Continuing on the topic that I introduced last week, this is the second half of the interview about farm financial management blips that you might encounter, whatever your experience level.
For this topic, I interviewed my dad, who is president of John Spencer and Associates Inc. and has decades of farm finance and farm management expertise and experience. He does everything under the umbrella of farm business management consulting, from planned economics to strategic planning. He’s worked with many farmers over the years, helping them to right their financial ships.
You can find the complete video here for the first half of this topic here (Farm Financial Management Blips – Part 1).
You can find the complete video here for this second half of this topic here (Farm Financial Management Blips – Part 2).
As a part of the interview, my dad referred to a document that summarizes many financial best practices, of which he chose three to focus on. This is the link to the document.
Canadian Farm Business Management Council (through Agrivision Corp) – Re-defining Agriculture
In this segment, we delved into thing that successful operations do, and as a result, keep being successful. Here are the top three, winning practices.
Steal (Adapt) ideas from successful operations
Look for the successful operations and people around you and learn from them. Adapt the good ideas to your situation. Find a mentor and draw upon their knowledge and experience, for whatever area of your operation you might need. Learn and adapt from others, either through observation, visiting, conversations or conferences. If someone has already made that wheel round, roll with it.
Regularly talk to your advisors
Talk to those people that you rely upon to keep your operation running successfully. Talk to your suppliers, your money people, your consultants. Talk to them well in advance, not at the last minute.
Have an effective communication plan (and do it)
Whether this is a partner, co-owner, employees, or whatever, talk to your key people weekly, monthly, and quarterly, to catch the trends and stay ahead of the curve. Talk regularly to those that help you to be successful.
Each of these practices, as well as the additional ones listed in the CFBMC document, can and will help you to be more successful.