Entrepreneurship in a suburban settlement

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

To be honest, I'm already tired of hearing whining about earning money in the countryside. People intermittently talk about the fundamental unprofitability of agriculture, cite Western countries as an example (in which they have never been, and even more so, they have not been farming). When I dreamed of moving to the village, they tried to dissuade me in a hundred mouths, because there is nothing but drunkenness and theft …

Unfortunately or fortunately, my life develops in such a way that instead of moving to a village, I had to take root in the city even more, I will not delve into the reasons, but I will say that I still cherish the thought of the hinterland, and I am still approaching by small steps towards your goal.

In order not to be unfounded, and being afraid to seem like another omniscient loser who teaches everyone to live, I will tell you a little about myself (however, without specifics and details, forgive me, I have good reasons). At the moment, I am actively trying to promote my enterprise for the production of metal structures in a large city. I have ned of rich parents, cool friends and "daddies" (in my case, "mothers"), in short - patrons. I have never stolen (I tell the truth), I have not cheated or tried to get money in any other illegal, vile way. And in fact, to be completely honest, when I started this business I could not have foreseen such an ass. And if I had seen the future, I would hardly have dared, but today I have invested all those small funds that I have earned honestly, and I have no way back - I will simply lose "everything that I have acquired through overwork."

My field of activity is competitive, the market is saturated with similar offers (76 organizations with a similar field of activity per city of 2 million inhabitants). Moreover, our target audience is very narrow - several thousand potential customers in the entire region. The situation is aggravated by the fact that, with all our quality and low cost of products, there are organizations on the market that have been working for decades, to which, naturally, the fattest fish go.

I will no longer bore you with the description of economic quirks, but I will return, in fact, to the topic. And I want to do it in the style of comparing urban and rural conditions, requirements for goods, etc.

First of all, it is worth making a reservation that the comparison is conditional, because, for example, our product will never (really never) be in demand in rural areas, because we produce things, albeit utilitarian, but related to luxury. And the goods that are in demand in the villages will never take root in the city, for example, the construction of log cabins for cottages is in no way comparable to log cabins for baths, and the craftsmen there, one might say, have a different profile.

The most logical production for the countryside is food. I do not think that anyone will argue with me here. Moreover, the production of a full cycle, while in the city there can only be the processing of raw materials, or generally just packing and packaging. So let's analyze the whole question using food as an example.

In the city (whether you run a cannery, pack cereals or own a catering establishment) you will all have complaints: firefighters, power plants, labor protection, veterinarians and other endless services that will turn everything inside out and without serious acquaintances this issue cannot even be resolved with bribes will. In the countryside, except in cases of semi-industrial and industrial production, i.e. farming, when it comes to really business and big money, and not a family business, no one will ever come to you with a check. You sell 3 dozen eggs a week, 10 liters of milk a day, 3 bags of potatoes…. no one will ask you for a declaration of income, no one will demand taxes from you. As long as the monthly turnover is less than 100 thousand rubles (not profit, namely assets), all possible troubles will come from the swelling local population, and not from the authorities. Well, of course, if you do not be an idiot and do not poach a fish or an animal, then they will be presented with quite reasonable ones. This is the first advantage. In addition, it is worth noting that our authorities treat the countryside as an appendage, they do not expect anything from it, they don’t want to invest anything there, and they prefer not to remember it again. This is a very big plus in this case.

Next is competition. In a more or less large city, this question is just an abscess that oozes trouble every day. Take any field of activity, any product and you will have a lot of competitors of all stripes. Do you want to make furniture? There are already 3 stores selling furniture for oligarchs, 10 stores for wealthy people, 150 stores for the middle class and low-income citizens (well, half of these figures are production). The market is stable, lowering prices is only dumping, working at a loss to gain a client base, another option to stand out is the miracle of marketing, costing hell of money, who thinks that marketing - submitting ads to 3 newspapers - is grossly mistaken. Car repair? A super-saturated market, there is nothing to lure customers with, just luck. Building and finishing materials? Super saturated market. Services of almost any kind from sexual to transportation - the market is oversaturated. Who is in the villages? Is there any competition in anything? Very rarely where, usually everything is missing.

