I was at our neighbour’s place over the weekend. We have a lot in common as we both grew up on the land, and we both work with farmers. 
 
We were talking about how some farmers get very frustrated if they see or hear of a farmer ‘selling up.’ 
 
They may even refer to them as ‘quitters’ or ‘soft.’ 
 
I’ve got a very different perspective on this – if you don’t like it (or really love it), then why do it?   
 
My father finished school early because his father was sick. He took over the farm as a young 19-year-old. 
 
He had just returned from the Vietnam war, and his mother had tragically died soon after his return. So, at the time, farming seemed like the only option. 
 
I saw first-hand the stress and frustration that being a farmer had on dad. 
   
In saying that, he never complained about it. 
 
But when he was 54, his stress levels were significantly heightened. While some of this stress could be attributed to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the war, a lot of it also came from working long hours on the farm.  
 
He had reached his breaking point. 
 
The doctor said to him, ‘if you don’t slow down, you could die.’ Both of his parents died young from heart attacks. 
 
Dad sold up the farm. They moved to the coast. 
 
Was he a quitter?  
 
Was he soft?  
 
Or did this help save his life?

Here is what I saw after they moved: 

• For the first time ever, dad was not carrying the stress of having an enormous debt. 
• He was finally being able to relax and be himself. 

• He was the happiest I had ever seen him. 
• His relationship with my mum and his three boys was much healthier, and he was much better to be around.  
• He realised that he was never really that passionate about farming, and if he had his time again, he might have considered a different career. 

So, next time, if someone says that they are thinking of ‘selling up’ and leaving, perhaps consider this the best decision possible for them. Maybe their best life is on the other side of being a farmer? 
 
Who knows, but why judge? 
  
Have a great week, 
  
Andrew 

Are you stuck in the trading time for money trap?

Sadly – most people are.

Trading time for money was ingrained into most of us from an early age.
We were taught to choose a career when we were older such as being a doctor, lawyer, electrician, artist, farmer etc.

And our brains would visualise seeing ourselves working in exchange for money.

Tertiary education builds on this belief system, and this also occurs when you work for someone else (i.e. Work harder – get a promotion and I will pay you MORE money for your efforts).

This is all still trading time for money.

It’s  easy to get caught in this trap – and if you’re not careful, it will become your identity.

If you run a business – you may still be thinking this way and it’s difficult to experience freedom while thinking like this.

I was personally caught in this place for many years.  But equally – I’ve always been fascinated with figuring out how to break this.

Once you break this mindset – I believe EVERYTHING changes.

You start looking at what problems you can fix and you start realising that people are comfortable paying bigger dollars for you to remove their problems REGARDLESS of how long it takes you to do this.

With this new mindset – you also start looking at other ways you can generate money that doesn’t involve your time.

An example could be fixing multiple people’s problems at once instead of doing it one by one, or in farming, selling directly to the consumer.

Here is the brutal truth about what your hourly rate needs to be.

Let’s assume you have made or you have a goal to make $1 million per year.

If we take an average work week of 40 hours, and we allow 4-week holidays, then your hourly rate needs to be $520.

But the reality is, that not every hour will be productive, so we need to consider 50% efficiency, so in this case, your hourly rate needs to be $1040.  This means that doing work for less than this, could be inefficient and just not worth it.

You have to change your thinking before you will ever take action.
A great mentor of mine  – Marshal Thurber taught me ‘Andrew – you have to spend more time ‘un-learning’ than ‘learning’’.

This is so true.

My advice is to stop thinking about how much money you can make per hour – and start to think about what problems you can fix and what people would pay for this.  OR – what is your profit goal, and what does your hourly rate need to be to achieve this.

Robbo

Do you love to work hard?  
 
Do you see yourself as a doer?  
 
Do you have the attitude, ‘If there is a job to be done, then get out of my way and let me do it?’ 
  
This attitude has served you because things get done. 
  
A real theme in the Agriculture industry is to be a hard worker. This was most likely passed down from the generations before you. Farmers are incredibly proud people and will often find pride in being hard workers.  

Whilst this has served you, it’s also essential to look at some of the challenges if you have this attitude. For example:  

• Do you feel guilty when you are not working?
• Do you feel there is always more to do? 
• Is it hard for you to stop and slow down, even on holidays? 
• Do you work a little longer and, consequently, see a little less of your family? 
• Do you occasionally have a conflict with your partner because they want you around more to help out around the house and the family? 
• Do you find it hard to employ people because most can’t do the job as well as you?
• Do you get frustrated with lazy people and think they are hopeless? 

To become a true business leader, you must challenge your identity and belief system. There is no other way around it.

Working hard is an ingrained belief system that took years to create, so it can take a little while to undo.   
  
We are not saying that working hard is wrong – but more an opportunity to challenge your beliefs and your identity and to realise that possibly there is a different way to go about things.     
  
Great business leaders lead from the back of the ship, not the front.  
 
In other words, they understand that it’s okay not to be that person that is first in to get things done.  
 
To run a great business, you need to start sacking yourself from most things that need doing.   
  
Hire great people, then get out of their way.  
  
It’s important to let others have a go, and it’s okay to be the lifted, not the lifter.   
  
Sometimes you need to stand back and let others do the work, so you can let go and free up some time. 

Your guilt is fear and is something that can be removed if you do a little bit of internal work.  
  
This is not always about you working less. We know many of you hate this idea.  However, learning these skills will allow you to work on higher priority things OR take a bit more time off and learn to relax and enjoy life more. 
  
