Off-Farm Income

INTRODUCING CONNIE ROGERS I am an agricultural advocate, and most of the students that I interview on this show are as well.  And, what are we doing as advocates but providing information to people about our industry so that they can make a well-informed buying decision?  Considering the amounts of misinformation about agriculture that exist, I think it is all of our responsibility to participate...

SHOW NOTES About two months ago I looked down at my phone and saw that there was a voice mail from my father in law on there.  I listened to the message, and to his attempt to live in my world of technology, even though that was so foreign to him.  He told me that he had just read an article about a guy from Florida that was "making a website" like me and that I should listen.  He said that the sh...

SHOW NOTES The Current Stage Of My Life And Business Well, here we are, just a week away from Thanksgiving with 2019 bearing down on us soon.  What are your goals for the upcoming year?  What stage of business development or production will you be in during 2019? Perhaps you are just starting your plan to become an entrepreneur.  Or maybe you have started your business and are growing it while you...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING Sierra Boggio!  I speak with enough FFA students that it allows me to see trends emerge.  In today's interview with Sierra Boggio, she said something that I have heard before, and it is apparent that there is another trend emerging. The FFA offers students the ability to access and learn a lot of things that students who are not in this program miss out on.  One of those thi...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING Wyatt Todd!  I have interviewed hundreds of extremely successful FFA students on the Off-Farm Income Podcast.  Almost all of these are students who are 17, 18, or 19 years of age who have achieved incredible things in business, livestock production, or farming.  And, almost all of these kids got started and developed their passion at a very young age.  Whenever I conduct the...

SHOW NOTES I have repeatedly said that you will see business opportunities all around you once you become an entrepreneur.  It is really true.  Once you start a business, you don't have trouble thinking of new business ideas; you have trouble staying focused on just one.  Something in our perspectives changes once we enter into the arena of entrepreneurship. There is a good chance that if you list...

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  However, you decided to get into business for yourself there is one constant; you must make the leap from your full-time job to your new business when the time is correct.  For most of this audience is especially true because so many of us have a lot at risk.  If you are in your mid to late '20s without a 401K, a family, a house, etc. then making a big leap is a lot less ris...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING SAVANNAH PITTMAN!  Interviewing FFA students for this show is an absolute privilege.  It constantly keeps me optimistic about the next generation, and I get exposed to multitudes of wonderful stories from around our nation.  Today's interview is a perfect example of this. Savannah Pittman is a junior at Calloway County High School in Murray, Kentucky.  Her family has been fa...

INTRODUCING PAIGE HAITH!  At what age can you start setting big goals?  I think that I have learned from almost 1,000 interviews on this show that there is no minimum or maximum age.  I have spoken with business owners who set their goals when they were young children, and I have spoken to business owners who never realized they had it in them until they retired. Today's guest is one of those insp...

SHOW NOTES There is a debate that has been arising over the past decade or so about whether or not paying for a college education is a wise investment.  This debate has continued to grow as valuable skills are being taught more and moreover the internet.  As the advancement of technology moves forward at a more rapid pace, the people with the most up to date skill sets are not coming out of colleg...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING CAITLIN HENNE!  Caitlin first appeared on our show way back in episode #142.  She has come a long way since then.  Now she is studying animal science and agricultural business at Michigan State University, she is the Michigan State FFA President and she went to the White House and met the United States' President. Caitlin is still raising and selling her show quality lambs a...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING DRESEN FERSCHWEILER! In six years of producing this show and conducting interviews, I have learned a lot about entrepreneurship.  For example, I know that I am not a natural-born entrepreneur and the only way I ever became one was to decide that was what I wanted to do and then teach myself how to do it. Of course, there are natural-born entrepreneurs who will never be able...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING TOBY WINANS! In 1988 the Future Farmers Of America changed its name to the National FFA Organization because of Toby Winans.  Toby Winans was only born 18 years ago, and 1988 is 32 years ago, so how is this possible?  Well, Toby Winans is the perfect avatar for the person that the National FFA Organization was thinking of when they changed their name to reflect the growing d...

SHOW NOTES There are two fundamental issues that have always plagued me when it comes to farming.  First, what do we do about urban sprawl and disappearing farm ground?  Second, how can a person expect to start a successful farm and be a full-time farmer with land, input, and equipment costs being so high?  So, when I was contacted by The Conservation Fund asking to be on the show and talk about t...

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  Entrepreneurship is the only option If you want to farm, the further away from a major city you can get the more the land prices will reflect on their production capability.   But, there will be fewer jobs available to you, likely with lower salaries. How will you produce your off-farm income?  92% of farmers in the U.S. rely on it for household income, either created by the...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING KAYLA REED! They say that fortune favors the bold, and after hearing this episode I think you will definitely agree.  In today's episode, I am interviewing Kayla Reed.  Kayla is a former chapter president at the Pulaski High School FFA Chapter, and she is currently a student at the University Of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Something happened in Kayla's interview that has only...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING MEGAN CLARK! I once heard luck defined as "when preparation meets opportunity".  I love this definition of luck because so many people on the sidelines think that people who achieve could easily be replaced by any other person off of the street if they just happened to have "luck" shine on them that day. When I first started hosting a radio show and podcast for D&B Supply on...