Spend Money

"To make money, you have to spend money."

We have spent more this year than my first year's salary times twenty or more.

Lots of people think it is going to be worthless anyhow so make it while it still has some value.

Ran across an article from Ag Professional that spurred this post because it makes so much sense.

"Too many organizations are obsessed with their profit and loss reports. It hasn't occurred to them that they might be looking at the wrong numbers. Let's look at some numbers that just might have a bigger impact on the profit and loss, then some of the numbers that are on the reports.

1. Increase the customer sales. What could happen if you were more passionate about increasing the volume of your customer sales as opposed to your number of sales. The president of a company in Utah sponsored educational sessions for his customers to bring them tools and knowledge that would help them grow their own business. His theory was that if he focuses on helping them grow their own business, then his company would grow their business as a result.

2. Reduce the total cost to the customer. A forklift distributor in Los Angeles, who sells and services forklifts to Lowe's, Home Depot and Costco among others, has adopted this strategy. A customer's forklift operator had run his/her lift into a post, damaging the lift cage.

The cage part of the lift was severely bent. The normal action by the technician responding to the call would have been to order a new cage. The cost of this part is substantial, not to mention the labor required to remove the damaged component and install a new one. The technician assigned to this customer, without consulting with his manager, went to an auto parts store and purchased a hydraulic jack for $200 with his own money.

The technician figured he could use the power jack to straighten the bent frame of the cage and return it to its original condition. His action was effective, and having saved his customer a large sum of money, will certainly have a huge impact to increase customer loyalty in the future. When these technicians show this kind of initiative, it is a fairly safe assumption that customers will spread the P.W.O.M. (Positive Word of Mouth), which can also contribute to an increase in sales for the company."

Any farmer who can't make a living with ten dollar beans this year, well, there has to be something wrong. I know we deserve fifteen and the market rewarded us last year but normally this doesn't happen.

Oil hit record highs when soybeans hit record highs so LuAnn and I have been talking about this a lot since we only have about half the crop priced.

I have been called the tightest corn cob you ever saw but when I want something or need something and think I can make a dollar, the dollar is my tool to get there.

You go to these estate auctions where they hoarded everything like the Great Depression. I understand that, I was raised that way.

But sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Ed