Business Structures

One thing that needs to be taken into consideration eventually is what kind of business type one sets up.  Should it be sole proprietorship, a corporation, a partnership or even a limited liability company?
It really depends on what you need from that type of business entity.
A sole proprietorship often doesn't need much separate business or tax filing which is easier and better for a small company but doesn't offer a lot in the way of protections.
 An LLC offers more protections but requires more filing and proof of structure, and income and taxes.
The Modern Farmer  offers a lot of good information and insight regarding starting up a CSA and also a business entity.  Much of what they suggest really comes down to how much liability do you want to take on.  With a CSA, there is the risk of not having crops, something being done that a customer doesn't agree with or even a slight risk of something like food poisoning.  This could lead to a person being personally sued and their assets being affected rather than the company being sued, like in an LLC.
They also suggest having a fleshed out contract to sign with potential members.  Let them know that there might be a lean month or season, just depending on weather and bugs. 
The Modern Farmer also takes into account if you have a participant come to the garden for a you-pick type event, that there is enough insurance on the farm, in the event that a guest is injured.
This article references some other links that have good, thought out agreements.
They mention people getting sick from food several times, enough that it makes me wonder if the authors had someone get sick.  In a small CSA farm,the odds of someone getting sick should be very minimal.  These are not like sweeping fields of lettuce with people going to the bathroom in the fields, spreading germs.  These are smaller farms, managed by fewer people with more of a personal investment into the goings on of the farm and what it produces.

Paying someone else to do your marketing for you

I was thinking about how marketing might not be every business-minded persons strong point and what would go into hiring someone else to do the marketing for you.
I read a good article on The Hired Guns on 7 things the Chief Digital Product Office at Merriam Webster looks for.
1- initiative.  Being a good worker bee and doing what you are told is a fantastic role to fit into.  But, rising above and standing out is when you can anticipate something and get to working on it without being told.
2 - creativity. This means being OK with looking beyond "we've always done it this way" or "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
3 - numeracy. This refers to using analytics to identify and utilize trends. There are enough programs and apps and platforms out there now that can take your information and help you analyze it so that you don't have to be a math person, you just have to know where to go to get and use the right information.
4 - legal grounding.  This one was interesting to me because the author mentions knowing the difference in a sweepstakes and a contest. I looked it up and got this answer from Marden Kane:
          Two of the most common promotions are Sweepstakes (games of chance) and Contests (games of skill). The major difference between sweepstakes and contests is that contest winners are selected by judges using a set of criteria whereas sweepstakes winners are randomly selected.
While you don't have to have a legal degree, having some working knowledge of some common laws or legality in your chosen business is always a good idea. It'll help you if an issue comes up because you'll already have an idea of where you can start, when coming up with answers.
5 - testing chops.  I think this goes along with number 3.  How do you know what is working if you don't check and see?  Number proof or it doesn't count.
6 - social media savvy. Being aware of what platforms are used and why.  Having number proof as to what the demographics are and how that audience is reached, helps.
7 - curiosity. For me, this goes with number 2.   Don't be satisfied with how things are.  Be hungry for more and want to dig in and learn more.  

The last one is just be a decent person. I think that should be applicable everywhere.

Using email to reach customers

In a lot of the e-marketing and regular marketing that I have been reading about, it mentions email campaigns.  I've been wondering what all that means and really entails.  Like, I expect to get emails from companies that I know about and actively signed up to get their emails.  But how do I reach people who might not know about my company yet?

Campaign monitor.com  has a very visually appealing site with lots of good information on how to get going with an email campaign.  It doesn't really expand on HOW to get the emails, other than ones you already have. 

Neilpatel.com does go in depth a little more but still really relies on getting people to give you their email once they are at your site.   One thing that was mentioned was making sure that your email is whitelisted, so that it doesn't get automatically blocked by major service providers.  

More reading suggests that if you don't have a site or are starting out, you'd need to spend some money on an Opt-in list.  And basically spam people that way.  It could be dangerous, as target customers might have a negative opinion after getting your email in their junk mail or it might pay off and get someone to look at your site who you might not have gotten to by other means.

More on Marketing

Marketing online is such an easy way to go about marketing your company or your brand. This goes beyond a simple social media presence and looks at things like email campaigns and search engine marketing.

It isn't enough just to have posts and followers and "likes". Those clicks need to be able to turn into real revenue, either by customers buying things from your site or through pay-per-click advertising.
Content has to be in the right area at the right time.

