Where You Should Live During the Armageddon

& other things I learned in my conversation with the Nozzle Guy

The Nozzle Guy aka Tom Wolf deals in the business of answers for producers on getting their large farms sprayed in a timely fashion where millions of dollars are on the line sometimes BY THE HOUR in critical windows.

“When somebody asks me what do you do for a living, I say, “I try to understand farming.”

That’s it.

I try to understand farming so that I can communicate effectively with my clients so that when they call me and they describe a problem to me, I know exactly what the problem is. So I don’t have to ask them 10 questions and that they don’t have to spend 10 minutes trying to get me to understand their problem. I know the problem because I’ve made it my mission to be ready for that question.”

Since Tom lives on the currency of communication, he is thankful to be taught active listening by his parents early on.

“My parents encouraged me to listen actively.

I remember I was sitting at my sister’s high school graduation. I sat at a table and there was a grandfather sat beside me, an elderly man. I was 16 and he was 70. And my dad encouraged me to engage with this man who I knew a little bit, but didn’t know very well. My father would always would prod me and say be open to others, ask other people questions. They’re interesting. Find the interesting thing.

I’ll never forget that moment when he encouraged me, because I was as a young man and it was hard for me to start a conversation with someone else that was much more senior, but I did it somehow, and he reciprocated, and we had a great evening together, you know?

Those are the kinds of little prods that when you get them from your mom and dad, and you take them seriously, it enriches you.

So I always felt it’s better to ask questions than to talk about yourself, right?”

Nozzle Guy ALSO has some interesting answers to some of life’s biggest questions and it’s not about spray pressures, inversions, or the intricacies of boom plumbing.

It’s about where you should live during the armageddon, something we have all had a little taste of in the first half of 2020.

Tom says you should live where you have SOCIAL CAPITAL.

“We have our armageddon jokes in our community. They’re all funny.

The question once came, if the Armageddon should happen, if everything goes to pot, where should you live? What’s the best place to live, you know?

And you think about, okay, where can I scrounge for food? Where is there good apples and clean water, where is the soil good?

That’s all wrong.

The answer is you should live where your social capital is.

That’s where you should live, because you need people to look out for you.

You need to be there for people when they need you. And you need people when you’re in need and only social capital, it gives you that power.

Someone’s going to find you can of dog food for you, that you need right now.”

You can catch all of Tom’s wisdom along with many others at growingthefuturepodcast.ca