At Harvest Profit, we know that farming can be stressful.
Given that, we try to sprinkle a little humor into serious conversations.
See below for an email we sent out to those subscribed to our free e-mail newsletter this holiday season.
So I woke up to a some loud banging at 2:14 AM today.
I snuck downstairs to find Santa, droopy-faced, helping himself to a large glass of our spiced egg nog. He looked down in the dumps.
I got his attention and asked, “Hey Santa, why so gloomy?”
He said, “It’s been a tough year financially at the North Pole….”
My response, “I like numbers Santa, tell me more.”
He gave a lengthy response, “Well, this tale starts out during the spring of 2016. We use a lot of feed up at the North Pole. We haven’t done the best at buying our feed needs to we sought outside help. We subscribed to this weather prediction service called WeatherSpotter360.”
“The lead forecaster at WeatherSpotter360 had us convinced of a drought in 2016 so we bought three years of reindeer feed. Furthermore, due to a couple years of low working capital we financed this purchase. I’m not sure if you follow the weather but the drought never happened so we bought high priced feed and have paid a ton of interest along the way. We may have to sell some Santa Claus naming rights to generate some working capital. I’m in trouble with my board of directors (aka Mrs. Claus)!!”
My response, “Well Santa….hindsight is 20/20. You did what you thought was best and it didn’t work out. I’ll share a quick story with you. In 2016, I spent 30% of my business’ startup capital on radio ads that yielded ZERO results. I was in big trouble with my board of directors aka myself. What a dummy!!”
Santa’s response while taking another sip, “What do we do now Nick?”
I said, “Santa, lets realize that it’s very hard to predict the future and very easy to criticize the past. We both tried to improve our bottom line but we failed. It is what it is.”
Santa, “Amen to that Nick!”
I ended the conversation with, “Santa lets not let these past decisions be an anchor on our future decisions. Let’s make smaller bets and realize that no one can predict the future with any certainty. Onward and upward!”
Santa and I cheered with one more glass of spiced egg nog. (He was well under the legal limit when he got back in the sleigh!)
It’s been a rough couple years many farmer’s bottom lines. We can’t change the past and shouldn’t dwell on it.
Let’s vow to make incremental improvements to our businesses in 2018 and beyond. We hope we can be part of that equation in your business!
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Enjoy the rest of your day with your families.
If you’re interested in signing up for our free email newsletter, you can do it below!
Nick Horob
Passionate about farm finances, software, and assets that produce cash flow (oil wells/farmland/rentals). U of MN grad.
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