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Sweet successRegardless of what we are doing, I think everyone has some interest in success. Certainly no family business was established for the purpose of failing, although no two have quite the same definition of success and not all choices to close a business represent failure. But what are the basic elements of success? Is success a result of luck or of skill? Chance or opportunity? I prefer to use the term chance over luck, and most of the time we hear the word luck it essentially means chance (i.e., a statistical probability). The Bible says that "time and chance happeneth to them all" (Eccl 9:11), and I believe in the natural world that is generally true. Jesus even said in the Sermon on the Mount that God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt 5:45), something anyone in agriculture can appreciate! I think preparation and chance are both essential elements for success in any endeavor in the natural world, and I would suggest a third, which is perseverance. In this case I would describe perseverance as simply pushing far enough that preparation and chance have an opportunity to come together, resulting in success. I am going to illustrate this with a story, also close to the natural world, about a recent hunt for a deer. I started bowhunting for deer the first year I was legally able to do so, and managed to shoot a nice mule deer buck that first season on Nov. 25, 1982. My passion for bowhunting at that time knew no bounds, but I didn't count on life getting so full and time being so limited. So over the next several years I continued to bowhunt but didn't enjoy the same success as I had the first year, a year that I would like to know now how many hours I put both into preparation and seeking shot opportunities in the field. As my life filled up in subsequent years, I was running out of time to prepare, and I was running out of chances--it takes time invested in both to have success bowhunting. So in what is probably a pretty natural progression, I gradually hung up the bow and moved to a blackpowder rifle and then finally to a high-powered rifle, and eventually I got to where I wasn't hunting deer much any more at all. I recounted in a column a year or so ago how I was drawn back to bowhunting by my daughters, two of which bowhunted with me a year ago. I came into this 2011 season with high hopes and expectations, and now three bowhunting daughters and I put a lot into preparation for the season. I bought a couple books to learn how to tune our bows and with many hours of range time with our bows we were all shooting better than we ever had before. My wife even saw to it that I got my first new bow to hunt with for this season. We also hung stands, planted a food plot and read about and discussed deer hunting to prepare ourselves. To be honest, we mostly just enjoyed it too. I won't belabor the preparation aspect any further, but as the season opened what I craved were some good chances, and I was hopeful that the two would give us sweet success when they came together. After hunting whitetails near home for awhile without getting a buck, I went after a mule deer up in northwest Kansas closer to my hunting roots. I had often read about bowhunters stalking mule deer but hardly imagined I could pull it off myself. But with a friend of mine driving me around, we spotted a mule deer buck in a location where I thought I might be able to stalk close to him, and off I went. Four and a half hours later, most of it spent crawling on my belly, I was ready and waiting when he stood to stretch 30 yards away. My arrow flew true and within seconds I was admiring a mule deer buck that was remarkably similar to the first one I shot, on the exact same day, 29 years earlier. I found it to be wonderfully true that preparation and chance, with enough perseverance to bring them together, are great elements for sweet success. At the close of one year and the beginning of another it is worth thinking about these elements of success in our family businesses, whether they are farms, ranches, or something else. We are a part of an industry that is dependant upon chance, both in weather and markets. This is not a denial of God's Providence but rather an acknowledgement of the natural order of the world He has made. While there is much that happens during the year that we have no control over, there is actually much we can control. And there is much than can be done in the way of preparation for both. Given roughly the same chances in weather and markets over time, it is remarkable to see the wide variations in outcomes from different farm and ranch businesses. Those that experience the taste of sweet success do all the preparation they can, acknowledge the element of chance inherent in the natural world, and persevere. Editor's note: Greg Wolf is a consultant with Kennedy and Coe, LLC (www.kcoe.com) and works to help clients of the firm navigate toward better returns in all areas of their businesses. He is based in the firm's Pratt, Kan., office and can be reached at 620-672-7476.
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