Lorette - How to open & operate a financially successful herb and herbal plant business : with companion CD-ROM

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful

Herb and Herbal Plant Business

Edited By Kristie Lorette

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Introduction

Spanning time and cultures, herbs have been used and revered for their ability to add flavor to food and color to gardens, and, in many cultures, for their contribution to physical and mental health and wellness. If you love gardening and know herbs or want to learn more about them and share that knowledge, it is not a surprise you have been thinking about starting an herb business. This book will help you learn what it takes to start a successful herb and herbal plant business. Coming to a decision that makes sense, financially and personally, usually means asking yourself as many questions as possible, using those answers to speculate on several potential outcomes, and then crafting a plan of action. Although no single source can answer all questions, this book strives to provide the basic information and resources needed to get started on opening and operating a successful herb and herbal plant business.

Taking an idea from initial excitement to working reality requires planning. Time spent on planning and research before you embark upon any business venture saves hours of possible mistakes when you are actually operating the business. In carpentry, there is the saying: Measure twice and cut just once. That same principle applies to every venture. The more planning you do now, the better prepared you will be to establish and actually run a successful business.

One of the first things to think about in the planning process is whether you really understand what running an herb business means. If an herb business is your dream, define that dream. Do you want to sell only plants (seeds and pots)? Do you plan to run your small business out of your home on a part-time or full-time basis? Are you going to sell only at fairs and festivals? Are you taking part of an existing farm and dedicating it to herbs? Are you going to use space in an urban/suburban house and yard to grow plants and sell on site? Or do you have still another option? Whatever you have in mind, it is the intention of this book to help you lay out your dreams and ideas so you can reform them into concrete plans.