HMI’s Online Learning Series Getting Started Holistic Financial Planning course began in May 2015 with 25 participants from all around the world. This course focused on key financial principles that helped participants learn how to work on their business, not just in their business. This simple approach to financial planning assisted participants to understand the big picture view as well as make critical production decisions based on a clear sense of cost of production for different enterprises. Participants were able to develop a financial plan and identify ways to implement and monitor that plan. The participants were very excited to learn the key economic analysis tools for improved financial decisions for both annual budgets and for long-term investment.
| Getting Started Holistic Financial Planning Course Survey Results | % Participants -Increased Knowledge or Confidence |
|---|---|
| Determining your farm’s/ranch’s net worth | 87% |
| Determining your farm’s/ranch’s projected revenue | 88% |
| Determining the weak link in your farm’s/ranch’s enterprises | 88% |
| Identifying log jam and adverse factors | 88% |
| Getting the profit you need from your farm/ranch after the course | 88% |
| Prioritizing and cutting farm/ranch expenses to guide reinvestment in your farm/ranch after the course | 88% |
| Your attitude towards financial planning after the course | 100% |
| Your ability to determine your farm’s/ranch’s rough net worth (balance sheet) after the course | 100% |
| How to increase your farm’s/ranch’s net worth after the course | 100% |
| Determining viable profitable enterprises for your farm/ranch after the course | 100% |
| Determining your farm’s/ranch’s projected revenue after the course | 100% |
| Your skills in developing a whole farm/ranch financial plan after the course | 100% |
| Assessing the cash flow of your plan after the course | 100% |
| Overall satisfaction with the course | 100% |
Here’s what the participants had to say:
“It helped me work towards better decision making and planning for profit, as well as being able to play devil’s advocate on potential new enterprises.”
“The content and ideas are very strong.”
“Excellent.”
“Excellent value and presented so a true beginner is able to begin to grasp the content and immediately start to apply the concepts in a practical – we-can-make-a-profit-this-year sort of way.”
“We learned a lot of valuable information regarding our financial plan. Your time and knowledge is so appreciated.”
“I was handed the tools I need to build my plan.”
Most Useful things I learned:
“The 7 tests on decision making, the overall idea that profit can be planned for, monitoring and that community, financial and environmental aspects actually can happen as a whole.”
“Having a structured and rather straightforward system for monitoring and planning out farm enterprises. Also how this has overlap for other enterprise planning beyond farming such as consulting and other business management.”
“Identifying logjams and weak links. I struggle feeling confident that I have accurately identified the ranch’s problems but at least I am now aware of the importance of viewing the ranch through a lens that’s targeting obstacles and seeking solutions.”
“To identify log jams, to determine net worth and the importance of a financial plan and monitoring it..”
“We have the ability to plot our course, not just respond to circumstances as they arise.”
“How to do the monthly monitoring of expenses and income.”
Featured Participant:
Patricia Maas
”The Holistic Management Financial Planning program is one I am very glad to have taken. It’s helped me develop a workable plan for varied enterprises involving ranching and farming. It’s something that am implementing now and making progress.
This progress is because of learning the varied steps, and tests involved in making sound Holistic Financial decisions. I often work alone and being able to assess situations using the tools learned during this coursework is instrumental in moving forward toward my Holistic Goal. “
Adelene is a resident of Arkansas and loves exploring the state’s natural trails. Her passion for education and technology led her to earn a master’s in learning systems technology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With her professional experience managing student/client databases and instructional design, Adelene will bring skill and understanding to her role as Office Manager & Instructional Designer at HMI. Her focus on making education more accessible to diverse communities is evident through her volunteer work as an board member for a scholarship program. Adelene is devoted to creating educational opportunities that align with HMI’s mission to promote healthy, resilient lands and thriving communities.
Seth Wilner has been a Holistic Management International Certified Educator since 2005. For 22 years he has worked as an agent educator with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension where he specializes in farm business management with an emphasis on whole farm planning.
Dana was first introduced to Holistic Management in the 1990s while working in the Texas Hill Country. She strongly believes that Holistic Management can positively impact families that are on the land, the communities they are a part of, and larger landscape resource regeneration efforts.
Sarah Robertson grew up in Taos, New Mexico and has always been passionate about land stewardship, growing things, and nurturing others. After completing a BA in Communication from the University of New Mexico and working with local non-profits, she started her journey as a first-generation farmer. Since 2015, she has been learning and growing alongside her husband on various leased properties in Albuquerque, NM and running a small market farm with goats, chickens, and a CSA. In her role as Programs Assistant at HMI, Sarah brings her enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture, devotion to supporting others, and drive for lifelong learning and growing.
Jozua Lambrecht is from South Africa and divides his time between their home in Somerset West and their family farm in Sutherland, one of the coldest places in South Africa, where they farm with sheep. He is married to his wife Therese and they have two daughters.
Alejandro Carrillo is a fourth-generation rancher, and he is quite familiar with the challenges of running a profitable cattle ranch in the Chihuahuan desert. Because annual precipitation seldom exceeds nine inches, every drop counts when it comes to growing more grasses. Grazing year-round with only sea salt as an input, he is not willing to waste any water in such a brittle environment.
Jared L Talley was born and raised in Southwestern Idaho and now seeks to help rural communities adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University, earning his PhD in Philosophy from Michigan State University and his MPA in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management from Boise State University. An environmental philosopher by training and an interdisciplinary scholar in practice, he seeks to better understand how communities relate to the land and how this relationship poses obstacles and opportunities for collaboration and governance. In doing so, he studies the role of science in collaborative policy, the role of place in environmental identity, and the role of the imagination in mediating both. Specifically, he studies grazing management and public land permitting, community-led conservation programs, rural education and entrepreneurship, place-based environmental governance, and the imaginative experience of our natural and built environments — all in the contexts of the intermountain American West.
Financial planning I would agree is a very important step that everyone needs to take. I am glad to know that when you sit down with a financial adviser they are there to help you get out of debt and start saving money. That is awesome that you are able to increase confidence and understanding as to how you can more effectively manage your money! Thank you for sharing!