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Wednesday Jul 25, 2018
Wednesday Jul 25, 2018
In this episode, Greg and Andrew will be educating on what to do when you or your business hits a ceiling.
Thanks to the Entrepreneur Organization System (EOS) who helped create this content
Having been involved in businesses for a long time now, we are very familiar with this topic.
To begin with –
HITTING THE CEILING OCCURS WITH ALL BUSINESSES
Eventually, you will reach a point where something in the business is basically stuck.
Your business is either not going forward at the rate that it was -
Or, you feel the business is just overly complex.
There might be individuals in the business that are feeling things are just too difficult for them within their current roles or there are divisions or areas in the business that are not progressing as well as they should.
Hitting the ceiling can occur at an organisational level,
Can occur at an enterprise-specific level,
Or can occur at a personal or people level.
Understanding that the business is just not progressing or not moving ahead as it was, or you get a feeling that things are just going to be complex and difficult to handle – THIS IS HITTING THE CEILING!
We are not an exception, it occurs to us too.
Greg and his wife have gone on a rapid expansion of their business over the last 8 years. Their business expanded in terms of revenue by 400%. In staff terms, it has tripled in size in that period
They were hitting the ceiling, about every six months throughout that period of growth.
The business was growing so fast that it took a lot of effort, on Greg’s behalf mostly, to visit the 5 disciplines that we are going to talk about in this episode.
How did Greg hit the ceiling?
At that particular time, everything had to change within his business
The systems that they had in place, the structure - the team, the way that the team was positioned and the way they managed them. Everything had to change on a constant basis to allow them to continue to grow and achieve that rate of growth.
Greg strongly points out, all businesses that grow, hit the ceiling at some stage and,
There are only 3 things you can do when you hit the ceiling:
First, PUT IN PLACE THE PRINCIPLES THAT WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT TODAY, restructure the business and move it through that ceiling and get on to the next phase of growth.
Second, stay at that level and just bounce around and not go anywhere. Eventually leads the business to reducing profitability and ultimately at the end, would cause demise of the business.
Third, you can actually recognize that the business has stagnated and you can elect to reduce the size of the business and move it back down to a smaller business.
Some of the ways a farm owner might know that have hit the ceiling:
When a farmer works so hard but not really getting the traction
Business is progressing okay but it’s just getting complex
When you sit back and reflect on your business and you know that when you get sick, the business has a high chance of falling over
HITTING THE CEILING IS OFTEN AN OPPORTUNITY DRESSED AS A DISGUISE...
SLOW DOWN IN ORDER TO SPEED UP.
SOMETIMES WE NEED THE EDUCATION TO CHANGE DIRECTION INSTEAD OF MOTIVATION TO SPEED UP.
After all, hitting the ceiling means the business is growing – there are significant opportunities awaiting. Ask yourself, “What is it that’s holding the business back?”
Keep in mind, businesses that don’t grow never hit the ceiling.
And now,
THE 5 PRINCIPLES:
Simplify
As the business grows, it becomes more complex. As human beings, we seem to like to make things more complex. Quoting Steve Jobs, “Complexity is easy, simple you have to work at’.
A common scenario in growing businesses is when you reach a point where it’s become far too complex - too many balls in the air and too many things going on that make it hard to streamline and well-manage operating machines.
The task of a business owner is to look at what’s going on in the business and simplify as much as possible. Run the simplest systems.
Delegate
As the business grows organically, the owners get to a point where they are working beyond their physical capacity and the business is being constrained. The labour being supplied by the principal owners becomes a constraint for the business to grow.
The obvious solution is to DELEGATE.
Look at the workforce and the tasks that need to be done. Leverage your time so that you can bring somebody in to more effectively work on tasks and allow you space and time to work on the things that are going to help you grow the business beyond the ceiling.
Predict
Prediction allows us to see where the business is going and what needs to happen. We have the short-term prediction and the long-term prediction.
Short-term prediction is knowing that you are on top of your business – that nothing is going to happen in the next 1, 2 or 3 weeks that will cause you putting out the fire and chasing your time all the time.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen mostly the farm is running the business owner rather than the business owner running the farm. This happens because the owners do not have strategies and processes in place.
