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DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES FOR SUCCESS IN THE MINIATURE CATTLE BUSINESS?
By Professor Emeritus Richard H. Gradwohl

Do you really have what it takes to be successful in the miniature cattle business? You might be better off to just own a couple cows as pets and enjoy them. I've taught classes and seminars in entrepreneurship, how to start and run a small business, marketing and salesmanship for over thirty-four years. Arlene and I have ourselves opened and managed sixteen successful businesses. Most have been sold but the best ones we have continued to manage. One of the very best has been our miniature cattle business. Over these years I have observed ten specific personality characteristics or skill related areas that contribute to successful entrepreneurship. These personality "quirks" and skill areas are I believe essential to success. A person who wants to get into the miniature cattle business needs to have at least eight of these success related characteristics and skills.

(1) RESEARCH ORIENTED: Successful entrepreneurs tend to be research oriented. Product research, market research, people research and whatever other research might pertain to their particular business. Research orientation is extremely important in the miniature cattle industry. It is a new industry and in the past has been dominated by just a few breeds. Any market research specialist will tell you that selection promotes industry growth. New breeds will be necessary to facilitate growth in the miniature cattle industry. Those that develop new breeds and know how to market them will be well rewarded.

(2) MARKETING SAVVY: The world of marketing is not an exact science. There are those who have spent thousands of dollars on marketing a product with very little return. Marketing savvy for any business including miniature cattle requires a detailed analysis of the ultimate customer. Not only what he might want but how he might make his/her choices and how he/she can be reached. It really doesn't do any good to have the best product in the world if you don't know how to market it. Selection is a key ingredient to successful marketing. Potential buyers want to have the psychological feeling of having had a choice. They want to have had the opportunity to consider all the possible choices available to satisfy their needs. Over the last several years I have sold several hundred miniature cattle. Was this just one breed? No, it was from a selection base of twelve breeds. Selection not only includes product but also includes price. The twelve breeds we have sold vary in pricing as well as product features. If you know little about marketing you are doomed as far as running a successful business. Customer oriented marketing savvy is an absolute requirement in the miniature cattle business.

(3) SALESMANSHIP: Nothing happens in our economy until something is sold. Selling a product is part of the marketing process and a very important part. Professional salesmanship requires an understanding of how a person makes a buying decision. Why people buy a product is only part of the story. How they make buying decisions is that aspect of marketing that has to do with salesmanship. A salesman is an influencer. A professional salesperson needs to understand the why of product purchasing so that he/she might be able to influence that decision towards those products that he/she has available for sale. A large part of salesmanship involves prospecting. Basically you are looking for those people that have those needs that your products features are designed to fill. If you only have one product (one breed of miniature cattle) your customer base can be quite small. There are five niche markets for miniature cattle each of which has its own requirements. Salesmanship involves matching product features to one or more of these five niche markets. If you can make the match your customer can understand how the features you are outlining fulfill his/her needs at a higher level of satisfaction than other alternative choices. This is key to making sales.

(4) JOB SECURITY? I have observed that successful entrepreneurs have a different definition of job security than most people seem to have. Most people seem to be job oriented looking for benefits, wanting to marry the bosses daughter, perks and more perks. Need to make some money? The entrepreneur thinks "Got to make some more sales" or better yet "Got to make some more profit". Job security to the entrepreneur is found in the word profit. In this day of technological advances and large layoffs the only security you really have is yourself and your abilities. I retired in 1994 as a full time tenured business faculty member. I am retired but I continue to teach "How To Start A Business" classes at a local community college. These are classes offered in their evening continuing education program. It's amazing how these classes are the first to fill. It seems everybody that's been laid off wants to start their own business. I don't blame them. But most of them have the same old definition of security. Most people it seems like the security and dependence of a 9-5 job. Successful entrepreneurs don't think in terms of 9-5, 4 AM - 12 AM is more like it. There is really no such thing as job security unless you are the person calling the shots and the successful entrepreneur is that person. The successful entrepreneur needs to have a realization that he/she provides his/her own job security. A person entering the miniature cattle business needs to have the realization that he/she provides their own job security and that may require a lot more than 9-5.

(5) FAMILY SUPPORT: The stress of running your own business frequently ends up in divorce. There is a term "Goal Congruence". This term can be used to suggest that it is necessary in a partnership, a marriage, a sports team or any other multiple person endeavor to be on the same mental train going down the same track at the same speed. It just doesn't work if your wife or husband doesn't like shoveling manure. Cows (even miniature) make lots of it. I was recently talking to a couple that I had sold some animals to. She wanted out of the business. She said its either get rid of the cows or get rid of him. I asked why (I should not have), answer "He expects me to shovel all that sh*t". "His idea is for me to do all the work and he just has fun enjoying the animals". I have since sold their animals to another couple. Hopefully the second couple will have a better idea of goal congruence. You need to have a realistic perception of what the entire family is getting into.

