Book Club with The Saint | The Good Life | Chapter Eight | Family Matters | Part Three.

#bookclubwiththesaint #bookreview #thegoodlife #relationship #familymatters

Welcome to our Book Club. So glad to have you join us. 

We continue reading our Sixth Featured Book, "The Good Life," by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz. This is our third reading into Chapter Eight: "Family Matters."

Get yourself a seat, tighten your belt, and let us take flight. 

The Saint.

Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After | Part Five.

I don't grumble when I buy Apple gadgets. I count it as a privilege to be buying one. I am buying a service I need and want. I am not doing Apple a favor. They are doing me a favor by making the product available.

That is the kind of mindset we desire of our employees, mentors, consultants, contractors, stakeholders, and customers. We don't want anyone to think they are doing us a favor. Rather, we want them to see us doing them a favor by engaging with us.

We want to be "desired." That is the prevailing spirit in our company and farm, "...to be desired." It is our culture, who we are, and all we represent. And, we go and will go the extra mile in achieving this.

Yes, we are in this to "change lives," but we do it by being "desired." This has marked all the projects we have done to date, are presently doing, and will do in the future. It is our winning formula, our differentiator.

My Farm Manager has been asking why we pay the waybill, rather than having our customers do. Now she has her answer.

In closing, and as we enter into our fourth (4th) year of existence, we are grateful to God for many things. For one, we have transited from a company and a farm which rarely sold anything, to one which harvests and sells at least twice a week.

We now have a positive cashflow. And, like you know cash is king. Cashflow is what makes a business. This has given us renewed strength to pursue our other projects and expansions. We presently have irrigation in one of our farms, we are proceeding to install irrigation on the second of our three farms.

We are breaking the ground next week for our Green House. It will be the biggest in the region. We are continuing the finishing of our Poultry and Farm Accommodation. We have initiated plans to drill a second borehole in our biggest farmland.

We have started work with IITA, Ibadan by buying Yam Seedlings and Cassava Stems from them. The plan is to do more with the institute. We want to be a part of their research. We have plans to plant their various grade of Cassava Stems and help prove other things they are working on.

We also plan to work with other Institutes in Ibadan. We are a knowledge based company and farm. We presently represent various products in the market and new ones yet to be introduced to the market.

Yes, we seem to have our hands in many things, but our focus, vision, mission, and culture will never be in doubt or missed. They are the qualifiers for all that we do, and will do. So, help us God.

The Saint.

#desired #cultfollowing #humanexperience #humanenergy

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Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After | Part Four.

We started with just a Farm Manager, added a Technical Manager, relieved the Farm Manager and replaced her with the Technical Manager; brought back the Farm Manager and the Technical Manager resigned. That in one sentence has been our Field Leadership experience.

Ours is a tale of two Farm Managers. Like they say, "the taste of the pudding is in its eating." We have eaten from our two Farm Managers and now know, beyond all doubts, what we want and need in a Farm Manager.

Both of our Farm Managers have been hard workers. They both brought their hands to the farm. Probably not did they equally bring their hearts to the work. One saw it has a privilege to work for us, the other, possibly, thought he was doing us a favor. And, was thus using us to look for better opportunities.

With the heart not in the game, he was trapped in the tactical, and oblivious of the strategic intent of our daily ventures. He had 1000 reasons why things will not work. The other with heart in the game was not lost in the tactical, but understood the strategic intent of our journey. She had a 100 ways how our venture could work and was willing to try new things.

My Farm Manager with no heart in the game once came up with a supposedly brilliant idea on how we could make 300K weekly from selling Local Habanero. He said all we needed to do was plant 10 acres of it. All he requested of me was to handle it all on his own. He did not want my involvement. I was okay with the plan, but asked to be a part of it.

This was past our second year as a farm and company and I had been bleeding cash. I was at this time working to get a grasp of things. The most amazing and shocking thing is, my farm manger never mentioned it again, nor make any attempt in actualizing such a project. My conclusion, "he was all about using me to achieve his own end, with no intent of helping grow the company or generate the cash that was paying his salary.

