When thinking about a homestead enterprise, bear in mind everyone has unique capabilities and needs, as does each community. What may work one place at a particular time, may not in another.

Sometimes it is very difficult to determine why this occurs. Successful Farming magazine periodically sponsors Ag Diversification Adds Profits Today (ADAPT) Conferences. The primary purpose is to present diversification opportunities for farmers. An interesting aspect came out of a follow-up they did to determine who diversified, what they diversified into and how they did. They found for almost every project in which someone reported a failure, someone else reported a success.

If you start a homestead enterprise, the products or services you choose must fit your own personality and lifestyle, as well as the marketplace. Often people who go into an enterprise just to make money fail, while ventures which grow out of a talent, special interest or hobby do well, sometimes growing into large businesses. Sometimes simple luck is involved, along with recognizing the opportunity. Much of the success of an enterprise may depend on natural personal salesmanship.

However, try to avoid opportunities presented to you by others. Mail order, self-publishing, multi-level marketing and work-at-home opportunities come to mind. Not only check them out as thoroughly as possible, but also try to have close friends play devil's advocate to make sure you know what you would be getting into.

Some COUNTRYSIDER examples:

Here are some examples of homestead enterprises as provided by participants in the COUNTRYSIDE Forum (www.countrysidemag.com). Note, for most, it is supplemental income, rather than a significant source of the same.

§ Renee in MD says last year they bought four feeder pigs and raised them to market hogs size. The three they sold paid all of the expenses, including for the one they put in their own freezer. She said, just by word-of-mouth, seven others, plus the three they sold to, asked to have one raised for them this year. Due to MD laws, the buyer has to buy a live animal (paid for in advance) plus hauling and processing fees. If a buyer doesn't want a whole hog, it is up to them to find others to go in with them. They are considering buying a sow to raise their own piglets.

§ Rebekah uses their goat manure to grow winter squash, which she sells to a health-food outlet. She notes she might not make much from this, but could expand if additional time and manpower were available.

§ Kate and Ralph in NY have supplemental income from both bees and sheep. The bees started out to pollinate their pastures and orchard, but they expanded in order to sell honey from a roadside stand on their property. Their income from sheep comes from selling breeding stock, freezer lambs and wool yarn. They have also been instrumental in starting a 4-H sheep club and a local knitting/spinning group, both potential markets for their output. If you want to visit them go to www.sheepy valley.com.

§ Steve and Lynette in MI bought a farm which has many maple trees. They decided to tap the trees to make maple syrup for themselves, but now produce about 190 gallons per year and hope to double their production as sales warrant.

(They note: "Our advice to others-stay small as long as you can. It's much easier to work from a solid foundation than from one that's riddled with debt. Also, and probably most importantly, you must be willing to put in every minute of your extra time into making your business work. Running your own business takes a lot of tears and sweat! - we cannot express that enough.")

§ Patty in NY says they have rented out a service bull, sold feeder piglets, market hogs and produce, and this year will have freezer lambs with perhaps goats, milk and eggs to sell.

§ Polly says they can sell all of the strawberries they produce by the pound to the local grocery. They are so popular the grocery has a waiting list to call when she brings in each batch.

§ Mark in FL puts an ad in the local papers to the effect, "WANTED: Large roosters. Will pay up to $2.00 each. Also buying Hens, Ducks, Cages and Supplies. Call XXX-XXX-XXX." He has found people who buy straight runs for the eggs will just give him the roosters, as well as others who will just give them surplus stock or equipment just to get rid of it. He does not reply to ads for "looking for a good home for...," since he makes it clear he is buying for resale. What he buys goes to a local weekly auction. He notes sometimes he might go there with 15-20 birds and equipment, or he may have 100 or more. He says he is making extra bucks and enjoying himself.

§ Katie in WA sells eggs for which she now gets $2.50 per dozen (which is not a misprint) and sells all she offers. While she has sold organic vegetables, they have progressed into growing a sizeable Dahlia patch. They are currently getting $3 per dozen for blooms and from $2 to $5 for tubers, depending on variety. She noted: I started off thinking it would be nice if I could make enough to pay the property taxes, and make enough now that we figure my husband can retire a few years early, and once he's home we can enlarge the Dahlia patch. (Note: several others also said they sell farm-fresh eggs for over twice supermarket prices.)

