Here’s a mind-blowing stat:

Farm Owner Academy students get 4.6% higher Return on Assets Managed than the average farmer.

Given a $3Million property, that’s an average of $108,000 more every single year (compared to the ABARES figures).

The big reason why our students are so successful?

They follow a proven model.

…Specifically, they follow the TOP Producers Model, (which is something we’ve shared at our Platinum Mastermind and TOP Producers Program 2-Day Workshop…but never before publicly!)

When used properly, this model has the potential to:

• increase your profits
• decrease your work hours
• skyrocket your fulfilment and happiness levels on the farm 

 In short: it’s POWERFUL stuff.

Drumroll, please…because it’s time to pull back the curtain and give you a look at The TOP Producers Model: 

I know that’s a lot to take in so don’t get overwhelmed! We’re going to walk through it together, step by step, over the coming weeks on the blog.

Let’s dig into this first level now and talk about practical ways you can start leveling up in this area.

Step 1 of the TOP Producers Model

Michael Phelps (regarded as the greatest swimmer ever) said his favourite book is The Power of the Subconscious Mind.

Jim Rohn (a world-famous business teacher) said, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your business.”

Steve Jobs (the visionary founder of Apple) said, “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

What are all of these successful people telling us? Our thoughts and mindset matter.
That’s why the first step in the TOP Producers Model is to Tune In to a winning mindset.

From 20 years of coaching, I’m often asked, “What’s the fastest way to change your outside world results?” I simply state, “Change your inside world.”

To move from being a good technical farmer to a brilliant strategic business owner, you need a very specific mindset.  It’s a small distinction but trust me, it will underpin your success over the next decade.

A lot of people would call this rubbish. I know that. But in doing so, they miss an enormous opportunity to grow.

When you get the Tune In step right, the other layers of the TOP producers model become so much easier.

Here are the 5 ways to Tune In to a winning mindset: 

1. Define Your Goals

When I’m teaching the TOP Producers Model at our annual, live TOP Producers Program 2-Day Workshop, I use the metaphor of golf to explain this…

Imagine you set a goal to become very, very successful at golf in the next 10 years. You decide that you want to have a 0 handicap, which is basically a professional golfer.

When you set that goal, do you reckon it creates some movement?

Absolutely! That’s what a goal does — it creates movement in a specific direction.

Now, for a goal to create positive movement, it needs two main things:

• It needs to be measurable (0 handicap)
• It needs a time frame (10 years) 

 Without those criteria, a goal remains a dream.

A few examples of clear farming goals are:

• 10% return on assets managed in 5 years
• 30% net profit (what’s left when you take costs from revenue) in 7 years
• Have $2m invested off the farm in 10 years

The mistake most farmers make is they declare their goal…and then stop. There are actually four more steps you need to Tune In to so let’s keep going…

RELATED PODCAST: How Setting a Major Goal Will Bring You More Focus than You Can Imagine and Beat Procrastination
 

2. Employ Winning Strategies & Tactics

In our golf analogy, you might decide to do things like:

• Practice 3 times a week

• Play in 2 golf competitions every year

• Engage a coach

• Buy a set of clubs

• Watch videos on golf

…in order to achieve your big 10-year goal.

The second step in the Tune In phase is uncovering all the big-picture strategies and tactics you need to achieve your goal. This makes your goal REAL by giving you tangible steps to take.

Once you define your goal, decide on the strategies and tactics that will help you achieve it.

Farmers might want to use some of these: 

• Learn how to interpret your financials
• Create job descriptions for each team member
• Work on genetics for livestock
• Create systems for how the business runs
• Get a coach (top producers have them!)

Your strategies and tactics will change all of the time. That’s why we’re HUGE fans of working a 90-day plan that includes your key strategies and tactics for the next 90 days. (We’ll share more about creating a 90-day plan in a future blog post.)

You can’t become a professional golfer, or a world-class farmer, without the right strategies to move forward. That’s why you need to Tune In to powerful tactics to get you to your goal.

(If you want the fast track to learn all the strategies and tactics to become a world-class farmer, click here to apply for our Take Control coaching program.) 