One very effective way of prediction is having short meetings with your team, say, weekly, half an hour. Discuss all the current issues that are on the table, solve for the longer term good. Once current issues are solved, these are not going to come up anymore in the next few weeks.
Long-term is all about looking at the business over 12 months down to 3 months window. Understanding where the business is going and what the possibilities are.
Like a cash-flow budget. Make it a realistic cash-flow budget, you are confident the budget can be achieved and then start tracking them.
If you set a cash-flow budget and it is realistic, and you track it and you achieve the outcome for that budget, then you know exactly where the business is going to be in the next 12 months.
Systemise
When you’re working on your own, then you have the repository of all the information, you do things the way you do them because that is the way you develop the processes and procedures for getting particular jobs done, that’s all fine…
BUT…
You get into a situation where you want all of the tasks done within the business.
The only way to do this if you are not doing it yourself is to have written systems in place, documented systems, that somebody else can follow and achieve exactly the same outcome.
Remember that 80% of your income comes from 20% of the activities that you undertake on the farm.
Identify all the important activities that occur and systemize, have written procedures, you can then have somebody else come in and you start delegating those tasks. All they have to do is follow the systems you have written and know that the outcome will be achieved to the level that you want them achieved.
According to studies, 9 out 10 problems in business are system-related not human related.
The natural tendency when there is a problem in the business is to blame the person, but the FIRST step that you should look into is, what system do you have to get this job done?
Build the habit of having a checklist for all the systems and tasks associated with the systems.
Structure
This is such an important one.
Look at all the people that are in the business –
Look at all the roles performed in the business –
The tasks –
Create a visual of your current organization.
And then,
Look at the growing business to the next level.
You will realise your current structure is not satisfactory.
Your current structure got you where you’re at today BUT it is not going to get you to where you want to go in the future.
Again ask yourself, “What is the simplest organisational chart that I need, to grow the business to the next level?”
This means you start identifying who in the current team has a lot of tasks to do. Then you create new opportunities within the business and split out tasks for people who are over capacity.
Delegate tasks that suit their natural abilities and/or going out and seeking further members of the team with specific skill sets to take on tasks you identified to be delegated.
Having the right people in the first place –
Having them in the right seats, and
Doing the right thing matching their natural talents and abilities.
Next time you reach the ceiling, just apply any or all of the 5 ways and you will be able to break through.
It’s all about taking control of your business.
You can allow the business to take control of you or you can take the range and take control of it.
You can’t control the weather but you CAN certainly control a whole lot of variables in running a fantastic business.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THINGS THAT YOU CAN CONTROL.
Please share this podcast with other farmers.
We hope it helps,
Farm Owners Academy
Tuesday Jul 10, 2018
Tuesday Jul 10, 2018
The 1st Component: CLEAR JOB DESCRIPTIONS
It has to be written up. Making a clear job description for each team member has to be in writing – enumerate the tasks for clarity and better understanding. I endorse a great book called ‘The E-Myth’ by Michael Gerber. It’s a fantastic book to read if you are a business owner. The author talks about the importance of having an organisational chart, applying to every single business.
Overview of Departments:
CEO
Responsible for setting the vision and direction of the business
An excellent leader
Thinks strategically about the future of the business
Marketing Department
Takes care of effective branding and presence of the business
Website maintenance as you need a method to reach new clients
Open up new markets
The brain of marketing
This position needs energy to take charge of the marketing tasks
Innovative
I’d like to call it the Production Line of the business
Sales Department
They find the clients
Highly essential in growing the business
Operations
Ensures every single task on your farms gets DONE
Ensures all systems are functional and effective|
Human Resource
This is not applicable for small farms but certainly becomes an area as you get bigger
The department that looks after the team
Makes sure everyone is happy
They facilitate performance reviews
Takes care of the recruitment and motivation systems
Manages training systems
IT Department
Sets up email addresses for each team member
Makes sure everyone can communicate and connect
Maintains all technical systems
Administration Department
Administration behind the book work
Filing
They work hand-in-hand with the Operations team
Takes care of all the back-office tasks
They are the behind-the-scene machine of a business
Finance Department
Responsible for budgeting
All other business financial matters
It is imperative that you split out these roles and get a lot of clarity as to what are all the tasks that need to be done to run your farming business.
