Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 75: If You Want to Be Here in 30 Years, Build Like It

Transcript

75: If You Want to Be Here in 30 Years, Build Like It · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:05
  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
• 0:09
  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
• 0:12
  shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
• 0:16
  passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
• 0:18
  informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
• 0:22
  episode. Welcome to another episode of
• 0:26
  the Cattle USA Daily podcast. Today we are going to be talking
• 0:30
  about longevity within the cattle industry.
• 0:33
  So the whole concept of if you want to be here in 30 years, you
• 0:37
  need to be building like it right now.
• 0:39
  That means building a better you.
• 0:41
  That means your health, that means your land, it means the
• 0:44
  people around you, it means your operation, your business.
• 0:47
  It. We're not just talking about the
• 0:50
  Business Today, we're talking about everything that goes into
• 0:53
  the business. If you want to be here in 30
• 0:55
  years, you need to start acting like it and building it right
• 0:59
  now. So think about it this way.
• 1:01
  Like in a world where AG feels like it is changing so, so fast,
• 1:06
  the producers who will still be standing here for decades from
• 1:09
  now are the ones that are thinking long term, right?
• 1:13
  They're the ones that are thinking the long game.
• 1:15
  They are playing for 30 years, not just today.
• 1:20
  So today we're going to be talking about trends and the
• 1:23
  foundations that last, right? OK, so first and foremost, Part
• 1:28
  1, mindset matters. Where is your brain at?
• 1:32
  Where's your head? Legacy does not happen by
• 1:35
  accident, is built with every single decision that you make.
• 1:38
  So I want you to ask yourself, am I working for this season or
• 1:42
  for every season ahead? Are you focused on fall calving
• 1:47
  for this year or are you focused on fall calving for every year,
• 1:52
  right? Are you making decisions in your
• 1:55
  life that are focused on the short term or prioritizing the
• 1:59
  long term? Now there is a you got to play
• 2:03
  both sides with this, right? You can't have your head in the
• 2:05
  clouds the whole time. You can't be only planning for
• 2:09
  the future. You do have to be in the here
• 2:10
  and now and make quick decisions for the here and now.
• 2:13
  Absolutely. But are there certain decisions
• 2:16
  that you are making in your business or in your life right
• 2:18
  now that are just for this season and you are making quick
• 2:23
  snap decisions instead of sitting here and letting
• 2:27
  yourself make decisions for the future as well?
• 2:30
  Future focused producers don't just run cattle, they run a
• 2:34
  business. They store the land and they
• 2:37
  lead people well. So next part on the people
• 2:40
  aspect, health is a business strategy.
• 2:43
  Your health matters, your mental health, your physical health,
• 2:47
  every aspect of you matters as well.
• 2:50
  If you want your business to be here in 30 years, you kind of
• 2:54
  maybe need to be a big part of that, right?
• 2:56
  Not saying you need to be here in 30 years, but I am saying
• 3:00
  that you need to start treating your body like it, right?
• 3:03
  Because long hours don't equal long term stability.
• 3:07
  I want you to be prioritizing strength, mobility, rest, and
• 3:12
  fueling your body, body with clean ingredients, right?
• 3:15
  Because at the end of the day, if you're rundown, if you're
• 3:19
  burnt out or you're always in recovery mode, you can't lead,
• 3:22
  you can't build, and you can't last on your operation.
• 3:25
  And I want you to focus on those first two, right?
• 3:28
  Because a lot of you are going to be listening to this and
• 3:30
  going to be like, I don't care, sure if I am here in 30 years,
• 3:33
  right? Like my dad jokes with me all
• 3:36
  the time. He's like, man, I got maybe a
• 3:37
  good 20 years left in me. We'll see, right?
• 3:41
  Like you hear that and you're like, not worried about it, but
• 3:44
  you can't lead and you can't build, OK?
• 3:47
  So leading that next generation or building your operation for
• 3:51
  that next generation, you're not able to do that if you're not
• 3:53
  healthy, OK. So reframe your mindset on that
• 3:55
  a little bit and focus on yourself, on your body.
• 3:59
  I want you to choose your health now.
• 4:01
  It's that you're not forced to later, right?
• 4:04
  That's a situation where you don't want to have to be told by
• 4:08
  a doctor that you have no option but to do this.
• 4:10
  You have no option but to get your ass up and go walk 3 miles
• 4:14
  a day because of XYZ problem, right?
