Hi, I’m Nik Villalta.

I have always found the „about me“ page on websites quite amusing because they are written in the third person, although they are typically written by the owner himself.

So, after Nik Villalta made several attempts to sound smarter than he really is, by writing about himself in the third person, he quickly abandoned that approach and decided to write this page like it was a letter to a friend.

Which ….in many ways, it is.

Anyway – what do you want to know?

I live close to Zurich.

We have two kids, two guinea pigs and a dog named Milly.

I guess that’s not the kind of stuff you are eager to know.

You’re probably wondering,

Is This Guy Worth My Time And Attention?

For many readers, my answer is No.

For some reason, people equate „hiring consultants“ to „get quick results“.

I get it. That’s what attracted me into the Software Business in 2016 (more on that later).

I thought it would be easy to implement a fully automated system, which could save me plenty of working hours and run a whole plant by itself …on autopilot.

Well, I was wrong. It wasn’t that easy.

I do have consistent and stable results every day …often on autopilot …but it took lot of failure, dedication, and improvement to get where I am now. That’s why I appreciate my achivements even more and don’t take it for granted.

…And it still takes work to keep it all running, however now I can consistently expect a stable return on my investment.

Therefore, if you are not prepared to commit to roughly 10 times more effort than you are used to, I’m not your guy.

No, I don’t have an Trainingscenter. But here’s why I’m telling you this.

Start going down the „Training Program“ rabbit hole and you’ll see all kinds of programs and articles about great trainings, how to minimize maintenance efforts by having other people maintaining your plant, and other kinds of hype on the „latest loopholes“ for „gaming the system“.

Does some of it work?

Maybe. In the short term. But if you rely on that, you don’t have a business. You have an third party service that maintain and own the knowledge of your plant.

And that is a waste of time. If you want to waste time go see a movie. It’s more fun.

It’s important you understand what I’m telling you.

I can help you, I just won’t. I’m capable of it, but I refuse to do it.

Why?

Because when I hear someone say, „What’s the easiest way“, what I’m really hearing is, „I’m not fully invested in the long-term success of my business …and am thus not fully invested in the long-term satisfaction of my customers.

And that really translates to“I don’t want to work“

Look, producing consistent high quality products is HARD WORK. Nevertheless, when it’s all up and running, it can be just like you imagined: automatic and man-less.

But that takes HARD WORK to implement and it takes HARD WORK to maintain.

Long-term strategies as well as short-term tactics that you can implement in your Plant right away, for Free …. which is usually followed by: Blatan Sales Pitches

Can you believe I just told you flat out that you’re going to receive blatant sales pitches from me? Well, why wouldn’t I tell you?

I mean c’mon – I’m a „milling consultant“. We make our money by selling services. I will try to sell you something and I won’t be subtle about it.

However – it’s always preceded by really valuable strategies and tactics you can use immediately.

That’s free.

The idea is you’ll say, „Man, this free stuff really helped me. I think I’ll try the paid stuff, too.“

Pretty simple, right?

I call it the old „Demonstrate You Can Help Them By Actually Helping Them“ trick. Works like a charm.

Well, the smartest thing to do is to just getting some of my free materials.

If you like it, you’ll probably like my services.

If you don’t like it, you won’t.

But I think I’m supposed to do the whole „self aggrandizing biography“ thing now so here goes:

I started my Milling career in 2006 by making an apprenticeship,

At that time, I was operating a 90 years old combined 50 to./day Mill and I’d done an internship with a more up to date Mill producing 100 to./day.

The difference was huge. No manual work at all.

I must have started and stopped the Mill 100 times before I could believe it.

It was so amazing to see all parts connect with each other, and somewhere there was one screen that showed Error messages like, „Rollermill C4 disengaged, system suspended“.

My 15 year old brain translates that to, „You’ll get lot of free time if you click just the one button to reset and continue“ …which is exactly what I did.

This was before nowadays technology, still working with mechanic detectors. It was just …how do you say …“reliably-safe technology“.

Anyway – it kind of worked. Kind of.

Did I make the Mill running?

Yes.

Was it harder than doing it the „manual“ way?

Yes.

Anyway – by sheer luck, I discovered old books about the commissioning of atomic reactor’s.

I bought it, read it, and was blown away.

There was way more to discover than there was during the 4 years of milling science studies.

This motivated me to buy old books about Mill erection/montage and I started to mount and modify Mills. Then I bought books on milling technologies and I started to improve technologies as well as processes.

And after six years of trial and error, I finally started to maximize profits systematically.

I started by feeling and touching. Then I started to measure flow streams, ash and protein contents of flours to visualize the results. Suddenly, I reached the point where my Head Miller was after me. I realized that he was curious about my methods, so I started to share my knowledge.

And that’s how I got my start as a Consultant.

Fast forward to today where I have the pleasure of meeting with clients all over the world.

I’d like to become „go to guy“ for investors when it comes to planning and building a new Production-Plant. Also, I’d like to support owners when it comes to optimizing their production capacity or extending their operations to other locations.

My main focus is to help you get higher return on your investment / higher profits / higher earnings.

I’m the creator of something called GristJockey, which is a fancy way of saying, „Automated blending and trading of raw materials to deliver your clients stable and consistent products with the highest possible profitability“

It is, in my opinion, the Holy Grail Of Milling.

I also focus on your productivity – which is really a fancy way of saying, „Getting The Most Out Of Your Machines Before You Need To Buy For New Ones.“

I do this by showing you the best way to operate and maintain them before they breakdown and cost you money.