A collection of blogs and other writings
from John Ellsworth
Even More Ways to Achieve Financial Success
Ask John Ellsworth of Success Strategies
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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Developing a Future Course for Your Business
Am I advocating that you should simply do this planning to obtain more money? No. Maybe your goal is to give more money to charity. Whatever it is, write it down. I am confident that you will be much more pleased with the results you obtain if they are in line with what you desire: Think it through and write it down.
“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.”
The Trial of the Century!
I realize that, given the solid margins of 2014, it is easy to forget about how difficult the prior eight years had been in the dairy industry. Recall the challenges of high feed costs for most of 2008 to 2013 and the calamity of $10 milk prices in 2006 and 2009? These years represented the trial of the century!
What Would Croesus Actually Do?
In their book Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small, authors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres tell the story of Croesus and his ability to successfully overcome any problem. However, they go one step further by answering the question about what you can do to solve challenges when you do not have unlimited funds, like most of us.
Are you “Fine Tuned” or “Wandering?”
Why does this matter? Simply stated, if you want banks to loan you money in the future for operating needs or expansion, you will definitely need to illustrate that you have your costs under control. Would you loan money to someone who had no idea what his future cash flows and profitability will be?