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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Run Your Business Like a Farm

A couple of weeks before Christmas my son went up to his Granddad's farm to help get the hay in. Of course, these days it’s all tractors and large bails of hay that you move around with ease. 
A couple of weeks later my son was helping to spread fertilizer on the land used for hay-making. When I asked my father in law why they were spreading fertilizer he told me it so he would get a good crop of hay next year. 
That got me thinking. Why don’t we add fertilizer (learning new skills) to our careers or businesses now to make them stronger next year. This is the best time to start to get better at the CAD program that you use. 
Think like a farmer, start adding new skills right now. Learn how you use your email better, learn to use your calendar program better. Update your web site. attend regular training for your CAD program. 

I was listening to my audio book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R Covey, and he also uses this example of the farm. Your business, and your life, is not like an exam at college where you can cram in the last week. Your business and you life is much more like farm. You have to add fertilizer before you plant, and you have to plants months before the harvest. 

For my clients and myself, the fertilizer is training (courses and books). Get Vectorworks training here:
http://www.archoncad.co.nz