As a responsible journalist, Jordan sent me a copy of his previous article for review and approval before releasing it as a ProfitTips, since the ranch he was babysitting was ours. He also casually mentioned that he thought I should write an article about how to build a business that allows an entire family to leave for a week … and still enjoy the time away. I immediately knew I couldn’t. If I was really an effective writer, it would be an article on the power of vision and the three secrets. If I wasn’t an effective writer, it would just be a prescription. Besides all of that, it has taken our family 5 generations to get to this point in ranch management. My parents have seen all 5 generations at work on this land and business. So I thought my parents, April and Scott Sims’ perspective would be way more valuable than mine. I hope you all get as much out of this as I did!
Vacation Planning
April and Scott Sims
We agree Jordan, spring break is not what it used to be. Back in the day, we were always calving and fighting the obstacles that went with calving in February and March. Our kids did not stand a chance of us taking them on a vacation during their school’s spring breaks. We always expected and appreciated their help during that week. Jordan’s comment about a toddler and the baby in a front pack brought back lots of great memories! However, thank goodness the future generations moved calving to April.
That was maybe step #1 in building our business to where the entire family (3 generations) could take a vacation during spring break.
Trust and respect for our team members abilities on a daily basis, builds relationships that are strong enough to not only work and get along with each other, but to also go on vacation together! Do we occasionally have differences of opinions? Absolutely! However, through 5 generations we have all learned that we are all on the same page and have the same vision for our business. We had a great teacher in Don Sims (generation 2) that taught us so much about succession and how to do it gracefully. As he told Shanon once, “I might not like your idea, but I will not stand in your way of trying it out!”
I think Shanon had the biggest obstacle in planning this trip, and that was to find someone that was capable of the ranch jobs and had a week available to run our business. This was not a worry for us, as we are confident in Shanon’s decision making.
As we recently learned at a Ranching for Profit School, planning is essential and plans are worthless at the same time. Take a minute and think about that! That is exactly what Jordan is saying in his article, we had a fantastic plan for him — until the weather changed and the tractor broke down. You adjust and go on to plan B, plan C, or whatever plan it might wind up being.
We felt that our daily operations are simple but effective enough that it would not be an overwhelming experience for someone to oversee our business for the week. Our business operation is pretty well documented, so preparing a plan for Jordan was a matter of bringing that documentation together in a plan for a week.
Although we have not taken a family vacation of this magnitude before, we all try to take a vacation occasionally. Vacations are important to refresh and renew our minds, bodies, and souls. It gives people time to think and apply principles to daily practices and energizes us for our return home. There is always something to be learned that can be applied somewhere, somehow, sometime.
In the week of preparing for our vacation, we found ourselves telling people about our kids taking us to Hawai’i for a week in celebration of our 50th anniversary. The common responses were how nice, what fun, you will love it! One guy’s response really stood out to me. He asked if our kids were bringing us back home??? They did, so it was a successful vacation!
