You Want to Know My What?

This was the question I was asked when I met with Jerry for the first time. Our discussion was by phone, but I can imagine the look on his face when he asked me this. The question that I had asked him was “What are your Break-Even Levels?”

Surprisingly, this is one of the most important items to know in any business. However, it is also probably one of the least understood concepts. Essentially, it is the Price Level or Cost of Production that needs to be achieved in order to not lose money, if all other variables remain the same.

Looking at the Chart below:

Actual        
12 Month Totals
Feed Expense/Cow/Day  $                    5.93
Feed Expense/Cwt  $                    9.21
Net Milk Price/Cwt  $                  15.86
Income over Feed Cost  $                    6.65
Breakeven Levels  Breakeven Levels
Milk Price (Net)  $                  15.54
Feed Expense (cow/day)  $                    6.14
Feed Expense (per cwt)  $                    9.53
Production (#/cow/day)                      76.45

This producer is feeding his cows for $5.93/cow/day and has been making money. You can also see that his Feed Expense per cwt is $9.21, which, given his Net Milk Price/cwt of $15.86, provides him with an Income over Feed Cost of $6.65/cwt.

Next, you can see his Break-Even Levels in the bottom half of the chart. If all the other variables stay the same, his Feed Cost per cow/day could rise to $6.14 and he would still break even. We know that he is currently making $0.32/cwt, because we know that this is the amount that his milk price/cwt could decrease ($15.54 minus $15.86/cwt) or his feed cost/cwt could rise ($9.53 minus $9.21/cwt) and still allow him to reach break-even.

What value is there in knowing this? I’m glad you asked. Knowing this will allow him to understand what changes he can make or, in the case of cost increases, what increases he can withstand and still not lose money. This information is also very useful to him in understanding where he may want to set his price floors within programs such as the Dairy Revenue Protection Program. This program, for example, is designed to assist producers to place a profitable floor under their milk price. Knowing your break-even levels is the only way to use this type of program successfully. This is what makes knowing your Break-Even levels so significant. Can I help you with this?

Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing this through Zoom Group Sessions.

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

Have You Ever Been Here?

Imagine this scenario. It’s your 50th birthday, and your friends have surprised you by blindfolding you and then taking you to a “maze.” They have dropped you off inside this maze, blindfolded, and the next step is up to you. Thus, you reason, I need to find my way out or else I’m going to miss my birthday celebration…

Given your current situation, alone, perhaps a little confused, wanting to head to your own birthday party, what’s the one thing you know? If you said, “I got into this maze, and I know that there is a way out,” then you are on the right track.

Have you ever been in an ugly financial situation, possibly one that looks like there is no way out? I’ve been there many times with new Clients that were close to giving up. In fact, it’s often where our new Clients come from, a point of desperation. However, I am happy to tell you that it doesn’t really matter where you start; what matters is where you end!

If you ever find yourself in an ugly financial situation, consider the advice of the character Gimli in the Lord of the Rings movies. Do you recall what he said? “Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?” Take courage!

Whether you are trapped in a maze, caught in a difficult financial situation or simply feeling overwhelmed by some decision you are facing, realize that in each of the situations, there is a way out!

What to do next?

  1. Decide where you want to go. Clear your mind of the various challenges you are facing, and decide what outcome you would like to see.
  2. Define that outcome clearly in your mind. Our mind doesn’t necessarily know the difference between what is challenging or realistic, easily achieved or extremely difficult. However, in order for you to reach the desired objective, you need to clearly state what you want to achieve.
  3. Once you decide what you want to accomplish, outline your Action Steps and set some dates for achieving these steps. Objectives without a deadline are often nothing more than a dream.
  4. Finally, go forward and achieve your goal, adjusting your course, as needed.

So, where do you want to go? Follow the advice of author & speaker Les Brown who said, “If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Can I help you? Just shoot me an email stating “NLT Workshops,” and I will be sure to include you in future invitations, as outlined below. Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing this through Zoom Group Sessions.

Are You Taking This Seriously?

In my last blog, I suggested that one of the key steps to achieving successful results in your operation is measuring your Net Cash Flow each and every month. I am such a firm believer in this process and its numerous benefits, that I complete it monthly for every Client.