Start-up capital is one of the most common reasons allegedly standing in the way of happiness. You guys, I don't even want to discuss this. I have a handicraft industry, where I and another person work: start-up capital of almost 400 thousand (tools, lease of the first months of the premises, necessary materials). And we have a very small enterprise on the scale of the city. Here, for 100 thousand, a paid toilet cubicle with a grandmother can only be installed. In the village, everything you need is a penny.

Sales market. Another funny question. Of course, people who once tried to sell vegetables or something like that, quite legitimately tell me their "phi". I don’t want to offend anyone, forgive me if it works out, but these people are just fools. This is the same as manually chopping down a tree, chopping it into blocks, stripping it off with a hand plane and waiting for someone to buy it when there is a sawmill nearby with a capacity of 1000 times more, respectively, with a lower cost. Any potatoes, cabbage, etc. people can buy for a ruble from a car near their entrance, private households can never compete in this. You will not persuade any summer resident to buy vegetables, simply because they have to be transported far, but there are exactly the same ones, but closer, and even out of season. And you can grovel, explaining that this cucumber is grown with love, and the store is a tasteless hydroponic disgrace.. almost everyone does not give a shit. I can tell you a secret, but most people now smoke, and it is difficult for them to distinguish notes of taste. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, etc. and I really love the cuisine of southern peoples, because there are spices, it is fragrant, while all Russian cuisine is simply divine, but only from the Russian oven and from real products.

For example, milk: everyone knows perfectly well that it is being bred, it becomes less fatty, less tasty, etc. But many people ruined their stomach and intestines with their rhythm of life, it is difficult for them to eat fatty foods. I really love real milk, which you don't drink, but eat, but I rarely have the mood to taste it, and it’s difficult to hire it, and again, if you take a lot, it will go bad for the whole week.

You just have to think with your head when you do something. First of all, from the point of view of the client.

Kids. This is a separate issue. It's just that this is a separate topic, I want to touch on it for illustrative purposes. Do you want to instill in children hard work and responsibility? How to do it in the city? Explain to the edge that dad works all day for the good of his family, and a new iPhone is a luxury for us? Yes, damn you that when you explain to a child, it's very difficult, not everyone is able to perceive. Somewhere to attach it to work? Where? Should I drag the little boy to the workshop with iron, where are the sparks from welding, noise, sharp corners and heavy pieces of iron? No help, the damage is huge. Get a job? But what about study, and who will take the child even as a loader. And housework can be simple, accessible to a child, and it is very necessary, and most importantly, it can be seen better than in an apartment.

As always: a slender line of my thoughts got confused in the presentation, and it turned out vermicelli with snails. But this is all theory. I want to share a little practice with you.

First, a couple of tips that may seem obvious, but don't get angry, for others this may be a revelation. It is worth saying that these provisions were derived from our own experience and a small survey of acquaintances with different education, wealth, social status, etc. And it will be interesting only to those who will really do it in life.

1. Never, NEVER sell a bad product. Even if you have already promised a person, for example, 40 fresh cucumbers by the next week's arrival, but you could not grow them, however, there are several stale or other defective ones in stock, which at first glance will be indistinguishable. NEVER. It is better to explain to the person that, they say, it did not work out, let him down, sorry. You will have a very narrow circle of buyers, undermine trust once and he most likely will never return, and may dissuade acquaintances. Even in the supply of materials worth millions, there are failures and this is all resolved amicably, corrected in the future. But if a person gave his hard-earned money, and received a marriage, there will be no way to improve.

2. Don't be too expensive, please. The biggest problem is overpriced. When a manufacturer looks at a store and thinks that he needs to keep a similar price. The store has a dozen intermediaries between the manufacturer and the buyer. Calculate the costs, all this will most likely have to be calculated experimentally, on your own trials and mistakes. Consider all costs, directly or indirectly, affecting the product, make a 10-20% mark-up (profit), and make a 10% mark-up for an error in calculations. I am sure that this price will be 20-30% lower than the store price, and maybe even more. You don't need a yacht and a Chelsea crew, do you? A small profit is enough to survive, but the sales market will be guaranteed. If the price turns out to be much less, then there is a chance to scare away the client, but there is a way out, for example, to give the product a try, evaluate it, for free, and explain honestly that the price is such, because I am not greedy, and I like to please people.

3. Production scheduling is everything. Nobody can teach this. If you yourself cannot call your wife, children, perhaps someone has talent, do not disdain the help of your family.

