Profitable Farmer

In our estimation, less than 5% of farming families have documented, accurate and meaningful family and business plans. In this episode, I speak with Farm Owners Academy (FOA), Farm Business Coach, David ‘Westy’ Westbrook about the importance of strategic planning and the method FOA recommend in making our farm business plans compelling, actionable and highly effective.   As Westy and his family e...

Are you open to explore a deeper meaning to life? In this episode, I let you in on a secret and introduce you to an important man in my life. Over the last 5 years, I have enrolled the support of Diego (Dig) Bortolin. Dig has been a great friend, confidant, mentor and spiritual guide to me. He has supported me to face my fears; explore my self-doubt; move through my anxieties, challenge my limitin...

I have heard it said that there is no such thing as a 'perfect family'. Who can relate to this? In business, and within our families, there are so many different personalities… so many complex people that we have to deal with, work with, and lead. For many, THIS can be our greatest challenge! In this podcast, and to complement my prior two episodes on Planning & Negotiation, I explore DiSC Per...

Negotiation is not what we think it is. Negotiation is a skill that all successful business minds and influencers in society learn, master and successfully apply. Yet at the same time, it is a crucial skill very few of us are ever taught. As a result, most of us battle through life and business… ‘winging it’, getting it wrong, damaging relationships, ‘settling for less’, missing out and often maki...

During my business and entrepreneurship journey, I have been lucky enough to study with and learn from some incredible minds. Through Marshall Thurber, and his ‘Money & You’ course, I have been introduced to the truly profound business thinkings of both W Edward Deming and Buckminster Fuller. In this episode, and as we collectively set down our plans and priorities for the new year, I share so...

2020, for a range of reasons, will be a year we’ll never forget.   Yet, at the same time, I feel it will also be a year many of us will cherish and be proud to remember. Adversity has been prominent. Families have come together. Communities have rallied. Hard work has been at the fore-front. The important things have been re-established. Simplicity has been remembered. Self-mastery a requirement....

A mate of mine described Brett Stevenson as ‘a legend in our industry’. In 1996, Brett founded Market Check, now Australia’s most highly respected and widely used independent grain marketing company for Australian farmers. Having navigated 3 years of very challenging seasons, like many farming families, Market Check is now a growing team of 15+ representatives supporting a client base of over 1,00...

Hi [First Name], 12 years ago, as I hung my shingle as the first business coach in regional Australia, Danny Russell, then a 28-year-old budding entrepreneur with a small cleaning company knocks on my door to tell me he is going to be my first client! …and the rest is history. A cracking entrepreneur and now emerging property developer, Danny & his wife Jill, have become life-long friends and...

Leadership according to one of the all-time greats… In this podcast, I share some of the most compelling business leadership training I have ever learned. Several years ago (and 7 times since!), I attended an incredible Entrepreneurial Training Program called ‘Money & You’. It was here that I was first introduced to W. Edward Deming.  Deming was once the revered global authority on driving eff...

Hello and welcome to our 60th episode! WOW! We are so proud to reach this milestone in the Profitable Farmer journey.    Over the past 3 years, the previous 59 Profitable Farmer episodes have been downloaded over 151,000 times and we have steadily built up a loyal fanbase and thousands of subscribers.  The topics we discuss each fortnight are even appealing to listeners outside of agriculture, whi...

In the second of this important two-part series, I interview another small group of Farm Owners Academy Platinum Mastermind Members. This time the wonderful Women of FOA.... Across our community there are some incredible transformations occurring, and some incredible results being achieved – be they financial, on-farm, in-family or individually. It truly is a unique, positive, supportive and compl...

In an important two-part series, I interview two small groups of Farm Owners Academy Platinum Mastermind Members.   Firstly, the Men of FOA, and then the Women of FOA.   Across our community there are some incredible transformations occurring, and some incredible results being achieved – be they financial, on-farm, in-family or individually.   It truly is a unique, positive, supportive and complet...

