After carefully considering your goals and the motivations behind those goals, let’s dig right in today to how we build a Business Plan at Triple Wren. This type of planning works best with very specific goals, so as an example I’ll say that my specific goal is to gross $10,000 worth of flowers this season. (Note: This is easier as an example that dealing with net profit goals, but planning for profit is both *essential* for your planning, and easier in my opinion after you have at least a year of farming under your belt.)
When planning, I always start with my goal and work backwards. Start big, work small.
If my goal is to gross $10,000, then I would take one step back from that and ask, “What are my sales outlets? How much did they each gross this past year?” (Or if it is your very first year, then project what you think each can make.) Let’s say in the previous year, your farmer’s market stand grossed $5,000, your curbside/roadside stand $2,000, your direct-to-florist sales $2,000, and your holiday wreaths $1,000. If we’re expanding but not changing too much in our production methods, I might choose a pretty modest growth percentage (for example 20%) and mark up your past year to: market $6,000, roadside $2,400, florists $2,400, wreaths $1,200.
After you’ve determined these goals, step back further and look at how many bunches of each crop you sold to achieve the past year’s growth. If you didn’t keep records of what you sold, NOW is the time to start.* If you have the details but they’re not organized, it might take a whole day of flipping back through your invoice book and making a spreadsheet, but planning for growth means you MUST know what you’ve already accomplished. So look back and see how many bunches of sunflowers, cosmos, ranunculus, etc. you sold in the past season and do the math to breakdown each of these. If you sell exactly 20% more of each, you’ll meet your main goal. BUT, you might have reached the point where you’re tired of lugging 30lb buckets of suns, and prefer to sell small, fragrant bunches of pelargonium instead. If that’s the case, in your business plan, aim to sell fewer suns (but keep some to brighten your heart and your stand!) and more of your preferred crops.
Once you know WHAT you plan to sell, take another step back and think about what you have to plant, and when, in order to have steady harvestability for the weeks you want to sell. This is an entire other section of planning in my farm life: I back it up further to plan when and what I germinate or propagate on a very specific schedule.
It all seems so basic, and simplistic, but this kind of planning is the foundation of what I’ve done to make Triple Wren so successful. If this kind of planning isn’t your cup of tea, I challenge you to find a partner or a friend or hire a VA who is capable of taking your specific goal and breaking it down so that you can work your green thumb magic and grow the right things at the right time and achieve the sales you want. At our Flower Camps this summer, I’m going to break this down in person wayyy further, and explain the details and lead discussion until every single attendee is satisfied that they’re ready to plan for success. If you’d like to dig in deeper, register to come join us for useful business/growing training, design experience, cozy glamping, farm-to-table feasting, and more! (Links in our stories today)
*One more note: I think measuring the profitability of mixed/grocery bouquet is extremely difficult, so I’m working on an explanation of the best way we’ve found to keep those records and will share it here. Keep an eye out. 🙂