3. Practice New Habits

If you want to become a professional golfer in 10 years, you’d need to develop some new habits, wouldn’t you?

You’d need to develop the habit of practice. You’d probably need to work on the habit of getting your mental game correct. Good food. Fitness. Keeping your eye on the ball. There are all sorts of habits you’d need to adopt to become the top golfer you want to be.

It’s the same with farming.

What habits do you need to have to be a winning farm owner?  

Here are a few ideas: 

• Planning your year, quarter, week, and day
• Reviewing your financial figures monthly (if you don’t know much about finance, stay tuned, because we’ll be talking about that soon on the blog!)
• Benchmarking
• Having regular team meetings
• Reading and learning
• Having a morning routine to get going
   

It takes motivation to start something…but it takes HABITS to continue. So many people start well but lose traction. This is why it’s key to work on developing winning habits to push you towards your goal.

4. Develop New Beliefs

 
Unless you have strong beliefs like:

I’m a winner. I’m great at golf. The ball goes where I want it to.

…You’ll never become a professional golfer.

Most of us have limiting beliefs that hold us back. They’re often subconscious thoughts we don’t even really think about, such as:

• I have to work hard to make money
• I never have any luck
• No matter what I do, I never get good returns from farming 

But if you want to be a top producer, you need to believe things like:

• Making money is easy and fun
• I’m lucky and rain LOVES this property 
• Our business is a profit-generating machine

It might sound cheesy but it’s so important for you to work on developing these beliefs (daily is best). Because unless you believe it’s possible, you’ll never do what it takes to achieve it.

So let me ask you…

Do you believe you’re a world-class farmer?

When I ask this at the TOP Producers Program 2-Day Workshop, no one’s hand goes up.

But don’t you reckon that needs to come first? Don’t you reckon you need to work on that belief before you can create movement towards achieving your goals?

By changing your beliefs, you’ll change your reality.

It takes work, and you do need to know what you’re doing here.

But trust me – it’s worth it. 

RELATED PODCAST: Could Your Money Beliefs Be Holding You Back?

 
5. Have a Powerful WHY

Have you heard stories of women lifting cars off the kids in accidents? It seems impossible yet they can

Summon the unbelievable strength to do this. It’s because they have a huge reason WHY.

Wouldn’t you agree if you’re gonna go on the journey of becoming a professional golfer for 10 years, you’d need a pretty big major reason why that goal is worth it to you?

That’s what would keep you focused for 10 years — practicing every day in hot, rainy, or even snowy conditions, even during the periods where you seem to lack progression.

Having a strong why is even more critical in farming because, let’s face it, farming is a tough business to be in. You need a strong why to keep you focused and working towards your goals.

How do you find your why?

After setting your goal, write out as many reasons as possible (selfish and unselfish) about why you want that goal. I like to come up with more than 50. The more reasons, the better!

 Here are some to help you get started: 

• To be a role model for my kids and put them through school
• To go on family holidays EVERY year
• To one day live off off-farm investments
• To have other members of our community aspire to what we do
• To become the best person I can be

Pick the reason (or reasons) that make you feel the most alive and excited — THAT is your why!

Your why is the glue that will keep you focused and seeing out your goal. When you create a why that is bigger than you, you have the ability to access so much more of your potential.

 The First Step to Tune In
Most farmers wonder why they never become world-class, even though they’re working so hard. The reality is, in farming, hardly anyone takes the time to Tune In.

So what do you do to get started?

The first thing you need to do — and you can do this right now — is to commit.

Commit to stepping up and being the best farmer you can be.

Once you commit to your vision, you don’t muck around anymore. You step up. You set that big goal. You start developing new habits. You work on improving your beliefs. You get that coach that’s going to help you succeed.

You implement what needs to happen to reach your goals and your dreams.

That commitment is your first step to becoming a TOP producer. And you can commit right now.

Next Up… 

We’ll explore the second step of the TOP Producers Model, which is all about Taking Stock of your financial picture.

Don’t let the numbers scare you! You only need to focus on 3 key financial figures to get started. And you’ll learn exactly how to do that in our next blog post.