Why am I such a huge believer in the benefits of this process? Yes, it provides us with a clear indication of whether you are making money or not, but it also has other benefits. It will help you steer clear of any financial “surprises” such as getting to the end of a quarter, or worse yet, the end of a financial year, only to be shocked by how much a particular expense item went up. Rather than being forced to explain this to your banker, wouldn’t it be better to catch this sooner and correct it before it becomes an issue? I see this as one of the largest benefits of regular Cash Flow Analysis.

If you think about it, this type of financial hurdle will also be easier to correct if we catch it early. If some expense is out of line six months into the year, it can present a real challenge to get it back into alignment before year end.

In the Cash Flow Analysis that I provide my Clients, there are other items that can prove to be beneficial. The Variance from Budget can clearly be good information to have at hand, i.e., how large of a problem is this variance.

I also feel it is helpful to know what your Break-even levels are for milk pounds per cow per day, feed costs and milk price. Essentially, these tell you how much improvement you need to make to get back on track financially. This information can be essential to your overall game plan and success.

I often see this demonstrated when producers go from 70-72 pounds per cow per day to levels above 80 pounds. Sometimes they worry that their feed cost per cow per day may go up fifty cents, say 6%. However, at any given milk price, your revenue should increase by 11% (80/72 e.g.), representing a healthy marginal improvement.

Additionally, as you make more hundredweights of milk, you will also notice another benefit. The Cost/cwt for every one of your Fixed Costs will also improve. This can provide you with a considerable improvement to your Net Margin, and that, my friends, is the name of the game, when it comes to Cash Flow Analysis.

If you would like to learn more about Cash Flow Analysis and take full advantage of this process, just shoot me an email stating “NLT Workshops,” and I will be sure to include you in future invitations.

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

Are You Playing All Four Quarters?

I recently had an excellent discussion with one of my Clients about how the last 12 months had turned out. As many of you know, early 2020 presented an incredibly challenging time with the onset of COVID-19 and its extremely low milk prices, particularly during the second quarter.

However, he had maintained his production levels, despite the fear in the markets, and it had paid off. He was solid on his Cash Flows and the details of his herd management, but then at end of his year, he seemed to “take his foot off the gas…” Maintenance of his facilities seemed to fall short of their normal levels, and milk quality started to suffer.

When I asked what had happened, he seemed a little defensive. However, helping people stay on their “A Game” is part of what Clients pay me for. Then, he informed me with the following: “John, I’m tired. My employees are exhausted. These last 12 months have been very taxing.”

Believe me when I say that I did, indeed, understand. I had overcome several serious Client challenges on the banking front, facing off against some of the most ridiculous financing challenges I have seen in 23 years of consulting. However, I worked with my Team and my Clients to overcome those hurdles.

You know what made the difference? We “played all four quarters!” Every game is won or lost in the fourth quarter. You can plan an excellent game for three quarters and then lose it in the fourth quarter. Guess what? It is no different in the dairy business. You must play all four quarters each & every year. Defeat and its willingness to take you down is on call all the time, just waiting for you to let up the slightest little bit!

I want to encourage you to “fight the good fight,” and I mean all year long. Here are some suggestions for “winning the game” by playing all four quarters:

  1. Complete regular monthly Cash Flow Analysis, not just occasionally, but each & every month. My Clients see this information from me every month. There is no better way to stay ahead of the game. While I am an advocate of regular quarterly CPA prepared Financial Statements, a lot can happen in 91 days. I want to catch any expense items that are getting out of control before they get “beyond repair.”
  2. Regular Management Team Meetings – These should be held with your Financial Advisor, Nutritionist and Key Employees on a regularly scheduled basis. As I said earlier, you have to play all four quarters to “win the game.” However, you also have to have a winning team, all of whom are pulling in the same direction. If they are out of sync with you or each other, this can create real challenges to your overall success.
  3. Regular Finance Team Meetings – These can be crucial to making sure that your Team stays on track. Measuring your Cash Flow monthly is one thing, but making sure that your Team is aware of challenges that arise is crucial. How can we expect them to keep costs in alignment if we never share our concerns with them?
  4. DMC & DRP – These programs are, simply stated, a “form of insurance.” Like any insurance program, they provide you with a safety net against any severe downturn, in this case a falling milk price, which, of course, can wreck your Cash Flow. Think of these safety nets as an investment, not a cost. Just as you would not call your insurance agent at the end of a year & and complain about the premiums you had paid, although your house didn’t burn down, you likewise shouldn’t complain about these premiums. Both DMC & DRP are a form of financial insurance.

