Someone is always doing it tougher than you

Someone is always doing it tougher than you

Recently I stayed in a hotel in Casino NSW. 

I travelled to have a couple of days with Our Cow, who I coach.  

It’s hard to get accommodation in Casino, and I ended up staying in a simple hotel that was three stars at best.  

I met a girl called Kylie. 

Kylie is a single mother who had been staying at the same hotel for the past three months – in a one-bedroom unit with her three children. 

She had lost her house in the recent floods and could not get insurance (her home was in Lismore, and many insurance companies don’t cover this area).   

The one-bedroom unit she was staying in at the hotel was about the same size as my living room. When I asked her where her kids slept, she told me ‘on the floor.’ She can fit two mattresses, and all three kids share this. 

One of her kids at the time had the flu, and he had been at ‘home’ for the past three days. 

I really felt for her. 

It helped me realise just how lucky we are as a family of four living in a place where our kids each have their own room and their own bed. 

When I asked Kylie how she was handling things, she replied, ‘I feel so lucky that the owners of this hotel are giving me a great rate. They are so amazing.’ Her eyes were full of gratitude and happiness that she had a place to stay that she could afford. 

She wasn’t holding onto the fact she had lost her house.   

She had a spark and a twinkle in her eyes that told me she would be just fine. 

Experiences like this make me realise just how lucky so many of us are.   

There is always someone else doing it tougher than we are.   

It really put my issues to rest. 

Kylie was going through a tough time, yet she could still find gratitude for what she had. I tried to imagine living in a one-bedroom apartment with my family of four, and I immediately felt claustrophobic.   

I have so much respect for her. 

Remember to value what you have, as there is always someone else out there right now (even In Australia) doing a lot tougher than you are. 

Robbo

 

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The 15 Keys To Running Team Meetings

The 15 Keys To Running Team Meetings

A 30-minute weekly team meeting aligned to your strategic plan will do you wonders. 

Here are 15 keys to running a great meeting: 
 
1. Set a time: Make it the same time every time so that people book it in as a habit. 
 
2. Set a frequency: Make it consistent, so it’s booked in as a habit. 
 
3. Select a location: In the office, on the kitchen table, on the phone or on Zoom – make it the same place each time. 
 
4. Publish an agenda: So that the team knows what will be covered. 
 
5. Start on time: Reward the organised people, train the tardy people to be early. 
 
6. Welcome! Thank them for making the time. 
 
7. Your say: Allow everyone to have ‘their say’ on how they are feeling (1-minute maximum). This encourages participation and gets everyone involved. 
 
8. Check-in: Each person should discuss what they have completed from the previous week’s action list. Congratulate them for what they get done. If they haven’t completed items, get them to commit to getting them done and ask, “how can I/we support you on getting it done for next week?” 
 
9. Celebrate the wins: Acknowledge and recognise achievements. 
 
10. Anything to add to the agenda? This allows the team to add topics they want to be covered. 
 
11. Business/any issues: What’s happening with the business, both good and bad. It is important to get this out of the way early (there can be negatives that need to be addressed). End with positives so that the team leaves the meeting on a high. 
 
12. Training: Keep it fun and lively. Get everyone involved. A great way to get people learning fast is to set them a topic they need to work on and use it as a ‘teaching topic’ in the following meeting or meetings. 
 
13. Action items: Each person is to note down what they have committed to completing before the next meeting. 
 
14. Share action commitments: Each person should read out their commitments to the group. 
 
15. Finish on time!
 
Oh – and if everyone isn’t already, why not try a standing meeting? 
 
Have a great day, 

Andrew

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Are you too controlling?

Are you too controlling?

In order to run a Freedom Farm or a business that can run without you, you must overcome any fear of losing control. 
 
You will need to become extremely comfortable hiring people (even people to pay your bills and manage your bank accounts) and then get out of their way. 
 
This is a really big constraint holding so many great farmers back. 
 
Many of you will think that if a job is to be done, it needs to be done by me.  
 
If you want to run a great business, this is the wrong mindset.  
 
The mindset to focus on is ‘Who can I find to do this job for me?’ 
 
Or ‘is there a system I can implement to do this job for me?’   
 
This one small shift in thinking can speed up your rate of success by ten times! 
 
Be careful of allowing your fear of losing control to hold you back.

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A simple idea to see significant growth in your business…

A simple idea to see significant growth in your business…

My first business (22 years ago now) was a business coaching franchise (called Action Coach). I was part of a global franchise group, and there were about 400 of us in the franchise in Australia.  

It cost me $80k to buy and then $1,500 a month plus 5% of my revenue. 

It was expensive, but I was an apprentice in business coaching and business. 

As part of the franchise, we would attend a 3-day business conference twice a year. 

I would hear what successful coaches were doing, and it was a great way to listen to the latest and greatest ideas. 

After every one of these, the average billing per coach across the board would increase by at least 20%.  

When reflecting, I realised that these conferences were essential. 

It was a considerable effort (expensive and time-consuming) to get to these conferences, but you would leave feeling really motivated, and you would learn from the best. 

During my time at Action Coach (5 years in total), the benchmark of an average coach grew from a billing of $12k per month (per coach) to over $25k per month five years later.   

