Cheeky but true ;) I love the lifestyle, but it's gotta pay the bills in order for me to keep the animals and build the fences!
Only about 6% of farmers actually turn a profit, and even less than that actually make a living wage.
I was able to leave my job as a Registered Nurse because the farm started paying the bills. Now there was a tough year of transition where the farm didn't pay ALL of the bills...I was able to work per diem that year and we didn't take any vacations. There's a give and take, as we all know too well in farming.
I now pay the farm bills, get a little pay on the side, and pay a full time employee with benefits (and we actually went on one true vacation last year).
YOU can make $$$ farming too!!
Here are my TOP 4 Farm Business Profitability Secrets:
Have, keep, and understand your books! ALL your financials, as in become good friends with your accountant and/or QuickBooks. No bank will fund a farm that doesn't have a handle on this (unless you have deep pockets). And no farmer can make truly objective decisions unless she knows where ALL the money goes. I made a mess of this for years and it literally took me 6 months to tediously sort out, so get it right RIGHT now.
Learn how to manage your space holistically #holisticmanagement This will pay dividends in the long run, but sometimes costs more time and/or money upfront. Holistic management allows you to regenerate the land AND be profitable.
Get creative with your products, add value where you can. Examples are brautwursts, hamburger patties, and chilis for meats. Soups and canned goods for veggies. Spreads and dips for creameries. (I can show you many examples of how we have doubled, tripled, and 5 X our ground bison value!)
Start with the end in mind: plan for profit then work backwards. This is the only way to truly see where you can cut costs, otherwise your expenses will always take prescedence and you'll find over and over again that there is nothing left at the end ;)
I'd love to chat more about YOUR ideas and opportunities 👉🏻 GET IN TOUCH