I hope you’ll consider playing all four quarters this year, even the frustrating ones, because that is the only way for you to WIN!

If you would like to learn more about these concepts, just shoot me an email (john@success-strategies.com) stating “NLT Workshops,” and I will be sure to include you in future invitations.

What’s Up with this Measurement Acronym?

In previous articles I have often stated that if you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and of course, if you have the ability to control something, you can then improve it!

Please take a moment and consider the possibilities of this acronym – MUCI… Its benefits are unlimited. Just think about any item that you measure in your business. Again, if you take time to measure it, you undoubtedly will better understand that item. If you understand it, you will be more empowered to gain control over it, i.e., adjust it to your advantage. Finally, once you fully understand this item and gain some control over it, you will have the ability to improve it. That is where the fun and excitement begin!

We recently ran a summary of our Dairy Clients and their results for the last four years. We have been measuring Cash Flows on some of them for over 15 years now, but we simply looked at the last four years on each of them to obtain a comparative set of results. Now, these operations are quite variable in terms of revenue, but the most noteworthy observations include the following:

  1. Every one of them has experienced upward pressure on many of their expenses, particularly Labor, Supplies and Repairs & Maintenance Costs.
  2. However, all of them have boosted their bottom-line results, some by as much as $3.00 to $4.00/cwt of milk. Part of this is a direct result of improved cost controls, and in several cases, it was due to actually putting some items out for competitive bids… Imagine that!
  3. With a couple Clients, we were able to “discover” additional sources of Revenue they had overlooked previously. In one case, this, combined with a decrease in their interest expense, boosted their bottom line by over $3.00/cwt, vastly improving their Break-Even levels!

Ultimately, to answer the question in the title above, this is “What’s Up.” This same resource is available to you in your business, regardless of your industry. My Business Coach Dan Sullivan states that: “Our eyes only see what we are looking for…,” and that’s what makes this process so valuable. It can definitely boost your profitability and better equip you to use tools such as the Dairy Revenue Protection program, using your actual numbers rather than just plugging in industry averages.

If you would like to learn more about this tool and take full advantage of this process, just shoot me an email stating “NLT Workshops,” and I will be sure to include you in future invitations, as outlined below. Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

Can You Really Claim to be an Entrepreneur?

Jean-Baptiste Say was a French Economist who lived from 1767-1832. He was best known for his Theory of Markets and their relationship to entrepreneurs. His Law of Markets holds that supply creates its own demand. For example, before the cell phone was created, did we know that we needed one? Not likely. However, once the i-phone or Android versions were created, our demand for them has grown immensely.

He goes on to expand his theory by generating three primary questions, as outlined by my own Business Coach Dan Sullivan, Founder of The Strategic Coach:

  1. “As an individual entrepreneur, what are your personal resources that can quickly be taken to a higher level of productivity?”
    1. In essence, are you using your expertise/skill set to your maximum advantage? Are you spending 100% of your time “in the business” doing daily activities, or are you investing part of your time “on the business” planning your future course, as well as tracking your YTD progress both financially & in terms of business efficiencies?
    1. The interesting thing is that, regardless of your business size, the most optimal approach can yield large dividends, whether your revenues are $4 million or $20 million annually. I’ll have more on this in my next blog.
  2. “As an entrepreneurial company, what are your organizational resources that can quickly be taken to a higher level of productivity?”
    1. Are your people being maximized? Is automation a possibility for your operation? I had a Client whose fruit packing facility was able to go from 10 to 4 employees with only partial automation. I also had a dairy Client whose milk barn automation, using robotics, allowed them to go from six milkers down to just two plus a part time relief person.
    1. The paybacks on these changes were huge, while also relieving the owners of considerable management time & effort.
  3. “What are your… resources that can be quickly taken to a higher level of productivity?”
    1. Can your land & buildings be used differently? Do you even have some that are currently idle?
    1. With some simple changes, can we generate higher levels of productivity?

Take some time this week to think through some of these potential changes in your business. While some of them can be scary, the results you can achieve are often just what your business may need to get to the “Next Level!”

Are You Focused on Winning?

Do you ever wonder when your next “Win” will be coming your way? I know I often asked that question earlier in my career. It has been said that we normally find what we are looking for in life, so allow me to provide you with a better approach.

