On 25th November 2014, Nelson Senatin (@fishbonedotcom) tweeted to me saying:

“@tksola may I know how you describe yourself? An agriculturist or businessman?”

This article gives a long response …but here’s a short/quick answer I would have given him if I’d seen his tweet earlier:

“I am a MARKETER first, and an agriculturist second” (where “marketer” = “businessman”)

[NB: By way of interest, my above stated response paraphrases Burt Dubin’s wise quote reproduced which reads thus:

“You are a marketer first, and an expert second.” – Burt Dubin]

My version of Burt’s quote means I AM not just engaged in agriculture because I enjoy it (and I do!). Instead I also intend to get amply rewarded for the value I add…AND as long as I ADD value others consider worthwhile, I will ensure I get AMPLY remunerated for it.

Senatin’s tweeted question is one that I have long “felt” many others wanted to ask, but never did…

Like I have continually said in my articles, I get lots of enquiries via multiple web marketing channels that I use, from across the world. It’s simply amazing the seemingly unlimited power that the web puts at one’s disposal, if one knows how.

Indeed, this is why I keep harping on the need for small business owners and solo entrepreneurs especially, to adopt my approach to finding buyers for their products/services.

I use what I call a custom Web Marketing System, and it helps me attract high paying buyers for the solutions I offer, at zero cost.

Yet, compared to those who use more conventional marketing methods, I spend MUCH MUCH MUCH (!) less time, effort and money promoting my offers, to get profitable results I record.

But back to the subject of the enquiries I get: So many people contact me, and NOT all of them come saying they want to “pay” for my products – especially my Excel-VB driven software.

Every now and then, I get people who come asking that I give my software or book to them for FREE.

Quite often, they would claim to be students, and that they needed it for their studies. Or that they were researchers aiming to use it for their work.

In a few cases, I have had business owners (or persons claiming they were about to start their own businesses) writing in saying they simply had no money.

Most times, I would respond that such persons let me know what date/time to call and speak with them, AT MY OWN expense. Did you get that? At MY OWN EXPENSE!

Believe it or not, till this very day, NOT ONE of them has ever responded.

As the Americans would say: Figures…

About 7 years ago, I wrote an article titled “Once You Start Your Farm Biz, You Must Think & Act Like An Entrepreneur To Succeed!”(click to read)

My motive for writing that article was based on a trend I noticed with so many farm business owners I met in the course of my work as a Farm Business Support Specialist.

Majority of them simply did NOT understand that they had to be BUSINESS PERSONS, if they wished to be profitable.

They focussed excessive attention on production technicalities e.g. hatching, brooding, rearing, feeding, harvesting, slaughtering etc.

They would spend hundreds of hours planning production details, sparing little or no thought for creating PROFITABLE/SUSTAINABLE DEMAND for products they were planning to churn out.

As a result, time and time again, when I have reached out to such farm business owners months and years later on, I have NOT been surprised to learn they were struggling or had quit.

For instance, just last month, I had phone conversations with 5 Farm CEOs who had previously contacted me about solutions I offered (especially my Feed Formulation Handbook and Software), and 3 of them let on that they had “suspended” operations or close down entirely.

When I asked why these farm CEOs had shut down their businesses, they explained that “selling profitably” to keep the business afloat had become difficult.

Specifically, they complained that their regular buyers (the “market women”) had proved to be very exploitative, demanding unfair price reductions to make bulk purchases of products.

The women made those demands knowing the farm CEOs did not have alternative means of selling off their produce profitably.

One told me he’d stopped production and taken day job to think up a better way to sell.

HERE’s an IMPORTANT LESSON to note based on the above: The farm businesses failed NOT because the farmers could NOT produce good laying birds, or broilers or catfish…

Instead they failed because they did NOT know how to find the RIGHT kinds of buyers to take their products off them!