Well, I had to declare a state of emergency. December 31st, 2023 was my line in the sand as to when I stop paying salaries from my personal saving. From 1st January 2024, the farm ONLY pays Salary from what it makes. If nothing is made, no one gets paid. As expected, there was a resignation.

“Attitude is more important than the task, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.” ― W.C. Fields.

The employees make a company. Not just any staff, but the right employees make a successful company. That is why we don't just want any and everyone working for us. We want ONLY those who enjoy working for us and so see it as a privilege to be a part of what we are building and doing.

We are grateful for all the people who have worked with and for us in our first three (3) years of existence. We have learned from each one, and we are getting better by it. You all form the foundation of what we are building.

Our first Farm Workers came mainly from Cotonou, Benin Republic, three of them. We had an Hausa man, but had to let him go, because he spelt trouble to the others. He was not a man of peace.

Our first contracts were monthly, as we got them in the middle of the year. These were hard working fellas, and made a difference with our starting. We wished they came back the following year, after their Christmas break, but they had other things to do with their money.

The second year, 2022, we got a new crew from Cotonou. We had up to seven (7) at a time, but ended the year with a constant four (4). Others dropped off as the year progressed for varied reasons including, health and family issues. These were not as hardworking as those from the first year, but did their own bit.

We made little or nothing from these in the first two years, but were committed to pay them off regardless. A part of the sunk cost of business. It did not come cheap, but it was the seed for the future we desired. And, intent was to apply the lessons learned in the following years.

In our third year, we got monthly labor from Benue State. I was done with the Cotonou arrangement of needing to cater for people for the year and send them off with a motor cycle, without the more than equivalent benefit to the farm. We got good and hardworking hands, but we were not able to ground them in our vision.

2024 has been the year we are fully reaping all the lessons learned from our inception. We seem to have the right combination of Farm Management and Workers who enjoy working for and with us. They are the ones working to get their own people to come work for us.

For this and much more, we are grateful.

The Saint.

#corporateculture #RaiseTheStakes #HumanExperience #humanenergy 

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Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After | Part Three.

We set out on the task of farming with zero experience, but willing to learn, implement, and grow. We leaped and found our wings on the way down. I cringe at the thought of our earlier plans.

I, in my crazy dreams, as usual, wanted to build a chapel, and library on the site. I dreamed of an office with a waterfall. Do you blame me? I was at my home in Houston and could only think of Utopia.

I had never been to the area, not to talk of ever being to the village before. I had never met my first employee (Farm Manager) face-to-face. Yet I transacted monies through her and had employed her.

Additionally, we employed our second employee without me ever seeing him face-to-face. He read Agric Education. So, we thought he could bring to us the knowledge we lacked. We gave him the title Technical Manager.

He was living in Benin at the time we engaged him. We relocated him to Ibadan, providing him with a fully furnished apartment. Our Farm Manager lived in Ibadan already. We were finding our wings on the way down.

So, three (3) years later, what would I have done differently? My dear sister, Moji Lawal Ogunbameru felt I should have gone to learn first from someone who had done it before. She is right, but I would not have done it at all if I did.

If I had second-guessed doing it, I would not have done it. I am a recovering perfectionist. My survival brain would have thought me out of it. Yes, it has cost me a whole lot more than I could have spent to get here, but it has been worth the journey.

"Leap and grow your wings on the way down. Put all your bets on you and on your ability to achieve your goals. Throw caution to the wind!" ― Les Brown.

Organizational Behavior is composed of the behavior of the individuals in an organization. Technically speaking, the individuals are themselves organizations - organisms. Putting a business together required a knowledge of this dynamisms and working it to produce the desired results for the organization. 

My first two employees and myself were strange bedfellows in some ways. I employed them after only meeting them online. They were already working for me, on paid status, before our face-to-face. My first employee had some working experience, married, and with kids. She was actually heavily pregnant when she started working for me. 

My second employee had just finished his Youth Service. So, had zero working experience. I was willing to grow with them. Each one only needed to pull their own weight and see themselves as a part of the whole. I expected them to work with each other, the same way I worked with them.

I took them in as family. That is the only way I know how to work with people. I love people. That's not a fad. It's just like saying I am a male. That is the way I work at my 9 to 5. And could not stand anything otherwise. I might not be a religious person, but I am a very spiritual person. I treasure harmony a great deal.

