Daydream thread continues.....

rozeepozee

Fingers crossed for you both x

lostinrates

Sparklight wrote: »

Hi All
Just found this great website and thought we would join for some advice/help if possible.
We are considering buying to a small cottage with about 3acres and would really like to earn a small income from home if possible we are considering keeping a few animals (livestock) hens etc as we have some experience of this already. We also like to try and generate a small monthly income from home if possible the house will be too small for B&B or similar so we are looking for other possible ideas.
May be Internet based ideas such as eBay, Estay, online surveys this type of thing, understanding the rewards will likely be small to start but we could may be try several ideas and these combined may bring in a small home generated income.
All ideas welcome with thanks

I guess the place to start with is why you are buying the house . What your interests and skills are will pretty much lead where your initial money making could start.

If you have experience with poultry, then imo, rearung for meat is increasingly the way to go for money. Its more red tape of course, but while every one is getting chickens to put in [STRIKE]mini bergen belsens[/STRIKE] coops in their gardens, egg gate sales are an option but not going to earn you a Coutts account opening deposit amount! Becoming a proper egg distributer might......particularly if you can get a local reataurant or pub to use them and mark as local produce, but also, a local shop. I had an offer through a london retail outlet this year and two years ago, and while i can make the meat option make sence financially, for me the compromises and costs on method of production just do not add up to make it worth while me putting in the paper work hours for egg sales. In thr future it might do.....i can see cook bos or lifestyle stuff leading from it, but my head is not in the right place for that atm, trying to deal with the works and personal stuff. I have an open door for another coue of months, and if i had anysense i would get onto it as a future investment, the short term gain would be nil.

Also, rare breed bird breeding for hobbyists is an option perhaps?

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

Fingers crossed for you both x

Thanks sweets.

To be honest i am not that hopeful. As the vet said, if its not this weekend and what we think it is, then its some day soon with something else.....

And, it struck me, that i cannot even really take a picture of her thios week to share, last week i could have done...the decline is rapid. That said, she put up a fight when the vet wanted to see her gums:D

rhiwfield

Sparklight, a few thoughts:

Outlets: Gate sales, Internet, local market/car boot. If you are selling then car boots are well worth considering, ideally under cover so you can have all year round presence.

Some products to sell:

• self built planters, nest boxes, bird tables (guy I know sells a lot each week, a lot by word of mouth). Sadly, he has cancer now and is winding down, but would expect to sell £200 a week from home and at car boot
• Eggs, not sure about profitability, egg seller turns up weekly at car boot
• Antiques/bric a brac.
• Plants
• Produce (fruit/veg). Honey/jam/preserves/cakes
• Services (laundry/dog walking/ironing/gardening/seamstress/lawnmower/tool repair/bookkeeping etc)
• Courses (cooking/beekeeping/chickens)
• Fishing/camping

I think trying things to see if they work is a good idea, there will probably be tax implications of running a small business. A theme running through this forum is the need to have external sources of income as smallholdings are not sufficiently profitable to cover all bills, but may chip in a few thousand each year, as can any home based business

It's also worth thinking how your land can cut costs. Firewood, fruit, veg, eggs. Also energy from renewables like wind and solar can generate income and reduce bills.

Itismehonest

Sparklight

One thought ....... I think a lot will depend on where you live & what other people are doing locally. Whatever business, online or not, you need to find a niche in the market.

If you've kept animals before I'm sure you know that 3 acres isn't a great deal of land if it's also being shared with 'market gardening'. I think, land use wise, it may be best to work out what your preference would be, what could earn the most pennies & work out what you do from there.

Davesnave

I took it that Sparklight had previous experience with keeping animals, so was looking for other activities to complement the basic smallholding, and maybe even help to pay for it in the first few years.

The Internet is certainly a tool which can be exploited, but some activities, like many on rhiwfield's list, are better done either by going out to meet the punters, having them come to you, or a mixture of the two.

Ironically, when we only had 1/4 acre, we could turn over £12k+ in a year with the plants, but we didn't sell any of them from home. Now, because we have much more land to maintain, we know we'll never have the time to achieve sales like that. The worst thing about selling at regular run of the mill events, was that DW had to do a lot of it on her own, or sometimes we'd do two simultaneously with one van, which was really hard! I had to spend most of the time propagating & potting.

The beauty of gate sales is the fact that one doesn't have to be present, so a property on a decent road with adequate parking is a huge bonus. However, getting Joe Public to hit the brake pedal and pull in isn't easy, so it also helps if there's a regular market you can join to raise your presence.

Whatever the product is, it's crucial to enjoy making/doing it and to get an 'image.' For example, someone in our village who makes preserves has very carefully thought out branding, with a traditional sounding name, pleasing old-fashioned looking jars and a distictive logo. They do have an internet presence, but I bet 90% or more of their products are sold face to face through the hard graft of going to markets. The little present packs of three for £7 go particularly well, because they look classy.

lostinrates

I think i might take the gamble on hay if i can find someone to cut it. I know its not going to be a bumper hay price year, but i can store wasily enough and that might suit some of the huge numbers of local diy yard users.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LIR..... hope it is good news from the tests, but as you said... it could be the start of other things etting in:o

Sparklight.....nice to meet you:T

It will take a very long time to make any sort of money/profit from your land/home...

The best way to look at it, what do you injoy? growing plants, chickens making things/crafts, cooking etc..

Trying to make money from something you love doing is half the battle, as you injoy doing it, plus you will allready have product knowledge.. which is key to any successfull venture.

I personally wouldnt call ourselves green when it comes to the country life...BUT we have loads and loads to learn..... common sense is also paramount....

Do you want to earn enough money to cover your basic bills? living expenses? or to top up what you have allready coming in?

If you give us some more info, and your ideal dream then we will help you or give you or personal views and experiences.. on things...

Flip its warm:eek:

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

LIR..... hope it is good news from the tests, but as you said... it could be the start of other things etting in:o

Sparklight.....nice to meet you:T

It will take a very long time to make any sort of money/profit from your land/home...

The best way to look at it, what do you injoy? growing plants, chickens making things/crafts, cooking etc..

Trying to make money from something you love doing is half the battle, as you injoy doing it, plus you will allready have product knowledge.. which is key to any successfull venture.

I personally wouldnt call ourselves green when it comes to the country life...BUT we have loads and loads to learn..... common sense is also paramount....

Do you want to earn enough money to cover your basic bills? living expenses? or to top up what you have allready coming in?

If you give us some more info, and your ideal dream then we will help you or give you or personal views and experiences.. on things...

Flip its warm:eek:

Of course, while most of us (all of us)veer towards aspirations of the better welfare standards on this thread...it would be easier to generate a profit quick with more intensive methods. If you could get planning 3 acres is big enough for a small intensive poultry set up, or rearing game birds intensively....

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Of course, while most of us (all of us)veer towards aspirations of the better welfare standards on this thread...it would be easier to generate a profit quick with more intensive methods. If you could get planning 3 acres is big enough for a small intensive poultry set up, or rearing game birds intensively....

Yep.

If the land is to be used for anything of a more small-scale commercial nature then it could take up the larger part of the land.

Which is why I was trying to gauge whether Sparklight wanted to earn from the land or just keep animals, grow some stuff & run another sort of non-land-based business altogether ....... if you know what I mean.
It was a little hard to tell.

I initially thought the land was just for 'personal' use but then, others referred to different things involved in land use & I thought that maybe I'd misunderstood.