How important is your language as a farmer?   And how important are your words in enrolling your family & team to achieve all you hope & dream of in your life?   Have you ever really stopped to think about it?   In this episode, I interview another great mate of mine, James Kelly.  ‘JK’ is Managing Director of Alchimie – a global management consulting and leadership training organisation....

Out of 10, how do you rate your company’s culture, and what do you do in order to enhance & optimise it? Team and family culture is at the essence of how well our farming teams perform and achieve. Team and family culture can be the thing that truly sets you apart as a business in both your area and market. It’s ultimately an extension of you, and a legacy you can leave. At the same time, cult...

I used to think being a leader meant that I had to know it all, have all the answers, control every decision, and work the hardest. I used to think leadership was an ‘intellectual game’ and mindfulness had no place in business… or leadership… or success in most things for that matter. I certainly didn’t make any time for it…how wrong I was!   On my journey in business and leadership, I now underst...

We all have 2 or 3 people who truly inspire us, for me Ricky Dumigan is one of those people. An incredibly disciplined, dedicated, and resilient high-performance specialist; Ricky has trained elite military teams, the highest echelons of rugby and sport and some of the most significant executive leadership teams in our country. He is passionate about what it takes to nurture and create true cohesi...

Covid-19 has had a profound effect on so many small business owners, big businesses, and economies across the globe. It has been fascinating to watch the markets over the past 4 months as this pandemic unfolds. In this podcast, I am delighted to welcome back our investment specialist, Terry Tran, founder of Freedom Trader . We discuss what has happened, how it’s impacted the stock market and his p...

In a special edition interview with Farm Owners Academy Co-Founder, Andrew Roberts, we explore the topic of MONEY in detail. So many of us have inherited negative mindsets and beliefs around money that are limiting and holding us back. Many of us don’t fully understand what money really is, and as a result, have a certain disrespect towards earning it, creating wealth, and achieving freedom. This...

Wool prices have been adversely affected in recent months by the Covid-19 pandemic, no doubt with the potential to severely impact wool producers in the short-term. In this interview, I speak with leading fine wool producer Cameron England, owner of Lyndall Park near Kingston, SE South Australia. Cameron and his incredible family have been members of the Farm Owners Academy Platinum Mastermind Pro...

There is no doubt a ground-swell of real confidence across our industry is increasing…about bloody time! Much of this, I believe, is the result of real optimism and a positive outlook for the red meat sectors. In this podcast I interview Tom Bull, founder of Lambpro . Based at Kinross Station in Holbrook NSW, Tom and his family are great friends to Jane & I, dating back to intense games of tou...

The Covid-19 pandemic is impacting our communities and our economy in ways we have never experienced before. All experts agree, we are in largely un-chartered waters… in comparison to the GFC, the recession, wars and even the depression. Only time will determine the extent of this global crisis, and how quickly Australia can bounce back and recover compared to other nations within our global econo...

I was chatting to a farmer the other day, who in conversation made 3 bold and cocky statements… saying them as if he had some badge of honour: “I don’t have time for office work”, “I have no interest in the numbers… I leave that to the missus”, and “It’s all another language to me… I leave it to the pen-pushers”. At the same time, he was commenting about how chaotic their life was… and how he… “ma...

We find ourselves in unprecedented times, like no other in recent history. Crazy, in many ways... following prolonged drought and recent fire events. It is our view that we will navigate this well as a nation. We will handle this strongly as an industry. We are resilient and fortunate at this time to be farmers. Please be sure to look out for those around us more adversely affected. In this Podcas...

Simply this is a MUST LISTEN TO Podcast. Right now, FEAR and ANXIETY is at a peak, and very real for many / most of us. Fever pitch even... and only amplified by media at this time. How we manage our own mental state and deal with the emotions of fear and anxiety is so very important at this time - for us, for those around us and as a local and national community. I interview our Head Coach and Mi...

Trust is critical to any high-performing team.  Equally, it is essential to effective family-farming businesses...   Do you have a strong basis of trust and mutual respect within your farm team?   Like a muscle, trust can be worked on and strengthened over time.   Most of us just don’t know how, or where, to start.   To expand further on the topic of farm succession, I once again speak with Tony C...