Years ago, when I was developing my farming systems, I started to look back at what “Farming” really was about. I wondered why we called it farming. The general idea made sense, but why farming specifically? I started thinking about the history of how farming (real farming) came to be and how it evolved over time. Then it hit me! “The Farming Food Chain!”
The evolution of our food supply almost exactly matches the evolution of our real estate business.
I often share that I truly believe that farming is the future of real estate and understanding where we have been can help you see where the business is going.
Like most good things, they change over time. They adapt and evolve. The best way to grow is to shed what didn’t work and focus on what does
And that’s when I came up with the concept of the “farming food chain”.
Allow me to explain…
The Hunter
In the pre-farming days, mankind survived by hunting their food. They would follow wildlife and hunt to survive. This took a lot of time, energy, and patience and only the strongest survived. I quickly realized that this was so much like real estate. Except that instead of hunting, it was prospecting. “Hunters” in the real estate world are constantly chasing their next deal. They must follow the herd and try to take as many shots as they can to actually get something. Agents who traditionally focused on cold calling, door knocking, and open houses were constantly trying to hunt their prey. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it can be absolutely exhausting, it can be a lot of work for little reward at times and its still very seasonal. The “Old school” agents who built their business this way didn’t have many other options. It was either pull out the phone book or pull out your walking shoes and go meet people.
This still works today, but its not nearly as effective as it once was. With more and more things fighting for our attention, less people are responding to old school prospecting methods on their own. The agents who had thriving businesses built on prospecting better have built a solid database, because its become so much trickier to grow your business this way.
The Gatherer
Then there are the gatherers. In the actual food world, the gatherers would forage for what was available around them. They would learn to survive on what was available in their area. If there wasn’t anything in their area, they would move till they found more resources. Depending on where you lived, you could end up in a feast of famine world. And of course seasonality plays a huge part of that as well.
“Gatherers” in the real estate world are the agents who have built their businesses based on their sphere and networking. For many agents, this was a dramatic improvement as they weren’t having to go cold call or door knock and face rejection, they just had to focus on the people they knew or get referrals from the people THEY knew.
So many agents have learned to focus on their sphere and rely on the referrals they receive. It’s almost a badge of honor for an agent to say they get all their business from past clients and referrals. And I get it, for many agents, the dread of having to cold prospect made this such a more effective strategy for them and they want people to know that they are not in the “prospective club”. Many agents flocked to this approach and it changed the face of real estate.
The good thing with “gatherer” style is that it can be an excellent source of business, but like real life gatherers, you are still at the mercy of what the market will bring. Sure, you can learn to work your sphere more efficiently, but you will always be limited by how many deals they can help you find. However, you will still be at risk of highs and lows in your business if you aren’t careful. I’ve seen agents who have an incredible multiple 6 figure year and then end up just barely paying their bills the next. If you aren’t purposeful with your cultivation of these relationships, you end up on the same roller coaster as the hunters.
For many agents, they are ok with this up and down and are just happy to get the business from their sphere. They aren’t as concerned about building a scalable business model and are happy to just focus on the deals their database brings them. If this is you, know that you can have a great business with this approach, but to build a more sustainable business you need to build a more sustainable system.
And that brings us to the next stage in the evolution of the farming food chain.
The Farmer
Believe it or not, in the real world, nothing has changed the face of humanity more than farming. Farming gave humans the ability to build a much more sustainable source of food and security without having to chase their next meal. With careful planning, the right resources and a little luck, people were able to create a thriving farm that met all their dietary needs and then some. This consistency allowed people to settle down and larger societies were able to develop and create a much more secure and sustainable lifestyle.
In the real estate world, farming has allowed many agents to do the same thing. Agents who have learned to build solid geographic farms have benefited by creating a much more sustainable business that provides a much more consistent flow of business, allowed them to be more efficient with their time and resources and create a system that can be replicated and scaled to create even more success (If they choose).
One of the downsides of traditional geographic farming is, just like real farming, it can be very seasonal and a lot of work every year planting, tending to and reaping your harvest. Plus, you sometimes get burn-out and lose momentum if you aren’t “rotating your crops”.
Needless to say, farming can be an incredible opportunity to grow an amazing business but what’s next in the food chain?
The Orchard
What is the next level of farming?
An orchard!
Picture yourself in an apple orchard, surrounded by trees completely full of apples. Those trees probably took a while to develop so they could grow fruit like that, but once they hit maturity, it doesn’t take nearly as much time and attention as a crop of carrots that you have to dig up and plant every year. An orchard can continually give you a harvest for years with a lot less work and effort.
In the real estate world, this is the next level of geographic farming. So what does that look like? It comes in the form of building a community and is enhanced with strategy stacking using the S.C.O.P.E. Method that I’ve talked about many times before.
Learning to position yourself as the ambassador and the expert combined with building a sustainable farm will not only be financially rewarding, but personally as well.
The Farming Food Chain – Farming Is The Future!
The next level of geographic farming is rooted (pun intended) in the C.P.R.!
It’s all about Community- Positioning – Relationships.
When you learn to build a farm that gives back to the community and positions you as the expert and ambassador and you focus on building long term relationships you will start to be planning trees, not just a yearly crop.
The future of farming is in the community you serve, not in self-promotion.
It’s in the relationships you build, not the number of homes you sell.
It’s in being the ambassador, not in the transactions you do.
Understanding the farming food chain can help you to learn to build your farm this way, you will build a much more sustainable business that can feed you for the rest of your life! And that is what you want, right?
Happy Farming!
Ryan Smith – Founder/Creator
Launch Your Farm
Be sure to check back on our blog and show to get awesome information about geographic farming!
Blog – http://www.LaunchYourFarm.com/Blog
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