Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 103: Why We Should Stop Glorifying Being Broke in Ag

Transcript

103: Why We Should Stop Glorifying Being Broke in Ag · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:03
  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
• 0:07
  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
• 0:10
  shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
• 0:14
  passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
• 0:16
  informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
• 0:20
  episode. Hey y'all, welcome back to
• 0:25
  another episode of the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
• 0:29
  Today we are talking finances. I know a really uncomfortable
• 0:35
  topic, but honestly, if you read the title of this episode and
• 0:40
  you still clicked in here, like what we're going to talk about
• 0:43
  today, hopefully you're at least open to it.
• 0:46
  Hopefully you are coming into this conversation with the
• 0:50
  mindset of we can be better, we can grow, we can continue to
• 0:56
  build sustainable businesses within agriculture.
• 1:01
  And you know what, maybe you've heard it or maybe you've been
• 1:05
  the one to say it. We don't do this for the money
• 1:08
  or we're land rich and cash poor or my personal least favorite,
• 1:14
  if you're not starving for the land, you're not doing it right.
• 1:17
  So today we are digging in to each one of these and the
• 1:22
  concept of the glorification of being broken AG and why that
• 1:28
  mindset is truly just holding us back.
• 1:32
  This episode, I want to emphasize, is not about shame in
• 1:36
  the slightest. It is about shaking off the
• 1:39
  chains and choosing something better for each and every one of
• 1:44
  us. So here's the problem with the
• 1:46
  starving for the land mindset. How these sayings, these are
• 1:51
  these are sayings seem noble, right?
• 1:54
  They seem like something that like we probably all heard our
• 1:59
  grandparents say it at one point or another, either the starving
• 2:02
  for the land or we're laying rich in cash, but we've probably
• 2:04
  heard it before. They sound noble.
• 2:06
  They sound like you are sacrificing and that you are
• 2:11
  like doing everything you can for AG and you're putting it all
• 2:15
  in. You're putting all of your chips
• 2:16
  on the table. You're you're going all in.
• 2:19
  But this mindset is actually extremely harmful.
• 2:23
  And The thing is, it probably comes from something like
• 2:28
  generational pride or the concept of sacrifice.
• 2:30
  Surprised like we just talked about, or legacy.
• 2:34
  And here's the thing, we need to stop glorifying the struggle.
• 2:39
  Because when you glorify the struggle, it quickly can become
• 2:43
  an identity. And that is where it gets
• 2:46
  dangerous. When you start to identify
• 2:49
  yourself with something, that is when it starts getting embedded
• 2:53
  in your brain and in just the way that you walk your life at a
• 2:58
  different level than it did before.
• 3:01
  Maybe it started out as a joke, but then it turned into
• 3:04
  something very quickly that that's how you now identify
• 3:07
  yourself. You are a broke rancher.
• 3:10
  That's not something you should identify yourself as.
• 3:13
  Why are we glorifying being broke and glorifying sacrificing
• 3:19
  everything in our lives for this industry?
• 3:23
  Now, don't get me wrong, we absolutely need to live a
• 3:26
  sacrificial mindset and live in a way that, you know what, it
• 3:29
  takes a lot to be a rancher. It takes a lot to be in
• 3:34
  agriculture, and it does take a lot of sacrifice.
• 3:37
  But that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice everything,
• 3:40
  especially when it comes to the business mindset behind
• 3:43
  glorifying being broke so quickly.
• 3:45
  It turned from something you were probably joking about to
• 3:48
  now something that is a backbone of you.
• 3:52
  And we want to take that out. We don't want that to be a
• 3:56
  backbone of our businesses. The glorification or the joking
• 4:00
  or all of these things where real consequences do come.
• 4:04
  Poor decision making happens, mental health declines, your
• 4:08
  family feels a ton of pressure, all from just stubbornness and
• 4:14
  the unwillingness to actually do the hard thing and run your
• 4:19
  business well, because guess what?
• 4:22
  Being broke is hard, making money is hard.
• 4:25
  So choose your hard. Which path are you going to go
• 4:29
  that is difficult because both of them are.
• 4:32
  You're going to have sacrifices and you are going to have
• 4:35
  decisions that have to be made that are difficult on both
• 4:38
  sides. But for me and my family, I
• 4:41
  would much rather make difficult choices and run a business well
• 4:46
  and make money and be in the green at the end of the day.
• 4:50
  Then I would be in the black and have to talk to my banker and
• 4:55
  make really difficult decisions from a broke standpoint.
• 4:59
  So what are you doing that is keeping you in that mindset?
• 5:03
  Are there ways that you can start looking at your life right
• 5:06
  now and be real with yourself of have I made this a part of my
• 5:11
  identity or am I joking about this maybe a little bit too
• 5:15
  much? Has this turned from a joke into
• 5:18
  something that is actually a very real part of my life?
• 5:21
  And if it is, again, we're not here to shame.
• 5:24
  I am here to talk to you guys about opening up your minds.