§ Terry said he sells wild mushrooms to several gourmet restaurants. What started out as collecting edibles for the table quickly became a summer job. He sells Hen of the Woods (maitake), Sulfur Shelf, Chanterelles, Black Trumpets, Oyster, Angel Wings, Boletes, and Morels. He never planned this as an enterprise, just grew into it. He netted over $10,000 in three months last summer and they both work full-time jobs. He would advise anyone interested in this to join mushroom clubs, go on forays, buy and read field guides, and know what you are picking. Call local high-class restaurants and find out where they get their mushrooms. Offer to provide a sample. Go online and search for expensive restaurants and call the chef. Most of all, know your product.

§ Harold in Ontario, Canada said, "We were fortunate to buy a small farm (25 acres) on a highway. We started growing vegetables and flowers and selling at the roadside. Since we are in a vegetable area we soon found out the flowers sold best. So just growing 1/2 acre of flowers netted us about $6,000. Although we don't do it anymore due to lack of time, the best combination was half fresh and half dried. The dried flowers (peonies, statice, straw flowers etc.) allowed us to sell well into December with my wife making wreaths, swags, bouquets, etc. When the kids wanted money they planted 1/4 acre of raspberries and made about $2000 per summer selling them at the roadside. Here our growing season is from May to September. We find being on the highway almost everything sells really well because people like to buy local. We just had a unsupervised cash box with the flowers (we emptied it every couple of hours) but over 5 years we never lost more than $20. People around here are very honest."

Other small enterprises along the same lines:

Sick child care. A growing opportunity is to care for sick children. Perhaps they are in a day care which won't take the children when they are sick, or school age children who just need someone to look after them while their parent(s) work.

Hotel/motel babysitting: When I graduated from college, one of my sisters and family came for the ceremony. Since they had two small children they didn't want to bring to the ceremony, I inquired at the motel desk if they knew of a local babysitter. They said they had a woman who came for just such purposes on a regular basis. She came about a half-hour in advance, armed with appropriate age books and games, and bonded with the children while their parents finished preparations. They felt it was well worth her premium cost.

Fencing: Barbed wire fencing put on trees is asking for a cow or calf to escape. I have replaced most of this type of fencing using standard t-posts. The guy I hired to do it had limited experience, but he learned from me to the point he put up about a thousand feet of fencing by himself. After he had upgraded my fencing, he put a regular small advertisement in the local paper to the effect, "Barbed wire fencing put up or repaired. Call Bill at XXX-XXXX." Last I saw him he said it keeps him busy at least several days a week. He has a per hour charge, plus ten percent over the cost of any purchased supplies.

Portable bait and tackle: I read a magazine article on a guy who converted a small trailer into a portable bait and tackle and snack stand. Very early in the morning he took it to a boat ramp and then supplied those who showed up to fish that morning. Since he pulled the stand home in the afternoon, he didn't have to worry about theft. (And what a great outlet if he grew his own fishing worms!)

Pet sitting services: This is another area which is growing. If you live on a well-traveled road leading into a city, pets can be dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening. The pets get special care and exercise during the day. Premium fees can be charged for this.

Pick your own fruit: One family has established several acres of dwarf fruit trees. As the various fruits mature, they have people come in under a pick-your-own concept.

Greenhouse salad bar vegetables: Under this concern a variety of vegetables are grown in a greenhouse to be delivered to restaurants two or three times a week. The numbers and types can be varied as the market dictates.

Gourds: Gourds can be grown and dried for sale to the craft market. Even a single acre can produce a number of gourds, with prices of dried ones based on size, type, shape and demand.

Novelty vegetables: Some high-class restaurants have to establish a niche market with specialties. Among these are baby (miniature) vegetables, blue potatoes, banana muskmelon, a different tomato variety or new variety vegetables. Let the chef look through your seed catalogs and then, if feasible, grow whatever they are interested in on a trial basis.

Occasional hired hand help: The guy who works for me as needed on my farm is a classic example of this. He is retired, so does this for pocket money. He also works for several others, so between us he pretty well has a full-time, part-time job.

Providing doves for weddings: One couple raises doves (white pigeons) which have been trained to fly back to their loft. They have a service which provides them at weddings. As the bride and groom exit the building, each is handed a dove to release, while others are released from two wicker baskets. The doves basically do a fly over and then head for home, usually beating them back there.

