Profitable Farmer

Do you have an overly active mind and struggle at times with overthinking ??

Trust me on this. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

As farmers, we often work alone and have a heap of time to think… deeply… about things that serve us AND things that may not.

This interview with FOA Head Coach Tracy Secombe reminds us that we are trained to be ‘in our heads’ and logically problem-solve to ‘manufacturer’ our goals, plans, and futures. This can become exhausting, and perhaps there is an alternative way of creating your future you might like to explore…

I used to overthink intensely, and it has taken me to a chapter in my life where I suffered from low self-esteem, depression and burnout. Learning to take control of this has been a major turning point in my life.

As farm-focused entrepreneurs, being aware of, being able to slow down and then master our thoughts is fundamental to our success.

Not doing this can be a significant contributor to mental fatigue, burnout, low self-esteem and depression.

If this is relevant for you, and in the spirit of this month being Mental Health Month, I can personally recommend Tracy’s 7 Day Calmness Code Challenge to help you make a very positive first step in a new and life-changing way forward.

https://go.soulpleaser.com/7-day-calmness-code-challenge41824999

Congratulations on becoming a Director at Farm Owners Academy Tracy, we are delighted to have you part of our Leadership team !!

Thank you, Tracy – incredible as always!

Jeremy

When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:

If you love food & cooking, Maggie Beer is Australia’s much-loved national icon and go-to authority.

If you love your kids, it’s Maggie Dent!

Well-known to many of you and revered as the ‘The Queen of Common Sense’, Maggie is an absolute champion on all things parenting.

Maggie’s roots are very strongly tied to Agriculture. She is passionate about this community – our strength, endurance, resilience, and success for our families.

She gets it. She gets us.

Maggie has so SO much to offer. During this episode, we scratch the surface on how to be:

• Better husbands and wives;

Maggie has changed Jane & my life, and helped us immensely as we navigate what it takes to raise four little people in our world.

We love her books, we value her courses, and I highly recommend her Podcast – Parental As Anything!

As we navigate COVID restrictions, lockdown challenges and all things involved with remote learning, I hope this Podcast helps you at this time.

I also hope it gives you some inspiration – as she does me – on how we can be a better life partners to that one person we love most in this world.

Thank you, Maggie, for all you do for Australian families and our children.

Simply, WOW.

Jeremy

PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.

My podcast has been hijacked!!!

Back in 2016, David experienced a life-changing lesson.

That lesson?

‘Humans sacrifice their health in order to make money. Then they sacrifice money to recuperate their health.’

Through the curiosity of this lesson, David & his wife Becky went searching for mentors to improve their health. That’s when they came across Jo Whitton.

Jo is best known for helping people journey to good health through healing foods and ‘food as medicine’. She has over 270,000 Facebook followers and uses her social media platforms along with her cookbooks and retreats to educate people to a better way of living using a healing, whole food diet without the overwhelm.

In this episode, you will learn how you can change your life through some simple lessons. This is a game-changer where David & Jo explore…

• their personal stories and how Gut Health has impacted them;

We hope this podcast will impact you and help you make meaningful and lasting changes in your and your families health, just as these lessons have for the Westbrook family.

Here’s to good, wholesome health.

Well done Westy!

Hutch

PS. Interested in learning more? You can listen to Jo’s A Quirky Journey podcast, join in conversations on the Quirky Cooking Facebook pageand Instagram, as well as in the Quirky Cooking Chat Group

PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.

In this episode, and building upon our last Profitable Farmer conversation on ‘people wrangling’ with FOA General Manager Sam Johnsson, I have the privilege of interviewing the Managing Director and Head Recruiter at DroverAg Recruitment, John Boote.

John arrives into HR Management & Ag Recruitment with over 20 years’ experience in farm management on the Cattle Stations across the Northern Territory & Western Australia. Sitting at the helm of this specialist Agricultural Recruitment agency, John and his team deliver employment solutions to primary producers, property owners and farmers all over Australia.

The thing I like about John is that he is pragmatic and a straight talker. He calls it as he sees it. Like me, he has observed a number of issues at play in our industry all around what it takes to find and keep good talent on our farms and in our communities, especially at this time.

In the spirit of speaking plainly, as farm business owners, we often suck at recruiting, building up and keeping good people.

John and I seem to agree that: we need to pay them well, treat them fairly, recruit average people and build them up from where they are (rather than make them wrong). In addition, we need to learn how to communicate better; how to include; how to manage; how to develop; and how to create the strategies, structures and systems that support attracting and retaining good people, so we can succeed in the process of building high-performing farm teams long term.

Good people ARE out there, even at this time. They are just not working for you… YET!

There are farms in your community that do not have challenges with finding good people – what are they doing that you might learn from?

This is a topic I feel very passionate about, so thank you for listening. I hope this is of value to you.

Whether you agree or feel challenged by how we navigate this very real issue – I’d love to hear your feedback!

• Over 15,000 kilometres of new fencing completed

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Kevin Butler to share his BlazeAid Story.

In the aftermath of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, after a simple request for help to an iconic national community including over 30,000 volunteers… this is truly one of Australia’s greatest regional & rural stories.

