Throughout Bob's 28 years running the horseshoeing school, some incredible people have come through the program. We've witnessed a lot of successes, and some failures, which led us to the following conclusion. The difference between successful farriers and unsuccessful farriers is their vision.

Successful farriers have a vision of their life, and they work on that vision every day. They actively create their lives, while unsuccessful people just wait to see where their life takes them. Successful people's lives are intentional, unsuccessful people's lives are by accident.

h3>Don’t be this Farrier

We all know someone who lives by accident. They wake up in the morning and react to whatever life throws at them. They're always negative. They're always reactive. They're always a victim.

An example we've seen is the farrier, who wakes up in the morning, looks at their schedule, sees a client they don't like, and becomes immediately upset as if they're a victim of their own calendar.

They own their practice, they do their own scheduling, and yet, they're upset because of a client that they scheduled. They don't have a plan for their practice, and they don't have a plan to make their shoeing business grow.

Without this, their life and their practice just go by. Lots of farriers start shoeing horses without a plan and don't stop until their old, broken, or both. They don't have a business plan for their practice or a plan for their life.

You can't spend your entire life building a practice around being able to work physically every day. A business that requires you to work physically, to make money is not sustainable long term. Thirty years from now, you'll wake up with a broken body, used tools, and a used truck.

That's not success. It's like working for someone else with no benefits. A successful shoeing practice is not shoeing as many horses per day as you possibly can.

How Can You be a Successful Farrier?

In coming posts, I'm going to plant some seeds that will help you create your vision and your plan. These posts will answer some questions for folks who are considering going to horseshoeing school. They will give you some ideas about planning your life a little more closely. This sounds like a bit of psychobabble, but it really works.

You have to have a strategic objective or primary aim. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you value most in life?
• What kind of life do you want to have?
• What kind of husband or wife do you want?
• What kind of Mother or Father do you want to be?
• What kind of farrier do you want to be?
• What kind of neighbor do you want to be?
• What do you want your life to look like?
• Who do you want to be?

The answers to these questions are your primary aim. Figure out your primary aim before you decide if applying to farrier school is right for you. If you want to be truly successful, you have to build your career around your life, not your life around your career.

Think horseshoeing school is right for you? Apply Now