Farming is considered a business today, like any other occupation. And it is. However, several years ago, when my father was encouraging me in entrepreneurship he pointed out that there are two types of entrepreneurship: money-making entrepreneurship and lifestyle entrepreneurship.
Money-making entrepreneurship is what most people think of when they think of entrepreneurship. Basically you come up with a business idea based on whether you think it will be successful at making money, and you start it. Hopefully you will be right and after the business has grown to a certain point you will be able to hire others to run it, or sell it. Then you will be able to afford to live the lifestyle that you want. Basically, the best money-making business is one that provides the most amount of money with the least amount of effort.
Lifestyle entrepreneurship differs from money-making entrepreneurship not necessarily in its goal, but in its means of achieving that goal. Ultimately, the goal of both is the ability to be able to have the type of lifestyle you desire. And whereas money-making entrepreneurship seeks to find a business doing something that you don’t necessarily like in order to be able to afford to do what you like, lifestyle entrepreneurship seeks to find a way to merely make a living doing what you want in the first place.
Because of the time, devotion, care, and work that it takes to farm it doesn’t qualify very well for a money-making business. Too much work for the pay if you would rather be doing something else. However, because of the beautiful work setting, the opportunity to work with your hands, the ability to spend time with family, and the satisfaction you get from growing things, farming makes a great lifestyle that can provide for your needs and the needs of others.
The trouble is that most people today don’t value an agrarian lifestyle. Most Christians don’t value an agrarian lifestyle. So most people wouldn’t farm for the lifestyle, and the only other option would be to farm for the money you need to live another lifestyle. And, again, there are easier ways to make money than farming.
The following, widespread story of the businessman and the fisherman illustrates the principle of agri-lifestyle vs. agri-business.
The Businessman and the Fisherman
The businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The businessman complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.
The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, señor.”
The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?” To which the businessman replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then, señor?” The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.” “Millions, señor? Then what?” The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?”
-Author Unknown
Our family is working towards a family center, simple life based on our business of making toys and decor of branches. It is a daily challenge to figure out how much is too much and when to stop.
Blessings,
Tonya
Tonya,
I am encouraged by your family’s home business! You are pioneers in the rebuilding of a God-centered, family based economy. I pray that the Lord will give you wisdom concerning the balance of business and lifestyle. I know he will if you ask without doubting. (James 1)
very nice!
Right now we are farming for the family and in the same time we got jobs so we can save some money to put it in the farm. But this is the begining so…hopefuly we’ll get to have the fisherman lifestyle.
Laura,
I encourage you for your patient faithfulness in starting your farm! It is easy to get impatient many times and get ahead of the Lord’s plan. Making the transition from working off the farm to working primarily on it is a process, just like planting a seed or raising an animal. You must sow and work for a season and the fruit comes later. By the way, I see your blog isn’t in english and was wondering generally where you live?
i live in romania, europe. I was born and raised in a big city. 5 years ago God made a wonder with us and since then we moved to countryside for a simple life.
Liked this post so much I even emailed it to my wife. And I seldom email links to people. I work with a lot of very financially affluent people in my capacity as a personal fitness trainer, and it is my observation that most of them are stressed out, over-worked, disconnected from family, and not all that happy in general.
God’s Word says “give me neither riches nor poverty” – and that is my philosophy. I have trainer friends who make a lot more money than me because they train clients from 4:30 AM to 7 at night. But what kind of family life does that allow?!
I spend afternoons with kids and help with their home-schooling. They are growing up knowing me and my values.
Anyway, thanks for the great post!
This is the perfect encouragement:) I am seriously loving your post and blog! It is so inspirational and informative. I think my subscribers would really enjoy reading this. I would love for you to come share it at Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways on Frugally Sustainable (http://frugallysustainable.blogspot.com/2011/11/frugal-days-sustainable-ways-4.html). I really hope that you will put Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways on your list of carnivals to visit and link to each Wednesday!
Warmly,
Andrea @ Frugally Sustainable
Here’s the link: http://www.frugallysustainable.com
Wow, this blog is profound and all in one page summarizes so much of what has motivated me over the last few years! Our family is in the process of starting up our own farmstead, and what a joy it is! Working outside together, including the children, and enjoying the animals and gardens – there’s nothing like it. Thanks for sharing these thoughts. I hope you don’t mind if I repost the whole post in its entirety and give your blog due credit. It’s beautiful.
Lacy,
Thanks for the encouragement. All praise to the Lord. I really struggle with writing sometimes and am thankful to see the fruit he produces from my feeble attempts to sow.
You are more than welcome to use this post to encourage others.
Noah
Good post. This has a been an area of thought of late. We are looking to move and waiting on God’s timing for when that is. We would like to be able to do some farming initially for our own good and if God leads even be able to be as income.
I am looking forward to reading your past posts.
I have this very same Fisherman story on one of my blogs. =) We do some food related business to make money and some of it for lifestyle, but always this story is in the back of my mind. I do not desire to be “rich”, but I would love to earn enough income that we could all work together as a family and be able to reach out to others.