Jun 27, 2016
Many farmers like Darby work at least 60 hours per week - that's
7 days a week, from May through September.
That's a lot of hours. It's much higher average workload during
that time specific time frame than your average American.
But we can't just focus on those numbers, because there's more to
the story.
Think about the off season. For many farmers the workload is
seasonal. They spend a lot of time working in the summer and a lot
of time not working in the winter.
That brings the year round average of total hours worked down,
probably closer to the national average for the average Joe
American work.
But there's a difference between the two workers, the average
entrepreneur and farmer own is also working for themselves. Their
efforts are directly going towards something more than just money,
they are building a business. It's not just putting hours in for
dollars; it's also getting something that has the potential to have
more longevity than they have. Both in the near term and the long
term as equity is built in the business and a business can often
work 24/7 for a long time, effectively working when you can't.
Meaning as the business owner you leveraged your hours now for
longer term gain.
Another factor to consider is - where are those hours spent? If you
are farmer then they are probably spent on farm which means on your
land where you live.
You are spending a lot of hours working around your house. You
aren't leaving each day to go to work, other than walking out the
door. There's no commute. Which means you are around your family
and any down time like breaks and lunch can be spent with them, or
however you see fit. A far cry from the more family isolated hours
of the average American worker.
There's more to the hours worked per week, than just the hours
worked per week. This is important to understand if you are
thinking about getting into farming and these long summer work
hours are scaring you. You need to look deeper; you need to look at
where those hours of work are taking place and what those hours of
working are going towards.
Because what on the surface appears to be insane hours, how insane
is it really?
And at the end of the day is the average American worker the one
who’s really putting in the insane hours week after week, year
after year?
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