And now, as I promised, a couple of almost finished projects, take it and use it

I only ask for one thing. If suddenly, someone will copy and paste, upload somewhere, I do not care about copyright, no need to make links to the original text and all that, but please cut out this part. I would really not want dubious persons from mountainous countries, who have already penetrated our cities and regions, to use my idea for personal enrichment. With any Russian people, in general with any adequate ones, who work on their own land, in their homeland, for their own good, and not for enrichment, I will share with pleasure, I will be very glad if you help.

First plan. Homebaked bread

I cannot imagine a village house without a Russian stove. No matter how much she takes up space, no matter how much she requires care, she gets it for a reason, she is worthy of any trouble. If you don’t have it, don’t spare money, don’t spare space, labor, find a good stove-maker, help him yourself, but build a stove. Any food in the oven is 10 times easier to cook, and much tastier. No gas unit will ever replace a stove. If you deliberately broke the stove - leave, you and I will have nothing to talk about at all, it's like betraying our ancestors.

So to the topic.

If you set up production without yeast bread, and even yeast bread according to a normal recipe, as for yourself, you will always have a queue and you will not be able to make physically as much bread as you will be asked for. City bread is a piece of shitty rubber. Take a good product, put a lot of dough, bake different breads, which your customers will ask for: rye, white, whole flour, with bran, rolls, pies…. only real tasty, eat what you do yourself, in order to understand how important it is.

I'll tell you on my own: if I had the opportunity to buy real bread, taken out of the oven with me, while still hot, I would give both 500 and 1000 rubles. I wouldn't be able to buy it every week for that kind of money, but I would buy it once a month. In the world of refined products, half-baked bread, some kind of soulless TU, but I almost cry with happiness, imagining now how I break off warm real bread, how I eat it with milk. In our countries, bread is loved, it has lost its place of worship, but has not lost its sacred meaning.

Real bread can last for a week and will be just as tasty (but you can only sell fresh). Mastering the technology to make 20 loaves a day will take no more than a month. Naturally, you have to work, put the leaven every day, knead the dough every day, heat the oven. Or at least 2 times a week if a small village. But here the whole family can participate: small ones sow flour, older ones carry water, someone knead the dough, someone cut and molded.

Cost per bag of flour? A bag of flour 50 kg, as I remember, 400-500 rubles, the highest grade (from whole grain and even cheaper), in the village it can be cheaper. Water is free (well, not to knead the dough on bottled, anyway there is drinking water from a well or a well at worst). Eggs 3 dozen? RUB 150 Now forgive me, I think roughly, I don’t check the recipe, I don’t look for prices, just an approximate calculation, you yourself can clarify. Salt - 10 rubles What else could there be? Butter, milk? seems OK. Result: 700 rubles with a margin. The optimal loaf weight is 1-1.5 kg. Those. by the most conservative estimates - 40-50 loaves of bread come out of a bag of flour, therefore, the cost of materials per loaf is 15-20 rubles. + firewood for the furnace + electric lighting, delivery of a dozen sacks of flour at once, etc. per unit will be rubles 5. How much bread can a person bake in a day? 20 rolls will probably be able to. Let's put 20 rubles on a loaf, we get the final cost of 40-45 rubles for a loaf of loaf of bread. I will buy, ask your friends, I think they would also agree. Total for the day - profit of 400 rubles. For the city a little, for the village … decide for yourself. Once again, I will make a reservation that I thought at random, maybe you can bring 20 bags of flour at once, you can buy it at a local enterprise at a cheaper price, maybe there were no eggs in the recipe … Count yourself - it will take 2 hours to calculate everything to the smallest detail.

Advertising in the village is an automatic thing, treat someone, but at least give everyone 1 loaf, if it is baked correctly, a person will come to you on the same day, most summer residents will not count 50 rubles at all. Do not open the bakery right away, see if they will buy, only on Fridays, or they will come every 2 days, etc. Is the energy expended worth the money received, ask people what they would like, how much they are willing to pay.

Consider options similar, there are a lot of them: pies, gingerbread, pretzels, rolls and other cookies. Treat people for nothing, few people know what they want, but then they ate a piece of berry pie that you baked for yourself, and caught fire. And it's just nice to communicate with hospitable people.

Here is the easiest option for you, for those who cannot keep livestock / do not want / do not know how / does not work.

