Business Owners... How can I make your life easier?

1. Over the last year, what has been your most consistent problem in your business?
2. How do you solve this problem right now?
3. What happens if you don't solve that problem?
4. If you had a magic genie available to help, what would you wish for in order to solve the problem?
5. Would that magic solution be worth paying for? If so, how much would you pay?

Rebecca Blake wrote:Hey fellow permies,

The questions are as follows:

Over the last year, what has been your most consistent problem in your business?

How do you solve this problem right now?

What happens if you don't solve that problem?

If you had a magic genie available to help, what would you wish for in order to solve the problem?

Would that magic solution be worth paying for? If so, how much would you pay?

Jess Dee wrote:What sort of business are you researching, Rebecca?

5. Would that magic solution be worth paying for? If so, how much would you pay?

Rebecca Blake wrote:

Jess Dee wrote:What sort of business are you researching, Rebecca?

First off, thank you for answering my questions Jess! Is there a place I can check out your designs? Do you sell them on anything like spoonflower?

I've been playing with the idea of running an online business for about 3.5 years now. For various reasons it has been a whole lot of research and not a lot of action thus far. I'm only in my 20s, so it's also been kind of a journey just finding out who I am and what I would like to do with my time on this Earth!

I finally feel like I've settled into something I'm passionate about and could make a business of doing without hating the work I do (permaculture). Sometimes I kick myself for "wasting" 3.5 years just thinking and researching about it, but I think it was time well spent so I'm not working toward something that becomes more of a burden because I dread the work I do. I of course have learned a lot in that time as well.

In the end, I think I'd love to do something like run online courses since I also have a passion for teaching. But I'm being realistic and realize that just because I create an online course doesn't mean it will be something people need. Hence, why I've asked the questions above. If I can find a way to use my interests, passions, and expertise to help solve other permie's problems, that would be perfect!

Reality is, we'll be building our own home soon and that is a job in itself so my business prospects may have to wait another year or two. But I'm hoping to refine my image for my prospective business now so I know what to work towards. As of now, I'm planning on starting my online presence by writing about building our home and perhaps others things. No way to be successful with online courses with no online presence after all :)

Rebecca Blake wrote:

Over the last year, what has been your most consistent problem in your business?

How do you solve this problem right now?

What happens if you don't solve that problem?

If you had a magic genie available to help, what would you wish for in order to solve the problem?

Would that magic solution be worth paying for? If so, how much would you pay?

T Simpson wrote:

The two big problems I see people who want to make a living doing permaculture are the following: | (1) Buying Land (2) Online promotion  | A lot of farmers I know are not very tech savvy and there are a lot of people who want to be farmers that don't have land.

Rebecca Blake wrote:
the only idea I thought was neat didn't sound like it could sustain- considering it would had been a means to bring people together for bartering. And bartering generally means no transaction of money to take a cut from. Perhaps a subscription service could work, Idk.

Rebecca Blake wrote:

The questions are as follows:

Over the last year, what has been your most consistent problem in your business?

How do you solve this problem right now?

What happens if you don't solve that problem?

If you had a magic genie available to help, what would you wish for in order to solve the problem?

Would that magic solution be worth paying for? If so, how much would you pay?

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:
5. I'm working on that part. Any solution would need to be less than $15000, because that's all I have saved up for my house fund, and it has to cover EVERYTHING. Local regs for my farm turned out to be stricter than I was told when I bought the place, and all the simple solutions I've thought of (such as RV or a tinyhouse) aren't allowed.

Anne Miller wrote:As someone who has owned several businesses, I feel the first approach would be to have a good lawyer, a good insurance agent, and then a good tax accountant. This is helpful to answer your questions..

Rebecca Blake wrote:

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:
5. I'm working on that part. Any solution would need to be less than $15000, because that's all I have saved up for my house fund, and it has to cover EVERYTHING. Local regs for my farm turned out to be stricter than I was told when I bought the place, and all the simple solutions I've thought of (such as RV or a tinyhouse) aren't allowed.

I'm sorry to hear about your pain points. How big of a home do your regulations require? Are mobile homes okay? I feel like you'd be able to find a used mobile home if you do some digging. Though I have no expertise in this. Of course it costs money to move in addition to purchase- but then you'll be closer to your point of production and thus can be more productive :)

We're working on building our own ICF home with aerated concrete forms. Building ICF blocks can get fairly complicated and expensive, but could you build with simple aerated concrete blocks in your climate? Here, the aerated concrete has all the insulative value we would need to stay warm in the winter (ours are 10inch thick). There are people building homes with 100% aerated concrete on youtube, roof and all. That might not jive with the regulations, but maybe it would?

As for ICF, it's not a standard building process but it's considered relatively normal so it should get by your regulations. It's not as cheap as doing only aerated concrete blocks though.

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:

Rebecca Blake wrote:

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:
I'm also trying to contact a realtor who has vacant land listed for a ridiculously low price. Chances are the rules there are even stricter, but on the off-chance they're not, I'm checking it out. An out of the way spot with a snap-together shed would give me room to work on things undisturbed.

Hi Ellendra,

Try envisioning the impossible. Friends of mine started a Permaculture non-profit farm on land trust land several years back. They made a deal with the town that they would maintain the property, which was basically abandoned, and it cost them almost nothing but blood sweat and tears. Check out https://revivetheroots.org/ I, myself, have bought condemned property with very little money down and then refinanced it for repairs and improvements. I have found that a standing structure, albeit in poor repair, is often easier to handle than no structure at all. It can be very challenging to take on any project that involves construction, or even repairs, so keeping things simple is key.

Your needs may be even simpler than this. If all you need is a shed, barn, or garage, I bet you could work out a deal with someone who already has property but needs something you might be able to offer - like helping them in the garden, driving them to the supermarket, or just being present in case of emergency. Yes, it could be messy, but it might just work as a stop-gap measure while you build your business. If I were in your shoes, I would place a series of Craig's List posts describing what you can offer and how much space you need in return. It often takes a few months and some trial and error for unusual ideas like this but, if you are patient and creative, I am certain you can make it work. Many people have way more than they need for property but much less than then need for less tangible things - like human contact.

I never do anything the normal way, myself, but I have always found that creativity goes a long, long way toward making dreams come true. Before going to the trouble of building your shed brick by brick, just be sure you can't find a simpler solution. ;)

Cheers,
Karl

Karl Treen wrote:
Try envisioning the impossible.
Cheers,
Karl

Rebecca Blake wrote:Jess,
A really easy thing you can do to give your patterns more visibility online would be to put a link to your Spoonflower or Etsy shop in your signature on Permies, jut like Karl did for his card game :) Automatically you add on over a 100 locations where your link can be found (under each post you have ever made). I could see this being a benefit to posts you may have put in the textiles category. Anyone there making their own clothes may be interested! Granted, permies may tend to opt for cheaper thrift store fabric, but you never know.

Sky Huddleston wrote:regulations cost tens of thousands of dollars, and in total over 100k to be in compliance with before I could even legally sell the rocket heaters for indoor use.