What typically occurs is, you being the business owner are also the busiest person doing everything that nothing really gets done well.
And I find it humorous because you get to a stage where you feel you cannot do everything
OR,
You hire someone but not sure what you want them to do, resulting to them making a lot of mistakes
And then,
You start fixing all the mistakes and end up making a decision that no one can do the tasks as well as you. You take back all the jobs you have delegated which causes chaos because you failed to sit down and actually write out a list.
THE REAL FIX:
Have a concrete list. Write it out clearly.
What tasks do you want team/family members to do for you?
How do you want the tasks done?
When do you expect results?
Break the business up.
Bring accountability and responsibility to certain components in running your business.
START YOUR LIST NOW!
Once you have your tasks list, think of a team/family member best suited for the work and write the name next to it.
This is the easiest method to create a job description.
The 2nd Component: GWC
G – they Get it
W – they Want it
C – they have the Capacity to do it
In running a world-class team, it is critical to make sure that the person you choose for each job ‘gets and understands’ the details of each task.
I have had a number of examples on this in my career in running businesses and working with team members. Once I delegated a detailed job to a person that has an outgoing personality. This person doesn’t get detail. I was giving the wrong task but also this person may be way more suited in Marketing, as an example.
Lesson here is, align the job description to the right personality.
Kolbe.com is a fantastic tool I highly recommend. Get the team member do a personality profile. The results will tell you if a person is outgoing or an introvert, detail-oriented or people-oriented, and it effectively helps you to determine if the person gets it and wants it.
It is pointless giving someone a job they do not want and then later on find out that there is a passionate person out there to do the job for you.
In my case, I do not like doing the books for my business. This is why I outsource to someone who will do it. Someone who loves doing the books, wants it, is really good at it and can do the job quickly.
Now on capacity, I make sure I do not overload their back. Never assign a task to someone who does not really have room to do it. Obviously because when they do not have the capacity, the results are substandard.
So…
Now that you have identified the person who gets the job, wants the job, has the capacity to do the job –
It is critical that they are aligned with the values within your business.
Take some time to listen to my podcast on getting more organized. I talked about having a strategic plan and getting clarity on your values.
A lot of issues in business are actually related to you hiring team members that are not aligned to your business values.
Do your part – document your values.
Have clarity and documentation of your values. For example, reporting to work on time is one of your business values. This is already very clear but you have to make sure the team member also clearly understands and most importantly, shares the same value. For the documentation part, make sure it is written somewhere in the job description.
The 3rd Component: SET VERY CLEAR EXPECTATIONS
Honestly, how do you feel when your expectations are not met?
In a performance review, how would you rate a team member who does not meet work expectations?
A world-class business team sets very clear expectations and take note that this has to be a two-way relationship. Being the business owner, you have to clarify what you expect from the team and vice-versa.
Again, write it down. With your expectations written down, it makes it easier to deal with conflicts for existing members, and it clarifies expectations for the new hires.
As an example, in a case where I am employing a new team member, I would be clear right at the onset about the following:
I want you to arrive 10 minutes before work starts
I want you to not touch social media during work hours
Personal calls have to be made during breaks only
Every Friday, summarise what you have done for the week
Every Monday, plan your week out
Update your task list regularly and prioritise
Notice the clarity of expectations in the given example. As a business owner, you would like your team members to maximize the week and this happens when you clearly tell them what you want, as they are not mind-readers.
CLEAR COMMUNICATION GETS EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE.
The 4th Component: HAVE A WEEKLY, QUARTERLY and YEARLY PLANNING
When was the last time you went out on a team-building activity?
Or strategy-planning?
Get away with your team for:
1-2 days a year
Half a day to a day every quarter
At least 30 minutes every week
Brainstorm time
Ask the questions:
What are our goals for the year?
What do we want to achieve on a yearly basis?
What strategies could we keep or replace to achieve our goals?