• 5:28
  OK, Open up your minds to the idea of it doesn't have to be
• 5:33
  this way. So I kind of touched on this a
• 5:35
  little bit ago, but it can be a generational or societal concept
• 5:42
  of being a rancher or producer in AG means that you have to be
• 5:49
  poor to be a good one or that you're not sacrificing enough if
• 5:52
  you're not, or all of these things.
• 5:55
  And in my opinion, that all roots from this mindset of a
• 6:00
  misconception that profit equals greed.
• 6:05
  Just because you're running a profitable business does not
• 6:08
  mean that you are being greedy. It does not mean that you are
• 6:12
  living outside of your means or anything like that.
• 6:15
  And as a Gen. Z, uh, as someone who is the
• 6:18
  oldest of the Gen. Z generation, so I grew up with
• 6:22
  a lot of millennials and I have a very different mindset than I
• 6:25
  guess you could say like a 18 year old Gen.
• 6:28
  Z. Uh, I think that's where the
• 6:30
  line cuts off. I don't know how many
• 6:32
  generations it is, but how many years each generation is.
• 6:34
  But anyway, where I'm going to, I'm getting off topic.
• 6:36
  Where I'm going with this is that there is this mindset that
• 6:40
  I think was drilled into a lot of us from a long time ago.
• 6:44
  I could go back to the depression era or honestly
• 6:48
  probably roots from that is mostly depression era mindset
• 6:51
  and depression era thinking. And I have had to do a lot of
• 6:54
  work personally of living in an abundant mindset.
• 6:57
  Living in a God is going to provide.
• 7:01
  We are going to do this. We are going to make business
• 7:03
  decisions that are not rooted in fear, but rooted in trust and
• 7:09
  rooted in facts and rooted in a belief for myself, my business
• 7:15
  and our future. Not in a fear based mindset of
• 7:19
  questions like I don't know if we're going to have enough money
• 7:22
  to make it through this month or what is our income going to be?
• 7:25
  And like are we going to be able to pay the bills and all of
• 7:29
  these things. I've always run my business in a
• 7:30
  mindset of I'm going to figure it out.
• 7:34
  The bills will get paid one way or another, we will figure it
• 7:37
  out and I'm not a person that's going to cut my expenses.
• 7:40
  I'm a person that's going to look at my business and say how
• 7:43
  can we grow our profit, if that makes sense.
• 7:46
  I hope that I am explaining this in a way that is opening up your
• 7:50
  mind to that concept of I think that this concept comes from
• 7:56
  generations and generations of money mindset that you got to do
• 8:01
  a lot of work to kind of crumple and to start to build a healthy
• 8:07
  money mindset on. It's so easy to look at money
• 8:10
  and to stay stuck and to wear the badge of honor of we've
• 8:15
  always done it this way or this is how I was taught or this is
• 8:20
  how great grandpa ran the land and this is how we're going to
• 8:23
  do it. And all of those things.
• 8:26
  But The thing is, is we have so many emotional ties when it
• 8:29
  comes to money and when it comes to finances that it makes it
• 8:32
  really difficult to step back and make positive business
• 8:36
  decisions and business decisions that are rooted in business
• 8:41
  mindset and not emotional mindsets.
• 8:43
  We run a very emotional business in agriculture.
• 8:45
  We have family operations that are generations and generations.
• 8:49
  We have ties to the land and everything else that comes with
• 8:52
  that. And I don't want to negate that
• 8:54
  in any way, shape or form. But I do want to encourage
• 8:56
  everyone to take a step back and look at your business like a
• 9:00
  business and start running your businesses like businesses and
• 9:03
  not like this emotional baggage that you have attached to you at
• 9:06
  all times. So here's some challenges that I
• 9:10
  want to give to you guys. All right?
• 9:12
  Like I want to challenge us with love, but with also with a lot
• 9:16
  of logic. I acknowledge the fact that
• 9:18
  there are sacrifices being made every single day in agriculture
• 9:22
  and that is how we run such great businesses.
• 9:26
  And that is 1 aspect that I love about AG.
• 9:28
  But we also need to invite in the idea that smart businesses
• 9:34
  are sustainable businesses. Smart businesses are the ones
• 9:38
  that you're actually going to have something to hand down to
• 9:40
  your kids and your grandkids and every generation after that
• 9:44
  because you are making decisions now that are smart for the
• 9:47
  business. Being financially stable will
• 9:50
  lead to a greater impact in the long run for not only your
• 9:56
  business right now, but the legacy that you are leaving down
• 9:59
  the road. There is room for everyone at
• 10:02
  this table and we're discussing this too.
• 10:04
  I want money to be something that isn't hidden behind closed
• 10:08
  doors, isn't talked about. Like talk about money at the
• 10:11
  dinner table. Talk about profit and loss and
• 10:15
  struggles and highs and like the cattle markets doing pretty good
• 10:20
  right now. Talk about that with your about
• 10:23
  that with the next generation and continue to let this mindset
• 10:27
  of like, we don't have to be broke to be successful.
