Is your business economically feasible?  How do you know or find out?  The way you begin to assess your viability is to ask yourself some simple questions. 

1.  How much money do you need out of this business for it to meet your needs?  Remember, your needs may be for an elaborate lifestyle, or for enough income just to support the feed bill or pay the property taxes.  You decide. 

2.  How many units of whatever your livestock, product or service)is, do you need to sell in a given division of time?  You can pick your division of time¾weeks, months, quarters or years. 

3.  How many pounds of ingredients, bags/bales of feed, bottles of meds, wrappers, labels, vet bills?  How much equipment and materiel go into what you sell in each time period?  How many shows do you have to attend, how much rent or mortgage do you pay, transportation costs, taxes, fencing, repairs does it take in the time unit you’re working with? 

4.  Have you factored in insurance, research and development, utilities, advertising, staff or other professional help? 

If you don’t know these numbers right away, take a guess.  Write them down.  You will get a good idea what you have to do with your business  just from answering these beginning questions.  Does it looks feasible to you?  Does it sound like too much work?  Where can you adjust the numbers to make it a workable plan? 

This is the beginning of a business plan.  If you do not have one, consider that all successful businesses have one.  Once you’ve done the quick questions above, consider looking at business plan templates and doing a long version.  The value is in the thinking, research and planning you do about your business, not in the finished document.   

The internet is full of places to find business plan templates.  The best one I ever found is included in Chapter Seventeen of my book, Marketing Farm Products, for those who have a copy.  It includes instructions in each section for what goes there. 

Remember that each successful business has three legs.  They are Product, Financial and Marketing.  You’ll find those three sections are represented in completing a business plan, too.  The section you find most challenging to complete is the part of your business where you need to use team-building for the help you need.  No one is good at all three ‘legs’ of business.  If you’re good at marketing, chances are good you won’t be easy with the financial aspects, and vice versa.  Your business plan helps you see who you need to get on your team to make it succeed!  Without a team to help in your weak areas, those areas get left out in times of stress.