Employee Management – Hugh McPherson

19 Mar 2024

Overhead.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Seasonal Business

Hey Gang, I've been feeling a bit hectic lately. Yes, even I get that hectic feeling. You know the feeling: too many projects, too little time, days slipping away as things are getting done, but you don't feel like things are moving forward. I'm a big list writer; I learned it from my Dad when I was young. As is typical for young people, I revolted against anything parental and stopped listing things out, writing things down, confident that I had so much talent I could "wing it." You can imagine the result. I "winged it" straight into a crash landing and quickly…

15 Jan 2024

Take your own advice.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Maple Lawn Farms, Marketing Tools, Seasonal Business

Make your list, check it twice, but don't make too many resolutions - Even this list is too long! Take your own advice. I never think of myself as particularly swayed by remembrance, nostalgia, or special dates - I can eat birthday cake anytime within a week of my actual birthday, for instance. However, Christmas & New Year's Eve likely create the most profound internal feelings: a sense of momentousness. Christmas is my heartwarming family time. Kids are back from college; in the past, we'd created Christmas magic with Legos and stuffed animals. Family games and meals make it a cozy time…

02 Jan 2024

Part 4 – The “Day of” & “Post-Apocalypse.”

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Maple Lawn Farms, Seasonal Business

The 2023 Sunflower Festival Apocalypse before we hand-replanted... Not the best look! Below, the tent in mid-self-destruction. Part 4 - The "Day of" & "Post-Apocalypse." The last three weeks, we covered what we learned, discovered, and uncovered as the weather handed out an old-school rainy season over much of the upper Midwest to the mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast US. If you missed the other three blogs, take a few minutes to find and read them, as the process is sequential. We thought first about choices made "Years in Advance" regarding the very structure of our businesses to create a more stable operational…

26 Dec 2023

Part 3 – Pre-season Actions & Systems.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Marketing Tools, Seasonal Business

The light beam from the watch tower on a misty October night at Maize Quest. Part 3 - Pre-season Actions & Systems. The last two weeks, we covered what we learned, discovered, and uncovered as the weather handed out an old-school rainy season over much of the upper Midwest to the mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast US. If you missed the other two blogs, take a few minutes to find and read them, as the process is sequential. We thought first about choices made "Years in Advance" regarding the very structure of our businesses to create a more stable operational…

20 Jul 2023

Trust & belief in people.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Maple Lawn Farms, Seasonal Business

These teens are doing a team-building exercise called a Trust Fall. Have you ever done one? I'm in the process. Trust & belief in people. You're not going to believe this, but Farmer Hugh left the farm in summer time. It was very important to my wife and our group of friends we've known and celebrated New Years with for 30 years. Our kids have grown up knowing each other and having this wonderful annual check-in as the clock counts each year. The kids are almost all off to college or starting their own lives. This was a group trip to…

30 Aug 2022

No more heroics.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Seasonal Business

“Today I will do what other's won't, so tomorrow I will do what others can't.”― Jerry Rice No more heroics. (I admit, in full disclosure, that I like heroics and that I'm not always right.) Hustle & grind culture. It amuses me when I see non-gym-attending people wearing Nike shirts with phrases such as, "I'm always on my grind." or "24/7 Hustle." Clearly, someone making shirts is on a hustle because those people got hustled into buying shirts for a cause they don't believe in. The hustle culture is the "Only losers sleep" "No days off" mentality that you can work your way to success. I actually…

07 Apr 2022

“Energy Roadblocks & Speed Bumps” – Energy Growth Part 2 of 3

Agritourism, Employee Management, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Seasonal Business

Speed bumps sap your team's energy. "Energy Roadblocks & Speed Bumps" - Energy Growth Part 2 of 3 "We've been over this and over this and over this." "How many times do we have to have this same discussion?" "That's not something we talk about." Speed bumps. Energy is not tied directly to the number of things you need to do but instead fluctuates based on the rewards of doing the tasks. Completing a project generates energy. Achieving a goal creates energy. Making solid progress and seeing the results of your work all create energy. Repeating decisions, arguing, misdirection, interruptions, starting and stopping all suck energy; these are all speed…

08 Jun 2021

NextGen Recruiting Online + Power Curve Pricing

Agritourism, Employee Management, Maize Quest Corn Maze & Fun Park, Seasonal Business

Hiring is tricky business, especially in this economy, so why not make it easier on you and easier for good people to apply? Hey gang, You might be thinking - "I'm in the thick of things and can't possibly soak up another idea!" I totally get it, but if you don't think about these to crucial items, you'll be working harder for less all season long. Plus, this might be my last webinar for awhile - eventually, even Maize Quest has to do some outdoor work to get open :-) You have to work on #1 - recruiting employees, and you have to…

25 Jan 2021

Three 2020 Things I don’t want to change in 2021 – Part 2 of 3

Agritourism, Employee Management, Family Business, Seasonal Businessagritourism, future, hugh McPherson, Maize Quest, school tours

Hey gang, In Part 1 of this series, "Where do we go from here," We took a look in the rearview mirror at the year that was. In 2020 we dealt with extraordinary uncertainty and considered our reactions to uncertain circumstances; our team's reaction to uncertain circumstances. The pull to "Get back to the way things were" is powerful. Sometimes I visualize 2019's ease of travel, freedom to go to church gatherings, and family friend get-togethers free of the invisible fear. My challenge to you in Part 1 was to consider the idea that you DON'T want EVERYTHING to go back to normal. That you do not want…

24 Jul 2020

You never stop growing up.

Agritourism, Employee Management, Seasonal Business

It was Tuesday the week before we hosted our first event of the season, and it just boiled over. Farmer Hugh's a pretty nice guy most of the time, but he remains completely imperfect. I boiled over. I sharpened my words and darkened my tone. I lit into the crew of teenagers who had worked all summer getting the fun park ready. I was venting frustration I didn't even know I had on a good group of kids. External pressures and circumstances. We are all under a new set of external forces during this incredible change in circumstances with Covid-19. Without careful attention…