• 10:32
  We don't have to be broken AG. You can run really, really great
• 10:36
  businesses in agriculture and you don't have to be a like, you
• 10:43
  don't have to be scraping by. You don't have to be pinching
• 10:44
  pennies. There is room for success for
• 10:47
  everyone at this table as long as you open yourselves up to it
• 10:51
  and success for everyone is going to look different.
• 10:53
  This episode isn't about do these things and you're going to
• 10:57
  be profitable and do these things and you're going to
• 10:59
  switch your money mindset. It's more about, hey, let's open
• 11:02
  our open our minds up to the idea that maybe for a lot of
• 11:07
  years we have been glorifying being broken AG and maybe just
• 11:12
  maybe that has been hurting us. And what can we do right now to
• 11:16
  sit back and ask ourselves, all right, what, what do I need to
• 11:19
  be doing? What do I need to be doing to be
• 11:21
  better for my operation now? And what do I need to be doing
• 11:24
  to be better for the legacy that I'm going to leave after me?
• 11:27
  So a vision looking forward, what can we do?
• 11:32
  I have a couple questions for you guys.
• 11:34
  What if you normalized paying yourselves well?
• 11:37
  What if you normalized having a separate business bank account
• 11:43
  from a personal account and you paid yourself into that personal
• 11:45
  account every week, every two weeks, once a month, whatever it
• 11:49
  is? And what if we normalized making
• 11:51
  that a living, making that a livable paycheck for yourselves
• 11:55
  and your family to actually run your lives, pay your mortgage,
• 12:00
  put your kids in school, do the sports, do the vacations, all of
• 12:04
  those things? And what if we taught our kids
• 12:08
  how to profit within this business and not just how to
• 12:12
  work the business. We want to build operations that
• 12:16
  outlast, outlast us because they are built smart.
• 12:20
  It is so important that we start looking at our businesses with
• 12:24
  an agriculture and ask ourselves how can we build smart
• 12:29
  businesses? It is not ungrateful or greedy
• 12:33
  to want more. It is responsible.
• 12:37
  It is looking at your business and saying how can this business
• 12:40
  outlast generations to come? And looking at it and being
• 12:43
  like, you know what, there are going to be quarters and seasons
• 12:48
  where we are in the black and you know what, I think every
• 12:53
  business goes through that. But how can you put buffer in?
• 12:56
  How can you grow for the future? And how can you look forward and
• 13:01
  say no more, no more? Are we going to glorify being
• 13:04
  broken agriculture? We are not.
• 13:06
  I'm not saying this as a shame or as a way to put down wherever
• 13:12
  you are financially. I am saying this as a way of how
• 13:16
  can we be better? How can we look at our
• 13:19
  operations in our businesses and how can we bring profit home?
• 13:22
  Because if we are bringing good profit home, I can promise you
• 13:26
  mental health gets better, families get better and you are
• 13:30
  a happier business owner. You don't have to prove your
• 13:33
  love for agriculture by going broke for it.
• 13:37
  So let's shift the narrative from just surviving to actually
• 13:42
  thriving. So for you, where have you worn
• 13:45
  financial struggle like a badge and what is 1 change that you
• 13:49
  can make this year to improve your operations, profit or
• 13:53
  sustainability? I know every single one of you
• 13:56
  listening to this can find one way that you can be more
• 14:01
  profitable this year and build off of that for years to come.
• 14:06
  Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Cattle
• 14:09
  USA Daily Podcast. I hope you guys enjoyed this
• 14:11
  one. You know, finances are a tough
• 14:13
  topic. They're a tough topic to listen
• 14:15
  to. They're a tough topic to talk
• 14:17
  about all of the things. But I hope that if you were
• 14:20
  brave enough to click into this episode, that you were able to
• 14:24
  listen and truly find something that settled within you and
• 14:28
  something that truly just was able to open your eyes up to the
• 14:33
  fact that there is more for you in agriculture and there's a
• 14:35
  possible ability for a greater future for every single one of
• 14:39
  us. Thank you so much for listening.
• 14:41
  And as always, make sure you like subscribe, rate, review.
• 14:45
  Seriously, guys, taking 20 seconds to go down to those show
• 14:49
  notes, click on that review button, whether you're on
• 14:51
  Spotify, Apple podcast or whatever, you're listening to
• 14:54
  YouTube and just click like or rate or subscribe.
• 14:59
  Seriously, like take 5 seconds. It means the world to us.
• 15:02
  We really appreciate it here at the team as always, and I just I
• 15:06
  hope you guys have a blessed rest of your week and happy 4th
• 15:09
  of July week. I hope that you guys are all
• 15:11
  able to have some rejuvenative. Rejuvenative words are hard.
• 15:16
  I'm not even going to try to say it because I'm going to get keep
• 15:19
  on getting tongue tied, renewative, rejuvenative.
• 15:22
  I'm you know what I hope you guys have a great weekend and if
• 15:26
  you were still here for me trying to get on tongue tied,
• 15:30
  well, cheers to you. I hope you have a great weekend.
• 15:34
  God bless you all and we'll see y'all next time on another
• 15:37
  episode. Have a good one y'all.