw a Facebook post by the magazine requesting nominations for female farmers to feature. He sent them a message about me,” Kocsis said.
Though she’s humble about her accomplishments, Kocsis appreciated the added exposure for the family business.
“It was exciting to be featured on the cover,” she said. “It’s just nice getting our story out there and letting people know what we’re about.”
