My husband and I pride ourselves on figuring things out.
On our hobby farm, we’ve done almost all the work ourselves and with the help of dear family and friends. We’ve figured out how to build a fence, clean up an irrigation system, and install new pumps. Our girls have become experts at feeding the animals and learning the daily tasks that go along with our mini menagerie.
So naturally, when our sweet babydoll sheep were getting overly woolly, we decided we could learn how to shear them ourselves. We did our research on mid-grade electric shearers and watched a few YouTube videos.
Good to go.
The day arrived, and we went out with a friend to the animal pen to give Marshmallow her first haircut. Surely the three of us could get this done, right? As you can see from the photo below, this 60-pound sheep somehow got the better of us.
We sheared her… but the result was spectacularly underwhelming. It was a humbling hour, but we had some laughs.
Before: Pre-shear Marshmallow & After: Nelson family shearing attempt
We had one more sheep to shear, but Stella had to wait. We needed to recover and watch more YouTube videos. Surely we could do more research and figure this out—we just needed to go in with more confidence!
We watched more videos, practiced our shearing techniques, and set a date and time: Ryan and I were going to shear Stella.
The adventure began with trying to catch Stella. She was not interested in being sheared and gave us the runaround. By the time we got her to the shearing area, we were exhausted. We gave it our all, but we were only able to shear about half of her before we had to give up. We couldn’t do it, couldn’t figure it out. We felt defeated.
It was time to call in a professional.
We called in Cameron, who came out and sheared each sheep in 3 minutes. Of course.
Before: Poorly-sheared Marshmallow on left, Stella on right
After (thanks to Cameron)
The difference? Cameron does this for a living. He does it every day. He trained and apprenticed, and he had the best equipment. He had confidence in his lived experience and immediately put us on the schedule for next year. In the future, I won’t have to worry about Marshmallow and Stella getting crazy home haircuts. Cameron can take care of our sheep, and we have great respect for his trade.
I think the most adult thing we can do sometimes is to acknowledge what we don’t know.
To bring in someone else with more experience to guide us is often the most responsible thing you can do.
With finances, this is often especially true.
As much as I will encourage friends, family, and clients to dig in and learn as much as they can from podcasts, blogs, and good old Google, there’s a lot to be said for leaning into somebody with experience and training who can help you navigate things the internet has no business advising you on.
Here’s the thing: I can’t shear sheep. I don’t have the experience or training to do it correctly. For our (and the sheep’s!) peace of mind, I called in a professional to help us do it right. I felt so relieved.
Over the course of fifteen years in finance and investing, I’ve become a professional in my own industry. I’ve worked with many people in all stages of their financial journeys. I’ve studied a lot, immersed myself in the day-to-day operations of my father’s business, had lots of practical experience, and I continue to study every day. My goal in this course of learning is to be the professional you need to call in when the sheep-shearing goes awry. I’ll bring the experience, patience, and know-how.
Guiding people from confusion to clarity about investing for themselves personally has been an honor, and I’d love to help you in your own journey.
If it’s time to call in the professional, let’s have coffee!
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The opinions expressed herein are those of Anna Nelson and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to sell any product. Forward-looking statements cannot be guaranteed. This document may contain certain information that constitutes “forward-looking statements” which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “expect,” “will,” “hope,” “forecast,” “intend,” “target,” “believe,” and/or comparable terminology. No assurance, representation, or warranty is made by any person that any of Anna Nelson assumptions, expectations, objectives, and/or goals will be achieved. Nothing contained in this document may be relied upon as a guarantee, promise, assurance, or representation as to the future. Anna Nelson is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
