So I’ve just spent all my saved money on my trip to South Africa – and it was well worth it! But I’m now back to square one, saving up again. Sometimes it seems a silly task due to the fact that as soon as I’ve saved a decent sum, I spend it all at once!

My mum is a big believer in building up a passive income and I’m starting to see the benefits. The general idea of a passive income is to have funds coming in without having to put in the work. Well that’s not quite right. You put in the time and effort to start off with, but manage to build up a process by which eventually you’re not working but still receiving money for the initial work. For example, you write a book and get it published and then put it as a product on Ebay. You’ve put in all the work and as the book gain’s interest, you continue to sell it with no real continual effort from your behalf.

Now it’s to be a long time before I see this dream realised, but it’s nice to be aware of ways to bring in funds to put towards a goal and if I had this built up now, I’d be less worried about taking working holidays (granted, I learn lots and work lots and acquire contacts on these holidays) that aren’t actually earning me any money while I’m away.

If you’ve a goal in mind – whether it be instructing horse riding; running your own property; renting a horse related property; start up your own business but you’re not sure where to find the funds. For example, for insurance, purchasing a property or shop or ongoing costs of rent, feed, etc I encourage you to look around at the funds on offer. Just be willing to prove that you can make a living off your dream.

The Nescafe Big Break (http://www.nescafebigbreak.com.au/) although taking a break this year, has for the past 17 years provided funds (up to $20,000 to winners) for young Australians/New Zealanders to start up their own business.

The New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (http://www.nna.asn.au/NEIS.htm) is focused on bringing back to the workforce people whom were previously unemployed, by training them up in business skills, creating a business plan and helping with funds to start their own business. I have a friend who is so excited as she has just finished work with NEIS and is to start her own photography business. Have you a passion for taking photos of horses, creating calendars, diaries? Perhaps you hadn’t considered the possibility of turning it into a business!

Sorry that both of these links are Australian oriented, but if the only thing holding you back is funds, start researching the schemes or people that are willing to invest their time and money in others. Initially it may be a way for you to kick start things, but who knows – in the future it may be a way for you to invest in someone else’s dream.

Also, don’t underestimate the value of putting your money to work. Consider a savings account – every little bit helps. Ing Direct, an online savings acount is free to set up, has an interest rate of 6% and has a competition offering $10,000 to a random person whom sents up an account:
“When you use an Automatic Savings Plan (ASP) between 1 August and 31 October 2007 to deposit funds into your Savings Maximiser, you’ll be automatically entered into the draws to win $10,000 in bonus interest. For every one dollar you deposit in August, September and October, you’ll have one entry into the draw for that month. Deposit $100 in August and you’ll have 100 entries into the draw for that month.”

“If money can’t buy happiness how do you get a horse?”

tag: australia, job, training

I always thought farriery was the way to go – variety, good money, physically active – and then concluded equine dentistry was even more appealing. Yes, it was the money that persuaded me, how did you guess? However, I see some pros for farriery in that this business is easier to run on a smaller client base – your horse’s feet need doing every 2 months, unlike the teeth which are done annually, calling for more people to use you to be constantly in work.

Spending the majority of my short working life on studs, I’ve viewed many foals born with the most interesting looking legs. Sometimes it’s the vet’s job to fix problems; others the farrier can fix in various ways.

The legs are a focus over the first few months of a foal’s life as at this age, things can be adjusted to “encourage” growth in a different direction (correcting/minimising the problem).

For example – a foal that toes in – a farrier can rasp a little more off a particular side, encouraging extra growth on this side, pushing the foot in the opposite direction, straightening it out over time. The end result may not be a 100% correct horse, but can alleviate problems, make them more correct and therefore more appealing to buyers/less likely to receive stresses on their legs while in work.

In Victoria it’s pretty common for a farrier to charge around $50 to trim your horse’s feet (less, the more horses you have) and around $100 for a set of shoes all round. Now in a day one farrier can easily manage 20 horses. Say they were all done at the same place, all trims and therefore at a cheaper rate – $30 – this is still $600 for the day. And honestly, they can manage more, but 20 horses would be quite a demand on the body!

To become a farrier in Oz, you’re looking at a 3 year apprenticeship with what I’ve been told is an average income, but once you’ve invested this time over the short term, the wage is a lot more appealing.

Some Associations:
American Farriers Association:
http://www.americanfarriers.org/

Aust. Farriers and Blacksmiths Association:
http://www.afba.org.au/

New Zealand Farrier’s Association:
http://www.nzfarriers.co.nz/

Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association:
http://www.bwfa.net/

“Be wary of the horse with a sense of humour.” – Pam Brown

tag: farriery, job, apprenticeship

5 Top Tips to further/establish your equine career.

Invest in yourself:
If you’re looking to improve yourself for a particular field but struggle with the idea of a full time focus on acquiring skills or a piece of paper; consider work and study. For example, I was working on a horse stud and am interested in teaching, so took up a correspondence course for instructing while working. I could do it at my own pace and because it all relates to horses, things I was doing at work (although not directly related to teaching people to ride) were of benefit to me in this study.
Many put off furthering their skills/starting in a new area until they can focus solely on this decision and consequently end up not doing anything at all.

Invest in others:
Make yourself known; get out there. Attend events related to an area you are working or wish to work. It is possible to do so through work, for example I attend horse sales with my job and have received other work through being seen at these sales. People start to recognise you if you get out there often enough and if you’re taking the time to get to know them and what they do, you may just find it’ll help you in your particular focus.

Invest in education:
Consider saving to invest in furthering your knowledge – books, a particular course, even travel to a particular property or country to focus on a certain discipline. If this is the place where you can get access to the ‘experts’, then consider going there.

Invest in the future:
Set goals for tasks that would be of benefit for you to have achieved and find ways to learn or master that particular skill. When I first started out working on a stud, through my six weeks of work placement leading up to that employment I did all I could – injections, dealt with the birth of foals, handled the stallions, mares for covers, helped with vetting, feeding. In the last week I concluded the only thing I hadn’t done was drive the tractor around the farm… A rather amused boss obliged to this request, also!

Invest in your industry:
Find out if there are any clubs, federations, etc that you can be a part of in a particular industry you want to work/be known. Many of these clubs have a fee which means you’re putting money into that industry, proving you’re taking it seriously but as an added benefit, you’re being informed of events, changes, important things in relation to this field. Also, you’re getting to know key people in this industry.

“A horse is like a violin, first it must be tuned, and when tuned it must be accurately played.”

tag: course, horse books, self education