As a young boy of eight years of age my life included not much more then school, work and sleep. Each aspect of my life took approximately eight hours and constituted a third of my daily time within any twenty-four hour period. From morning until night my hand was flipping through pages of books, blistering my small hands on a hoe, or clenching my white bed sheets with my hand. My hands were always put to good use. Despite my mundane style of early life I have learned to listen for business opportunities and harvest the results.
Farming as a major occupation has now ceased to be for the majority of Americans who have become accustomed to food in a can and a few hundred television channels. Apple pie, chords of wood piled in the back yard, and draft horses sound more like something from a Christmas carol or a Budweiser commercial then from a true way of living. Yet this simple lifestyle, and the values that come from it, have taught many worthy Americans how to run and succeed in business. Have you ever heard of Henry Ford, George Washington, Isaac Newton, or Thomas Edison?
Before one laughs at such an odd conclusion they might consider that a farm is a business. The same skills that would be required for corporate success often present themselves daily to farmers. Children learn early how to calculate the yield of an acre and how much a bushel will earn in one's local economy. Of course, such an education wouldn't be complete unless their fathers stopped scanning the local newspapers to find out how much corn is trading in Wall Street for on any particular day.
Certainly the hard skills of math, commodities, production, supply chain and economy aren't the only skills needed to start a successful business. Business gurus must also learn how to set a goal and meet that goal, be persistent enough to wake up every morning to tackle business problems, and need the mental toughness to defeat challenges as they present themselves. In other words, they must have the right personality traits to succeed in business.
Kids on a farm know hard work. Shucking corn, pulling weeds, hauling wood, pushing old Betsy out of the creek, and skinning chicken isn't anything if it isn't hard work. Farm kids wake up every morning to a long list of chores and work each day and complete them without complaint. They learn by the age of eight to handle responsibilities and tackle their goals. Their blisters and responsibilities ensure that they can face any challenge that may present itself in the future.
As the snow sloshed under my rubber boots, and my scarf waved in the wind, at the age of eight I came to the realization that I will someday live farther then "a stones throw away" from all of my other relatives. Since that time I have devoted myself to the scholarly pursuit of business and the rewards it has to offer. Deep nights have been spent in hermit like solitude thinking about the next great business opportunity. While other kids collected baseball cards, I was watering the fields and thinking about a more efficient method of finishing the job.
On his eighth birthday my son received an ear of corn which he examined closely with curiosity. Passing it from hand to hand he kept looking at me and back at the corn in hopes of figuring out why his father would give him such a ludicrous gift. The poor boy finally decided he was going to investigate what was under its wrapping. As he pulled the ears back in hopes of finding some money or other hidden oddity I said, "This ear of corn listens for the next great business opportunity".
