Business Transition's First Step

Business Transition’s First Step

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Dr. Don Jonovic, President of Family Business Management Services, has 39 years of experience helping family businesses go through the ownership transition process. He says the first step is simple, but not necessarily easy.

Jonovic: “The first step is realizing and understanding that you need to take the first step. That may seem overly simplified, but it is not. Farmers are very good at raising crops, very good at judging the weather, and marketing and having good timing. But their main skill is the ability to burrow their heads deeply into the ground and hope these problems goes away. So our first and major challenge is to get them and for them to understand this is not something that is going to go away. We need to start working on transition now. Transition means if we want this farm to continue we have to do it now work on it. Otherwise it won’t do itself.”

Jonovic strongly suggests ag producers get outside expertise to help with the transition process. Find advisors, like an attorney that really understands estate planning issues, your accountant, a estate planner or insurance underwriter.

Jonovic: “Put those people together as a team. Tell them, ‘We want you to work together with us and we want you to kick us in the butt every time you feel we are drifting off into a lack of attention again. Keep us on track, work together and help us get this problem solved while we go farm.’ Because really that is fundamentally all the farmer wants to do anyway.”

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.