Several years ago, my Business Coach Dan Sullivan of the Strategic Coach organization offered an excellent idea for everyday use. It’s called the WinStreak®, and it’s available as a free app that you can download on your phone.

It provides a simple, but powerful, way to accumulate more “wins” in your business and life. At the end of each day, you list your three greatest accomplishments for the day. It will also ask you to list the three largest objectives you intend to accomplish tomorrow.

The payoff is that instead of dwelling on the tasks you didn’t do or the items that you didn’t complete, it helps you to focus on what you have done, as well as what plan to focus on tomorrow. I’ve been doing this for at least three years, and it has helped me focus on what really matters.

We all are inundated with negative information every day. I have found that this App helps you to focus on “Wins.” Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz explains that the WIN is really an acronym that stands for “What’s Important Now.” Rather than being barraged with negatives, this tool helps you to focus on the positives.

One process that I add to the use of this WinStreak® App is to answer three questions for myself:

  • Did I accomplish my objectives? If not, should this become one of my three goals for tomorrow?
  • Did I do my best? Motivational Speaker Les Brown stated that, “All you can do is all you can do, and all you can do is enough!”
  • How can I make tomorrow even better? This clearly fits with the “Tomorrow” section of the WinStreak® App.

In a world where we are constantly hit with negative items, I hope you find this article helpful in your business. As Lou Holtz suggested, let’s maintain our focus on “What’s Important Now!”Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing portions of this process through Zoom Group Sessions, with monthly follow-up calls on an individual basis.

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

Have You Ever Considered Firing Yourself?

I recall a fantastic book by author Harvey Mackay entitled We Got Fired! – And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us back in 2004. While his book focused on celebrities like Baseball Manager Joe Torre, Governor Jesse Ventura, TV Host Larry King and former Notre Dame Football Coach Lou Holtz, I believe there are some applicable lessons for each of us in our businesses.

Each of these individuals had been fired at some point in their careers, but they also were able to “bounce back” and take their leadership roles to new levels. While I’m fairly certain that none of them had immediate financial concerns, I think it’s important that we zero in on what else they had in common with us, in the event that the same thing happened to us.

They all claimed that this event was the best thing that ever happened to them. While they had regrets about losing their jobs and the paychecks that went with them, they also realized that it was not the end of the world if they used this as a learning experience. They focused on three questions:

  • Where did I go wrong?
  • Was I actually “off track?”
  • How can I do better, moving forward?

Now, let’s take this concept one step further. Can you apply these lessons before you got fired?

Let’s pretend you are getting fired from your current role. Kind of a scary thought, isn’t it? Regardless of whether you are operating a dairy, a vineyard, a service business or a bank, what “justification” could your “Board of Directors” find to justify letting you go? What are the areas where you could do better?

Yes, I know it’s “tough out there,” and we all have a million excuses for why our business wasn’t more profitable, but as the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

What areas do you need to improve in your business? Is it management of your labor force to boost efficiencies? Remember that employees need some development programs, too. Are you working with them to educate them & boost their efficiency levels? Recall my prior conversation with a bank manager who claimed there was nothing worse than spending money on training people and having them leave for other jobs. I’d assured him there was one worse outcome – that was not training them & having them stay!

Do you need to improve on cost controls? If you measure it, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it. If you can control it, you can improve it. This is true for Cash Flow and Cost Controls, too. However, if you look back several lines, you’ll note that the key was to measure it. I’ve been doing that with Clients for 22+ years, and it pays huge dividends!

What about development of your company’s future direction? Many factors are changing, so are you staying on top of these changes? Does additional automation have a place in your operation?

The ultimate key is to turn over as many stones as necessary to make sure you understand the following points. Why do we do a task this way? Is it because it’s the most efficient approach, or is it because we’ve always done it this way? Should we change?

I recommend that you undertake this “thinking process” without the pain of actually experiencing being fired. Take a moment and ask yourself, “If I was being fired, what specific reasons could they use against me?” If you are willing to complete this task, you will have identified the areas upon which you should focus your “improvement programs.” Better yet, you will be headed to higher levels of success, without the pain.

Want to learn more? I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing portions of this process through Zoom Group Sessions, with monthly follow-up calls on an individual basis. Watch our website for more details.

Could This Be the Answer for You?