• 4:17
  Start choosing to do that now. Next, financial infrastructure
• 4:22
  of your business. So are you making decisions that
• 4:24
  protect your operation or just get you through this year?
• 4:29
  Are you looking long term for the long term longevity of your
• 4:32
  operation and looking at your operation like a business or you
• 4:35
  just focused on we just got to get through this year, right?
• 4:39
  And there are certain situations, there are certain
• 4:41
  times where I am so familiar with the we just got to get
• 4:46
  through this year and I want to be extremely conscientious of
• 4:50
  that. For those of you that are in
• 4:52
  those situations, there are a lot of you that are going
• 4:54
  through extreme droughts right now, other things that are
• 4:57
  completely out of your control, right?
• 4:59
  And you just got to get through this year, absolutely get
• 5:03
  through this year, prioritize yourself, do what you need to
• 5:06
  put your head down and just get through this year.
• 5:08
  But as far as financial decisions go, I want you to also
• 5:12
  be asking yourself, is this going to protect our operation
• 5:15
  in the long run? Is this, sometimes there are
• 5:18
  situations where we have to get through this year, but sometimes
• 5:20
  we make decisions to get us through this year that then hurt
• 5:23
  our business in the long run, right.
• 5:26
  So we need to be re evaluating and asking ourselves, is this
• 5:30
  protecting our operation? So this looks like
• 5:33
  diversification, having savings buffers, really great insurance
• 5:38
  strategies and just a general financial literacy for your
• 5:42
  business. I say it all the time when I'm
• 5:45
  doing business coaching with people.
• 5:47
  Having control of your books means having control of your
• 5:49
  business. If you know where your money is
• 5:53
  going, what it is doing, how much is coming in, how much is
• 5:56
  going out, and you're telling it where to go, you then have
• 5:58
  control over your business. So get control over your books
• 6:02
  so you can have control over your business.
• 6:04
  I also want to say this with overall financial infrastructure
• 6:08
  of businesses, everything like that, I am not opposed to
• 6:12
  operating loans in any way, shape or form.
• 6:15
  Operating loans in and of themselves are not evil, but
• 6:20
  dependency on them with no backup plan is a liability for
• 6:25
  your business. So if you're utilizing operating
• 6:28
  loans, which a lot of AG businesses do, that's great.
• 6:32
  I don't want you to be dependent on them, though.
• 6:34
  I need you to be looking at that diversification, having that
• 6:37
  savings buffers, getting those insurance strategies in place,
• 6:40
  and really just getting control of your books, right?
• 6:43
  Because operating loans are not evil, but dependency on them
• 6:46
  with no backup plan is a liability.
• 6:49
  OK #4 your land, right? That's a big part of your
• 6:55
  operation. So the land doesn't lie.
• 6:58
  If we want to be here in 30 years, we've got to start
• 7:00
  treating our land like we'll be here in 60, right?
• 7:03
  So this looks like soil health, rotational grazing, water
• 7:06
  access. What are you doing today to
• 7:09
  preserve tomorrow's carrying capacity?
• 7:13
  Land stewardship is so, so important as agriculturalist.
• 7:17
  And I think all of us understand that because if we don't store
• 7:21
  our land well, we then can't graze our cattle well, then we
• 7:25
  have a suffering business. So it's one of those situations
• 7:29
  that like, duh, big red truck, we're going to be taking care of
• 7:32
  our land. But I want you to reframe your
• 7:34
  mindset around the fact that like land, we have to be
• 7:37
  thinking 60 years down the road. We got to be thinking for our
• 7:40
  great grandkids of what they're going to inherit in this
• 7:44
  operation and what that land is going to look like for them
• 7:47
  because there are certain times that we make decisions that work
• 7:52
  for us, but maybe we haven't looked at the long term impacts
• 7:56
  of decisions. So it is one of those mindsets
• 8:01
  of we just got to reframe it a little bit to ask ourselves to
• 8:05
  just spend a little bit more time when we do make decisions
• 8:07
  for our land, when we're making decisions for what rotational
• 8:11
  grazing things we're going to do, what soil health things
• 8:13
  we're going to do, what we're going to be doing about invasive
• 8:16
  species or water access or things like that.
• 8:21
  That we need to be making decisions that are going to
• 8:24
  impact us now, absolutely. But that are also, we need to be
• 8:29
  taking some time to consider what it's going to be doing for
• 8:32
  the land in 60 years if we continue down some of the paths
• 8:36
  that we are on right now. And then I also want to mention
• 8:39
  land ownership versus leasing. Both have their place.
