Creating your Personal and Business Vision, and the Goals and STEPS to required to make the vision a reality. This first step is focused on creating Clarity of direction for the owners.

Ensuring the business creates profitable Products, sought by discerning Customers, in high value Markets, to achieve the Vision. This step ensures the business owners are Crystal Clear on the most profitable products they can produce to meet customer needs.

Running the business on sound corporate principles, including establishment of an advisory board, well structured organizational management and KPIs to support the STEPS. The whole focus of this step is to bring a Corporate and Business-focused Mindset to the business.

Working through the money process so the business creates Wealth. A sound and organised approach to money management is crucial for a focused business.

Ensuring the best personnel are available and managed well. The right people must be located to work in the business and their thinking, actions and values must be aligned to the business and its owners.

Developing self managing systems to support the business growth. This step focuses on setting up a self-managing business; after all a business that runs itself based on strong systems is a highly saleable asset.

Many business people ignore risks, such as profit, market, climate, client or relationship risks or have risk management strategies/systems in place for only the most obvious areas of risk. This step drills right down to all areas of business and operational risk.

Demonstrating how to effectively outsource key areas of work. A saleable and systematized business is based on being able to outsource many functions.

Including making all or parts of the business saleable assets. This step includes both handing the business on to another generation if appropriate, as well as setting up the business ‘with the end in mind’ – that is developing a self-managing, saleable business.

Specifically thinking about JVs, investors and collaborations. A key element of creating a saleable business or making it self-managing, is to determine how to get leverage through money partners or focusing on creating links/alliances through the value chain.

The key to business building is not only understanding marketing (this is used to get clients ‘to the door’) but also sales (as we say this gets them ‘through the door’). Both are skills that many agri-business owners and managers already possess; they simply need some structure and systems to help implement an organized approach to assist them in doing so.

Is an absolutely core function for managing the team, connecting with family and other key personnel, plus engaging with customers in the marketplace. Strengthened communication is mostly about adding some simple techniques, then becoming more aware of how successful everyday communication becomes over time—and ensuring effective communication becomes second nature.