Everyone experiences some sort of fear from time to time.  

You might have a fear of heights, a fear of snakes, or maybe you have a fear of speaking in front of a group. 

Some of you might have inherited a farm and carry the fear of losing it (or not doing a good job with it). 

Fear is there to protect you, but sadly, it can also hinder you. 

So how do we fix it? 

The first thing is to welcome it (and not run away from it). It’s important to befriend your fear and accept it. 

If you face it, often your best life can exist just on the other side of it. But if you keep running away from it, then it seems you keep attracting situations in your life to deal with it. Not to mention all the unnecessary angst and worry you can place on yourself, which stops you from living a peaceful and happy life. 

Fear cannot exist if it weren’t for these two things: 

1. Your thoughts  
2. Time 

If you look under the surface, thinking is what creates the fear.   

This is why we refer to fear as “False Expectation Appearing Real.”   

You have an expectation that something might go wrong (even in 99% of cases, the fear or worry will never actually eventuate).  

Take presenting to a group as an example. You might fear that you’ll stumble and look stupid, so it is easier for you to simply not place yourself in that situation (more people fear this than almost anything else).   

If I said to you, “It’s your turn to jump onto the stage,” your mind goes wild, creating all of these stories, which produces fear. But, if I took away your ability to think, then you simply wouldn’t have had the fear.  

So, this proves that almost ALL fears are created in the mind (not in reality). So, control your thinking, and you can control not just your fear but also your life.  

One of the best things you can do to face your fear is to make quick decisions (before the fear sets in). It’s cliché but so true – feel the fear and do it anyway.  

Did you know that the number one fear humans have (most are unaware of this) is death? This is why time also impacts fear. If you knew you and your loved ones would live forever, you would be amazed at how many fears would disappear.  

Humans are designed to survive. It’s ingrained in us. This is why there is so much fear about running out of money when you are older or not having enough. Many people also worry a lot about their close loved ones dying, which creates a lot of suffering for themselves. 

Death is one reality that none of us can get away from, and the truth is, none of us really know when this day will come.  

So if you look at it, if you remove the fear of death (and find acceptance for this) and also really observe your thoughts, you can conquer your fear and lead a much happier life.  

I would say that fear is the biggest thing that holds anyone back from living their best life, so it really is worth doing some work on this.  

My biggest advice, live your life as though you know you won’t fail.  

Have a great week,  

Robbo 

Here is a summary of some of the biggest challenges and constraints for farm owners. How many relate to you?  

• You don’t have clarity (goals or direction) on where you are taking the business (leads to procrastination and an unhappy team). 

• You don’t really have your ‘pulse’ on the finances, and in turn, you ‘wing’ many decisions (leads to significantly lower profit and a distracted focus as you are unsure where to put your energy). 

• You are the business, and thus everything relies on you (leads to stress and burnout and an unhappy family). 

• You are in a family business, and succession is still unclear, or you are working with a sibling or parent you don’t get on well with (let’s face it, work can suck when you experience this). 

• You can’t find a good farmhand or team member, or the one you have isn’t any good (leads to more stress and frustration – ultimately burnout). 

• You don’t have enough scale, and you work your backside off for very little, or you can’t work out how to get the right scale (leads to wondering why you bother). 

• You love shiny new objects, and you keep changing your business model, or you are focusing on too many things in your enterprise mix, never really getting traction (leads to working hard, but never really getting a breakthrough). 

• You are simply not making enough profit for the risk you put in (leads to remorse and more frustration). 

• You are stuck on the tools all week and don’t have the time or the energy to do the office work (leads to a poorly run business and missing out on the best opportunities). 

The thing is, there is a solution to everything listed above.  

If we have missed a key challenge above, please let us know by replying to this email.  

The biggest issues we see is that most people are scared to admit they have a problem in the first place.  

Once you identify (then admit) you have a problem, you are 70% of the way to getting it sorted. But in order to get it sorted, you need to put your pride to one side and ask someone who has been there before you what they did. 

This is the fastest way to sort it out. 

I was completely stuck figuring out how to grow Farm Owners Academy until I rang another brilliant coach (way smarter than me), and in 1.5 hours, he was able to show me exactly what we needed to change to continue growing. I could have gone another three years stuck. This is the power of collaborating with other farmers rather than competing with them. And essentially, this is why Farm Owners Academy was born, to build a community of like-minded farmers that want to all share and help each other rather than compete. 

If you didn’t get the chance to watch the final video in our free 3-part training series, I go into a lot of depth about what keeps farmers where they are at.  You can watch it here.  

Have a great week, 

Robbo 

P.S. Once a problem is shared, it is 70% solved. 

We wanted to share a case study with you from a Platinum Mastermind client who went from a loss to almost $4 million in net profit in just a few years. 

Ben, Kate & Sam Taylor from Culara Farming in Condamine. 

We are also sharing this case study as part of video 2 in our free, 3-part training series. You can watch it here now.

