Legacy Farmer The Podcast

It’s common to hear farmers say that it’s hard to find good help. The truth of the matter is that they don’t have the correct incentives set up to draw in the right people. If you do have a solid team in place, it is important to ask them what incentives they want to help drive up their productivity and efficiency. Incentives completely depend on the person. Some people want money, some want shorter working hours, the list is endless.  Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

Not knowing your numbers, poor leadership, deterioration of relationships at home, are all great ways to rot your operation to the core. You can’t kick the big issues down the road and hope that they’ll just go away. They won’t, and the longer you do, the more painful it’ll be when you finally face reality. These issues and rot can even be seen in the banking industry, and it’s important for you to understand that when going in for a loan.   Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org 

You need to make a decision or the universe will decide for you. The longer you avoid handling problems or challenges, the more you’ll pay for them later on when you finally decide to take care of them. The consequences later will always outweigh the price of taking action today.     Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org 

As we approach the 7 year anniversary of my decision to leave the banking industry and go out on my own, I reflect on the greatest lesson I have learned. Have patience and trust God’s process. When things don’t go the way we expect, it is very easy to get sucked into the worry spiral. Every time things get rough, God always opens another door that we didn’t even know was there. We are all impatient and try to rush things when God just wants us to slow down and trust his timing.  Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

Sometimes, in business and life, there are doors we need to walk through that require a massive amount of courage. Some people get stuck behind those doors for decades, out of fear of stepping through them. When we attach all of those feelings to a driving force, it becomes much easier to generate the courage needed to do what needs to be done. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

There are 2 kinds of people in this world, one that makes decisions only based on price, and one that decides based on value. Those that decide only on price are stuck in a world of scarcity and will never be able to move beyond it. Those that focus on value can see the dividends paid out over years and even decades.   Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

Hope is not a strategy, knowing your numbers is all that matters. This will give you confidence in all your decision making. When working with our accounting arm of the business one of our members was ecstatic to find out that he would have his numbers available to him this year rather than next year, which allows for a level of planning that he has never had before. It allows you to be proactive rather than reactive. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

When you look at your business do you see chaos, or do you see a well-oiled machine? Chances are it’s chaos, and chaos leads to burn out. Business structure, clean books, loan management, tax strategy, and cash-flow management all counter the chaos and burn out. If you have chaos in your business life, chances are it has spread throughout all areas of your life.     Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

Some bankers want to control every single transaction happening on their line of credit. I once witnessed a banker decline money for an air conditioner in the middle of summer in Kansas, and it shook me to my core. As a customer, you need to be ready to fight those battles and justify any spending you see fit. You must always be armed with the right information to challenge them and push back. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

It is so important to know how the decisions you make today will affect your operation later on, down the road, and the only way to know that is by knowing your numbers. Our Farmer Metrics software has given our members a level of understanding and confidence in their numbers that they have never had before. We need to be looking at our numbers far more often than once a year.  Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

Most of us in the Ag community were raised to be kind, giving, helpful, and that you shouldn’t expect anything in return. This is great until you end up spending a ton of time working for free on the family farm to help family out. They have created the problems that they need help with, but it is not your problem to solve them. It’s hard to say “no” but you need to protect the time you have on this planet to accomplish what you want.   Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

We can all learn from other people’s mistakes without having to make them ourselves. We have had so many members have one bad year that they end up paying for over the next 3, 7, or even 20 years, without even realizing that is what they are doing. This is exactly what you are doing by terming-out your losses from one bad year over multiple years.    Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

We all have the assumption that when we move back to work on the family operation that one day we’ll take it over or at the least buy them out of the operation. This assumption holds true until we find out that the family member that we want to take over for or buy out is in massive, crushing debt. Until you see their numbers and cashflow, you know nothing about your family’s operation.    Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

We are conditioned to see mistakes as failure, but the truth is we should see them as the stepping off point in the journey that God has laid out for us. At least in making a mistake you are doing something and decisions are being made. There is so much power in just getting off zero and making moves to get your life where you want it to be. Mistakes are good because they always bring lessons and growth. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

If you are stuck in victimhood you will never achieve anything, all while wondering why good things won't happen to you. It’s easy to play the victim, it’s much harder to find, and learn the lesson in each situation. Once I stopped settling and started taking action everything started to fall into place and God rewarded me.   Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org  

Come the busy season all farmers and ranchers start to feel the pressure of all they need to get done. The problems come in when they bring all that stress and worry home with them. They fall directly into victim mode about all the first world problems they face, completely overlooking how good they have things and not realizing that there are millions of people in this world that would kill to have their problems.    Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

Many people in the Ag industry try their best to avoid hard and uncomfortable conversations, it’s just the kind of people they are. If you are not willing to have those difficult conversations, the underlying issues will just sit there and fester, and eventually destroy the relationship. There will be short-term pain, it’s unavoidable, but the long-term benefits will be massive.   Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

So often we get in our own heads with worries and negative thoughts. Speaking positivity to yourself and reassuring yourself that things will be ok, and that you can overcome whatever is thrown at you is far more beneficial. The latter can completely change the trajectory of your day. It may sound too simple, because it is, but it also works.    Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org   

So many times in family-run operations we just blindly trust the family members we are in business with and we dread even thinking about having the hard conversations with them about where the business actually stands. Sometimes you need to demand to have the hard conversations and force structure into the operation, because it’s your family and livelihood on the line too. Other Times, you need to walk away. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org

There are two types of people in life. Those that face the truth, expose it, and learn from it. Then, there are the people that hide from it, and ultimately become victims, and blame everyone else for their problems. Those that face the truth become leaders. Facing the truth hurts when you do it, it’ll piss you off, it’ll piss others off, but it needs to be done. Check out the Impact Legacy Farmer is having on the American Farmer here:  www.legacyfarmer.org