Which brings me back to Senatin’s Tweet, and my response…

You see, what I do actually falls under “Extension Services” delivery. However, my approach is VERY unconventional, and VERY unlike what universities or research bodies readily refer to.

But it is instructive to note that I am a graduate of Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan – so I do have formal training to function in this role.

Indeed, my passion for this work has made me resolve to establish what I call a Farm Research and Extension Advisory Services centre to better serve farm businesses.

That was why writing an international agribusiness research paper, that I got paid for (by a European Union funded NGO based in Holland), came easily to me. (see links at the end).

In that paper, I basically challenged other Extension Service providers across the world, to adopt my approach of going beyond conventional practice to help farmer entrench BEST PRACTICE systems.

This includes development of low cost customizable automated spreadsheet apps to facilitate prompt farm data recording, trending/analysis for timely and more accurate decision making.

I adopted this approach, after observing, for YEARS, that traditional extension systems were too limited in their reach and impact, to do the badly needed good.

You see, if we want agriculture to become more attractive to people, especially the youth, it is crucial that we take the practice of agriculture BEYOND the level of drudgery it is currently associated with.

Interestingly, this does NOT mean spending lots of money.

Indeed, as my method has shown, the exact opposite with regard to spending, is what happens using my adopted approach.

Yet at the same time, the practice of agriculture in the way I advocate will enable farm business owners operate at a much efficient level, using cost-effective technology and indigenous creativity to boost profits.

This is why I keep challenging farm CEOs in my write-ups, and talks, to adopt what I call “Best Operating Process Management Systems (BOPMS) for profitable running of their farms.

A key component of that is the use of “Enterprise Information Systems” (like my Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator and my Poultry Farm Manager, as well as my Payslip Generator).

Most importantly, I strongly recommend that they adopt the use of a custom Web Marketing System, to ensure they establish lasting relationships with BULK buyers for their products.

In addition to that, I have continually pointed out that a successful farm CEO is competent to offer farm business start-up advice and solutions to those aspiring.

Indeed, this is badly needed today, in a place like Nigeria for instance, where quacks are taking advantage of newly retired persons who indicate interest in venturing into agriculture!

A person who is already running the kind of business YOU intend to start, will (often though NOT always) be better equipped to SHOW YOU how to get started successfully.

That’s my argument, and it is the perspective from which I offer my support to farm CEOs. But many do not immediately see THAT big picture, and I understand why.

So I am ALWAYS patient, and to achieve my purpose, I forge long term relations with them, and during our interactions, I gently remind them of the need to make those needed advancements.

Over time, this strategy has worked. For instance I have farm CEOs who have been my clients for years, who recently paid to have me develop Web Marketing Systems for them.

Some have joined my Inner Circle to gain FREE access to my Poultry Farm Manager.

Long lasting benefits will accrue to these farm businesses, if the CEOs take diligent action along the lines I recommend, adding their own creativity along the way.

Ultimately, they will become agro-entrepreneurs or “business minded” agriculturists (to paraphrase Senatin – who has since purchased my Feed Formulation Handbook)!

If that happens, they will record more reproducible financial success, with less effort/at less cost.

You will agree with me that if farm businesses can succeed with more consistency and predictability, they will become more appealing to others – especially young people.

Since the future of our economies depends on more of our people, especially youths, embracing agriculture, it becomes obvious that this approach CAN boost our ability to attract this target group INTO agribusiness!

Click the links below, to read articles I wrote in which I mentioned commencing (and progressing) work on the international research paper I referred to in the above article. I also noted how farm CEOs can function, to generate passive income streams outside sales of their farm produce.

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/no-119-how-to-achieve-success-in-any-field-true-story/ [Written after I completed the project and just got paid]

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/dont-just-tell-kids-to-do-be-an-exemplary-role-model/ [Written after the article above]

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/no-111-farm-business-owners-can-speak-to-influence-research/ [Written when I was still working on the project]

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To Succeed Profitably Agriculturists Need to Be Agro-Entrepreneurs