Dealing with the Devil…

The devil, in this case, is uncertainty. Everyone in every business faces it at some point! In late 2017, I had a conversation with a Client who said: “There is so much uncertainty, I don’t know whether to contract feed or not.”

His nutritionist had recommended contracting some commodities, his bank was in the process of completing his loan renewal with additional funds for buying more cows, and then he hit me with this: “If they don’t give me the extra money for more cows, I might just sell out…” Well, okay, I thought, but he still had several options.

He could either contract feed or not. If he had contracted and stayed in business, which he decided to do after the loan package was completed, he definitely would have benefited from those contracts this year. If he had sold his herd, given the way we expected commodity prices to go (and the way they actually did migrate upward), he could have sold those contracts at a nice profit. So, what’s the lesson here?

Never let what you cannot control impact the items that you can!

What challenges are you facing in your business today? Are there major decisions that you are reviewing presently? Whatever they are, please don’t evade reality. On the contrary, face them as they are and take the time to think them through as thoroughly as possible, given the information you have. What are the pluses and minuses of your first alternative, such as contracting the commodities in the story above? What are they for the other alternative course of action, e.g. not contracting in the prior example? Are there any other options to consider?

While some decisions are more obvious than others, the key is to make an effective decision that is well thought out. No one gets every decision right, but I’m confident that if you think your various options through completely, you will make the best choice more times than not. In fact, the more often you do this, I am willing to bet that you’ll get better at this process. Besides, as soon as you decide on this item, you’ll have three more decisions to consider. And, that, my friends, is exactly why we can’t dawdle or make decisions by default. Remember, it’s your business!

If you would like to learn more about similar topics and the tactics our Clients have used to improve their outcomes, as well as what applications of these lessons you can make in your business, please join us for our next Success Strategies Mastermind Group series of quarterly workshops in July 2019. They are designed to teach more people the Finance & Strategy Concepts that I offer business people. Signups have begun, giving you the opportunity to learn these same concepts and meet with other producers who have overcome some of the same challenges you may be facing. Check them out at:

https://success-strategies.com/mastermind-group-for-dairy-farmers/

If you ever need assistance with this process, please feel free to contact me via my e-mail john@success-strategies.com. I wish you the best of success this year!