Annie’s Project – Education for Farm Women Annie’s Project – Education for Farm Women a 501(c)(3) organization.

Business Planning Part Three Vision Missions Goals Objectives Read a document on the importance of business planning to help you as the presenter to prepare for the discussion. In the resources section the Farm Business Plan Workbook and Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses are helpful. If you read them, then you’ll be able to help participants see which one could be better for them.

Objectives Begin to develop business goals & integrate those with personal goals Learn the components of a business plan Learn how business plans can be used for farm business development and/or transition

Vision Mission Goals Objectives Where women may provide valuable guidance is summed up in this diagram. What is the vision of a farm or ranch business; where in the long term do you and other family members want this business to end up? What is the mission that provides guidance toward a vision? How do goals support that mission and is it necessary for all goals to support a common mission? Who manages daily objectives and actions to see that objectives are a part of reaching goals?

Goals Support Mission and Vision Mission – a guiding force for the present Vision – where you want to end up Mission Statements define priorities and purpose. Vision statements are the long-sighted purpose of your existence. Mission is a guiding force for the present. Every business should be guided by it’s mission towards reaching an agreed upon vision. Mission is what helps prioritize goals and objectives for those times when many conflicts and stresses arise. Conflicts can be managed by matching goals and objectives to the mission and agreeing ahead of time that when conflicts occur, it will be the mission that guides making decisions. Every farm and ranch business should have a written mission statement along side a vision statement. It takes long thought and lots of communications to come up with a mission statement that is concise and direct to the point of a farm’s or ranch’s existence. You’ll first want to check for existing mission and vision statements. Are they family related or business related? If there are separate statements for family and business, have they been checked for compatibility between family and business purposes? In the absences of these two statements, a woman can certainly begin the process of putting them together to included in the business plan. It doesn’t hurt to have them professionally printed and framed for posting around the home and business.

Goals Components of Goals SMART Specific (written) Measurable—providing a means of evaluation Achievable or Actionable Reasonable or Rewarding Time By now you have been introduced to writing a goal or two. Let us review what are the components of a goal by using the acronym SMART. Please note that you may have different interpretations of each letter.

Objectives Small steps to reaching goals Sometimes referred to as action steps or daily action plan Goals are supported by small steps or objectives. In some circles, action steps or the daily action plan consists of a series of objectives that are tied to a goal. Someone has to articulate those objectives and see that what you are doing today has a positive effect on reaching a specific goal. Action with out purpose is a waste of time and energy and a place for arguments to begin.

Effectiveness vs. Efficiencies Important vs. Urgent Effectiveness vs. Efficiencies Take care to do important things in a timely manner (effectiveness). Handling important items in a timely manner improves your efficiencies and lessens time spent dealing with urgent situations. Pay attention to important things to keep urgent situations at a minimum.

Simple to Complex Ag Plan Plan to Succeed Cover Page Objective SMART Goal Action Plan Ag Plan Cover Page Executive Summary Business Description Operations Marketing Plan Management and Organization Financial Plan Ag Plan is a great tool to write a complete business plan. We don’t have much more than an opportunity to expose participants to the online resource. So instead of spending an hour in an exposure exercise, we’ll start a hands-on exercise to explore the limits of Plan to Succeed. In the next slide you’ll be able to do that. Do spend a few moments going over the strength’s of an Ag Plan or Ag Plan like document. It could help employees, investors, and business partners understand your business. However, the details would likely not be shared with all interested parties in the same proportion. e.g. an employee’s buy in could be enhanced with knowledge of the history and general description. The operations explanation could help an employee to better understand their role. If there’s confusion about who reports to whom, then the organizations and management section could be helpful. A lender or investor may need to see the financial and marketing plan to evaluate the capacity of the operation. A business without SMART goals and clear objectives will be blown by the urgent winds of the markets, technologies, and weather. The AgPlan sections are Executive Summary Cover Page Business Description Mission Statement Goals Capital Request Plan Summary Business Overview Location Facilities Business History Ownership Structure Operations Products Production System Services Customer Service Inventory Management Licenses, Permits & Regulations Risk Management Patents and Trademarks Environmental Issues Quality Control Implementation Timeline Market Trends Marketing Plan Customers Marketing Contracts Strategic Partners Promotion Pricing Distribution Market Segments Target Market Management & Organization Competitive Advantage Management Team Board of Directors Advisory Board Professional Services Personnel Plan Financial Plan Financial Position Historical Performance Financial Projections Asset Management Benchmarks

Business Goal in the Rearview Window Use Plan to Succeed Think of a major accomplishment for your operation. Put it into a SMART goal. What action steps were required? What overall objective did accomplishment of that goal help you to meet? This is an activity. You may want to print the Plan to Succeed Business Plan on an 11X17 sheet of paper to facilitate it’s use. If you think the 8.5X11 size will work, then do this exercise yourself. Pretty soon you’ll find that even at 11X17 it’s a small letter/concise statement test. After the participants complete the exercise – give them at least 5 minutes to think it through – have a 5-10 minute discussion on the challenges they found in the process. Ask if they think they could use this exercise to teach their potential heirs how they work to accomplish goals and objectives.

Business Goal through the Windshield Use Plan to Succeed Choose one farm transition objective for your operation. Write a SMART goal to help you accomplish that objective. Write three action steps necessary for accomplishment of the SMART goal. We’re at another 3-5 minutes of writing and 5-10 minutes of sharing. Ask them to Help the participants think through how far this could take them in their operations. If they’re struggling with objectives, try not to get bogged down in the semantics. Throw out Identify successor as a possible objective. Or if they’ve already identified the successor perhaps it’s provide successor sufficient income for family living.

Written Communications Why develop a business plan? With whom would you share the plan or components of the plan? What happens when plans aren’t in writing? What are the excuses for a business plan to never make it into written form? Note that we’re almost through the hour for business planning at this point. Only in a struggling room will you be 30 minutes or less into the presentation.

AgPlan AgPlan is the agriculture, fisheries and small business planning website that helps rural business owners develop a business plan for free. It has customizable templates for Commodity Agriculture, Value-Added Agriculture, Small Business, and Commercial Fishing.   Get Started with AgPlan: https://www.agplan.umn.edu Please keep in mind that there are numerous places to find business plan templates and help to put a business plan together. AgPlan is the agriculture, fisheries and small business planning website that helps rural business owners develop a business plan for free. It has customizable templates for Commodity Agriculture, Value-Added Agriculture, Small Business, and Commercial Fishing. If you have time to go to agplan.umn.edu you could do so. Be careful here to not imply that Business Plans have to be completed online, complex, or even completed at all. Your goal as an instructor is to help the participants use business planning concepts. If there are participants who are aspiring to complete a business plan using Ag Plan, you or another instructor or colleague may offer to review their online business plan efforts. You may also offer to help them think through the SMART testing of their goals. We understand that a business plan is something that requires input from more than just a single individual. Our purpose in demonstrating this one resource is to start you in that process by giving you a good start on what goes into a business plan and create a situation for clear and meaningful family/business communications.

Homework Develop three SMART goals related to your farm transition.