The reach and impact BlazeAid has, and will continue to have, on the lives of those adversely affected by fire, flood and the vagaries of our incredible landscape - in terms of both physical farm and individual farmer recovery - is immeasurable.

It is now not surprising to me that when I first called BlazeAid to ask for help on behalf of two of our members, Kevin - its Founder and Chairman - answered my call. On top of that, he was generous enough to take my call only moments before walking into Parliament House to be awarded the Australian Farming Legend of the Year 2021/2022.

Finally, it shouldn’t now surprise me that within 48 hours of that call, a BlazeAid Camp had landed, set up and started operations in Heyfield Victoria. A team of volunteers at the ready to help local farmers conquer their journey to flood recovery.

Kevin’s tireless enthusiasm and deep passion speaks for itself. His determination and commitment to serving others in need and seeing BlazeAid make an impact when it matters to as many as possible is incredible.

Kevin, thank you for your time. We honour the contribution you, Rhonda and your team make to the Australian farming community.

To all those BlazeAid volunteers who dedicate their time to help farmers in need – rural Australia honours you.

To follow the BlazeAid story or join their community, you can connect with them via their website or Facebook page. You can also read Issue One of the BlazeAid Post here - issue two will follow soon, which will include the first of Kevin’s memoirs!

Finally, to those in recovery, all of rural Australia is here for you should you need us.

Thank you.

Jeremy & the Farm Owners Academy Team.

When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:

Managing people, both family and in farming business, can undoubtedly be one of our greatest challenges.

Not only do we have to navigate delicate working relationships with our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers – grandmothers and grandfathers for some too! But, equally, we have casual, full-time, part-time, contractor, client and supplier relationships to ‘wrangle’, navigate, manage, influence and inspire.

With this in mind in this podcast, I ask Sam Johnsson, the new General Manager here at Farm Owners Academy (FOA), to share his experience and insight into all things leadership.

Sam is a cracking bloke – calm, composed, thoughtful, measured, pragmatic, collaborative yet decisive. He joins FOA after ten highly successful years in management with the leading Australasian advisory & building engineering firm, Aurecon.

Over the past three years, Sam progressed to becoming one of the youngest Directors at Aurecon, responsible for the results and performance of over 65 professionals within his region.

Quite simply put, he has been responsible for managing a diverse range of personalities and individuals, from 18 to 60 years of age, from varied cultural backgrounds, and spanning all abilities.

In this podcast, I ask Sam to share his experiences as a leader of people and performance at Aurecon, speak with me on the subject of people leadership and explore how to:

• manage diverse personalities;

I highly respect all that Sam has achieved in his professional career to date. I appreciate his authentic approach to dealing with people, managing teams and leading growth in businesses.

For me, this interview emphasises the importance of giving the people management component of our business real time, energy, thought, care and attention.

His quiet passion for business and teams speaks for itself, and I am delighted to welcome Sam into our business as General Manager. We are in safe hands, and our future is bright.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Sam Johnsson.

PPS: Did you enjoy this topic? I encourage you to listen to Episode 57 with James Kelly on Aligning Elite Teams – click here!

For me, Farm Owners Academy is a strong example of good business practice, well-applied.

• reflect on our growth and our results, particularly over the last 18-months;

I feel proud and humbled to have led this podcast series over the last 18-months, exploring so many important business principles and interviewing so many incredible leaders and legends of their respective fields.

It is rare to meet true game changers and genuine leaders of Commerce & Industry, let alone get to interview two!

• where Ag Tech, open air robotics, and on-farm automation has arrived to over the last 10 years

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrew Roberts ‘Robbo’ back to the Profitable Farmer podcast.

Every six months, I like to check in with Terry Tran, our resident investment specialist and founder of the Freedom Trader, to get his insights into the global marketplace, our local economy and investing in the equity market and off-farm.

In this interview, we explore:

• the global economy given the ongoing pandemic;

We also explore Terry's passion for teaching farming families how to become competent, disciplined and successful investors in an ever-volatile and often unpredictable economic environment.

An essential component of running a successful farming business involves diversifying your asset-base, cashflows and wealth off-farm. Successful intergenerational change and creating meaningful legacies for future generations often depend on this. Terry reminds us why we need to make this a priority to support our farms and families, and why getting started now (or early!) is so important.

We endorse Terry and his Freedom Trader program. We do this because we feel that our values are aligned with Terry and his team, and we like seeing our clients get results! We respect that Terry teaches people to be successful investors in their own right, with first-class mentoring, decision-support and guidance.

Finally, we discuss the Freedom Trader Blueprint version 2.0 - Terry's new program to help people construct growth-oriented, diversified investment portfolios for the long term.

Terry, thank you for your time, your openness and for all you do in support of the growth and advancement of our Farm Owners Academy client community.

To all of you, enjoy, and happy investing!

Jeremy

PS:  For more information about Terry and his programs, click here!

PPS: To download an exclusive free giveaway - the Freedom Trader Stock Checklist, click here!

PPPS: Interested in understanding more about Farm Owners Academy? Click here!

PPPPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google … and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.