Thanks for spending a little time with me to talk about business planning. As I pointed out, though I’m no expert at it, I’ve learned many times that it’s a good thing to do. And I’m always interested in finding resources that will make things a bit easier.
Here are some resources that have worked for me, and some articles at On Pasture that you might find helpful. If you don’t already have a subscription to On Pasture, here’s a coupon code for 25% off the annual price: ASGA2020 .
You can subscribe here. Just click on “Have a coupon?” fill in the code and complete
the registration. Enjoy!
Here’s the story that I told you during the meeting:
Here’s a planning tool if you want to put together a true business plan:
Rosalie Wilson has a good list of questions you might find helpful:
We talked about “Pressure Testing” and “Reverse Planning.”
The idea here is to start by thinking about what could go wrong, or challenges/obstacles to getting to your beautiful end vision, and then solving around those things. Here are some articles to help you think about these processes.
Liz Baker was trained as a scientist and her “Pressure-Testing” Method draws on that background.
She asks questions like:
• What if this or that goes wrong?
• If this thing goes wrong, how easy will it be to manage?
• Given this thing that can go wrong, can I tweak my original idea to prevent it?
Reverse Planning is something the military has found helpful for determing goals and what could get in the way of achieving them. Here’s more on that:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/using-us-armys-backwards-planning-process-your-goal-setting-sherrin/
American Solar Grazing Articles at On Pasture
Books I Find Helpful
This one by Forrest Pritchard and I think it’s outstanding. You can read an excerpt via this On Pasture article or just order it from Amazon:
I read “Small-Scale Livestock Farming” when I was working on my Goat Grazing Business Plan. I liked all the farmer examples it included.
Finally, here’s just a little inspiration..
As DeWitt Jones says, “There is always more than one right answer.” Here’s a video where he explains how he uses that concept in his photography and how we can use it in our daily lives to be happier and more successful. It always inspires me, so I thought you might find it helpful too. (Sorry, but the first 53 seconds is a bit of an ad, so just skip ahead.)
