Farm Business Skills

Building a Farm Business Plan

Every Business has Two Parts

Farm business skills and a business plan is the place to start your farming venture. This process involves two parts. First, is the skill or service that the business offers such as breeding animals or growing crops. Strong skills in your basic business are a requrement and can be built through some combination of work experience and education.

Secondly, the business side of your farm enterprise involves developing a business plan that includes marketing, planning, budgeting, financial statements, cash flow, and risk management. Dealing with all of these details may warrant using third parties such as attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents. The Small Business Administrattion (SBA) an provide with very useful information about starting a new business.

Running a business is not easy. It is not enough to be the best at your farm skill or service, you must be able to get new customers and keep existing customers. Get ahead of the game by designing an effective marketing plan using a website and social media. Without sales, there is no business.

Marketing Your Farm Business

Your farm business depends on attracting and keeping customers. Yet many new businesses fail at this very basic concept. Failure to constantly promote your business through effective marketing techniques will result in the end of your business.

There are many ways to market without expensive advertising. Accordingly, you should be aware of these methods that are availale with little cost. One of the cheapest and easiest marketing tools is Social Media.

Social Media

One of the best sources of marketing is social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can establish a Facebook page in minutes and put all the information about your business on your page. People will find you when they search on the internet and the pictures and information on your page will be your advertising.

Start with a Facebook page and move onto Twitter and Instagram as you grow. Eventually, even a website can be devloped with even more sales tools.

Business Income

As the main employee of your business, you must pay yourself a living wage. If your business income does not allow you to do this, you don't have a business, but a hobby. Realistically, you should go to work for someone else so you can meet your personal financial obligations.

Most people have personal financial obligations in addition to business financial obligations. You cannot ignore your personal financial obligations in favor of your business obligations. Each should be kept separate so you can budget for both and see the results of your business.

Side Hustle

Because of the need to support themselves, many entrepreneurs start on a part time basis. By holding down a full time job while building a new business as a side hustle. Once the side business produces enough income to have the potential to support them, they then move into the business full time.

Have a Plan

The purpose of these pages is to help you be a successful business person, not to teach you equine professional skills. You should have those skills before going into business.

First, you will need a business plan. The SBA provides a very useful tool for building a business plan. The process of building a business plan is hard work, but having your business fail is even harder work. Start with a sound business plan and you will have a much better chance of succeeding.