Now, there is some seasonal impact in here, and it is easy to get caught up thinking that the majority of this change is all driven by the seasons – but you miss the real story if you do this… 
 

And you also close off to the opportunity to make big changes in your business performance too! 
 

What we love about benchmarking is that our clients get to see the changes in their results over time. 
 

Here is a snapshot of their last few years: 
 

• Revenue has increased from around $2 mil to over $6 mil per year 
• Net profit and business profit have gone from a loss to just shy of $4 mil per year 

The below summarises what Ben shared at a recent Business Summit workshop we ran (so these are his words and not ours): 
 

4 YEARS AGO: 
We were frustrated, confused, stressed, lacked clarity for the future and were in the middle of dealing with succession. While we already had the support of an agronomy team and felt we were timely in our key management decisions & generally operated a well-run day-to-day technical farm, we knew we needed to focus more on working ON the business and less IN the business to get where we wanted to be. 

Ben specifically knew he wanted help on how to become a better business owner and find more time to do what was important to him away from work. He wanted to make more considered business decisions based on data from tools and platforms, be a better boss, husband, father and person in general. 
 

WHERE ARE THEY TODAY: 
We are now operating a highly profitable business capable of generating wealth for our family now and into the future. 

KEY IMPLEMENTATIONS: 

• Worked on ourselves first – health, fitness, mindset, positive language, personal goals and desires, and gratitude. 
• Implementing the Farm Owners Academy templates – specifically the Clarity Action Planner (3 Page Strategic Plan document) – creating clarity and direction for the business, having consistent quarterly meetings to create flow and accountability (they implemented this after completing the Take Control program). 
• Roles and Responsibilities – Created a clear organisational chart, identified additional team members and embraced personality and skill differences. 
• Finances – Knowing their numbers….. they shared with other farmers that THERE MUST BE A CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO) IN YOUR BUSINESS!! (Not your accountant). 
• Succession/Transition – Get professional help. A solicitor and accountant combined with the leanings from Farm Owners Academy. 

WHAT HAS THE IMPACT BEEN?
We now run a business, not a farm! Opportunities for growth, success, wealth, and their very own Freedom Farm. 

FOUNDATIONS IN PLACE: 

1. Communication – Weekly meetings, quarterly meetings, yearly strategic meetings, Slack messaging app
2. Systems – 5-year cropping system, office systems, operational and technical systems
3. Work/life balance – Desire statement, holidays, kids’ sport, exercise, weekend activities
4. Time management – team members, planning, team alignment
5. Growth – setting SMART goals….and….achieving them……always setting new ones

WHAT IS POSSIBLE FOR THEM NOW: 

• Continued growth in business and life 
• Opportunities on-farm and off-farm 
• Successful family farming business with a pathway for future transition, however that may look 
• Family happiness fulfilment 

An incredible result, and well-done, Ben, Kate & Sam. 
 

Robbo 
 

P.S. It’s amazing what can be done in a few short years when you put your mind to it 

After 24 years of coaching companies and running my own businesses, I have had my fair share of screw-ups. From the closure of a company with a $250k loss, to having four team members quit on me in one day, to investing six months of time and money into a business that didn’t sell a single product, I have experienced a great deal of failure in my career.
 

But through these setbacks, I have learned the most valuable lesson of all: “The fish stinks from the head down.”
 

In other words, the common denominator in all of my failures was me.
 

It’s often difficult to admit this, but it’s also liberating when you do.
 

Nothing will change in your business or personal life until you change. 
 

It always starts with you. It starts with a decision that you are going to do things differently or better, and it starts when you take responsibility and get out of the ‘blaming the world or weather’ mode.
 

For those who may have missed it, I recently created a free video series that delves into how to make these changes. In it, I discuss the importance of taking control of yourself, and how to do so. By watching it, you will open yourself up to a new way of thinking and living – watch it here.
 

Nothing will change in your life until you actually make a decision to do something differently. We call this “taking control of yourself.” This is the area that all of my clients tell me has had the most significant impact on them. When they take control and decide to work on themselves: 

• To stop using excuses and blaming everyone else. 
• To wake up to the fact that ‘how’ they think will, in fact, control their reality. 
• To stop reacting to things they can’t control and truly focus on the things that they can.
• To work on their limiting beliefs and fears that are holding them back from living their best life, and finally take ownership of every area of their life. 
• To stop pretending to be a know-it-all and get help. 

If you have dug yourself into a hole, then you can dig yourself back out.  

If you are unhappy about something in your life, then you can make a change to improve.  

If you are not living your best life, then you can decide that this year you are going to.  

It starts with a decision, so ask yourself – are you ready to make it? 

Have a great week.  

Robbo 

P.S. Video 1 in this brand new 3-part, free video training series is live now. Click here to watch it. Video 2 will be released on the 8th of February, so keep an eye on your inbox for it soon…