What I'm Thinking About While the Power's Still On
Hey Reader
I'm writing this Saturday night. By the time you read it Sunday morning (if you're in the US), there's a good chance you or I won't have power.
The storm's here (if you're in the Southern / Eastern US). Single digits. Snow and ice. The kind that knocks out power for days, not hours.
This has me thinking, no about business, but heating systems.
I have central air upstairs, and propane powered boiler heaters downstairs (old house). They're convenient—flip a switch, instant heat, no mess. But they depend on propane delivery trucks getting through, lines not freezing, and everything working perfectly.
My neighbor has a woodstove. That's just him, an axe, and trees. Ok, he has a fancy PTO powered wood splitter as well, but still, more work upfront.
Thing is though, a storm can't take that away.
Right now? I'm wishing I had a woodstove.
Convenience versus resilience.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Not just with heating, but with everything.
IN LIFE:
Convenient: City water, DoorDash, propane that might not get delivered, electric everything
Resilient: Well with hand pump, freezer full of your own beef, wood heat, manual tools
The convenient option works great when things are good.
The resilient option is why you're not panicking when things go bad.
I optimized for convenience. And now I'm hoping the propane holds out.
ON THE FARM:
Right now, some of you are hauling buckets because the automatic waterers froze.
Some of you have backup heat in the barn. Some don't.
Some of you stocked up on feed before the storm. Some are hoping delivery trucks can get through.
The farms that prepared aren't comfortable right now, but they're not in crisis mode either.
The ones that didn't prepare at all? They're scrambling.
Same pattern shows up everywhere in farming.
One customer buying half your beef? Convenient until they don't need you anymore.
One income stream? Works great until the market shifts.
One way of doing things? Fine until it's not.
I'm not saying spread yourself thin with 10 different enterprises. That's chaos, not resilience.
But I am saying: don't put all your eggs in one basket that someone else is holding.
THE HARD PART:
Resilient systems take more work upfront. That's just true.
Splitting wood is harder than turning up the thermostat.
Having backup plans takes time you don't feel like you have.
Building multiple ways to reach customers is harder than doing it the easy way.
But the question isn't which is easier.
The question is: which one keeps working when things get hard? (and they will get hard at some point)
By the time you're reading this, the storm is here. Some of us prepared. Some of us are scrambling.
I'm somewhere in between. Prepared in some areas, wishing I'd done more in others.
But here's what I know:
You can build for convenience. Easy now, fragile later.
Or you can build for resilience. More work upfront, but it can't be taken away.
Three questions to think about:
- Life: If power goes out for 3 days, can you stay warm, fed, and functional?
- Farm: If your main revenue source disappeared tomorrow, could you survive?
- Business: If your primary sales channel shut down right now, could you still reach your customers?
I'm not saying you need to be 100% resilient in everything. That's exhausting and probably impossible. (Trust me. I'm sitting here with propane heaters, not a woodstove.)
But identify your critical systems. The ones you can't run your business without.
Then ask: Are they convenient or resilient?
Build the resilient version now, while things are calm.
Because the next storm, whether it's literal weather, an algorithm change, a platform shutdown, or a market shift, is always coming.
Stay warm out there,
Jason
BTW: This is why I'm obsessive about farmers owning their websites and email lists instead of renting platforms and promoting social media. When you own it, no one can take it away. That's resilience.
