What Price Should I Use?
For the past 3 weeks we have been holding our Executive Link meetings from New England to Texas. We have about 110 businesses that are currently members of Executive Link (EL). These businesses meet as boards of directors three times a year to give and receive strategic advice on their business and be held accountable […]
Read MoreRanching “Granny Style”
We have a basketball hoop in our dirt driveway (makes dribbling interesting). My daughter, Gracen, a sophomore in high school, plays several sports including basketball. I’ll join in on a game of “horse” every now and then. We make it more interesting by calling the type of shot, hook, backwards, or of course “granny”. I’m […]
Read MoreThe Value of a Day
What value does your business need to produce every day? Are you focusing on the right things to achieve this? At the Ranching for Profit School we teach participants how to structure the economic information of their business into a format that is meaningful for making effective business decisions. Over the past few months I’ve […]
Read MoreAre You A Superhero?
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s an environmental superhero! If you are using cell grazing you are an environmental superhero. Of course, no one has to know that, while saving the planet, you are also making your own ranch more productive and profitable. Cell graziers are environmental superheroes because they stop overgrazing by […]
Read MoreThe Unit
Improving gross margin per unit is the second of the Three Secrets For Increasing Profit™. It is also the most misunderstood. Gross margin is the contribution an enterprise makes toward covering overhead costs and producing profit. Gross margin per unit measures the economic efficiency of that enterprise. It is a powerful tool for comparing enterprises […]
Read More4 Strategies to Improve Gross Margin per Unit
As a student in my very first Ranching For Profit School I was told to make sure I was shooting at the right target before taking aim. That’s common sense. But it’s not commonly practiced. Livestock producers are great marksmen, but they are often shooting at the wrong target. The target most producers aim at […]
Read MoreSuccession Expectations or Agreements?
Transitions are hard enough. A lot of folks make them tougher by making assumptions and building expectations. We can remove unnecessary drama and angst by turning our expectations into agreements. An expectation is something that either you or I have. An agreement is something you and I share. In the short run, expectations are convenient. […]
Read MoreManaging For What You Want
In Cash Flow Quadrant, Robert Kiyosaki explains that there are four ways to make money. You can be an employee (E), working for someone else for a salary. Alternatively, you can be self-employed (S), a business owner (B) or an investor (I). If you compare the E and S quadrants to the B and I […]
Read MoreWhistling Again
We use key performance indicators to assess the health of a business. Some evaluate economic and financial health. Others measure labor productivity. Still others measure the health of the ecosystem. Last week I added a new key performance indicator for measuring business success to my list. I spent an evening with Craig and Connie French […]
Read MoreWant To Keep It? Then Build It To Sell It.
Stan Parsons wrote, “If you want to be a cowboy get a job.” A business owner’s job isn’t to put up hay, work cattle, or build fence. It is to build a business. We hire employees to produce results that contribute to customer and owner value. When business owners hire themselves to work in their […]
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