This is thanks to innovation and people working out how to work smarter. 

Interestingly, the average coach outside of Action Coach was lucky to make $70k a year. 

The thing is, this is available to you… 

Most of you are innovating and finding smarter ways to do things.   

The problem in Ag is this information is often kept to yourself and just not shared. But there are farm owners out there running their business in a way that would cause you to question if it’s even possible. 

When I saw a coach earning $200k a month at Action coach, I was doing maybe $20k a month at the time. So seeing this just made me go ‘wow!’ And then I followed this up with ‘How can I do this myself?’ 

In my last year at Action Coach, I was able to achieve this myself. I did not think I could in my wildest dreams when I first started, though. 

There are three stages to belief: – 

  1. Hear about it 
  2. See it 
  3. Do it

How can you get yourself into a coaching or mastermind program or something where you get to surround yourself with farm owners doing a lot better than you? 

So, you can hear their story, which will shift your paradigm of what is possible. 

It’s vital for you to get out there and attend industry and business events, particularly events where people are encouraged to share and give back and pass on their success (rather than keeping to themselves). 

I would argue that this is your highest priority and would lead to more success than almost anything else. 

Regards, 

Robbo 

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Taking Red Days

Taking Red Days

What I have experienced (meaning this might not be true for you) is my greatest growth has occurred when I have stopped (work), and I am doing nothing.

One of the world’s best coaches is a guy called Dan Sullivan.

I listened to him many years ago, and he said that for a business owner to have maximum impact, they need to be taking a minimum of 7 weeks’ holiday each year.

And his idea of a holiday is completely away from work (not even checking an email). He said this was even more important for a business owner because we work way more than the average 40-hour week (always thinking about the business and what we need to do).

He refers to having a holiday or time away from business as red days.

He explained that you don’t get growth by going to the gym.  


The growth occurs in between sessions (when you are resting).

This is why someone going to the gym less can actually have more growth than someone working the same muscle groups daily.

When you are well-rested, you just feel better.

When you feel better, you do better quality work.

Dan Sullivan talks about good productive days as green days.

Orange days are when you are working but are not super productive.

He argues that it is wiser to do more green days (fully productive) and red days (not doing anything) and aim to remove the orange days (those days where you do stuff, but you are not really into it).

He argues that you are smarter taking more red days, as this will lead to more green days (having experienced this myself, I would say this is 100% true for me).

I’ve also found that amazing ideas come to me when I have red days. And it’s usually after a two or 3-week break.

I just seem to find something to get really excited and motivated about, so I feel energised when I come back to work.

It really is true that one hour of inspired work beats 6 hours of uninspired work. So, often after an extended break, I will achieve more in that first month than in the five months leading into the break.

I’m not sure if you can relate to this?

When you feel deeply rested and have had a break for a good three weeks, do you get excited about getting back into it?

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that as a coaching company, one of our BEST strategies to help a farm owner is to tell them to STOP.  


Go and do nothing for a while and give your body and brain a break. Then, recharge, and watch what happens when you come back. 


I hope this motivates just one person that it’s ok to STOP and let your body heal, and you will come back supercharged and ready. 

 

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Our succession meeting with Dad lasted less than 1 minute

Our succession meeting with Dad lasted less than 1 minute

Our succession meeting with Dad lasted less than 1 minute… 

I remember the day when Dad called my brothers and me into the office. 

‘We need to talk about money’, he said. 

I was 17 at the time, and I thought I was about to hit a bit of a jackpot. 

I was wrong. 

We all sat down facing his office desk, and he started: ‘your mother and I have made a decision. We are not going to give you boys any money or any inheritance. In the next year or so, we will sell this farm and need the money to live. We have educated you, but it stops there.’ 

We all just nodded, and that was the end of the meeting. 

You would think that I may have felt rather upset that day, but instead, something magic happened to me. I have spoken to my brothers about this, and they also agree. 

That was when each of us decided:  

‘if it is to be, it is up to me’ – William Johnsen

I knew from that day that I was responsible for my destiny, and there was no plan B. 

Mum and dad have since sold the farm and moved to the Sunshine Coast, and true to their word, there has never been a payment or handout. My brothers and I couldn’t be happier about this – we also all live here, catch up regularly, and don’t ever have any issues with money or fighting over inheritance.  

Don’t get me wrong, we still have our differences, but it’s nice knowing we have our own independence and are trying to do the best we can. 

There is an excellent story of a child that finds a butterfly struggling to fly. It has just emerged from its cocoon, and the child wants to help. So he tries to straighten the butterfly’s wings. After a few hours, the butterfly is still struggling, so he takes it to his dad, who is a vet. The dad explains to the child that the butterfly needs to be left alone – it needs to find strength in its wings to fly, and trying to help it will actually hurt it. 

I love this story, and I have found that some of the greatest lessons I have learned have come in my most challenging times.  

In my early days of running a business, I rang dad and asked to borrow $5k. He said no. It hurt me at the time, but I spoke with him about this later, and he did this to me as a favour. He helped me access another layer of creativity and resourcefulness by saying no. I had to think outside the box to find that money, and I could.  

The fact that mum and dad helped us with our education was, in hindsight, the best inheritance we could have ever had. 

Robbo 

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