Try the “rapid fire” activity. This is when you get to ask each of your team members in random order about your goals and they have to have an immediate answer.
You would easily find out who among the team members do not know what your 9-year goals are, your next 12 months, etc. Everyone in the team has to know your business goals by heart.
Imagine driving without any direction, you may still be able to continuously drive
But,
Where will you end up?
It is very crucial for a team/family member to know your business goals, otherwise, those who do not will just wing it.
Track your success. How did we go last week? Last quarter?
Then plan strategically. What can we do better? What are we going to focus on next week?
Are there any issues we need to resolve? This is the very time that team members should practice open communication and honesty.
The more you communicate, the smoother your team works.
There is more energy, more clarity, more professionalism in the team.
As a business owner, you cannot go wrong doing this because, if you want to be a profitable farmer –
YOUR TEAM IS YOUR BIGGEST ASSET
And ultimately, often your biggest expense, so –
If you can help your team become more productive, you will generate more profitability.
Get more out of your team – having ONE great team member will beat THREE average.
The 5th Component: PUT SYSTEMS IN PLACE AND TRAIN YOUR TEAM
Food for thought: You are better off training a team member and they leave, then not training them and they stay.
The very first thing you should do, even before training, is to put some basic systems in place. The top producing farmers that we currently work with have systems for everything:
Systems for operational duties
Systems for books and finance
Systems for administration
Systems for maintenance
A system is simply a checklist of what needs to get done into the standard that you want as the business owner.
The reality is, if you don’t put up systems in place, then the team members wing it.
And if they wing it –
Mistakes are made in tasks, it costs you time fixing errors - which ultimately leads to reduced profitability.
THE REAL FIX:
Get systems in place
Train the team on the systems
Maintain the systems
Keep systems up-to-date
THE RESULT:
Highly efficient team
Tasks are accurately completed in a timely manner
Team members become more energetic
You embrace new learnings and continue to look at what you need to continuously train the team on
You become a master in delegating tasks
You become overly comfortable in handing out the control and letting others do the work for you
You can never run a freedom farm if you are doing everything yourself.
You have to slowly let go…
As a matter of fact, the most successful farming business owners slowly hand over every task that they are doing on their farm to team/family members.
With the systems and proper training in place, they are able to maximise the team.
The 6th Component: REWARD and RECOGNISE YOUR TEAM. PROVIDE FEEDBACK. LOOK FOR PRAISE
Notice that in this current generation, service surveys are just everywhere. From text messaging to online surveys, hard-copy feedback sheet and of course, the infamous social media.
It just proves the power of giving feedback.
You do need to go out of your way and give that feedback to each team member for a job well done. A lot of farmers are a little bit guilty about this. Unfortunately, farmers that I meet are pretty hard on themselves.
Not to blame them completely because they were brought up in a very tough environment and because they are hard on themselves, they become hard on their family or team members (this is just a bit of generalisation from me).
As a business owner, you would want to be the very first person to praise your team. Just imagine how doing so extensively motivates and renews the energy of your team.
As a business owner, you would want your team members to see where they can improve. Then use the systems to train them. Make them feel that you’ve got their back!
I grew up in a farming community and looking back, there was not a lot of reward and recognition going on.
In my career as a business coach for 19 years now, I have seen the huge impact on business owners when they focus on rewards and recognition to teams and team members.
So, take the time to provide feedback –
Both positive and negative.
The 7th Component: YOU NEED TO TRUST
Where there is no trust, there is no team.
I remember when I was younger and played Rugby Union, was always in the forwards then moved to the backs when I got older. I was a breakaway – meaning I was like a defender and covered mistakes being made at the backs. My goal was to defend and also be there in attack.
But later in my career, I moved out into the backline and became an inside centre. I was so busy focusing on helping out others do their jobs having this breakaway mentality. Until I realised I was the one creating the holes in the backline. I was the one who allowed people to break through the backline and score thrice. This is all because I wasn’t trusting the people around me.
The loss of trust is very true in the business world. There are those who hand team members tasks but really do not trust that they will do the task well or might do it the exact same way they do.
As a result…
They become controlling as a business owner.
You can never grow as a world-class company if you are like that.
