FARMING, AGRICULTURE, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

OFI 1944: You Should Be Doing This Every Year | Solo Episode With Matt Brechwald

SHOW NOTES

KEY IDEAS:

8 Books You Should Read Or Listen To Every Year And Four Bonus Books If You Are Just Starting Out

Entrepreneurship is a very fun and rewarding journey. But just like anything else there are highs and lows to this journey. The problem with entrepreneurship is that some of the highs can be so high, that a low that would seem normal for an everyday employee might seem like the Marianas Trench to an entrepreneur.

Think about the topography of the mountains. The everyday employee walks along the valley floor, occasionally going up a rise and getting a nice view, and occasionally dropping below that rise and having to walk back up. But the entrepreneur climbs the adjacent mountains and gets a spectacular, breathtaking view and eventually has to come back down. When the entrepreneur gets to the valley floor they are no lower than the ever day employee, but compared to where they just were it feels like a plummet.

It is not easy for me to accurately describe what these times feel like. It is not like the business is crumbling or you are at risk of losing the farm. It is more like you are bored because the business is functioning like you want it to, but nothing spectacular has happened recently.

It is during these times that I am at the greatest risk of losing my focus, looking for a new opportunity or even getting a job that looks cool. I am not kidding. There have been times when nothing was wrong, and I thought it would be fun to go back to work. For some entrepreneurs this is a very valid realization, and perhaps a job is a better fit for them. But for me, it is merely too much time passing between those exhilarating moments in business.

During these times I revisit the books that inspired me at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. These are books that I try to read or listen to at least once per year to keep that flame lit when I am walking on the valley floor. I want to profile these for you here so they can do the same for you:

You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise: I love this book! It is written by Joel Salatin, and he and I do not agree on everything. He is markedly anti-production agriculture and makes no bones about it. I do not share his beliefs here. However, once you realize that this is his book, and no two farmers are going think exactly alike the power of this book takes hold.

There is something about the way that Joel describes his farm life, the way he farms and his passion for farming that I find very inspirational. While I am not against production agriculture, I find myself gravitating towards a farm that looks and operates more like Joe’s Polyface Farm.

Joel, his family and his employees use pre-1950’s techniques and ideas in a lot of what they do. They also put farming first. So houses, the aesthetics of farm buildings, etc. are all secondary to production ability if they are considered at all. You have to be inspired by somebody who is so focused on being able to simply farm and won’t allow other distractions to come in the way.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy: This book is a must! If there is only one book that I could listen to on an annual basis it would be this one. I don’t love this book because I am obsessed with becoming a millionaire. I love this book because it reminds me that I am on the right track. Perhaps I am even ahead of the game a little bit since I don’t buy suits (you have to read it to get that joke).

If you want to farm you are going to live in such a way that other people might even pity you, thinking that you just have no other choice but to work with your hands and scrape by. This book shows you that there are literally thousands of people in the United States who get judged like this by people who have no net worth. And, ironically the people being judged are the actual millionaires.

This book makes it okay to drive an old pickup, dress in work clothes and not be obsessed with status and clothing. This is a must!

The Millionaire Mind: This is Thomas Stanley’s follow up book to the Millionaire Next Door. It is a sequel, but it dives deeper into the mindset of hidden millionaires. The Millionaire Next Door talks a lot about the habits of hidden millionaires and a little about the mindsets. This book goes even deeper into this, and it really inspires you to shift your thinking.

The Richest Man in Babylon: This classic business book is just what any entrepreneur needs to help them understand why making money is not a bad thing. In a very simple, story telling format this book makes it okay to be profitable. One of the biggest challenges a new entrepreneur will face is how to price products and/or services. The tendency is always to under price because you either think you are not worth that much or you feel like you are doing something wrong by making a profit. But, profit is essential for your business if it is going to be there tomorrow. And if your business is doing something good for the world, isn’t it our moral obligation to make sure that can continue?

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles: Entrepreneurs face many, many obstacles on their way to success. What we all need to learn, as quickly as possible is that the biggest obstacles we will overcome are in our own minds. In The War Of Art, Steven Pressfield does a fantastic job describing this as resistance. But he does not just identify this strange phenomenon for us, he also gives us a way to defeat it!

