Underwear gnomes and homesteading - understanding Phase 2

     I want to talk about making money on a small homestead.   Yes, it can be done.   Now that being said what the hell do I know about about homesteading or making money?

    Actually not much about the first, but quite a bit about the second.   My whole life I've been in banking or financial sales of one sort or another.   Making money really isn't that hard, it's just that what is available is either misunderstood (life insurance for example) or somehow hidden away (ask your banker for rates on a No Penalty CD it's like a savings account but with a higher interest rate).

    Sometimes it takes research, sometime it takes time to learn a new skill or just someone to point you in the right direction.

    So I thought I would throw out a few ideas that I see mentioned time and time again on various Facebook and Reddit pages dedicated to "homesteading."  How do I make money? 

    What is actually being said is "I have a beginning and I have a end.  Its the middle that is the problem.  I know where I am at right now, I know where I want to be and I don't know how I'm going to get there."

    For lack of a better word or phrase, we sometime refer to it as the "Underwear Gnome Business Plan."

     

    I suppose that's true of any project.   We have an idea, and an endgame it's that part in the middle that is the tricky part.  Being involved in financial sales for most of my life in one from or another that Phase 2 was learning about the client, how much pain or risk they would be willing to accept, how much they were willing to invest monthly or yearly, etc.  You had to listen and think on your feet and adjust your plans accordingly to get to stage three.  Where "Profit" was meeting their goals.

    I have a few customers that I've had for life by getting them to "profit."

    As I sit here and think about it., figuring out Phase 2 of the Master Plan applies to what a lot of new "homesteaders" do.  In fact, that seems to be an underlying theme in a lot of these "reality" homesteading shows that are popular on TV as well.  

    People invest a lot of time into land, gardens and animals, only to not have an idea on how to reach the end game...and the amount of work it will take to get there.  I know that I don't, but I know that our "Phase Two" isn't really about making money.  It's about saving money.

    Now that being said, I'm calling myself a "homesteader" because we are interested in reducing our carbon footprint, growing our own food and being a little more self sufficient.  I hope to install solar panels and maybe even a windmill one day, but it's doubtful that we will ever have goats and chickens running about because that doesn't fit into our "Phase 2."  

    I'm also new to this lifestyle and know that I'll make mistakes.  However what I have to share is from seeing the best laid plans of mice and men came to naught because Phase 2 is misunderstood.

    Let me give you a real life example.   Susan and I are planning a garden, but we also know that what we had planned originally may have been to large for us to work effectively, considering she recently accepted a job as a part time chef at a nearby local restaurant that knows her reputation from years before.  So we adjusted our phase two to a much smaller and easier to maintain container garden.  After all, we know that roughly six tomato plants will provide enough food and sauce for the two of us.   Why plant more if it will only go to waste?  

        One way to get to the desired Stage Three "Profit" is by cutting back on the waste.  Unless you have a small farm stand  or someone that is willing to sell your excess fruits and vegetables for you, it's probably not worth it to grow more than you eat and can for winter.

    Well specialty crops like bamboo and morel mushrooms may seem to be an easy route,you still have to develop your market, and take into consideration that it can take time to establish a good enough reputation to sell something to repeat buyers.  Plus, remember the time frame involved.  I remember reading somewhere that wine makers can recoup 20% of their total expenses in the first year, but it can take five years for that first harvest. 

    What can a small homesteader do to start making money today?

    I mentioned farmers markets and such earlier, so lets start there.  Often people don't realize how much their hobbies can be in demand.  A good homemade quilt for example can fetch up to $1000 dollars, and only cost between $250 to 300 dollars to make.

    Homemade soaps and cleaning products are pretty cheap to produce and make, just remember that lots of other people are making this same type of product.  So you need to make sure yours is of good quality and stand out from the crowd.   If you own goats or other dairy animals this might be a solution to excess milk.   

    Baked goods always work, and depending on local rules and regulations...why not sell some quick breakfast sandwich's and switch to hot dogs and sausage towards lunch?  In Florida, our community had a huge yard sale once a year.   We set up a little "cafe" and always made a nice profit.   Often clearing $300 to $400 dollars after expenses.   We were only charging a dollar a dog too.

"Susie's Side Door Cafe"

    There is always going to be a small market for homemade jewelry, and if your into woodworking my I suggest building cat trees?   For a few dollars in wood and some carpet remnants you could easily sell a cat tree for $100 bucks.  A homemade bird house?  Who knows?  $25?  For a little bit of time and investment.

    Even things that you may consider "waste" products can be upcycled.  That wood ash from your fireplace makes a good glass cleaner, can help melt snow and even help adjust the Ph levels in your soil.   Can you bag it and sell it?  Along those same lines is the fact that their are a declining number of chimney sweeps and people that can install wood stoves.   Pick up that skill.

    Have lots of newspaper lying around?  Make bio degradable planters out of them. Clearing land?  Sell the firewood.  Or the organic material as mulch.

    The biggest problem is that people become trapped in this thinking that they have to have a traditional job.  Or that the homestead is going to somehow provide 100% of their needs.    None of this is going to make you rich...but it can make a few extra bill payments each month.   

    A friend of mine made several thousand dollars a few years ago by selling fishing lures and tying flies on Ebay..   

    Can you repair small engines?  I knew a guy in Florida that had so much work that quit his day job just so he could repair things like lawn mowers and weed eaters.   He did that during a pandemic.  

    Again, none of this going to get you rich...but it is going to help.  Once you have about a thousand dollars stashed away, then you can look into making that money work a little better for you.   It's a long term game, there are no quick easy answers, but that's when I put on my financial advisor hat.  We'll see if we get any comments about doing a part two of this series, and I may talk about how to take your grand and get to grow in a pretty painless manner.

    Now, you may have noticed that I didn't bring up writing or blogging.  In the past, I've been paid up to $300 for each article I wrote.  That being said...I don't recommend being a writer to anyone.  It's a tough business and now that the internet has exploded, it's become even tougher.  However there is information out there about monetizing your blog.   That being said, I do this for my own enjoyment and if something isn't enjoyable, don't do it.   I quit writing for almost a year because it was no longer enjoyable for me.

For more advice, see part two.