My two employees, like every human, had some work to do in this wise. We were all learning a new dance, and it needed some adapting to. There were issues along the lines of communication. I tried to resolve that by having a weekly planning communication. There were probably hidden issues on who was boss, etc.

I tried to help resolve their differences, but it was all to no avail. And, I could not have people working under me not in harmony. So, I had to ease off my first employee. I don't aim to be a nice person. I aim to be a good person. I was not going to hold back making the difficult decisions.

And, they don't have to be the right decisions. They just need be my decisions. I learn from the bad decisions and make better the good ones. In this case, this was probably not the right decision, in retrospect. How would I have known if I did not make it?

#daretostart #makethedecision #HumanExperience #humanenergy

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Book Club with The Saint | The Good Life | Chapter Eight | Family Matters | Part Two.

#bookclubwiththesaint #bookreview #thegoodlife #relationship #familymatters

Welcome to our Book Club. So glad to have you join us. 

We continue reading our Sixth Featured Book, "The Good Life," by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz. This is our second reading into Chapter Eight: "Family Matters."

Get yourself a seat, tighten your belt, and let us take flight. 

The Saint.

Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After | Part Two.

I was fighting my way out of depression. I needed to get my edge back. I needed to build back momentum. My circumstances had not changed. I had no power to change them, but I had the power to change myself. I always did, but I had lost my way. I always had the power to grow above my problems. And, I did.

It was time to get my life back on track. It was time for massive and determined action, and movement. Grant Cardone puts it this way,

"You must live a life where you cross lines and push limits. You must commit to and demand to create success in your personal life and business."

I was done being at the mercy of life. It was time to take back the reins of the affairs of my life. This was the backdrop against which Amuludun Farms came into existence. So, as much as I was trying to help someone else, I was hungry, ready, and resourced.

"Gratitude is a celebration we are all invited to." ― Cleo Wade.

So, we went ahead to take possession of our farmland. We sunk a borehole in it and sunk one also in the village for our host. We are not here to exploit the people or the land. We are here to add to them, to place them on the map of life.

That rhythm with the goal, vision, and logo we have given to ourselves. It is "changing lives." This is the core of all that we do. We are all about changing lives. First, changing the lives of all who come to work for and with us.

We are privileged to be the reason many families have not gone to bed hungry. People have benefited because we are. Starting from our first and second employees, our Farm Workers, Farmers, artisans, and casual workers. 

Our joy and fulfillment are in the difference we have made and continue to make in and to every life we have touched. Second, changing the lives of our host community. The borehole we sunk came with all that was needed to make it operational.

We are blessed by the smiles we brought to their faces. And, we are not done. We have registered an NGO with the intent of doing much more. Our intent is to modernize our host village and use it as a base to affect other villages also.

This is our reason for all that we do, changing lives, and leaving our own dent in humanity's evolution and civilization. So, help us God.

#HumanExperience #humanenergy

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Amuludun Farms: Three (3) Years After | Part One.

This month has been three (3) years since we started our Amuludun Farms. 'Tis been as I expected it, a pleasant experience with all the bells and whistles. Like I say all the time, and it is true, I am an accidental farmer.

I did not get into farming by planning and dreaming about it. I got into it to help one of my counselees, who was on a financial streak. She was selling farmlands, so I asked if she would be willing to farm them for me if I bought them.

She said yes, and was willing to learn the rope along with me. That is how we started. The rest they say is history.

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.” ― Steve Jobs.

I was sitting down in my home in Houston, Texas, when I started bargaining and bought our first 6 acres of farmland, three (3) years ago. The person I was negotiating with, though was one of my counselees, whom I had never met face to face.

Yet I was confident enough to make the transfer, buy the piece of land, and employ this person as my first staff. That was crazy. Right? You bet. It takes being crazy to make it in life. All those who know me, know I am crazy. I live off the usual curve.

I am driven by the vision I have of tomorrow and order my life according. My heart has caught a hold of the vision. Now my head follows. So, on the 6th of April 2021, we inspected the farmland and closed it out on the 8th of April 2021.

The Saint.

#thecrazyones #HumanExperience #humanenergy #amuludunfarms

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