Business Ideas | Small Business Ideas: Growing Mint Farming Business | Making Money Growing Mint

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Growing Mint Farming Business | Making Money Growing Mint | How to Grow Mint

It is a herbaceous rhizomatous perennial plant growing 30–100 cm tall, with variably hairless to hairy stems and foliage, and a wide-spreading fleshy underground rhizome. The leaves are 5–9 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad, with a serrated margin. The stem is square-shaped, a trademark of the mint family of herbs. Spearmint produces flowers in slender spikes, each flower pink or white, 2.5–3 mm long and broad.

Hybrids involving spearmint include Mentha × piperita (peppermint; hybrid with Mentha aquatica), Mentha × gracilis (ginger mint, syn. M. cardiaca; hybrid with Mentha arvensis), and Mentha × villosa (large apple mint, hybrid with Mentha suaveolens).

The name 'spear' mint derives from the pointed leaf tips.

Types and Uses

Mint comes in hundreds of types, each with a specific minty flavor. Most people are familiar with the peppermint and spearmint variety, but there are many others. Some of these even include surprisingly chocolate, pineapple and banana! Mint is also an herb that is easy to grow, making it a good money crop to sell for use in cooking and scented potpourris and for natural healing purposes as mint tea and mint rubs.

Growing

Growing mint depends on how much is wanted for sale upon harvest. A few beds would be good for selling in a yard side stand. More is needed if the mint is intended for a larger farmers market. Either way it is best to buy mint plants from a home garden supply store. Mint does grow from seed, but it takes much longer. Growing a crop from mint plants is more efficient in making a profit. Plant the mint in the spring in a contained bed or in an open area of ground away from other plant varieties so that the mint does not spread into them. Mint does best in a lightly shaded area. As the plants grow, water them occasionally to keep soil slightly moist but not saturated.

Harvesting

Mint is harvested by pinching off the leaves. After removing the mature leaves, pinch off the stem and discard to make more room for growing plants. Harvesting is done once the plants have fully formed larger leaves. Plants grow at a different rate at times, so it is fine to harvest whenever necessary. Then, when the season ends in the fall, harvest whatever remains. Spread the leaves out and allow drying before packaging them for sale, if desired, or they can be sold fresh picked.

Packaging

Packaging the mint leaves is a fairly easy process in a small business. For roadside stands, the leaves can be placed in zipped plastic baggies. This will keep them fresh. A label can be added to the baggie detailing what kind of mint is inside. For selling at larger farm markets, organic markets and shops, jars make a good packaging container. For extra motivation for customers to buy, attach labels with the history of mint printed on them or a list of its uses. The mint is now ready to be sold by the desired method.

Selling

Selling options range from easy to the more involved. With the roadside stand, simply set the packaged mint out in sight. Make a yard sign informing passersby that mint is sold there. The larger farm and organic markets have procedures to follow to sell product in their markets. Give them a call before planting to get a complete understanding of what is expected. Another way to sell the mint crop for money is online. Set up a webpage with all pertinent information on what kinds are available, how much it costs and how it will be shipped. Score, a small-business support association, can offer more advice on this method and related large mint business procedures and in small business in general. Making money with mint because of the variations of choices throughout the process is a viable option in adding to current income.

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Making Money Growing Mint

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Mint Farming BusinessJanuary 8, 2014 at 9:58 AM
Growing Mint, Growing Mint Farming Business, How to Grow Mint, Making Money Growing Mint, Mint Farming, Mint Farming Business
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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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