Bud Williams Stockmanship and Livestock Marketing

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Bud Williams Stockmanship
Eunice Williams
883 E 505th Road
Aldrich, MO 65601
417-719-4910
eunice@stockmanship.com
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Business

There are old industries and new industries. To own a business in one or the other can be very interesting. It also could be very difficult. That will depend on the owner, manager and person or people doing the work. This could be one person or many. They will make it interesting and profitable or very difficult. It will not be the outside forces that determine this.

Any business that is producing a product that people need or want or think they want, if prepared, will still be in operation long after all others are gone. This is true with old or new industries. An old business that has gone into decline can almost always be brought back to life. Today a person could make a good living making buggies. A business is almost like a living thing. It will prosper and grow or slowly decline. It is much like a garden. With proper care the garden will grow and produce. Without that care it will do very little.

When starting a business in a new or old industry, when already operating in a new or old industry, look for something that offers a premium. Every business has something that will give a premium. This may be changing the product or in the service. This is how the smaller operator can compete and be profitable. This premium is what will allow a profit. This will offer a profit not guarantee one.

Many mistakes are made when profits are large or easy to make. If the premium is large enough it is easy to be careless about our cost. When the profit margin gets small is when people start talking about cutting costs. Be sure to cut or keep costs low even when profits are high.

Hog producers had profits for 35 months. As soon as the losses started the advice was to cut costs. If it was that easy then why not do it when profits were there?

Grass farming or grass finish is not a new industry. In fact it is very old. It grows and declines as things change. What determines this is the demand. Over the years this changes. Now, the main concern is health, local products, and the personal relationship with the producer. There are large profits that are just waiting for someone to take them.

In most any business there are parts that offer the most profit. That is what we should look for and try to have benefit us. If there is lots of profit then other people will get involved. This will create competition which can be good if we are prepared and know how to take advantage of the opportunities that will exist. Prices will go up and down. This may be the price of our product or what we have to buy. Stay prepared as much as possible for any of the things that may happen. Know what you can or will do as prices go up or down. Know how to benefit or compensate when the prices change. If we know ahead of time what things we can do, then when things happen we can take care of them easy. Spend lots of time thinking about how to be prepared.

Remember that what industry or what part of the industry you are in is not that important, What is important is you. Is this what you really want to do? When people talk about boredom or being overworked that just means they should find something else to do. Everything is interesting and exciting, just find something that is interesting and exciting to you. Business is constantly changing so we should also be willing to change.

People really like to plan this is very good. We just do not plan enough. Be sure and plan for-

•The price of feed to go up or down.
•The price of animals to go up or down.
•For it to rain enough or to much or not enough.
•For the price of fuel to go up.
•And the many other normal things that happen.
All these things cause problems or open up opportunity. If we have a plan for what to do then every thing will be good. Plan often and have many plans or just stay prepared.

Plan often then you can Smile and Mean it.