Business Plan stats

[Kristine Allouchery]

My partner and I are polishing our business plan for an FSA loan application and I wanted to compare what we have completed versus what another project's take may be - either aquaculture or aquaponics.  Has anyone read or written a plan in the past year?  We are taking a short course that includes some business planning later this summer but I'm submitting our plan in the next week or so.

Thanks for any feedback - it's all helpful!

Kristine

[Kevin Connell]

Kristine, I took a grad school course from the guy who wrote this book (and I've read the book a couple times now).  Indispensable.

http://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurial-Finance-Business-Strategies-E...

[John Cubit]

Not yet.. I am still working on mine and really don't think I will get it submitted this year.  Would be interested in hearing about your progression to this point and beyond.

[Kim Lavallee]

I too am in the process of having business plan done.  I had to get one done proffessionaly for one of the funding agencies I'm applying to. 

 

[Michael A. White]

I would consider obtaining am economic analysis of your region. I know that in NJ your operational success will have everything to do with economies of scale and market location modeling. You may be able to get information from the USDA.

Once you have an economic analysis you should figure out your profit margins. Most people only consider revenue streams. It's vital that you do not this and you consider your opportunity costs. When I say opportunity cost, I mean your opportunity cost of capital. The future value of the loan you take may end up being worth more at market than your entire investment in the long run.

I'm in the process of creating a large sustainable agriculture LLC. First consisting of mycological implementation and research, then aquaponics at scale.

I say this because I feel it is important for your company to have a consistently stable revenue streams, with considerable margins of course. If your operating margins are not large enough, due to scale, you will absolutely need another revenue stream.

Sorry for aany typos, I'm writing on a small phone.

Good luck!!!
I hope that helped :D

[Brent Kliesen]

When you get your plan done, would you mind if I took a look at it? I have been stuck on mine for months now...........

[Kevin Connell]

Here's a potential outline

• Initial Business Plan - Executive Summary
• The Company
  • Entity Structure and Investors
  • Management Team
• The Market       
• The Product and Production
• Production Facility
• Production Location
• Production System         
• Financial Plan
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing, Sales and Distribution
  • Marketing and Sales
  • Distribution
• Staffing               
• Implementation Plan
• Sources and Uses of Cash 

[Kristine Allouchery]

All good points - thanks!

K.

Michael A. White said:

I would consider obtaining am economic analysis of your region. I know that in NJ your operational success will have everything to do with economies of scale and market location modeling. You may be able to get information from the USDA.

Once you have an economic analysis you should figure out your profit margins. Most people only consider revenue streams. It's vital that you do not this and you consider your opportunity costs. When I say opportunity cost, I mean your opportunity cost of capital. The future value of the loan you take may end up being worth more at market than your entire investment in the long run.

I'm in the process of creating a large sustainable agriculture LLC. First consisting of mycological implementation and research, then aquaponics at scale.

I say this because I feel it is important for your company to have a consistently stable revenue streams, with considerable margins of course. If your operating margins are not large enough, due to scale, you will absolutely need another revenue stream.

Sorry for aany typos, I'm writing on a small phone.

Good luck!!!
I hope that helped

[Kristine Allouchery]

Thank you, Kevin.  I have most of these points covered but you gave me some additional ones to consider.

K.

Kevin Connell said:

Here's a potential outline

• Initial Business Plan - Executive Summary
• The Company
  • Entity Structure and Investors
  • Management Team
• The Market       
• The Product and Production
• Production Facility
• Production Location
• Production System         
• Financial Plan
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing, Sales and Distribution
  • Marketing and Sales
  • Distribution
• Staffing               
• Implementation Plan
• Sources and Uses of Cash 

[Kristine Allouchery]

Sure, Brent - what type of operation / size are you building and where are you located? (just curious)

K.

Brent Kliesen said:

When you get your plan done, would you mind if I took a look at it? I have been stuck on mine for months now...........

[Kristine Allouchery]

Just out of curiosity, Kim, what agency are you applying to?

K.

Kim Lavallee said:

I too am in the process of having business plan done.  I had to get one done proffessionaly for one of the funding agencies I'm applying to. 

 

[Brent Kliesen]

Kristine,

I am located in NE Colorado and I am looking at mainly lettuce and basil production for now with some vegetable production in the media beds. System size would accommodate 2,000+ heads of lettuce a month.

Kristine Allouchery said:

Sure, Brent - what type of operation / size are you building and where are you located? (just curious)

K.

Brent Kliesen said:

When you get your plan done, would you mind if I took a look at it? I have been stuck on mine for months now...........

[TCLynx]

Is that the system size would produce 2,000 heads a month or that it has space for 2,000 plants?

I caution that it might be hard to make a living let alone make payments on a loan if you are not able to actually produce AND SELL!!!!! 1,000 heads a WEEK.  That means you need space for probably 8,000 heads at different stages in the system.

Perhaps producing AND SELLING 2,000 heads a month might cover the operating costs of the system but you also need to pay yourself and the loan to make things work.

I personally don't think a small operation can make it if they have to borrow money to get started.

Yes these are just my very off the cuff opinions and I'm entitled to my own opinions and no one else "Has" to listen to me but anyone who decides they are going to try to jump into aquaponics on a commercial basis needs a big drink of the reality Kool Aid

Aquaponics is FARMING.  You don't make any money growing veggies.  You don't make any Money growing Fish either.

You only make money if you can figure out how to sell those things for more than it costs you to grow, harvest, process, package and get them to market.  And then you have to make sure you sell enough to cover the losses of the stuff that doesn't sell too.

Aquaponics is a great way to grow things.  But that doesn't make it a slam dunk as a business venture since actually growing the veggies and fish is only about 1/5th (or perhaps less) of the equation when trying to do it as a business.

Scheduling

Source water testing

Land

Permitting

Zoning

Buildings

Heating/cooling

Lighting

Systems/equipment

Seeds

Fingerlings

Planting

Feeding

Tending/Testing/Supplemeting

IPM

Harvesting

Processing

Packaging

transporting

refrigeration

Marketing

selling

accounting

Labor

Insurance

Taxes

supplies

electricity

regulations

I underlined the ones that I think of as being "Aquaponics" and the rest of it is more to do with business and farming and not necessarily specific to aquaponics and the truth is, most of the stuff I underlined isn't even all that specific to aquaponics since farming or growing operations would be dealing with an analog of some form.  Aquaponics is simply a novel way to integrate two different types of farming to save water.  It tends to add complexity and cost to the initial set up as well as a layer of complexity to keeping everything balanced and not killing your fish with your pest management or supplementation.

I personally think Aquaponics is a Great thing!  BUT, it is definitely not an EASIER way to make money.