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Home > The Off Farm Income Podcast > OFI 531: You Should Be Doing This Every Year | Solo Episode With Matt Brechwald
Podcast: The Off Farm Income Podcast
Episode:

OFI 531: You Should Be Doing This Every Year | Solo Episode With Matt Brechwald
Category: Business
Duration: 00:58:54
Publish Date: 2018-11-23 01:30:19
Description: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS: 8 Books You Should Read Or Listen To Every Year And Four Bonus Books If You Are Just Starting Out Entrepreneurship is a very fun and rewarding journey.  But just like anything else there are highs and lows to this journey.  The problem with entrepreneurship is that some of the highs can be so high, that a low that would seem normal for an everyday employee might seem like the Marianas Trench to an entrepreneur. Think about the topography of the mountains.  The everyday employee walks along the valley floor, occasionally going up a rise and getting a nice view, and occasionally dropping below that rise and having to walk back up.  But the entrepreneur climbs the adjacent mountains and gets a spectacular, breathtaking view and eventually has to come back down.  When the entrepreneur gets to the valley floor they are no lower than the ever day employee, but compared to where they just were it feels like a plummet. It is not easy for me to accurately describe what these times feel like.  It is not like the business is crumbling or you are at risk of losing the farm.  It is more like you are bored because the business is functioning like you want it to, but nothing spectacular has happened recently. It is during these times that I am at the greatest risk of losing my focus, looking for a new opportunity or even getting a job that looks cool.  I am not kidding.  There have been times when nothing was wrong, and I thought it would be fun to go back to work.  For some entrepreneurs this is a very valid realization, and perhaps a job is a better fit for them.  But for me, it is merely too much time passing between those exhilarating moments in business. During these times I revisit the books that inspired me at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.  These are books that I try to read or listen to at least once per year to keep that flame lit when I am walking on the valley floor.  I want to profile these for you here so they can do the same for you: You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise: I love this book!  It is written by Joel Salatin, and he and I do not agree on everything.  He is markedly anti-production agriculture and makes no bones about it.  I do not share his beliefs here.  However, once you realize that this is his book, and no two farmers are going think exactly alike the power of this book takes hold. There is something about the way that Joel describes his farm life, the way he farms and his passion for farming that I find very inspirational.  While I am not against production agriculture, I find myself gravitating towards a farm that looks and operates more like Joe's Polyface Farm. Joel, his family and his employees use pre-1950's techniques and ideas in a lot of what they do.  They also put farming first.  So houses, the aesthetics of farm buildings, etc. are all secondary to production ability if they are considered at all.  You have to be inspired by somebody who is so focused on being able to simply farm and won't allow other distractions to come in the way. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy: This book is a must!  If there is only one book that I could listen to on an annual basis it would be this one.  I don't love this book because I am obsessed with becoming a millionaire.  I love this book because it reminds me that I am on the right track.  Perhaps I am even ahead of the game a little bit since I don't buy suits (you have to read it to get that joke). If you want to farm you are going to live in such a way that other people might even pity you, thinking that you just have no other choice but to work with your hands and scrape by.  This book shows you that there are literally thousands of people in the United States who get judged like this by people who have no net worth.  And, ironically the people being judged are the actual millionaires.
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