(6) TAX KNOWLEDGE: There is an old saying "It's not what you make that counts, it's what you can keep of what you make that really counts". The Supreme Court has held that we as American citizens have no obligation to pay any more in taxes than that which we are obligated to pay. Limiting your tax contribution to this definition requires an understanding of the tax codes. Now if you have a thorough understanding of tax codes you are better than I. The tax codes are complicated but still we must make the effort to try and understand them. This can be a full time job considering they change frequently. My suggestion is for you to locate a good CPA and discuss your business operations with that person. A thorough discussion of your business and how the current tax codes apply should result in a better understanding of how the codes impact your income. It's a good idea to determine the tax implications of any business decisions before you implement those business decisions. Discussions with your CPA will enlighten you to the many tax advantages of owning and operating a small business.

(7) MANAGEMENT SKILL: My idea of management skill is a little different than you might expect. People skill is very important. It goes back to the idea of goal congruence. Employees are more productive if they can see what they are doing for the company helps them achieve their own personal goals. It's the I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine program. Management skill in the arena of human relations also requires flexibility of personality. It's a little hard to do everything yourself so you must get things done through and with other people. When you are working with multiple people with multiple personalities you have got to have flexibility.

There is a thing called the Cash Wheel. You start a business off with money (a liquid asset) and it goes from money to inventory, and then to sales and then to accounts receivable and then to pay expenses and then to taxes and then back to money. There needs to be more money going back in than the amount that left. It's called profit. The successful entrepreneur is good at managing money and understands the flow of money in a business operation. Managing a business is really a matter of managing the cash wheel which is the flow of money. It can get stuck in inventory or accounts receivable. You can have too many expenses (hay), you can pay too much for labor, your sales might be too low. Lots of little management problems for you to think about. Enjoy! Knowing the art of money management is a necessary management skill.

(8) DEALING WITH RISK: What's the primary requirement for dealing with risk? Patience, patience and more patience. All successful entrepreneurs have a common trait and that trait is enduring patience. Do we get frustrated? Sure. We deal with frustration by developing a plan of action, a course that will overcome the source of frustration. It takes lots of patience and planning to approach business management problems in this manner. We don't take risks, in fact we try to steer clear of them or at least minimize them. The successful entrepreneur is not a risk taker, he/she is a risk avoider. There are always lots and lots and lots of problems to deal with. That's what a manager gets paid to do. If you solve the problems that confront you in a patient determined manner you usually get paid well.

(9) RELY ON OTHER PEOPLE: Ever heard of the OP's? There are three good OP's, OPM, OPB, and OPL. Other peoples money (OPM), other peoples brains (OPB), and other peoples labor (OPL). The successful entrepreneur is a master of the OP's. You will never succeed if you try to do everything yourself. You are not taking advantage of people by using the OP's, you are giving them opportunities. Surround yourself with people that are better at certain things than you are. As a manager your responsibility is to coordinate the activities of other people. If you find yourself saying "darn if I want it done right I have to do it myself", that's an indication that you are not working the OP's very hard. Become a master of the OP's and you will let other people help you succeed.

(10) FOCUS ON THE FUN OF MAKING MONEY: When you get up in the morning do you say to yourself "Wow I have another great problem solving day to look forward to" or, does your wife say "Get your you know what out of bed and get to work". You don't need to be in love with your business. However, it helps if you enjoy it and the people you work with. For every business that's for sale there is at least 10 potential buyers. If you are in love with your business it might be very difficult to sell it to a qualified buyer. The purpose of a business is to make a profit. The particular business you are in is the means by which you make a profit. The miniature cattle business is no different. Its ultimate requirement is to make a profit which has got to be the goal of any business. If you like what you are doing it helps but if passion gets in the way of profits it can be a disaster. I have a very good friend that is great with animals. He really enjoys working with cattle so he went into the miniature cattle business. It became his passion. He made a big mistake. He forgot to remember that he had to make a profit. Now he works for a zoo. I think he is better off. Nice guy but a little short of business knowledge. At the beginning of this article I suggested that a person that wants to try the miniature cattle business needs at least eight of these success related characteristics and skills. Which eight? You choose your eight and then use number nine, the OP's, to fill in the other two.