Charlie Mort from Mort and Co has never worked a day in his life in a feedlot. Yet he is still a busy and productive entrepreneur. This has helped his business move to annual revenue of over $700 million.  If he was trapped in the feedlot as a worker, then it would be impossible to create something at this scale.   
  
More than 90% of your success is a mindset. This is what we mean by sometimes you are smarter to be educated to change direction rather than motivated to speed up. 
 
Robbo 

• An accountant spends three years studying their craft 
• A lawyer spends five years studying their craft 
• A doctor spends seven years studying their craft

• They haven’t been shown how to lead a business and make strategic decisions.
• They don’t know how to think and plan strategically and work out the highest priorities (the 20% of tasks that bring them their biggest results).
• They have no idea how to recruit staff, write job roles and then retain and lead their employees.
• Marketing is foreign to them, and they neglect it.
• They have no clue about creating systems to maximise efficiency and get team members to follow these systems.
• They were not aware of the rigour you need in financial management and how to budget and make good decisions from interpreting the numbers
• And they certainly weren’t prepared for all of the administration that comes with running a business!

• The better this is for the agriculture industry;
• The more the younger generation of farmers will want to get involved;
• The better your community functions (more money always brings greater opportunities);
• The more jobs are created and people are employed; and
• The more you can have an incredible life making good money and enjoying some much-deserved time off doing what you love.

• A proven system to help run your business;
• More clarity and excitement about the future and lots of energy to implement what you have learned;
• An annual audit of what you need to work on each year to keep your business running at maximum efficiency;
• A solid understanding of business mastery. We call this TRANSFORM, and it’s all about getting the basics in place, which gets you out of ‘winging it’ and into you taking complete control and knowing what you are doing;
• A great understanding of what makes money in farming and what you could look at delegating (and how to do this); and
• How to enjoy more time off without it costing your bottom line!

I had a really interesting chat with a client last week about why we don’t always do what we know we should when we run our own business. I told him why I think this occurs by relaying the story below from when I was an employee. 

Many years back, I was a sales executive with Telstra and had a monthly sales budget (I needed to make $120k of new sales every month). 

What motivated me to achieve this budget was simple; If I didn’t reach it, my job was in jeopardy, and if I did reach it, I was rewarded with bonuses (which multiplied each time I exceeded my target).  

Catching the train to work one morning, I was listening to a CD by Brian Tracy.   

He said, ‘Why don’t you go to work today and ask your boss; what it would take for them to pay you twice as much and give you a promotion?’  

I remember the excitement and fear that built up inside me when I heard this. Could I really go and ask my boss this question?  

I decided to face my fears and booked a meeting with the boss that day. 

I swallowed, smiled, and with a nervous touch to my voice, asked, ‘What will it take for you to pay me twice as much as you do now and give me a promotion?’ 

Steve (my boss) looked quite shocked at this question.   

After what felt like ten minutes of silence (but was probably only thirty seconds), Steve replied, ‘Andrew – give me 200% of your sales budget for the next six months and I will double your pay and ensure you get a promotion within the company.’  

I was so excited; I could hardly believe it could be so simple. Finally, we confirmed the agreement in writing, and my 6-month goal was set to begin the following week. 

Six months later, I achieved my goal and was so pleased when my boss honoured his side of the deal, and I received a 100% pay increase and a promotion.  

Within two months of taking the promotion and with growing confidence, I decided to quit my job and start my own business as a coach.

And this is where the trouble started.   

Like most people, I started my business journey full of excitement, believing I would now ‘live the dream.’ 

The problem was, I didn’t have anyone giving me a set target, nor did I have a structure that said, ‘make this X calls, and you will get these results.’   

I didn’t have a plan describing what activity I would do to get results.
  
If I didn’t do the work, there was no one to tell me my job was in trouble because I wasn’t doing the work. 

There was no one to keep me accountable, ensuring that I hit my budgets and goals.  As a result, that first year in business was one of the toughest years I have ever been through.   

My plans completely backfired.   

Like many people, I went into business because I wanted the freedom to do what I wanted in my own time.    

The truth is, running your own business sounds great, but it can create a BIG PROBLEM. By taking advantage of this freedom, I almost went broke in the process. 

I see the same scenario being played out all the time.   

Farm owners can move from being an employee, where they have a set of KPIs and objectives, to running their own business because they want the freedom to live a great life.   

The problem is, they, like me, don’t hold themselves accountable and therefore don’t do the things that MUST be adopted to run a successful company.   

We ALL get caught up doing the things that are EASY but not $$ productive and then wonder why we haven’t achieved the initial dreams we set out with.

Did you know that people who are held accountable are 90% more likely to achieve their goals than people who aren’t?   

That is why I decided to invest in accountability from my 2nd year.   
I couldn’t afford it but knew that was the exact reason I needed to do it.  
My first accountability mentor knew what KPIs I needed to set and what activities I needed to do. 

Very quickly, my business had positive results because I was doing the right things again. I was back on track. Nine years later, I still invest in accountability and always will. There are three types of accountability in my life;

I believe a psychological shift happens when people move from Employee to Business Owner.  

We need to re-create our role as if we are still employees, i.e. write our job description and put some KPIs around our role.  

We then need to get someone to help us review this and help us stick to it. The results will come quicker than you can imagine.

Have a profitable week, 

Andrew

19 Tips From 22 Years of Coaching… 

Have a great week,

Robbo