Do you want to make more money by shoeing fewer horses for more desirable clients? Of course you do!

Jeff Rodriguez, a farrier in Golden, Colo., says you can do just that with proper planning and business management that isn’t as tough as you may think. He gave quite a few farriers a lot to think about in his presentation “Building A Farrier Practice For Profit And Career Satisfaction” at the American Farrier’s Association (AFA) 2000 convention in Ontario, Calif.

“These things have helped me develop a very stable, profitable business and keep it that way for a long time,” he begins.

Planning Your Business

“A business plan should have a start and a finish, and you should know what you want in between,” Rodriguez says. “We can control our efforts and plan carefully to get the most out of our careers. 

“You have two critical nonrenewable resources in this job: time and your body. There’s a fixed amount of abuse your body can take, and past that you have pain and decreased efficiency. 

“You need a plan to ensure you don’t waste your time going in the wrong direction. If you have and follow a plan, you’ll decrease the physical and emotional stress of being disorganized. Have a plan and start with a mission statement! 

“If I can’t say what I want to accomplish in one sentence, then I’m still fuzzy about it and it needs work. You should have a fixed goal with a fixed time frame, monetary…