Off-Farm Income

Today's episode is significant to me for a couple of reasons.  First, what Dan Frank is doing epitomizes what this show is all about.  He is a small, owner/operator of a business that allowed him to "make it in farm country".  Dan values the lifestyle that living rural and farming brings, and this drives him to find a way to make a living "out there".

Dan chose entrepreneurship to be the main way of creating his income in an area where jobs normally are scarce.  He sees our current economy for what it is - a moment in time that will allow you to get ahead.  Right now, Dan can get all of the side jobs he wants working for other people because unemployment is so low that farmers cannot find labor, let alone quality labor.  However, Dan realizes that this is not going to last forever.  So, instead of sitting back and enjoying the fact that he can work as much as he wants for other people and make good money right now, he is building his own business on the side for when the economy slows and jobs are less plentiful and competition for those jobs is higher.

Dan has been bootstrapping his silage hauling business, Frankie's Feed Movers.  He started out by purchasing an old truck and using an old box on the truck to get started.  He is now creating enough revenue that he is going to be able to upgrade equipment and expand the services he can offer.

Direct download: OFI_2002_Re-Cap_Of_780_-_22924_3.44PM.mp3
Category:farming -- posted at: 3:54pm MST