creating a business plan - recommendations

[pcdreams]

I'm wanting to start putting together a business plan for our future farm. I'm just needing some recommendations as far as books to look at/web sites, etc.

I'm taking a tech writing course this semester, which is good for grants, and has helped me think critically about what I'm writing and brush up on my conciseness and grammar.

My main problem is I've got a huge list of ideas, and have no idea where to start. Last time I looked into this I got bogged down with research (mostly because I have no idea how to find info about such things as market analysis, etc).

I'm wondering if a cotinuing ed course would be better than a book or if its a waste of time.

and of course I'll work with a mentor if anyone is volunteering

[The Paw]

pcdreams:

I don't have any handy references for you, but I have done a lot of business planning, particularly for small business and micro-enterprise, so I will offer the following tips:

1. If you have a million ideas, and haven't locked in on one yet, you are not at the business planning stage, but at the feasibility analysis stage. What this is, is when you put your ideas through some kind of filter to come up with the best 2 or 3, and then do a little research on them to pick which one to go with.

2. Your filter should consist of questions like "do I know anything about this?", "do we have the capacity to produce this now", "who will buy this, and how do we get it to them?" and other commonsense questions.

3. After the filter, I try to do a calculation to see if it holds water at all. If I know people are selling macrame plant hangers at the farmers market for $3, and that it takes me $1.50 worth of yarn and 30 minutes of my time, then once I do the math, I am working for $3 per hour (best case). In that example, macrame plant hangers go on the scrap heap quickly. Even if it holds water initially, the idea may leak like he11 later on, after research.

4. Try not to get "paralysis by analysis" by examining ideas in too much depth at the early stage. Lots of wannabe entrepreneurs never get past this stage.

5. Once you lock down on your single best idea, you are ready to start business planning. There are lots of templates out there, and your local state agency probably has some available for free (here they are available at the Canada-Manitoba Business Service Center). If you happen across one that you like, and would like an opinion on it, you could PM me.

6. A Cont Ed course, or equivalent, is never a bad idea. It also allows you to interact with an instructor and other students, which is good for the process.

Hope this helps.

[pcdreams]

Thank you for the info. I think some of the things you pointed out are precisely what I'm having difficulty with.

I'll throw some ideas out there and let you (or anyone else) give me opinions.

We want to get into beef cattle. Not large scale (maybe 20-30), these will be sold on the hoof.

We would also like to raise a few milk cows to make and sell cheese. And chickens for eggs and meat.

We also plan to sell jams/jellies/fruits/veggies, and perhaps baked goods.

Our market area would be small (50-60m radius). Do some farmers markets, work with co-ops if there are any in the area.

This is the point where I get stuck. Should I be narrowing this down to one item to start with (say the cattle)? I can see being able to research any one of these individually, but I'm not sure how I could present it as a "whole farm" plan

[sdrew]

pcdreams:

Here in Southern Maine we have a Small Business Admin. office at the local university. When I needed help and ideas for a business plan, I went there. Being a graduate of the school, the service was free; but I think they charge a small fee for non-grads. I also took a class at a local tech college that focused primarily on forming a business plan. Perhaps in your area something similar is available.

Steve

[dk_40207]

http://www.sare.org/publications/business.htm
http://www.sare.org/coreinfo/marketing.htm

These are great links to take a look at.

DK

[Jenn]

My farm business plan aNd now my other professional services business plan are one pagers- BTW noone has yet asked to see them- vision and how to carry that out like I learned in the Army Med Corps when we got all proactive and total quality management in the 90's.

What you want it to be 'grow good things sell for money' ;

what is needed to do that 'good growing good product good advertising and convenient sales place' +/- 'low/reasonable prices'

the business plan should be something you can return to (as I have) a few years later and say 'am I still on track doing/aiming for what my goals are/were?'

Anyway ya don't need a business degree IMHO just a brain. SBA may help you flesh out the 'how to carry that out' aspects.

