Seven Habits of Successful Farmers (and Food Entrepreneurs)
Success is an ethereal concept that means something different to each entrepreneur. In fact, when I query new clients for their definition of success, I hear a wide range of answers:
“Being profitable doing something I love”
“The farm sustains itself”
“Increasing profits every year doing it sustainably for ourselves and the land.”
“Less stress”
“Have a good quality of life, profitable, sustainable”
“Being known for good food”
“Being a part of the community, being able to cover my business and personal expenses”
While my clients define business success differently, the overall idea is the same: keep doing the work that creates a sustainable community. And in order to keep farming and producing food in a sustainable way, you need to be able to cover your expenses, have something leftover to pay yourself, and be able to do all this in a reasonable number of hours per week.
Setting goals is the first step in achieving “success.” It defines the destination (albeit a moving target). The business plan is the roadmap; which is great if you look at it ;-). Getting to your goals, and achieving success is about holding yourself accountable and building a daily practice of good business habits.
It’s like trying to lose 10 pounds… you need a plan (like exercising 3 days a week and increasing your vegetable intake) and likely you need to modify your eating and exercise habits to stay on track. If you do things same as ever, you’ll continue eating and exercising like you did in the past. Setting the goal, isn’t enough. You need regular habits like blocking time on your calendar for exercise or creating meal plans.
What are these business habits of successful farmers, chefs and food entrepreneurs? I’m sure you’ve seen listicles and memes that tell you what you need to do. But it can be hard to translate these tips to the food world. Our work is so different – not the least of which – we’re not sitting at a desk all day. We’re in the field, on the floor and in the kitchen.
I’ve come up with my own list. Many of these “habits”, I’ve shared with you over the years through different newsletter articles. What do you think? What would you add or do differently? Drop me a line and share your thoughts.
1. Make Time for business management.
If you don’t take the time to work on the business, not just the operations, then you won’t be tracking your numbers, looking at them, and making adjustments.
Tim Wilcox of Kitchen Garden Farm, and his annual report to investors is one example of how taking time to work on your business can benefit you. And this report is the result of a full year of taking time to think about the business.
How do you find time when you’re bat-shit crazy? I share tips here: No Days Off
2. Focus on providing value
One of the more difficult aspects in the food business is charging the right price for your products – enough to cover your costs and generate a profit. If you sell a commodity product (think corn, milk or soy), the market sets the prices, and it can be difficult to charge what you need. If you provide value, then you can charge a higher price.
Bookstores competing against Amazon face a similar struggle. If you think of the book as a commodity, then you compete on price. Whoever provides the lowest price, wins the customer. But a bookstore also provides value. They provide the opportunity to browse through books, get recommendations from real people (people in your community whom you trust), provide a community meeting place, including opportunities to meet the authors and hear them speak.
Bookstores provide all these features to customers. Because local, independent bookstores can’t compete on price, they provide value in other ways to their customers that Amazon can’t.
You can read more about that here.
3. Listen to your customers and get feedback
“Do what you love, and the money will follow.” It sounds good, but it’s probably some of the worst advice you can take. The reality is that the money comes from your customers. And if you’re not doing what your customers love, then they won’t buy from you.
Listening to your customers, can be hard. Many times, they have feedback that we don’t want to hear. Here are tips on how to get feedback from your customers
4. Leverage your strengths
While it’s important to listen to your customers, you need to balance their wants/needs with your strengths. Trying to satisfy all needs is a recipe for disaster, especially if they want something that you can’t deliver upon (like organic chicken at $2/pound). Know what you do; and do it well.
From a business management perspective, you will be better at some tasks than others. It’s certainly okay to delegate different tasks (like bookkeeping) but be sure you don’t abdicate. That is, make sure you stay in touch with all aspects of your business, even if you’re not doing the day-to-day work. Finding your signature strengths, and learning how to utilize them in your job can lead to great satisfaction.
5. Find a work life balance
Certainly, working 100 hours a week can be necessary at various stages of business. But this is not a sustainable work habit. At a very basic level, you will be too tired to work efficiently; and the risk of injury increases dramatically. At a deeper level, you’ll burn out. Either way, if you work too hard, you’re no good for anyone.
Finding the right balance, and learning to say no to some opportunities, can even increase profits.
6. Keep growing
Growing doesn’t always mean growing the scale of your business. As I’ve written about before, growing the scale of your business isn’t right for everyone. But you can continue growing as a business owner through professional development. A few ways to grow:
-
- Research new techniques
- Try new marketing strategies.
- Try reaching out to new customers
By reading, researching and growing, you will be better able to adapt and pivot. Business is always evolving. Continuing to do things “same as ever” rarely works.
7. Monitor and Analyze
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Keeping good books is the first step (and if you’re implementing Habit #1 you’re making the time for it). The second step is to go back and look at your financials to see how you’re doing. Some questions to ask yourself:
- Are you keeping on budget?
- Are you achieving sales and profit goals?
- What’s working; and what’s not working?
To learn more about how to monitor and analyze your progress, watch my videos on Reading Financial Statements.
Building and growing a successful business requires hard work and diligence. But with good business habits, you can achieve it!
Here’s to achieving your goals!
