Plan Your Success Now

Mechanic Bob’s customers compliment him on his high quality work. In fact, many of his customers drive from nearby towns for Bob’s excellent service. Bob already works long hours, but he is thinking about opening a second shop nearby.
Flora wants to open a florist shop in her small hometown. She learned the insider tips of the flower business by working 14 years for a busy Salt Lake City florist, but when her elderly mother fell, Flora moved back home. She’s ready to gamble on herself by renting retail space on Main Street, but she’s not sure of the next step after that.

Rancher Ray tops the calf market almost every year and his buyer says Ray has the best calves in the county. Ray leaves the house at daylight, works hard all day and rarely returns before dark. He loves what he does and can’t imagine doing anything except ranching. Ray is trying to decide which parcel of land he will sell to pay his mortgage and operating loan this year.

Mechanic Bob, Flora the florist and Rancher Ray need to take time out from the urgent demands that life puts in front of them to plan important strategies for their business success.
Others are invited to join them.

Conrad rancher and writer Lisa Schmidt will lead business owners and those who are considering a new business through a series of proven strategies that have brought struggling businesses back from the brink and pushed successful businesses to even greater heights.

Schmidt’s Yes You Can attitude has kept her focused on her lifetime goal of owning a successful ranch. She earned a bachelor’s degree in agri-business management, worked as a ranch hand and then as a county extension agent and has direct marketed natural grass-fed beef and lamb for more than 10 years.

“Throughout my life, people have told me that, first, nobody can purchase a ranch; you have to be born into it. And, second, ranches fail. They don’t make enough money to pay for themselves,” Schmidt said.

Today, she and her husband, Steve Hutton, raise cattle and sheep on their historic Graham Ranch near Conrad. The ranch pays for itself.

Earn Nine Times More

Participants in Schmidt’s first workshop, Plan Your Success, will learn how to make nine times more money than 80% of Americans during their lifetimes, assess their strengths and weaknesses and understand how national and global trends impact local businesses. By the end of the workshop, they will understand how the five C’s of Credit signal the strength or weakness of a business and how to improve those indicators.

Plan Your Success will be held at Stockman Bank’s Conrad Auto Bank for three consecutive weeks, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m.

Participants in the second workshop, Business Planning for a Real Life, will design a personal business plan that incorporates the competing demands for time on a business owner. Participants will learn where to look for reliable information so they can evaluate opportunities, assess whether a passionate idea is worth the gamble and walk away from the workshop with a business plan in hand.

Business Planning for a Real Life will be held in Conrad Feb 17., Feb. 24 and March 10.
Each workshop costs only $50, thanks to generous support from Stockman Bank, Pondera County’s MSU Extension Service and the North Central RC&D.

Register for one or both workshops before Jan. 20 by calling Lisa Schmidt at 406-278-0159 or send an email to alandofgrass@3riversdbs.net.