A collection of blogs and other writings
from John Ellsworth
Even More Ways to Achieve Financial Success
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John’s dairy industry service spans 25-years in strategic planning, debt restructuring, and cash flow management. John knows farm finances and what your bank expects.
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“What would Albert Einstein do?”
I think you’ll agree that Albert Einstein was a very intelligent person. However, as the scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity, most of us would not have looked to him for advice in the area of strategic management or life philosophy. While that may, for the most part, be a reasonable assumption, I’d like to review one of his quotes because I believe it contains some very powerful advice for us today.
‘There Is No Try…Only Do or Do Not’
I have heard the phrase “we can’t” too many times. For example: 1) “We can’t keep our milk prices high enough for long enough to even get close to our break-even point.” 2) “We can’t get our feed costs down to a reasonable level.” 3) “We can’t hire the right kind of people at our dairy.” 4) “We can’t get the appropriate financing to really accomplish what we want to do.”
Stepping over Dollars to pick up Dimes!
The answer is to monitor all of your costs. At the same time work to minimize all feed shrink, especially with high priced commodities and expensive silages. Finally, do make a point of measuring all of your costs.
What? High Interest Returns on your Money?
Ever wonder how to boost your interest earnings, especially with rates that banks pay you being so low? Granted, you may earn about 0.10% on any balances left in your account. Why not earn it another way?
Good Times Require Discipline, Too!
Former Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi stated, “Winning is not a sometime thing – it’s an all-the-time thing.” We are currently facing a difficult situation in the dairy industry today. As I write this column, we are enjoying some higher milk prices. However, by the time you read this article, we could very well be seeing lower prices again. While I hope that is not the case, it is always a possibility.
The Virtues of Speed
For a fascinating example of speed and action combined, just watch what happens in the pits at an Indy car race. As outlined in Fast Company’s book “The Rules of Business,” there are four primary rules that guide both the driver and his pit crew in their respective roles.