Do you get in on a mailing list and send out 1000 emails? Do you piggy back off of a like minded other company, ideally one more successful than you? Do you pay to have your website featured on the first page of search engine listings?

7 Different types of Digital Marketing offers some ideas and suggestions.
Advantages and Disadvantages is another good site.  They point out the disadvantages of e-marketing and only having an online presence.  Sometimes people still want to have hands on , face to face time with a product and don't only want to interact online.  Also, it takes time to keep everything online updated.  It needs to stay fresh and current or can slip from the minds of potential customers, especially during the start up.

Passive income for the winter

Now that we are coming up on Thanksgiving and working our way into winter, the garden slows down.  That also means the income from anything growing on the farm slows down or outright stops.
We're still eating from the garden but we don't mind eating the tomatoes (because yes, we still have tomatoes growing) that have blemishes, or the turnips that are the size of a volleyball.  Those are products that while perfectly fine to eat, aren't as easy to work with for the average consumer.
Last week, I shared some information about getting involved in stock photography and this week I'm thinking more on how to turn a blog into income.
There are a lot of blogs out there already and it would be an easy thing to add some of the pictures I'm already taking for the stock photos, to the blog. That would be a very niche way to separate my blog from others.   It would take a lot of research into what is out there already and what is doing well, to determine what might be lacking.  At this point, I think other than basically being willing to start documenting from the ground up, the only other difference is geography.  I'm not sure of any others in the North Alabama/Southern Middle Tennessee area.  So we'd just have a different perspective.
Being so close to the state line also offers twice as much learning about rules and regulations.  All that can be shared in a blog, as well as the steps taken. But, this is only good if people can find your blog. One easy way is to pay to have the blog listed or actually get a domain name and real website.  Basically, if it can't show up in an internet search, it doesn't exist. This is one of those "takes money to make money" types of things.   This site, offers some nice things like tracking how many readers your page gets. It also offers "AdSense" which allows targeted ads to be in the blog, which can generate income.
Another way is to do a review or share a favorite brand or product.   Mention enough times how much a certain brand of fencing or trowel or whatever works for you and you can turn that into a link where if your bases buys through the link, you get a little kickback.
It all still goes back to marketing principles and how to get your name and product out there, even if your product is a blog.

Diversifying revenue streams

One way that I've read about as an income stream is to take pictures for stock photos.  There is a big market for that and like anything, there are some pictures that are worth more than others.
In this Business Insider article, they say to take pictures of "business, education, lifestyle, medical — anything that happens in life, if you take a picture or video of it, people need it". 
Unsurprisingly, there are businesses that are built around taking valuable stock photos and also business that help newcomers to the game get their pieces sold.

It seems like such a fun thing to do on the side.  A lot of people would love to be a photographer or really enjoy taking pictures and to find out you don't have to be some professional with several thousand dollars invested in gear and training, is really exciting.

"A 2017 Creative Trends Report from Shutterstock showed a rise in nostalgia-related images, and content around cybersecurity and VR."  Also, pictures of people who look like every day people and from all walks of life are in demand.

In my real life, I currently work for a steel mill and I know pictures inside the mill would be in high demand.  Any new publications we have internally all use the same handful of pictures -  for years. Of course, any pictures taken would have to not show a company name or logo and couldn't show any proprietary technology.  

This picture was taken by the woman interviewed in the article and it is one of her higest selling pictures -  it is of her kids and their friends, at a festival.
Something to think about, if you are already taking pictures for marketing -  take a few more and try to sell them as stock photos!

Researching for Marketing

It has been incredibly interesting to do the research for starting a CSA in my area.   in my case, i'm not trying to re-invent the wheel but I can definitely look at making the wheel better and getting it into the right hands.  It has been reassuring to see that others have had the same idea and been able to make a go of it.   It is also nice that there is a real community there of people who want to see other like minded people succeed in that area, as well.  It might seem a little counter-intuitive to share your successes and failures but right now, CSA's and Farm to Table is growing enough that there is plenty of room for people to join and participate.

It does mean that marketing, specializing and diversifying are very important. If you start off like every other company, who will want to buy from you?  What will set you apart?  Most people will look at longevity and price, and probably not in that order. Money talks and people want to save where they can.  That also means spending wisely and not buying from a company that won't delivery or that isn't tested and tried.

In the arena of new business, word of mouth and reviews will make such a difference.