• Give more than take. Another way of saying that is to be more attentive of their needs than of your own.

• Lead by example. What you do is much more instructive than what you say.

Protecting—Your Business Your business is probably your biggest financial investment. Tere is also an emotional investment, but hopefully you invest more emotional capital in yourself and your family than you do in your business. Your business venture is made up of many parts. Tey include: land, buildings, equipment, personnel, operational systems, customers, crops, intellectual property, and probably much more. Each one of these can be considered an individual asset. Some are expected to go up in value. Some are expected to add value as they depreciate. Some are just outlays necessary to increase or enhance the value of others. Some are pure speculation, but, at times, we need to take chances.

Here are a few tips to help you do a better job of protecting the various aspects of your business investment.

• Personnel. People are an extremely important part of your business. Having the right people in the right place, doing the right job is going to make every other important part of your business run more smoothly and is going to increase the overall value of your business to you, your customers and your suppliers.

- Treat your employees like they are as important as they are.

- Give them opportunities to grow, in their job and in the company.

- Give them space to protect their investments in themselves and their families.

- Provide any necessary training to allow them to work more safely and efficiently.

• Operational Systems. Tese are the systems that make all the other parts of your business work.

- Have policies in place that lay out all requirements for operating safely.

- Plan to update and upgrade systems as needed.

- Have a backup plan in place and make sure it is regularly followed.

- Develop an emergency plan for potential disastrous events and make sure everyone knows their potential part in it. (See page 25 for more on this.)

• Equipment. Tis is one of those investments in your business that is usually expected to depreciate. But, you need to plan for that and get the most possible out of each piece of equipment to add to your overall investment.

- Determine the best way to store each piece of equipment to maximize its useful life.

TPI Turf News September/October 2016

Tere are many variables in everything in the preceding paragraphs. We are all different and have many different ideas, wants, and needs. Some are big and some are small. One place where we are all equal is time. We each have only 24 hours in a day. Breaking that into smaller segments that’s 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds in a day. If we don’t watch how we use the small things like seconds and minutes, the hours, days and weeks will get away from us. Te more productive our seconds and minutes, the better job we’ll do on protecting all of our other investments.

Te better job we do on managing any, and all of the small things, the less chance there is for the big things to get out of control.

for the big t Steve Trusty is co-editor of Turf News. 23

- Develop a regular maintenance plan that allows each piece of equipment to operate at peak efficiency for as long as scheduled or possible.

- Have a replacement plan in place so you are ready when it is time to replace something.

- Have adequate insurance to allow for replacement in case of an insurable disaster.

- Plan financially to set aside sufficient savings in case something goes wrong with any of the preceding plans.

• Buildings.Tese might provide protection for employees, customers, equipment, supplies or products. Tey also may be used to facilitate sales, marketing or packaging.

- Design or redesign for optimum utility.

- Have a plan in place to provide for needed upkeep for protection and longevity.

- Make sure they are covered by adequate insurance.

• Land.While this can be the most limiting factor to your growth, it also is the most likely part of your overall investment to appreciate in value. An acre is an acre and will never be more.

- Develop and maintain a plan to use your land most efficiently and effectively.

- Develop and maintain a plan to maximize sustainability. Don’t deplete or use it up.

Protecting—Time