Who Do We Do It For?

5:45 AM – October 17, 2016

Good Morning.  My coffee is in hand and I am typing the final part of the three questions:

What Do We Do? – Why Do We Do It? – Who Do We Do It For?

Truthfully, I thought this part would be easier.  But it seems this too is a loaded question.  Who knew trying to define the essence and underlying motivations of your business would be so challenging.  I think that is what makes starting, running and being successful in business such a steep hill of learning.  If it were easy everyone would do it and the success stories would not be interesting or motivational.  Fundamentally, I believe most entrepreneurs work from a level of self-motivation that at face value appear only self-centered, but this is not ultimately sustainable in any business plan and in my opinion not what makes people be great at what they do.

The land business is often personal and in the face of “business is not personal” mantras and “business is business”, selling dirt is a personal process for both sides of any deal.  There is always a story with every tract and most of the time the buyers find themselves entangled in the story once they have walked the tract or grabbed a handful of dirt.  This is not an exaggeration that on more than one occasion I have witnessed a land buyer reach down and grab a handful of dirt.  Many times they never even look at it.  That is not what is about, it’s not a soil analysis always.  I think some folks just have different ways of figuring out where they and their people belong. It’s kind of basic really when you think about it, but it is personal and I think that is why the dirt business is so engaging.  We have the opportunity to help people decide where they want to be, where they want their families to be, where they want to expand their farms, build their houses and buildings and ultimately even our communities.

The sun is peeking through now, the sky is waking up as the day is starting, but after the last six sentences I have concluded we sell dirt for the person we are standing next to that day in the field.  I think the guys I am fortunate to work with each day share this premise in that we are finding your place.  The land takes thousands of forms and no matter how rigid the economics might be on a given deal and how hard we negotiate the terms, we are still finding dirt for the person we are standing next to in the field to accomplish their goals in life and business.  The sun is up and the day is here to sell more dirt. Thanks for reading.

Onward!