First time post and fan of the podcast for the last year
I feel terrible about resigning from my family farm. I've been working as an employee and am feeling pressure to buy in from my retirement age parents. Going in a different direction, something in sales and my agribusiness degree background.
I've listened to the resignation casts and have prepared for my resignation. Haven't gotten confirmation on a job but have interviewed for a commission sales position. So I'm at the point where I can't tell my parents I'm leaving. If they knew I wasn't going to be here, they would have an auction and downsize but we are still planning the work to do for the summer (fencing, seeding, pasture) and decisions on the future (buying tractors, acquiring bank loans).
I'm starting to think of all the work that needs done and I don't have a lot of things to write in a transition file rather I have work to do in a pasture, in the field. How do I quantify that? Or make it easier on them. I do the hiring at the farm but a confirmation email would be sent to their email if I submitted a job to the posting site.
Thank you for reading and any comments or advice you have to solve this problem
Oh man, I'm all ears
Hi David:
First of all, I'm filled with compassion for your situation, and I congratulate you on knowing what you want and making the difficult decision to go after it.
Second: I think your family is entitled to a higher degree of transparency and openness than an archetypal manager such as was covered in the "How to Resign" podcasts. If you resign from a "normal" job, professionally and respectfully, and your boss throws you out onto the sidewalk, you can walk away from the company with your head held high and without a backward glance. But if your family has a fit, even if you've acted with complete class and professionalism, that blowout will have lasting consequences.
Third and finally, I'm utterly fascinated by all the angles to this situation. Mark and Mike do these forums for free, but in that spirit I hope you understand that my reaction to reading your post is "Oh man, Mark is sure gonna have to earn his money today!"
Thank you so much. Still
Thank you so much.
Still wondering if telling them before I have another job is the right move.
They've made it clear that they have plans on what to do if I'm not involved but it will be a big blow, you are absolutely right AFMOFFA. I don't know how to control the blowback with my family and don't know how they'll take it.
For goodness sake, tell your mother!
My husband is a lifelong farmer, so I hope our experience is similar to yours. The major difference is that we don't have employees. Everyone who works on the farm is a family member/owner/partner. (Meaning they have a real financial stake in the operation)
You owe your parents the truth, the sooner the better. If farming is no longer your passion, say so. You don't have to have a job to slide into tomorrow, it takes a long time to wind down a farm operation & they will likely appreciate any assistance you can give here.
Here's my personal take on it: I have 2 boys that love to farm. They are 6 and 8 years old. We are structuring the operation now so that if they want, they can be folded in as owners, we can transition out & we don't need them to borrow money to "buy us out". This structure will leave us with a comfortable retirement. If they decide not to take over the operation, we have an auction sale, sell the land and retire as multi-millionaires. We win either way.
My point is, as a parent, I would never want my child to farm unless it was the only thing he could ever think of doing. It has to be your passion and your focus. We're facing a zero-income year due to major flooding, always a risk in this business but hard to handle regardless.
Sit down with your folks. Lay out your plans and be honest with them. This isn't just business, it is family. You might also check with your Agricultural Extension office, many of them have "how to tell your parents you want out" resources. This is not going to be easy but you might be surprised that they already suspect it.
Good luck.
thanks acao162
I get that your post would be the ideal situation ACAO162. There's been a breakdown in communication and business vision and I would rather be secure in a new position rather than make this situation worse. This is just my opinion.
We're in a flooding situation too, hope you are water tight.
Do you have a mentor?
This is a tough one. Do you have another person closer to your parents generation that you can confide in? The difference between generations is very difficult and having a trusted voice that you can bounce ideas off may let you process and verify that your decisions are solid. I wish you the best of luck. Please keep us posted.