Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Father's Advice Goes A Long Way

I have a confession to make. When I wrote out my list of goals for the new year, I made sure to give myself some easy ones to check off to get the ball rolling. This weekend, I'll be in Indianapolis for the  #Agchat Foundation's Collegiate Congress with a couple dozen up and coming advocates for the agriculture industry.

You see, I had a goal of making new friends and growing my network, both personally and professionally. And I know from past experience early on in my blogging career that the #Agchat conference is a great place to make new friends.

Whenever I prepare for a meeting or a conference, I try to apply a lesson I learned from my father which is simply to ask yourself, "What is the one piece of information, advice or guidance you couldn't gain if you didn't attend, meet new people or ask?"

For me, at this point in time, there's two responses....

  1. How do I advocate while off the farm? I used to speak about how consumers are at least one generation removed from the farm, but now I wake up and find myself removed from the farm as well. That's turned out to be both a physical and mental change for me. I've done alright with the change, and I know it's a journey that is worth taking, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't have it's ups and downs. So hopefully I can make new friends and get some friendly pointers.
  2. I work for a very small company, and I have an opportunity to help build an online brand and presence for our company. This opportunity presents itself with many unknowns and challenges, but also allows for an unprecedented amount of opportunity for creativity, design and promoting the brand. Hopefully I can glean some insights from my peers as to how they've built their own brands and kept their creativity rocking.
Perhaps the best part about this conference will be getting an opportunity to revisit my old workplace at Fair Oaks Farms and see what kind of exciting changes and improvements have come their way!

Because I know my father is such wise man, and his advice has been helpful in the past, I think I can look at this conference as a great opportunity to expand my networks, views and skills. So hopefully Indy rocks as much as they say it does!

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