I’m sure you are familiar with the S-Curve concept that describes the development of a product, or for that matter, just about anything. You know – first the product is introduced, it develops slowly, and then suddenly (if it has merit) it takes off in an upward trajectory until it is eventually replaced with a better product & it fades into obscurity.

I recently read an article in Inc. magazine by Magnus Penker, CEO of Innovation 360, within which he explains that the key to success in business is to consistently leave the S-Curve that you are on for a newer, better one, prior to your current one entering that “flat stage” at the end of its life. In other words, he suggests that we must “Innovate or Die.”

While that concept may sound scary, especially if you haven’t done much innovating recently, I think it’s more important that we remember that the rules of business have changed. We are under much more pressure to boost efficiencies, reduce costs or simply streamline our processes. The key, as Penker points out, is to prolong your current S-Curve as long as it continues to be beneficial, but not beyond that point.

Think about anyone in your industry who has recently gone out of business. Did they innovate or simply do the same things in the same manner because, “We’ve always done it that way?” On the contrary, Penker states: “To prolong the life of your S-Curve, you’ll need to employ incremental innovation, which is all about improving current products or services, enhancing their features, or lowering operating costs.”

He goes on to say, however, that the challenge of generating these incremental improvements may leave you vulnerable to sudden, unexpected shifts in your market. The key is to experiment with new ideas that you can learn from, without severely damaging your future. Of course, this also needs to be offset with the ever-rising need for change.

Finally, he asks: “How will you change the world?”

Once again, using the combined thinking of Joseph Schumpeter (Creative Destruction) and Dan Heath (Upstream), my question for you remains:

“What innovations do you have available to you right now to boost the productivity of your business (… and transition you to the next S-Curve)?”

If you spend some time on this, I guarantee that you will continue to expand your future opportunities and profitability results!

I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing portions of this process through Zoom Group Sessions, with monthly follow-up calls on an individual basis. Let’s take your business to the Next Level!

If I Ran the Circus, Guess What?

I thought it might be appropriate to offer the following summary of how I would make everything work if, as Dr. Seuss stated, “I Ran the Circus!”

Regardless of your industry, I’d pull for the following outcomes:

  1. Our profit margins would always be huge. In fact, in light of our current “fairness doctrine,” where “everyone gets a trophy,” I’d make sure that every business in our country was profitable.
  2. We’d have no labor challenges because all of our employees would be highly motivated, simply happy to have a job, and anxious to get to work each day.
  3. We’d have no operational challenges, because we would have already anticipated all of the potential hurdles we could face as a business, and, Voila, there would already be items in place to protect all operations from such calamities.

Am I being somewhat sarcastic? Yes, of course, but let’s take this a step further and start thinking about it further, since I have no control over the occurrence of these challenges.

First, let’s look at these challenges directly. What is the largest challenge you face in your business currently? Are there potential solutions to this? What needs to occur to make progress on this problem? Who can assist you in overcoming this challenge? Trust me when I say that if you can answer these questions directly, you’ll be 75% of the way toward your solution.

How about an example? If labor turnover is your biggest issue, can you start a program of training employees for better outcomes? How about a low cost “development program” that helps you to have some new workers available, as needed, perhaps through your local Junior College? Are there other ideas for winning this challenge?

I remember a discussion with a bank manager once where he exclaimed that, “John, we just cannot afford to train our employees on their job activities. There is nothing worse than training people and then having them go over to the competition.” After thinking about for it for a moment, I suggested that there was one thing worse, and that was not training them & then having them stay…

If labor cost is your biggest challenge, what about looking at potential automation? In 22 years of consulting, I cannot think of one single case where any Client automated a process and then later was disappointed to the point of taking it out. On the contrary, it led them to think about and discover even more ways that they could automate tasks. Indeed, they never looked back. They just pushed forward & made additional improvements!

As I suggested in my last blog, using the combined thinking of Joseph Schumpeter (Creative Destruction) and Dan Heath (Upstream), my question for you is this:

“What innovations do you have available to you right now to boost the productivity of your business?”

If you spend some time on this, I guarantee that you will continue to expand your future opportunities and profitability results!

I’d like to invite you to join me for our upcoming Next Level Thinking™ workshops later this year, within which, I’ll continue to focus on the benefits of this type of proactive thinking. We’ll be doing portions of this process through Zoom Group Sessions, with monthly follow-up calls on an individual basis.

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!