From pride to courage!

What is possession worth? A sense of pride is regularly fed by possession. How often do you hear an entrepreneur proudly tell you what he owns. The pension is then arranged, but how are things actually going with this entrepreneur and his or her company? Although it is a pleasant starting position, it often says little about how successful an entrepreneur really is.

But, what exactly is pride? According to the dictionaries, it means self-confidence, honor and being happy with what you have achieved. The less sympathetic description; filled with greatness. I prefer to use the description; be happy with what you have achieved. Pride is a beautiful thing, because it means that you get satisfaction from something. And as long as you get satisfaction from your business, it's fine, right?

way of life
Unfortunately, it is a fact that there is a category of entrepreneurs who have considerable difficulty in realizing returns; totally related to the time and energy put into it. Agricultural entrepreneurship is therefore an 'expensive way of life'! Any room to develop the business, make the necessary investments and achieve a pleasant standard of living is a difficult challenge for a good number of entrepreneurs. And is there also enough space for a social life?

The causes underlying this are extremely diverse and differ per entrepreneur or company. It is therefore necessary to regularly look at your company objectively and ask yourself the following: what am I actually doing, why am I doing it this way, why am I doing it and what can/will I achieve with it in the longer term? Only then should you ask yourself what am I going to do and how am I going to finance it.

From pride to courage
The above does require a strategic approach: for example, the blinders must be removed, the (pre)judgments must be set aside and a thorough analysis of the company and an honest objective view of yourself (as an entrepreneur) must be created! In short: from pride to courage; the results can sometimes be confrontational and give rise to challenging follow-up steps.

However, do not wait too long, both professionally and personally, because here too the following applies: 'the costs outweigh the benefits'. And that space still has to be there, both personally and professionally.

Jeanette Straver

Jeanette Straver is a senior relationship manager at Farmers Funding. Straver grew up on a mixed farm and married to a farmer. She has been active in higher agricultural education and banking for many years.

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