• 8:43
  Both have merit plan like your grandkids will inherit the pros
• 8:47
  and cons. I'm not going to sit here and
• 8:48
  say 1 is better than the other. We do both.
• 8:51
  But I want you to plan like your grandkids will inherit the pros
• 8:54
  and inherit the cons. So make your decisions based off
• 8:58
  of that for whatever works best for your operation.
• 9:00
  Now #5 and our last one that we're going to talk about today,
• 9:03
  relationships and team. You cannot do this alone, point
• 9:07
  blank, period. You cannot do this alone.
• 9:10
  So I want you to be investing in your people, your spouse, your
• 9:14
  kids, your employees, your partners asked in them.
• 9:17
  Now care for them now because you cannot do this alone.
• 9:23
  With that, succession planning starts now, not when you're 65.
• 9:28
  I don't care how old you are. I don't care if you were in your
• 9:32
  20s, your 40s or your 70s, get a succession plan now because it
• 9:40
  is way better to have one now and have a plan now than when
• 9:44
  you were 65. I come from a family that if you
• 9:47
  have listened to our succession planning podcast, you know this.
• 9:50
  We are not afraid to talk about death and my family.
• 9:53
  My dad's dad died when he was 13, and I can promise you that
• 9:58
  there was not a succession plan. Did it impact the longevity and
• 10:03
  ability of the ranching operation?
• 10:05
  No, because my grandma was still alive, thankfully.
• 10:07
  But that doesn't change the fact that accidents happen.
• 10:11
  Things happen when we don't expect them to.
• 10:13
  It's better to have a plan for those that we're going to be
• 10:15
  leaving behind. My husband and I are currently
• 10:17
  getting our wills and everything like that finalized and figured
• 10:22
  out and it's not fun to sit and talk about death or the idea of
• 10:27
  you not being here. But succession planning starts
• 10:30
  now. Do it now, no matter how old you
• 10:33
  are. I am 23 and I have my succession
• 10:36
  plan done and you know what? It's going to change as soon as
• 10:40
  we have kids, as soon as we move.
• 10:42
  During big life changes. Your succession plan is going to
• 10:44
  change, but do it now, not when you're 65.
• 10:48
  At the end of the day with relationships, strong
• 10:50
  relationships help you weather those hard seasons, but then
• 10:54
  they also help you scale when opportunity knocks.
• 10:57
  Invest in the relationships around you because those
• 11:01
  relationships are going to be the ones that take you to where
• 11:05
  you want to be in 30 years, that help you and your operation be
• 11:08
  where it's going to be in 30 years.
• 11:10
  At the end of the day, guys, long term success in this
• 11:13
  business requires short term discipline.
• 11:15
  We've got to start looking at our businesses and asking
• 11:18
  ourselves what the long term impact is going to be.
• 11:20
  Short term discipline is not always easy, and this is coming
• 11:24
  from someone who in her Clifton strengths.
• 11:27
  Somehow discipline is in my top five, right?
• 11:29
  Like I discipline is a part of my life most of the time, but
• 11:34
  that still doesn't mean that short term discipline is easy.
• 11:37
  It is hard. The thing is, is you're not just
• 11:40
  building for next year's calf crop.
• 11:42
  You are building for the next generation of producers.
• 11:45
  We need to be focused on the here and now, absolutely, but we
• 11:49
  also need to be focused on the future.
• 11:52
  We need if we want to be here in 30 years, we got to start acting
• 11:55
  like we're going to be here in 30 years, right?
• 11:57
  So I want you guys to be thinking like a founder build,
• 12:01
  like a builder steward, like a legacy depends on it, because it
• 12:06
  does. Thank you guys so much for
• 12:09
  listening to another episode. I hope you enjoyed today's combo
• 12:12
  and just the chill approach to talking about longevity within
• 12:18
  businesses and what that looks like for us as producers and all
• 12:23
  of the things like that. As always, please make sure you
• 12:26
  like subscribe, rate, review, do all of the things like that.
• 12:29
  I really appreciated it and it helps us just grow as a team,
• 12:33
  helps us continue to bring on amazing new guests and continue
• 12:38
  to bring this free resource to you guys each and every day.
• 12:43
  So as always, I hope you guys have a great rest of your
• 12:46
  Tuesday and we'll catch you all tomorrow on another episode of
• 12:49
  the Cattle USA Daily podcast. Have a good one y'all.