The concept of resistance that Steven Pressfield describes is very real, and once you read about it you will recognize how it is present in your own mind. Once you have identified it and overcome it to start you first business, it becomes easier and easier to defeat all the time. This is a must read!

Secrets of Closing the Sale: I prefer to listen to this book rather than to read it because in the audio version you get to hear Zig Ziglar explaining these methods. I don’t care what you do as an entrepreneur, you will be selling. And, if you are selling you will have to overcome the objections of those that you are selling to.

Zig gives you very effective and ethical closing techniques that will allow you to serve potential customers that are not wise enough to accept your service at first glance.

The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice: Once you have created your business and you have made your transition you will also have created a great story. Just like I did with the podcast, you can take this story and inspiration and pivot to another revenue source – telling your story.

If you decide to engage with people through the creation of content as another revenue source or as your primary business, this is the book to inspire and instruct you. It does such a good job of revealing the secrets of people who make their living this way. Many of them are just a step or two ahead of their readers. But that allows them to provide information that the readers or listeners do not have yet and that they need. This book is one of the resources I used the most to define what I wanted this podcast to be.

The Legacy Journey: A Radical View of Biblical Wealth and Generosity: If you are an entrepreneur and if you have read “The Millionaire Next Door” there is a good chance that you are going to build wealth. Well, what do you do with that money? And, if you subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ethic, what should you do with that money?

Too many people try to use religion as a way to make achievers feel guilty about their success. What does the Bible really say about money? Dave Ramsey does an excellent job to breaking that down in this book. Guilt about wealth can be a form of resistance that can hold us back. This book will help you mitigate that.

BONUS MATERIALS FOR BEGINNING ENTREPRENEURS:

Here are some books that I do not read every year, but that were instrumental in getting me started on this journey. For any of you just starting out, I highly recommend all of these:

48 Days to the Work You Love: Preparing for the New Normal: I have purchased this book for more people than any other book I know of. So many people are miserable with what they are doing every day. Many of them ask me how I was able to develop the lifestyle that I have now. I alway refer them to this book.

This is book is primarily focused on getting the job you dream about, which strays us away from entrepreneurship a little bit. However, there is so much good stuff in here to inspire you to take action and stop grinding it out in a job that you do not like that I needed to include it here.

If you dread going to work on Monday and get the blues on Sunday night, then you need to read this book. If you are going be an entrepreneur than you are several steps ahead of the game already because you don’t need to deal with resumes, job searches, etc. But you will be inspired!

Start.: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work That Matters: When you are first starting out as an entrepreneur the biggest resistance you are going to face will be fear. This book will destroy that for you, and that it huge!

You must read this book when you are considering transitioning your life into entrepreneurship, no matter how brave you think you are. Every journey begins with a first step, but that first step can seem impossible to take. This book will literally lift your foot and move it forward for you!

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World: It does not matter what type of business you are going to have, you will have to develop a way for people to notice you. This book illustrates this point better than anything that I have read.

Michael Hyatt talks a lot about social media in this book, and the points that he makes are still valid. However, you might find that some of the techniques are dated because social media changes so rapidly. Irregardless, the importance of having your own platform cannot be overstated, and it is worth reading this book when you are starting to get your mindset focused on building a platform and marketing. If you are not a natural marketer, this is the place to start!

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness: Debt will make your decisions for you! If you want to transition to entrepreneurship but have debt that needs to be eliminated, this book will show you how to get it done. And, if you are considering leveraging a bunch of debt to start a business that you “think will work” you might want to check this book out first.

I advocate for bootstrapping and proving your concept before you ever put yourself in financial peril. Just because you believe that your idea is awesome does not mean the rest of the world will. So, avoid debt like the plague, and let this book convince you that is the right course to follow.

Think and Grow Rich: The Original, an Official Publication of The Napoleon Hill Foundation: This book is a classic from the early part of the 20th Century. Admittedly, when I first read it I found it be a little strange. Napoleon Hill talks about things like “transmutating your sexual desires into business success”. That is a hard concept to wrap you mind around.

However, as more and more time has gone on, and I have seen more success what I read in this book has become more and more relevant. The overall point of this book, which is you can turn your ideas into success or “riches” is very true. Napoleon Hill researched some of the greatest business people of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s to come up with the concepts in this book.

When you are done reading this book you should be assured that the thought you have in your head, can indeed become a reality one day.

Enjoy these books and be inspired!