You have to be comfortable handing over tasks to others and TRUST them to do the work.
TRUST that they can perform the same way you do, if not better.
Besides, how can you run a freedom farm if you are doing all the tasks yourself?
This is why you have to:
LET GO
SLOWLY DELEGATE WITH TRUST
GRADUALLY HAND OVER RESPONSIBILITY
Because of trust, some of our top performing farmers in our coaching groups now go on holidays during the busiest times of the year. 3-4 weeks of vacation and come back to see for themselves that their team actually has done a better job than what they could.
THE ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE OF BEING A WORLD-CLASS FARMING BUSINESS OWNER IS NOT ABOUT BEING THE BUSIEST PERSON
But,
BEING THE MOST LAID-BACK AND HIGH YIELDING BUSINESS OWNER
Let go of your fear of control –
A lot of people fear that when they hire someone else, they make less money –
Hang on…
TIME IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET
…IT IS OKAY TO LET GO.
_________________________________________________________________________
For your quick reference – the 7 Components are:
Clear Job Descriptions
GWC
Set Clear Expectations
Have a system for yearly, quarterly, weekly Planning and Communication.
Put Systems in place and Train your team
Reward and recognize your team. Provide feedback, look for praise
Trust and let go
Again, if at any stage you’re interested in having a conversation about our coaching and mentoring programs, please feel free to reach out.
We run the most incredible Program that helps farmers profit more, work more efficiently and run a world-class business.
Hear the extraordinary results straight from our members and we are also very happy to send information about how the program works.
Email us at support@farmownersacademy.com and a team member or even myself will be in touch.
Click here to join our closed Facebook group
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
Wednesday Jun 13, 2018
3 Ideas to Double your Productivity and Significantly Reduce your Stress Levels
When you think about, it’s not actually time management that you need to focus on. It’s priority management.
Your time is the one resource that once spent, you will never get back.
You can spend some money and then go and make more money, but not your time.
In this Podcast, you will learn -
1.The power of a two-page strategic planner that aligns your entire business to the goals and objectives over the next 10 years.
Andrew shares a link inside the pod cast where you can download this free template
Your business will become so much more efficient once you fill this out
Learn how to bring clarity to your company and how to increase the desire to want to operate at the next level
Become significantly more focused
2. The power of removing bricks, and why you need to do this every week.
Set up a system to prioritise everything you do on your farm
Learn to get everything out of your head and onto paper
Understand why you stay awake at night and how to remove this for good
3. The simple formula to maximise your week and your day.
Learn how to plan your weeks and days
Learn - if it's not scheduled, there is a good chance it won’t get done
Remove stress by sticking to a simple system
Please share this podcast with other farmers.
We hope it helps,
Farm Owners Academy
Monday May 14, 2018
Monday May 14, 2018
Do you have a fear of failure?
You know you do, IF -
Ever worry about things not working out
Put a lot of expectation on yourself to succeed
Experience stress and anxiety about the future
This fear is very real, and many people have it.
The Pod Cast is here to help you deal with it.
Andrew Roberts (one of the founders of Farm Owners Academy) shares his story of how he was coached through dealing with his fear of failure.
In addition to this, you will also learn -
What fear really is and how it is an illusion
Why you need to embrace failure before you succeed
Four really powerful tools that when applied, will help you knock the fear of failure on the head - and get exactly what you want from your business and your life.
Enjoy this episode and please share this with other farmers if you can.
Thanks,
Farm Owners Academy
p.s. Your greatest success is just on the other side of your greatest fear
Friday Apr 13, 2018
Friday Apr 13, 2018
Successful people are always looking to offload tasks to get back their time.
Unsuccessful people take on every task in order to save money. In this free audio podcast, founders of farm owners academy, Andrew Roberts, and Greg Johnsson discuss that your stop doing list is more important you’re your to-do list. Successful owners are constantly delegating and constantly letting go of low-value tasks.
Greg will share with you how he grew his business by 400% by letting of administration and the veterinary work at his vet clinic.
You will learn three very simple things that you should stop doing, to help you make more profit and scale your business.
