Don't Look Back

Clear The Land Before You Grow

 

  

The early European settlers in North America knew the first thing to be done to prosper was clear the land.

 

Trees, brush and rocks stood in the way of growing crops for survival. With simple tools, oxen and strong backs, they created the environment for their futures.

Back then, the priorities and the tasks to be done to ensure a livelihood were obvious.

 

The path to a profitable livelihood today isn't so obvious. It's camouflaged with distractions, assumptions and habits.

 

If you want your business to grow, have you taken the time to clear the land first?

I mean taking actions like these examples:

• Set your goals for the next 12 months
• Analyze what you do each day and how much time the activities take
• Eliminate time wasters
• Clean and organize your desk and work area
• Purge the out of date files cluttering your file drawers
• Upgrade your cell phone to a smart phone with internet access
• Delegate tasks others can do to free up your time for goal oriented activity
• Schedule time off to rest and recharge

Just like trees, brush and rocks were to early settlers, the obstacles to your business's growth need to be cleared before your business can grow.

   

I work with professional horseman to improve profitability with key strategies in Finance, Marketing and Personnel. If you're challenged with not enough time, not enough money or not enough of the right people working for you, call or e-mail for a no charge consultation appointment. 

 

Is your group or oganization looking for a speaker about the business half of the horse business? 

Click here  or more information.

 

Did you know Profitable Horseman has a business page with daily horse business tips on Facebook:

 

  

Doug Emerson
[email protected]

 

(716)434-5371

 

Barn Rules From Kindergarten

If your barn rules aren’t working very well, Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten” suggests these:
Play fair
Don’t hit people
Put things back where you found them
Clean up your own mess
Don’t take things that aren’t yours
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody

Jibe Ho... Duck!

What’s  A Jibe Ho… Duck?

No, it’s not today’s special on the Chinese takeout menu.

 If you have been sailing, you might recognize Jibe Ho! as sailing jargon  warning  that the boom is about to cross from one side of the boat to the other with  strong  head knocking force and keeping your head low is good for your health. 

Sailors love jargon. It’s part of the tradition of the sport. And when around other sailors, the language of sailing is efficient for saying much in just a few words.  Jargon in any sport or industry is the vernacular that helps identify you as a member of the community.

And in the world of horses, there is no shortage of jargon and horseman’s parlance: warmbloods,  hacking, barn sour, martingales, reiners, leg yield and bar shoes.  Seasoned horsemen have no problem understanding your choice of words and terms, but for the inexperienced group who are entering the world of horses, your sentences may include words that might as well be Sanskrit for a newcomer to comprehend.

As you speak to the beginners, scan faces for signs of understanding.  Many people are too embarrassed to ask a question when they hear a word or phrase they don’t understand. When you use specialized terminology, rephrase it and say it again in basic terms.  Beginners feel awkward enough without having to feel intimidated by the foreign language of the horse world. 

When you take the time to translate, trust builds.

Sell on value instead of lower price. Let your competitors be the discounters. Your horse business model is flawed if you believe you can charge less and offer more.

Waiting Lists

Just a thought for you if you have a waiting list for boarders or students. Is it time to raise your prices?

"It's good to hear a live voice"

An old customer, prospect or friend is waiting for your telephone call today intended to just say “hello” and ask, “how are you doing?” History textbooks say this was a common business practice greatly appreciated before e-mail, text messages and facebook.

If it’s broke, it’s probably not worth fixing. Baby boomers in particular have a tough time tossing broken tools and equipment. They were conditioned long ago by depression surviving parents that a repaired tool is as good as a new tool.

Times and quality have changed and youthful employees won’t work with “rigged” equipment.

Toss that broom with the taped up handle, the plastic pitchfork missing more teeth than Grandpa and that leaky hose nozzle. Labor is too expensive to mess with repairs on throw away items.

Do Something, But Don't Do Everything

As owner of your own business, I suspect you can do just about everything there is to do in it. And I also suspect if your profitability is low or you’re not meeting your goals, you ARE doing everything. And that’s the problem.

Use A Color Post Card As Your Standout Handout Marketing Piece For Your Horse Business

Post cards are powerful and low cost marketing tools. At a Farm Bureau board meeting last night, I was handed this post card marketing piece by Lisa Tucker of Field and Fork Network. The collage on the front is an enticing visual and the copy on the back of the card concisely tells the story.

Is a low cost color postcard the visual marketing piece you need to promote lesson programs and summer camps or even horses for sale?

What Are The Three Things You Are Really Good At?

Your website and marketing messages talk about excellent horse care, outstanding customer service and certified instructors.

Yawn, you bore me.

What I want to know is what are the three things you’re really good at?

Things like: Maintaining good health of horses that are hard keepers requiring extra care, Polishing the show ring presence of serious riders for them to be in the ribbons every time or Helping riders fearful of injury feel more confident in the saddle.

Come on, if you don’t toot your own horn, who will?

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Business legend has it that an advertising executive suggested adding the simple instructions- Lather, Rinse, Repeat to the client's shampoo bottle to double consumption and sell more product.



Millions of shampoo users dutifully followed the simple instructions as they washed their hair. Their actions were validated by "More is better" a flawed logic often also used with chocolate and horses.



The extra shampoo doesn't get hair any cleaner, but it sure helps sales. Regardless of roots in fact or fiction, when you see or hear something often enough, it becomes a perceived truth.



Perceived truths in business often appear as faux pearls of wisdom:

"You have to spend money to make money."
"If you build it, they will come."
"The customer is always right."

Proficient at ignoring the latest business buzz phrase, the wise in business remember this simple piece of advice: Test what you think you know.

Say NO To Get More Done

Some jobs have a choice of start and stop times of the work day as well as scheduled breaks. The work is compartmentalized, segmented with a flexible timeline.

 

But, not your job. Your day is filled with uninterruptible tasks of half hour training rides, multiple and consecutive one hour private and group lessons and horse care tasks on a regimen.

 

Nothing waits until tomorrow.  

• You can't skip feeding tonight and double the morning ration to make it up.
• Students won't take two lessons back to back 
  next time for the one you cancel this afternoon.
•  A three hour horse training session on Sunday morning won't substitute for the six half hour sessions missed Monday through Saturday.

Your productivity and financial success is a function of your ability to say NO when you need to.

 

• NO to lunch invites that deny you the most productive hours of your day.
• NO to unnecessary phone calls filled with idle chit-chat when you're on a mission.
• NO to the impatient whose selfish urgency won't wait for an answer or help when YOU can offer it.

 

Not silver, gold or diamonds, Time is your prescious commodity. The best way to protect it is with the power of NO. 

It's OK To Have A Few Empty Stalls For Opportunity

"Just like Aristotle's observation, "Nature abhors a vacuum", Nature abhors an empty stall, too. An empty horse stall usually doesn't stay empty very long. Are you filling your empty stalls with horses that generate immediate income for you from boarding, lessons, training or sale to others?

Low tech, low cost, highly efficient. Batteries not required.

Systems help maintain order over chaos. Every part of your horse business that can be "systematized" in writing reduces the opportunity for errors. "Free wheeling" employees often glide past the unspecified details.