All Kinds of Sweat
We were on the first floor of a seed conditioning plant, discussing the position of the new treater. The question was whether to install a new fluidized bed dryer to finish freshly treated soybean seed. It seems like everyone is looking for a solution to dry their treated seed and get rid of potential chunks.
We decided to make our way to the top floor of the plant to see if the equipment might fit in the space up there. Once we found our way back down to the quiet and cooler atmosphere of the first floor, I apologized to these folks for making them sweat while looking for the best solution. Mark leaned into me and said, “Robin, you know there are all kinds of sweat.” Always looking for writing inspiration, I wrote it down. There are excellent treated seed drying solutions that cause you to sweat less about chunks in that seed bag you sell.
After some slower times, which might cause a business owner (me) to sweat, people are beginning to build new facilities and improve their existing facilities. They are adding new cleaners, new optical sorters, gravity separators, treaters, treated seed dryers, packaging and palletizing systems. Business is booming. There seems to be a good pipeline, which equals less sweat for me. Commodity prices are up. That means less sweat for farmer producers.
There is the sweat of hard work, the sweat of sitting your fanny on some warm beach sand and the sweat of borrowing money to finance that expansion. There is the sweat of borrowing again, the sweat of making the right decision, of hiring the right person, the sweat of asking out a girl (or boy) and the sweat of making a presentation. As a design-build contractor, I know the goosebumps I get from the excitement of winning the bid, followed by the cold sweat that comes with, “OH CRAP, I hope I bid it right.” I do love giving the “NO SWEAT’” answer and knowing that I’ve got this when I know I bid it right.
