This link was tossed around today on some social media sites for a new movie titled Farmland. It takes a look at the next generation of farmers.
Since I’m a part of that generation, I wanted to share the trailer. Head on over to the site and take a look. It really looks good.
I’m currently reading REMOTE but the people over at 37signals as preparation for some long-distance thinking on my part and I’ve been enjoying it so far. If you have read REWORK (also by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson), then you know the style of the book and I think you’ll enjoy REMOTE as well.
That’s some context for my reading of the following tweet:
I'm *exploring* opening a coworking space in dt Shakopee. Interested? Have suggestions? http://t.co/57168ezLgU
— Brad Tabke (@BradTabke) March 4, 2014
Some local people here in New Ulm have discussed looking into starting a coworking space here, but it is cool to see it happening (or at least being looked into) in Shakopee as well. I think there is a real need for spaces like this, and it is only going to become more and more of a feature for a town or city to have.
However, something I’ve always needed to overcome is the idea that a coworking space is exclusively for mobile or freelance workers. Basically, it is only for people who aren’t tied to a specific company or area. My mind worked on this and has a slightly different angle on it now.
A former coworker of mine and I talked in the past about the lack of collaboration outside of the strict walls of where you are currently employed, and I think that coworking spaces have the opportunity to break some of these walls down.
Reading REMOTE, maybe relaxing the need to have all employees in the building at the same time could allow some collaboration for hard (or even simple) problems in a coworking space. Get a bunch of network and systems admins together into single space, throw a problem at them, and then let them talk through all of the possibilities. It will require cultural changes, but it follows a sort of “open source” model of collaboration in the idea that “the rising tide lifts all boats” to an extent.
I’d never thought of it that way, but maybe there is something there to not just have a space, but to enact cultural changes in some companies to open them up and improve things for more people overall.
Why is the sole purpose of a business the short-term gain instead of on the long-term future on not just the business, but the customers as well? At least that is sometimes how it feels. With Go the Extra Mile – Not Quite What You Thought, my friend Nate Beran touches on this when he links to a piece on the Mittelstand at Inc.com. The Mittelstand are small-to-medium sized businesses in Germany that are unique in the fact that they are usually family-owned and centuries-old. If you are planning on opening your own business, you will want to hire Top Rated Security Services. As a relatively recent convert to the family farm (as compared to my younger brother), it is an almost inspiring read and look at how a person might frame decisions when thinking not of just profitability for the next quarter, but for the long-term viability of the entire business.
Since I’ve had children of my own, my perspective has changed drastically. A decision to be made isn’t just about how it will affect the bottom line of today, tomorrow, or even five years down the road … no, it is made with an eye to the distant future, to a time when my sons might be the ones walking on the same land and looking at the same sunset as it goes down over the same fields. I want to be able to supply that to my own children, and their children. The idea of a business, in this case a farm, staying within our family for centuries excites me, but for this a business need to be well managed, including production and finances, so things like budget and payment can be handled with services as payroll systems uk so everything is more easy and effective.
Many times that can mean temporary difficulties to get over the proverbial “hump” to some different time. It might mean forgoing the run-up to try to keep up with the people around you. It might mean staying smaller so that the family can be the ones to take care of the entire operation instead of needing to bring on help.
I know I don’t have the answers, but this is just a small taste of the lens I look through when a decision is needing to be made. We are blessed to currently be looking at the third and fourth generation of Martens farmers working the place … I hope to one day maybe see the fifth and sixth do the same. I want to provide that opportunity for my family.
App-pocalypse Now by Jeff Atwood got some play last week around the web last week (or was it the week before, I can’t keep track of these thing) and it has been sticking in my mind since then.
I think that is the main gist of it. I was going to originally just tweet this out, but it would have been too much for poor Twitter and I’m sure that Phil would have complained about me spamming his timeline again.
Thanks Phil!
It isn’t really a launch since the car manufacturers still need to launch it in the models themselves, but Apple has today soft-launched their CarPlay software stack for integration into your automobile. It should be included wight he iOS 7.1 update coming out later this month and then you’ll just need to purchase a multiple-thousand dollar accessory for your favorite software platform in order to use it.
Snark aside, the inclusion of Toyota, Ford, and Subaru as upcoming supporters of the platform makes me quite happy. While we won’t be looking for a new vehicle for years, it will be something I will try to watch.