[momlaffsalot]

Your SBA should have mentors to help you set up a business plan. Also, check with your big universities for grant writing workshops (I just took two of them for free!). Start investigating the Internet, type in as many searches as you can, and DO get books from the library! If you start researching and reading how others have done it, you'll figure it out. I'm assuming you are going to be non-profit since you want to apply for grants?

[The Paw]

Originally Posted by pcdreams

Thank you for the info. I think some of the things you pointed out are precisely what I'm having difficulty with.

I'll throw some ideas out there and let you (or anyone else) give me opinions.

We want to get into beef cattle. Not large scale (maybe 20-30), these will be sold on the hoof.

We would also like to raise a few milk cows to make and sell cheese. And chickens for eggs and meat.

We also plan to sell jams/jellies/fruits/veggies, and perhaps baked goods.

Our market area would be small (50-60m radius). Do some farmers markets, work with co-ops if there are any in the area.

This is the point where I get stuck. Should I be narrowing this down to one item to start with (say the cattle)? I can see being able to research any one of these individually, but I'm not sure how I could present it as a "whole farm" plan

Lots of Agriculture Departments publish pdf files on costs of production. I have seen them on the Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan govt. sites for sure.

If you are looking to do all of those activities as revenue earners, you should analyze them all (otherwise, how do you know you aren't losing money?). But the rule of thumb is to put in an amount of time planning that is proportionate to the revenue you want to generate. If you want to net $500 a year from selling eggs, you should put less time into the research than if you want to net $5,000 from a certain # of head of beef cattle.

good luck.

[Maura]

Are you going to corn raise the cattle? The cost of corn is already going up and will skyrocket soon. Will you be buying hay? I'm sure some farmers are going to turn their hayfields into cornfields in the near future. If you are producing the feed yourself, try out some cattle and see how you like it.

If I was going to make cheese, I'd use goats.

Chickens are a great asset, even if you don't sell the eggs or eat the roosters. They eat flies, fleas, and anything else the can get into their mouths. You will want the chicken coop or house near the flies.

At some point in time, you've got to just jump in and get your feet wet. Since you believe in doing research and studying your choices, you are ahead of many people. A business plan is really a way to get you to sort out your ideas and what your real costs are likely to be, as written above. Your business plan needs to make sense to you, and reflect your desires and capabilities.

[RedneckPete]

I'm with Maura. If you want to get up to 20 or 30 beef cattle, start with 2 or 3. Get one milker and a couple dozen chickens. Make all your mistakes small scale, then ramp up production if you figure you can make a go of it. Good luck. Thousands of multi-generational family farms have gone bankrupt in the last fifty years, most with no mortgage.

Pete

[Christiaan]

Check with your local Extension Service. I'm taking a class on Agricultural Entrepreneurship the goal of which is to write a business plan. I was able to get a scholarship for the $150 fee just by asking. The books and software cost $60 and were well worth it. We've had guest speakers on everything from doing financial statements to finding commercial kitchens for your value added products.

[Shadow]

Most farm dictate what will work and what will not. Doing a full buisness plan before you know what you have to work with is not real productive. If you are planning to apply for grants to farm with good luck. As for planning on the future learn as much as you can about lots of things then when you find your dream homestead then you can use the knowledge you have obtained to its best use. Farms even close to each other are not all suited for all uses. If I misunderstood and you have a farm, just what is it suited for, does it have the pasture and water for cattle, or is it better suited for row crops. If truck farming is there a market for what it grows best. The price of fuel means you just can not haul produce long distances unless it is a high value crop.
With the changing cost farmers have to be changing and quickly. Homesteaders will have to change also. I for one having living on my homestead for over 25 years realize no one can make it on a few acres. It cost more for me and the wife to raise our food than it would to buy it. There are those that disagree and live a substandard at least to me life to try to do it. Sorry but I want a few nice things, money to spend, insurance to help with the medical bills that will come if you live long enough.
Its good to dream, good to plan, but be saving money, learning every thing you can and get ready to work harder than everbefore in your life. Then get on with your homesteading.
Like a wise man said everythging comes to him who waits, if he works like h--l while he waits.