It almost never seems to fail. I talk to a ton of people who want to start their own business. And as you could guess most of them are people wanting to get into raising cattle. So many of them fall into a category that I call “Rope Skippers”
Rope Skippers talk like they are smart. They know all the latest market info. They know the trends. And by gosh they can predict where the market is headed.
So why do I call them Rope Skippers? Well, imagine a couple girls on a playground with a jump rope. They twirl that rope round and round. You can time it perfectly. You can hear the snap, snap, snap, noise every time it slaps against the ground. So now the Rope Skipper just needs to jump in, and, start skipping rope. Only they don’t. Because the next time around will be a better time to jump in. So they patiently stand there trying to time it the next time the rope comes around to jump in. Only they don’t get in that time either.
I did not do that. I just went into a sale barn one day and bought a few claves. I went to another auction the next day and bought a few more. When I sold those cattle I bought, I turned around the very next day and started buying the next group. This worked out great for me because I was never victim to where the market was going. I sold and bought back in the same market, allowing me to take advantage of the price spreads between weight groups at that very moment in time. I know people that will sell cattle and wait a few weeks or months to buy back. Only to have the market go up, killing their margin, wasting time, and not to mention it is kinda hard to make money without inventory. No one can time the market. If they could that person would be very very rich.
So what usually happens to the rope skippers is the two girls twirling the rope get fed up waiting and leave. We have a word for what happens to rope skippers…NOTHING
Yesterday a young fella I have been trying to mentor called me and told me he quit his J O B and started his own deal. After years of skipping rope the bum finally did it. He told me that in his first month his take home pay was four times as much as what he was making at his old job. I really wasn’t surprised, but when you take that huge leap it is a big deal. I’m proud of him for trying. Time will tell if he really makes it or not. Thing is, so what if he fails this time. That only means next time he gets to start over a bit smarter. NOTHING, is no longer happening to him. He is making SOMETHING, happen. So I decided to tell him last night what pressure really is. I will share that with you another time.
Until then quit being a Rope Skipper, unless it is in the gym. But if you want to skip rope until this heat passes I will let that one slide. It was freaking hot in central Kansas today and they forecast that it will be that way here in Nebraska the rest of this week.
Mr Cattlemaster 