Things to think about:

New small businesses (which a homestead enterprise would be) primarily fail for common reasons:

• Failure to develop the concept by preparing a comprehensive business plan. For a homestead enterprise, a business plan may be nothing more than bouncing the idea off of several people whose opinion you respect. However, if you are going to have to borrow money for it, a more detailed, written plan may be required.
• Lack of sufficient operating capital to cover cash flow. This can be managed by staying well within your financial resources and demanding cash upon the providing of goods or services. I am not trying to slight horse owners here, but I have met several farriers who say they now only shoe for payment in advance. Collecting on past services can be difficult.
• Poor market analysis. This can be improved by adequately researching the potential market before a marketing decision is made rather than afterwards. The emphasis at the ADAPT conferences mentioned above has been "Find Your Market First." Even then, will that market be there when you are ready to satisfy it? I have read several reports of buyers being initially enthusiastic about buy ing all of the production they can only to have no interest once you are ready to supply it.
• Failure to recognize when it is time to get out of a business or some aspect of it, such as a product line, due to changing market conditions. Say you have a nice little sideline supplying fishing worms to area service stations on a consignment basis. A large fishing worm enterprise decides to move into the area and undercuts your price. It is probably not worth trying to fight them.
• Lack of commitment. This particularly applies to enterprises which rely heavily on family members. While there may be an initial high level of enthusiasm, dedication to it may fade quickly or they simply go onto another phase of their lives. For a boarding kennel, are you prepared to give up your own holiday vacations, since these are their peak demand periods? Are you prepared to harvest and market garden produce two or three times a week during the season?
• Lack of consistency in availability or to meet demand. On a large scale, this may not be a problem. However, say you have an agreement to provide a specific type of baby lettuce to several gourmet restaurants from a greenhouse and, for whatever reasons, you cannot do so on a consistent basis. Likely they will find another source of supply. Say you provide organic lamb carcasses, but one of your regular customers wants to double their order due to a change in their menu. If you are unable to supply that increased demand, the entire order may go elsewhere.
• Theft. While not likely in a homestead business, it is estimated between 10 and 30% of small businesses fail due to theft by customers or employees.
• Trying to increase net profit by increasing revenue rather than by decreasing expenses. A prime example of this seems to be the dairy industry in the U.S. today. Those which try to maximize revenue by increasing milk volume per cow are either barely breaking even or going out of business. Yet, those which have decreased expenses, such as milk produced primarily from pasture grazing and seasonal milking, are reporting good net incomes.
• Trying to compete against "the big boys." This is similar to the item on changing market conditions. For a homestead enterprise this might be trying to sell sweet corn from a garden plot at a flea market and having to compete with market gardeners who may raise several acres.
• Knowing when enough is enough. An adage I have found extremely applicable to many situations is the first 80% of results come from the first 20% of effort. You may find you can reach a certain level of gross revenue without extensive difficulty, but to go above it results in less and less net return on your time and expenses.
• Starting small and growing with your market. If there is one single aspect which applies to a homestead business, this is probably it. Put your foot in the water one toe at a time. Grow only to meet what seems to be an established demand which will be there when you are ready to provide it. There are several excellent examples of this above.

(Should you have to borrow or obtain capital see Borrowing For Your Business: Winning the Banker's "Yes" by George M. Dawson, Upstart Publishing Company, 12 Portland Street, Dover, NH 03820. Writing in laymen's terms, the author covers such aspects as the seven questions a loan officer is sure to ask in one form or another [and how to be prepared to answer them] and an explanation of the loan processing flow [and pitfalls to avoid during it].)

Conclusion:

As the above examples have shown, supplemental income can be made off of a homestead. It may not provide any more than pocket money, but that, in itself, can come in handy. Don't be afraid to try different things. As the saying goes, "Before you meet a prince or princess, you have to kiss a lot of frogs."

For more information:

Most of the above was modified out of my book, How to Earn Extra Money in the Country. It is available as a free e-book upon a request to: scharabo@aol.com. (Note: it cannot be sent to hotmail.com accounts.) If you do not have your own PC, check at your local library if a PC there can handle Microsoft Word for Windows. If so, the book can be obtained on diskette by sending five first class stamps and a business-size, self-addressed envelope to me at 1645 West Blue Creek Road, Waverly, TN 37185.