Think Like a Farmer

New Zealand farmers are resilient people – builders can learn a lot from how they ride the peaks and troughs of seasonal work, writes business expert Graeme Owen

Farmers in New Zealand are subject to many influences over which they have no control, such as the weather, exchange rates, interest rates, international trade relations, diseases and oil prices. Yet those same farmers repeatedly rise above such uncertainties and bounce back from the bigger shocks that affect them from time to time. 

Can we learn from them? 

If you are running a building business then, yes, you can learn heaps from our farmers about the mindset required to survive and thrive in the face of challenges, problems, and sudden shocks. 

1. Things come in cycles

Farmers observe the cycle of life and learn the natural rhythms of the seasons. There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. There’s the cold of winter, when things seem dead, and the withering heat of summer. All of these moments pass. An experienced farmer does the kind of work that is required in each season.

Similarly, in the building business, there are observable cycles. Smart business owners accept that, while they can’t influence the cycle, they can adapt their activity to suit it. Cycles come and go, but they each tend to have their own traits. Understanding these and acting accordingly is doing business like a farmer.  

2. You’re a survivor

The majority of farmers I have met are survivors. They may need some immediate help (material and psychological) to recover from a large shock, and they may whinge a bit, but most farmers know they will survive. 

While the shock of an unexpected event may feel like the end of the world, it usually isn’t. In fact, it is often shocks, threats and disasters that spurn creativity and innovation. So, when you face your next big problem, don’t only focus on survival –  be on the lookout for opportunities. Believe you will survive!

3. Contagious confidence

The farming families that I know personally have an innate sense of self-confidence –  and it’s contagious. The experiences and knowledge of the older members are passed down to the next, giving them the ability to make decisions with insight beyond their years. That leads to confidence in implementing new ideas that may take years to mature. 

Remember when you were learning to ride a bike? Other kids could ride confidently, so you knew you could too. Like me, you probably fell off the first few times, but you just got up and tried again until you succeeded. You kept at it until your skill increased and you could ride without falling off. Then you rode with confidence. If you’re in business then you have already demonstrated confidence in yourself. You may have experienced setbacks – every successful business owner has – but you have picked yourself up and moved on. 

Confidence does not protect you against shocks, but it does give you the power to keep going and the presence to take others with you.

So, if circumstances require that you need to make changes in the way you run your business, get the best advice you can and then make the changes. Decisive actions lead to decisive results (good or bad). Evaluating those results enables you to make better plans going forward, and to take your team with you. 

Better plans deliver better results. Better results improve confidence. Confidence is contagious. 

4. Get prepared

Experienced farmers have a good idea of the likely threats to their farms. They know the impact of certain weather on particular areas, and what they need to do when disaster threatens. They heed forecasts and move stock and materials to suit, knowing that years of work can be lost in days. 

Some of the recent flooding in the North Island has been accentuated by older infrastructure designed for lower rates of precipitation. If we had known ten years ago what 2023 would deliver, we could have been better prepared. 

So, how might you prepare? Take time to think about how you will cope with sudden price increases? Unavailability of products? Cancelled jobs? Staff losses? Consider what are the key vulnerabilities in your business and start preparing a plan to cope with these. Maybe you need to build a cash surplus to get you through, or diversify a little to spread the risk? 

Takeaway

If there is one thing the past few years have taught us, it is that “change is the only constant” and we will see periods when everything is running smoothly, followed by periods when everything seems to be in upheaval. Thinking like a farmer can help you traverse these times.