Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

If you own a business – with employees – that won’t make money/do well unless you’re there, what you have is NOT a business, but a job! This article offers guidance to help you get maximum value from your business – even when you’re not physically present. Indeed if you do it right, you’ll develop a system that actually lets you stay away from your business, and return to find it doing just as well as (if not better than) you left it.

As an extension professional, my aim is to provide farm business owners with useful information and education, to guide them in daily running of their farms. Especially in the routine planning and decision making they have to do. In certain cases, I develop resources to enhance their ability to do what they do better.

Examples include my custom Excel-VB driven Farm Operations Management software, or my increasingly in-demand Practical Livestock Feed Formulation handbook, and the Ration Formulator software that goes with it.

I’m Using Farm Businesses as a Basis for Discussion – But This Applies to ANY Business

I provide Farm Business Problem Solving and Performance Improvement services. Doing so brings me in regular contact (online and off the web) with people running all kinds of farm enterprises.

But I also serve clients who own other kinds of businesses (with my web marketing systems development, software development, and other services).

A common limitation many farmers have, keeps them from truly enjoying the benefits of owning their own businesses.

It’s not just those who run farms that face this challenge. Many business owners experience it as well.

I refer to the inability to setup self-sustaining systems that ensure their businesses can run profitably, without need for constant intervention from them.

They literally have to physically supervise all key stages of their farm production processes to get results. Anytime they fail to do this, the chances of things going wrong dramatically increase.

What a terrible way to live as a business owner. To not be able to take time off and be confident that things will happen as you need them to!

But it does not have to be that way. And I explain how you can avoid living like that, using a real life example below.

Building a Best Practice Farm Management Software, to Free the Owner from Routine Monitoring Tasks & Decision Making Headaches (True Story)

I’ve been back in Nigeria since last week, this time travelling with my client to his Integrated Farm in South West Nigeria. We have spent time briefing his staff, and managers on the new paper based recording formats I’ve developed for use by the farm hands.

Daily entries into those one-sheet forms will capture operations data for the layers section. From eggs laid, to mortalities recorded, total feed used, and so on. At the end of each day, the forms will be signed off by each operative, and vetted by the supervisor/farm manager. Then they will be forwarded the administrative team, who will post the data into the software.

The application will then – via a series of dynamic drop down menus – be used to automatically generate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like Hen Day Percentage. Feeding Rates etc.

The KPIs are also charted for trending purposes over time. That enables farm planning and decision making happen more intelligently.

For instance, when you see a sudden spike or trough in the plotted lines, you’ll instantly know something’s changed. And that knowledge will guide you to identify what you – and/or your staff – did right (so you can do more of it) or what you – and/or your staff – did wrong (so you can stop doing it).

By the time you get used to managing your farm operation in this manner, you will find it’s become much easier than when you started.

You’ll actually discover you know what to expect from your farm operation at any point in time.

When You Know What to Expect, You’ll Be Better Prepared to Deal With Whatever It Is

In other words you’ll encounter few, if at all any, surprises in the daily running of your business.

That realization will give you confidence. And the confidence will empower you to free yourself from the need to ALWAYS be at work on your business.

It would simply not be necessary!

The ability to accurately and regularly monitor your farm KPIs would equip you to know how things are going.

And they would also forewarn you of unhealthy trends that the ordinary eyes would not see.

Uninitiated farm hands will be amazed at your ability to deduce when they do things they should not.

How?

Well, if they keep doing wrong, it will show up in your KPIs – unless you did not set up your standards properly!

Final Words

Think about it for a moment.

Would it not be a heavenly experience to NOT have to run around chasing your farm hands to do the right things daily?

Would you not be glad to have access to a system that x-rays what’s happening on your farm for you?

A system that clearly points to areas you are likely to encounter problems BEFORE they happen?

One that routinely serves you information that equips you to correct anything that’s going wrong, before major damage or setbacks result?

I think it would be great to have such a resource. And so do my farm business owner clients!

That is why they readily adopt the use of a Best Operating Process Management System (BOPMS)™.

A key component of the BOPMS™ is the use of custom Farm Management Software which generate KPIs like those mentioned above.

To enjoy FREEDOM and peace of mind, in running your business – even one that’s not farm based – adopt best practice principles, as described in this article.

You’ll be glad you did.