Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
21
Marketing and Sales
AT SOME POINT IN YOUR POULTRY-RAISING ADVENTURE
you may find you have on your
hands more birds or bird products than you can possibly consume yourself. This may
come as no surprise if you've planned to make the changeover from poultry raising as a
hobby to poultry raising as a business. Or it may be that those half-dozen fanciful hens
you couldn't resist at the animal auction or poultry swap were half-a-dozen more than
you needed. If you can become skilled at marketing and selling your products, live in a
location where your product is in demand or can successfully ship it, and have the desire
to make this time-consuming effort flourish, then poultry may be the profit-making ven-
ture for you.
A Business Plan
Despite the enthusiasm you may have about starting your poultry-based business, it's al-
ways best to start gradually until you have full understanding of the scope of the work,
time, and money involved. You need to know the particulars of your chosen market. If
you're going to sell meat, for example, you have to know the proper breeds to raise and
when it's best to butcher in order to have birds ready for meat-eating holidays. You also
need to figure out how you're going to increase your sales with this top-quality product
that you're going to produce.
Obviously, it's outside of the reach of this topic to go into great depth about how to
design a business plan, but all entrepreneurs should have a plan, even a basic one, before
venturing forth. You may be having great success on a small scale, selling extra eggs or
a few dressed birds, but trying to turn a profit is a whole other business. Imagine you've
been making a dozen cupcakes or muffins for a weekly bake sale, and enjoying that work.
Now imagine making 100 dozen a week. And now, 100 dozen a day. Whatever you do
has to be enjoyable to you, so try to imagine when your pastime becomes constant work.
