During my senior year of college, a small group of us created a jam and jelly business for a class. This was the first time to actually “do” everything I learned in my agricultural business classes. It finally came time to put to use all of marketing and accounting knowledge to create a successful business. Ten months later, I’m reflecting on skills I learned from being an entrepreneur for a year. Even though the business was a school project, it was a good experience to understand how niche agricultural businesses work.
Research and Development is Fun
Have you ever wanted to be the taste tester at your favorite ice-cream company? The excitement of trying every new flavor was similar to the feelings I experienced through the project. Research and development was a core aspect of the project from the original business model to creating recipe ideas. This section of the project was similar to the excitement a child gets creating a christmas list for Santa! There were infinite flavor ideas like pear apple butter, jalapeño jelly and even a pumpkin spiced butter. This period was full of up and downs depending on the recipe batches. R&D was important to develop a safe, cost-effective product our consumers would enjoy. After reflecting, it was also a period of excitement and creative expression.
Customers Create Purposefulness
Customers are purposeful for a business, but truly satisfying a customer with a product creates a sense of real accomplishment and joy. It was truly purposeful when a customer routinely came back with stories on how they appreciated the product. These moments made every hour put into the business worth it. Customers essentially helped develop the business from outside taste testers of the products, suggestions on how to better market our products, and suggestions of available flavors to sell.
Accuracy and Attention to Detail is Key
These two skills are essential in every aspect of life but come out when creating a business. There is an extreme difference between the accuracy and attention to detail when writing a research paper due in a month compared to keeping business records for a year. A successful business constantly evaluates their processes to have better accuracy and details in reports. One thing I learned is its better to have extra details for when they come in handy in the future. It is easier to record details in a timely fashion rather than months later. This was an important, transferrable skill I learned for my professional career.
Side Businesses are 24/7 Jobs
Most farmers have day jobs on top of their agricultural related businesses. This becomes difficult when 40+ hours during the week are dedicated to the day job. Imagine managing multiple jobs while taking care of family and animals. Farmers are hard workers but very passionate about what they do for a living. For a farmer to sell a product at the local farmers market, he/she must prepare in advance for planting, plant the product, take care of the product by weeding and watering daily, pick the product, and possibly make the product into a processed form. They also need to include the steps of branding their products from the other competitors. Branding includes establishing strong relationships with customers, physical design on the package, and marketing the product consisting of the four Ps (what the product is, what the price is, what promotions you use to sell the product, and the place the product is sold) Ultimately, branding is the “promise” the farmer gives the customer.
Months later, I ultimately realized, I enjoyed the steps of the product and business cycle. I enjoyed the creativity of discovery and development stages, branding and marketing an item, and ultimately creating a good relationship with the customer. Side businesses or “hobby” businesses are everywhere into today’s marketplace. The year of being an entrepreneur taught me valuable, transferrable skills, and the enjoyment of creating a business. Creating and maintaining a business taught me the rewards when a customer appreciates and values your product.
Twenty Somethin' Aggie 