Second plan. A little more complicated. Milk products

Just don't poison anyone, milk is such a thing, but so far there are few squeamish people who need pasteurized everything, and trust in people they know is always an order of magnitude greater than in an unfamiliar plant. Here again the same problem. If you sell milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, you will glue flippers. Well, except that good sour cream can not be found in the city, and even that is found on the market. Make cheese. Goat cheese is almost beyond competition, there is a lot of fuss with hard varieties, but you can also master it. A step forward - has anyone seen smoked cheese in this world? Outside Adygea. I'm not talking about that plasticine piece of scooped shit in polyethylene, but real smoked curd cheese. I ate only as a child in Adygea, I will never forget. Learn to make cheese consistently, with the same taste every time, do not steam it, salt it normally - they will take it at a store price. Especially if you do what we do not sell or what will be tastier.

Has anyone tried real butter for a long time? Slightly salted, yellowish, without palm oil and fragrances … Finding drawings of churns on the Internet is not a problem: horizontal, vertical, for every taste. It is not necessary to make them out of stainless steel with a 300 liter tank. There have always been classic wood churns, only the breed must be chosen without tannins and resins.

Few? Baked milk and butter. I can't stand it, I confess. My whole family even pisses off the factory baked milk.

Initial investments, well, except for a cow or goats, or if you just buy milk, a couple of basins, pots, make a churn - within a couple of thousand rubles. Well, the refrigerator probably already exists, but half a year and it is not really needed.

You will be able to get out into the city to trade - in general, all questions disappear, because it will more than cover everything.

Plan three

The most difficult. For those who can and know how to keep livestock. Only thesis, think about it yourself. It's not difficult, otherwise I fall asleep on the sly.

The option is trivial: piglets - meat (lard is not in vogue, it's just that you can't surprise anyone with pork - 200 rubles on the market). Smoke meat - and it will be stored longer, and the product is already ready, compared to vomit store-bought carbonate - a miracle. Make dumplings. Shop how? A piece of leather, onion, dough 1: 1: 1. Do it as for yourself - they will take it, just give it a try and do not hack. Dry the meat - you will be the only producer for sure. Only I don’t know how pork is dried, beef is definitely dried. This product is rare, should be tasted, but not right away. Stored almost forever. Master the sausage - excellent. You can make the stew sensibly - roll it into glass jars, eat it yourself if you don’t trample it.

A more difficult option: ducks-geese. On the market duck 260 rubles / kg, goose 400 rubles / kg, though broilers, of course. In season, you can fatten almost on the grass until marketable maturity. Just cut and pluck yourself, now no one can master it. Learn to cook, share proven recipes. And then a man bought a goose for 1000, found a recipe on the Internet - it turned out shit, no one is to blame, but you profit - 1 goose in a lifetime, not seriously. You buy a horseradish rabbit, if you find it on the market, you can slip a cat. It is difficult to sell offal from all living creatures, but I would not even sell homemade goose liver pate to anyone for any price. You can feed a dog or pigs with all kinds of lungs and spleens. By the way, the fluff can still be collected from a goose, but as in the case of skins and wool, there will be nowhere to put it

Option acrobatic sketch: zoo. Possible near the city or in a mass gathering of summer residents with children, advertising is needed. Different shapes can be. Maybe a small zoo with common animals (mostly small and meek): goats, sheep, rabbits, ducks. It must be clean and safe. For a small child to cuddle a rabbit - I'm sorry, it's just fucking happiness. I am 26 years old, it still touches me to feed goats with twigs, especially brave ones, which you can also pat and stroke.

Maybe horse rental, but it is a lot of energy, caring for old calm animals, most likely removed from the slaughterhouse. For fans only, but as an option.

In short, do what no one else does. In your case, it is not as difficult as in many others. People buy the same products headlong in the same villages and sell them to the rich as super-eco-friendly, making millions of money out of it. Don’t hang on to your ears, honestly you won’t save up mountains of gold, but you won’t lose your face, but you’ll have enough for life. Really, if you plan everything, you can produce and sell a lot, from mushrooms to sauerkraut. And if you do all this well, as for yourself, and not as it is customary for us: to fuck off with contempt, then there will always be a buyer. And even if it doesn't work out, you will have your own bread and butter, which you simply cannot buy for any money, these goods simply do not exist.