Most issues within a precision business are caused by non-implementation of what you already know, and that’s why it’s important to have a checklist to print out, take home and check off, what you’ve done and to determine what you haven’t done. 

There’s more value by far in knowing what you need to get done than what you’ve already accomplished in a business. I’m convinced of this and have been guilty of not understanding this approach when I started our precision business in 2000. 

In November 2011, we acquired the assets of Linco-Precision in El Paso, Ill., which had 37 employees at the time, a huge change from the 2 precision and one administrative employee we had prior to the acquisition. We’ve since cut some fat, and tried to get as lean as we can. Today, we have 27 employees and do about $1.5 million in our precision business, annually, with 3 full-time precision employees. We’d like to increase that to about $2.5 million. 

But to sustain our business, and for any precision business, we’re going to need to reach outside of ag for expertise, possibly even some time-sharing of experts here and there. This approach has been promoted outside of ag forever, but within our businesses, to remain independent many are going to have to become interdependent. 

At the same time, we need to surround ourselves with those who are willing to make mistakes, but who are also willing to learn from them.

When something goes wrong, we need…