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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 16, 2019 9:31:13 GMT -6
I haven't farmed since I was young. Grandpa has been gone more than 10 years now and a few years since I was even around a farm. I have since gone on to get multiple degrees including one in business management. I have a comfy office job making good money. Sure, its a little boring, but did I mention the money is good?! That's why it surprised me to get a letter from a place called FS Community Trader. They would like me to manage their location in Bjornholm which is kind of cool and kind of weird because that's where I got my start farming on my own. I leased a little farm just up the road from the dealership back in 2015. But anyway, I am getting off topic. They would also like me to host the online portion of their entire dealership. I don't remember having heard of this outfit before but they seem to be EVERYWHERE! I was kind of skeptical initially but after a bit of research and some soul searching, I have decided to accept their offer. They say I can run the operation however I see fit so long as its profitable and that I treat their customers right. Evidently they REALLY care about their community. Seem fair to me. I don't know much about being an equipment dealer but I know lots about treating people right and hard work. They promised me a "lot" of equipment to get me started but it looks like I have beat the drivers here so I will just have a look around.    Looks pretty nice! I can't wait to see what they have shipped over. I have also requested that my personal harvester be delivered as well. I cant bring myself to get rid of it as it was a gift from a friend. Hope they get here soon so I can get started! |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 16, 2019 13:30:29 GMT -6
There was a change of plans. After an hour or so some guys in a pickup truck came and picked me up. Evidently there is an off site location they have purchased for the expansion of the dealership. So.... The last few days have been spent waiting while they get some things lined out. They have straightened up our front lot, tore out all the buildings behind and from what I understand, have been hard at work at the other site. I am being told it should be complete very soon.  |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 16, 2019 16:40:27 GMT -6
Wow. That was a ton of work, but I think its all done now. We have our Dealership mostly setup and also the production and storage area is all complete. They delivered all kinds of equipment. A nice tractor, some heavy equipment and even a company truck just for me! My harvester came too. They also said I could do what I want with the equipment so I think I will put a couple things on sale soon.   |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 16, 2019 18:51:38 GMT -6
I started off the day by doing some contract work for the local farmers. You would be surprised how many of these people don't own a harvester. Made just enough to buy my first piece of equipment to list so I am kinda proud of that! Our lineup at the dealership is slowly growing. Hopefully someone buys stuff soon so I can get more.  |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 16, 2019 22:33:36 GMT -6
I bartered some service to a farmer earlier. I harvested his whole crop for 20% of the yield and ended up getting a smidgen over 15,000L of barley. I am working on turning it into seeds now so hopefully I can sell some seed bags soon. I made my first sale earlier. It was a nice little skid steer with a grinder. I learned that even on those sales, I make my usual commission of 10% but that's fine! I think I can still make this work. The order I made just came in on the flatbed. I wanted to split some logs so I figured other people might as well, so I ordered extras. Its getting cold out now so these might go pretty quick.  |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 17, 2019 13:06:12 GMT -6
I have been pretty busy today! With getting sold items shipped out and new items brought in, its been chaos lol. I have been wanting to get some kind of log splitting operation setup behind the production yard but alas, no such luck this morning. My day was started by the "suits" sending me an email from the main office reminding me that the silo we have, was custom built just for us and will hold tons of everything and I should put it to good use making money. That got me to thinking about an old lime mine out in Nevada I used to frequent way back when. So I called up a friend in the area and he confirmed that it was still there and there was even a Claas loader for community use parked close by. Well, that meant it was time to head out! I was soon greeted by dry, brown landscape and temperatures that could melt rubber!  I arrived to find the mine just as I remembered it short of the addition of the Claas loader. After finding the keys exactly where my friend said they would be, I quickly set to work loading as much lime as I could hold. It took FOREVER!! I might flip for a larger bucket if I continue to get lime from here.  Now it was time to journey back home. No worries tho, I had the weekends Dagwin videos to catch up on during the trip   I've arrived at the yard and unloaded. Now to figure out how to sell a bunch of lime... Hmmm... Maybe I will just list it as bulk lime in the commodities section... Yea, I think that will work   |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 17, 2019 15:49:00 GMT -6
I was looking through the help wanted area of the local news paper and I came across a fella needing his barley harvested so I figured I would offer my services.  I offered to harvest for 10% of the yield and bale for half the bales. He agreed so I got started. It wasn't a big field but still a lot of work having to harvest, cart, bale and then sort the bales and crop at the end.    Then to sort out the bales.  What a busy afternoon! We ended up with a tiny bit over 3000L of barley and 14 bales. Not a bad haul. I will be glad to get off my feet.. maybe I will play some video games after work. But first I have to store and figure out what I am going to do with these bales. |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 18, 2019 9:40:37 GMT -6
I came into the office today to find bad news. It seems that the suits only got us permits for the dealership, not the production yard. Evidently its in a residential neighborhood and the residents are having an absolute fit over the noise and smell, not to mention the traffic caused by all the large equipment coming and going. The city council has denied our proper application instead telling us we have to relocate the production yard or face HUGE fines... This really throws a wrench in the gears.
So this morning I will be on the phone making tons of calls to anywhere local we could move the production yard to. It will be a lot of work but on a high note, these buildings are what happens when IKEA meets Lincoln Logs.. they can typically be erected really easy.. almost as easy as pushing a button! And another benefit will be, I can look around and find something with more space for storage and expansion.
Anyway.... Back to the phone calls. I will let you all know what I am able to find.
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 21, 2019 19:32:21 GMT -6
*sigh* What a few days this has been. We did manage to find a location for the production yard. But it was in bad condition so its been a MAJOR clean up project. Then the city council decided to go ahead and fine us over the permits because of the old production yard. So we had a meeting and we are moving again. I guess its not the worst thing to happen as I have a lead on a really good location. We are currently in negotiations so hopefully we can hammer something out soon! Things have been slowing on dealership sales... I think I made some poor choices when I bought the last bit of stuff to list and it left me unable to bring in more stock. But I was able to sell some products and a tractor which kind of bumped things forward a bit.. I also sent out our first demo model to one of our regulars. He is making a fortune with it so that makes me really happy! Hopefully things pick up soon for sales though or I fear I might have to find "A new line of work"  |
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Post by PrincessJessi on Nov 25, 2019 18:06:12 GMT -6
Wow, its been a busy few days. Sales have taken off pretty good and we finally have some buying capital but I am not sure what to get.. I kind of wanna get something big but I am worries no one will buy it. I also hosted the first auction so that is exciting too. 3 items were auctioned off so I call it a win! The suits have had me doing "paperwork" so that has kept me pretty busy. Today I had a building installed on the lot for the dealership equipment as my bosses didn't like it all just laying around everywhere. I also got some mowing done and listed the bales from it for sale after turning them to silage.  |
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