Farm Owners Academy
p.s Join the Profitable Farmer closed Facebook group and connect with farmers who want to learn how to get more profit, more control, and more freedom. Click here
p.p.s If you’d like to work directly with us and our team to help you significantly improve the profitability of your farm, and run your farm like a real business just contact us.. tell us a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!
Monday Mar 12, 2018
Monday Mar 12, 2018
In this podcast:-
Greg and Andrew are going to help you understand that you can't free yourself from being busy while you are being busy.
They're going to open you up to the importance of changing environments that you can't solve a problem in the same environment where you created the problem.
They then go to really talk to you about the importance of knowing your hourly rate. Most top producers are operating at an hourly rate of $600 or higher, and if you get stuck doing a $20 to $30 an hour work, then you're going to struggle financially. You are also going to be working extremely hard.
And finally, they're going to take you through a number of examples of what is a $600 an hour job and how you can apply to get to the next level. This will give you the confidence you need to let go of the low-value technical work.
So as you can see, this episode is Jam-packed. Enjoy it. And if you like it, Please share it with another farmer.
Farm Owners Academy
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Thursday Jan 25, 2018
Imagine you are the manager and coach for the Adelaide Crows AFL team.
Your role is simple. Hire and train the best team to win the premiership.
You have to focus on
Ensuring you have the best forwards, midfield and back
Ensure you have enough money to get the whole thing to work
Ensure the players work as team
Ensure they remain focused on training
Ensure they focus on winning the game
Ensure each player does their job properly and focuses on their job
Ensure the fans keep showing up to cash flow your business
Running a farming business is no different to this.
As the leader your goal is to:-
Ensure you are clear on the objectives and goals of the business
Ensure you recruit the right team
Ensure each team member works together as a team
Ensure you manage this process, and hire and fire accordingly.
Ensure you have enough money to pay for everything
Ensure things get done on time on budget
The problem is (more often than not) YOU are the leader and the PLAYER of ALL positions.
Can you imagine being the manager of an AFL team AND being ALL players on the field? You really would become the jack of all trades and the master of none.
While you are doing the job in the attack, who is looking after protecting your goal posts?
As an owner, you wear so many hats. You are:-
The CEO – the person that has to set the direction of the business
The Marketing Manager – manage the website, social media presence and finding customers
The Operations Manager – ensure that all of the jobs get done on time
The Human Resource Manager – ensure you hire the right people, keep the team motivated and doing the right things
The Administration Manager – someone has to clean the sheds and maintain the yards and its often you
The Finance Manager – you need to pay the bills, set budgets, read profit and loss statements
And somehow – you need to fit this in ALL while still being a parent, friend, look after your health and have a relationship!!!!
Just by writing this I feel burnt out!!!!
If you’re not careful – the business takes control of you instead of you controlling it.
In this week’s free podcast we explore ‘How to build a team to get things done’.
We have also included a really good resource here where we outline every job that gets done on a farm so you can see what each role on your farm needs to do.
Download it here
See you next time,
Andrew Roberts
p.s take some time to clarify all of the roles in your business. It will really help you look at your business just like an AFL manager/coach would. It will help you see ways to create more efficiency.
Friday Jan 12, 2018
Friday Jan 12, 2018
In this Pod cast you will learn:
How setting up your financial records will make you more money
Why you need a budget (you can also download a great budget template)
Why benchmarking will always help you improve your profit
An unusual idea Andrew was taught by a billionaire which helped him generate more flow of money
Understand how the law of vacuum effects you and what you can do about it
Thursday Nov 09, 2017
Thursday Nov 09, 2017
Summary of Episode 2
Why working harder is NOT the answer
Having goals is important, but there are many other things you also need to work on
If you don’t believe you can ever run a great farm, you won't
The number one thing you need to work on to be a highly successful farmer.
The habits of a top performing business owner
Wednesday Nov 08, 2017
Wednesday Nov 08, 2017
Summary:
Why you need to learn business skills to be a top 5% farmer
The definition of a real business and why most farmers never achieve this
A summary of the skills that you need to master to run a great business
Why you need to think very differently if you want to run a great business
The steps you need to take to get your farm to operate without you there