No ‘typical’ day for RFC team

There is no such thing as a ‘typical day’ for a Rural Financial Counsellor.

On any given day, a counsellor can be met with a range of different tasks and outcomes – some challenging, some draining and some extremely rewarding.

What can be described as typical is the common values that these Rural Financial Counsellors possess – honesty, integrity and genuine concern for the people they help on a daily basis.

At a farm near Cambrai on the Murray Plains, Rural Business Support RFC Julianne Fiebig rises early on a Monday morning to make phone calls from the home office and arrange her client meetings for the week.

While she says seeing the occasional big breakthrough in her line of work is great, she gets great pleasure out of seeing her farming clients achieve small milestones.

“I find a lot of the little things about this role rewarding,” Julianne says.

“Occasionally there’ll be a big breakthrough, but at the moment it’s just good to see people get funds to help them through the next few weeks and people receiving income support payments to help them through the next year.

“Those little things like when you’re working with someone who has been in a bad situation – scared to pick up the phone or open their mail because they think it might be a letter from a creditor – and it’s great to see when they’re confident to speak to these people on a phone or they’ve had a win with the bank.”

Living on a farm and raising a young family, Julianne understands the challenges rural life can throw up.

It has equipped her well in her role as a RFC. She was previously RBS’s Farm Household Coordinator and worked part-time but recent challenging conditions have required her to engage in financial counselling work on a full-time basis.

Rural Business Support’s team of counsellors cover the entire state, with their offices located in Clare, Wudinna, Murray Bridge, Berri, Naracoorte, Ardrossan and Adelaide.

Counsellors give an overview of RBS and what they can offer in their role – financial analysis, contract reviews, referrals, succession planning, application assistance and development of action plans – before outlining funding and planning options available.

RBS’s key recommendations for any farm business include: preparing budgets and planning, both for the short-term and for the long-term; analysing business performance and that of specific enterprises; keeping communication lines open with creditors; and having an exit strategy if all else fails.