Imagine working 70 hours every week, only to get to the end of the year and realise you are losing money after paying the interest on your loan (while interest rates were 2%)!
Many business owners do this (not just farmers).
They are so busy working that they don’t even know how much money they are making until they get their profit and loss statements from the accountant (and sadly, these are not even correct as they are rigged to minimise tax and thus not an accurate picture of your business performance).
One of our clients (we will protect their identity and refer to them as Bill and Jack) was in this position.
Here is a snapshot of their reality back in 2014:
- They ran 3000 hectares of land (farming sheep and crops);
- 45% equity;
- Their total wealth at this point (value of all assets less liabilities) was $1.8 million;
- Their revenue was over $2 million;
- After paying interest to the bank, their real profit (business profit) was showing a loss of close to $100k.
Bill and Jack were frustrated, but fortunately, they had a great team surrounding them (they are in our Platinum Mastermind Program), all willing to help.
With a few tough decisions (and a hunger to be a top 20% farmer), they turned their business around.
Here is a snapshot of their business in the 2021 financial year… just 7 years later.
- A huge turnaround in the first 3 years, when they began to use their numbers to make informed business decisions to improve their business (rather than just winging it and working harder).
- They had to make a couple of tough decisions, but they have never looked back since doing this.
- Business profit is now $900k per year (after paying interest, and 6 figure wages to the owners).
- Wealth has grown from $1.8 million to just shy of $9 million.
- They employ a great team to help do a lot of the work freeing them up to focus on what they love.
- They have achieved their 10-year goals in just 6 years!
There are a few takeaways from this case study:
- This is the power of benchmarking, but also having skilled business minds help you interpret the results to make great business decisions.
- Working harder is not the key here. Bill and Jack were working 70 hours a week and still not seeing success. They needed help to change direction instead of motivation to speed up.
- The cost of NOT getting help here was extradentary. They had no idea what they needed to do, so they engaged and trusted the feedback from skilled people who could help (in this case, Farm Owners Academy’s Platinum Mastermind Program).
- These decisions led to a growth of $7.2 million in wealth in just 7 years ($1 million per year) and a growth of $900k in profit after paying interest (imagine having an extra $75k in your bank account every month after paying wages or $16,666 every week!)
- This is what separates an average farmer from a Top 20% farmer. It’s actually millions of dollars difference every year.
Because we benchmark all of our clients yearly, we see results like this all the time.
There really is a HUGE difference between being an average farmer and a Top 20% farmer.
Have a great week,
Robbo
P.S. for a short time, we are offering a complimentary ‘Strategic Roadmap Session’ to help you create a winning plan to get you from where you are currently at to where you want to be. With the 3 additional bonuses, it is valued at over $2,000, and it will give you the chance to test drive how coaching works. Click here to book a call whilst it’s available.
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