Every business that is serious about success has advisers. The same goes for non-profit organizations. These advisers include, at the minimum, an accountant and a lawyer, assuming there is neither on staff, but others can also be immensely helpful. Sales and marketing consultants, management advisers, tax planners, human relations experts and technical geeks are all part of a well-rounded advisory board.
Savvy business owners realize they don’t know everything about everything and use their advisers to help them look into the future, foresee problems before they arise, make long-term plans, and in general negotiate the complex field of business operations without stepping in too many meadow muffins.
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Unsavvy business operators, which are most SOHO (small office, home office) and small business operators as well as farmers and ranchers, do not have advisers. Oh sure, they have accountants to whom they bring their shoe boxes of bills and receipts in March, hoping they can show the farm breaking even at a higher level every year. (They sure don’t want to show a profit.)
And they have lawyers they turn to in times of legal difficulties or when they want to buy more land before their neighbours get it. But outside of that, these operators try to do everything themselves and consequently end up spending almost all their time working in their business, not on it, and not doing a particularly good job of it. Which is to say, they have a job, not a business, and they work long hours for a pretty unfeeling boss.
There are two reasons these business toddlers don’t have advisers:
- They don’t want others knowing what they are doing. Small
businesspeople are notoriously private. Perhaps they are afraid that if their peers or outsiders knew how they ran their businesses they would be laughed at. Or maybe they don’t want anybody seeing what they are really doing because it is too different from what they are telling the tax agency people.
- They don’t want to pay outrageous fees to have a bunch of experts on their “board of advisers.” They don’t want to get charged every time they hold a meeting
or call for a quick consultation.
Don Jonovic is a family business management consultant from Cleveland, Ohio, who has worked with businesses of all kinds, including farms and ranches. He says most experts are not familiar with agriculture, but can be helpful once they learn the ropes. He says you should approach whichever expert you need to round out your range of business expertise and ask him to be on your board of advisers.
However, Jonovic also advises asking these experts to suspend their normal fees while they learn about your business. You may offer them a per diem for coming to quarterly meetings, and perhaps a small retainer, but ask that they not charge their normal full fees as your advisory board members.
Jonovic says the smart experts will agree to your suggestion. They will realize they can become experts in a new industry, and if they do their job on the board well, they will receive plenty of business at their full rate when you need them for
specific tasks.
Once your advisers are in place, have brief but frequent consultations but also hold regular advisory board meetings.
You can think of business as a stool with three legs: production; marketing and administration. Nobody is good at all three.
Most farmers and ranchers are good at production. Some are also good at administration, such as financial planning, bookkeeping and business planning, and some are good at marketing. But the farmer isn’t born yet who is good at both administration and marketing. They are two different types of people. A good production guy might have a spouse who is good at administration or marketing, but not both. And neither is likely to be good at tax planning or legal issues.
A board of advisers completes the picture. Who would you like on yours?
Edmonton-based Noel McNaughton is a former broadcaster and rancher who
lectures on farm lifestyle issues at agriculture conventions and for corporations. He can be reached at 780-432-5492, e-mail:noel@midlife-men.com, or visit www.midlife-men.com.
