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Keys to Value-Added Success |
 Following are some "lessons learned" from successful value-added agri-manufacturing entrepreneurs listed in Agriculture Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (Keith Richards and Debra Wechsler):
· Choose something you love to do. Doing value-added processes just for the money will probably not produce the energy, creativity, and satisfaction necessary for sustained success.
· Follow demand-driven production. Produce what customers need and want. Know your customers and adjust your products according to their tastes and buying behaviors.
· Create a high-quality product. Quality is the single most important element to help differentiate your product from alternatives. Consumers are often looking for such unique products and will pay a premium for them.
· Start small and grow naturally. Invest your resources in your ingenuity first, labor second and money third. By starting small, income matches effort, and risk is minimal. Let the markets dictate your growth. Find an existing market. Do NOT try to first create a market for your product.
· Establish a loyal customer base. Focus on your niche. Personal contacting and great service, exceeding expectations, providing steady supply and consistent quality, and local community involvement will help secure a strong base of repeat customers.
· Provide more than just food or a product. Provide customers with an experience of satisfaction and other kinds of benefits and rewards only available from a rural setting, including perhaps fun, peace, health, well-being and relaxation.
· Get others involved. Value-added processing takes additional energy and skills. When several family members are involved, each person can contribute unique talents and specialize for greater efficiency.
· Make decisions based on good records/info. Base decisions on what is, not what you hope or guess. The better the data, the better the decisions. Review decisions with a trusted advisor. MEP Utah can certainly help in this regard.
· Keep informed. Stay up-to-date on customers, competition, laws concerning your business, other producers, trends, new markets, and changing consumer tastes.
· Plan for the future. Know where you're headed. Each path has its own action items. Set goals for your business and the right action plan to achieve them.
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