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Turn your hobby into a business?

13 years ago

"The rose business thrived, and by 2000 he was tending 100 local rose gardens. It was time to expand and hire a full-time employee.

Landscapers gave him referrals, because for the most part they did not have rose garden expertise. Dunn's customer base expanded to businesses and some of the most upscale homes in the Charlotte region."

Above quote from newspaper link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

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Comments (6)

karl_bapst_rosenut
13 years ago
Something I've done. Athough It doesn't make much money, I at least pay for my hobby each year.
flaurabunda
13 years ago
I'm still trying to figure out a way to combine accounting with growing roses....sigh.
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Have you considered raising the price of your pieces when sold retail? 30% does make one cringe, but it's probably not as bad a cut as it sounds when you consider what the store is paying simply for its real estate. Some areas are just extraordinarily high. Then if the locale or even store front is also a highly desirable, profitable location with regards to appeal, visibility, access and convenience, traffic flow, having other popular stores around, etc., they're paying even more. Then there are the utilities, sales help, computer system for checkout, and on, that they are supplying for you. Remember, too, that the shop is also lending its own name, market niche/popularity, and goodwill when you sell there. Interior designers are also going to want a good cut of the profits for supplying customers or sharing their own contacts, which they've worked hard for and probably for many years. And also for spending time working with you and the customer on your pieces. Obviously, they will want to put their time and effort into selling furnishings that reap a higher profit margin (and where their time investment is less). I think they typically do a 20% markup but believe the range of markup I've heard is 20%-40%. Whatever the market will bear : ) Unfortunately, the more people and expenses that are involved in making or selling your product, the more overhead and the more you need to charge to make your own ends meet, including a decent enough profit. It might be a good starting point before you can sell directly and be more independent, though.
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Well not quite a newbie, but IÂll bite. IÂve always been the artistic type and every job IÂve ever had was luckily a creative one. Window displays, photo styling, fashion productionÂthen I got married, had 2 wonderful little munchkins, bought our first (and only so far) house and became a stay at home mom. I didnÂt know an Oak tree from a Rhododendron when we first moved in about 16 years ago. So that gratefully gave me something new to learn. I was closing in on my last bit of patience with Barney the purple dinosaur and the Ninja Turtle dudes. So I learnedÂand learnedÂand learnedÂbecame a Master Gardener , volunteered a lot , was hired as a Hort Manager then left after a few years to start my own design business. In the meantime the kids grew. My oldest was graduating from high school and we still had the old original bathroom that came with the houseÂand IÂm talkinÂ OLD. So I was introduced to the wonderful world of tileÂooooooÂaaaahhhhhh. Then glass tile! There was no stopping me at that point. Started the learning process all over again. Substrates and thinsets, caulk and grout. Finished the glass bathroom, floor to ceiling and in parts ceilingÂI loved it! Then I put it all aside, seeing as the bathroom was finished and all. Then about a year later (last winter) I was hit with some strange medical stuffÂso now IÂm on MS watchÂyech. Perfectly fine so far, but thought that I may want to rethink this garden design stuff, plus working for other people was kinda taking all of the fun out of it. So I jumped right in. I had been on the Design forums here for awhile and eventually found you guys. This is where my mosaic story beginsÂ
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particentral
13 years ago
""Posted by flaurabunda 5b (My Page) on Sat, Oct 9, 10 at 10:54
I'm still trying to figure out a way to combine accounting with growing roses....sigh.""

I HAVE figured out a way to groom dogs and grow roses. I do it at the same location. I have to say I had over 100 bushes earlier this year but I have SOLD over 20 this year, in post, fully matured, blooming bushes for GOOD money. I would pot up roses to sell full time if I did not like them so much myself! I can get over $50 for a basic HT in a pot, early in the season. they cost me about $10 total usually, including the pot and the plant. LOL LESS if I can get them after season like I did last year.
particentral
13 years ago
The last one I sold this week was $75 and it was a $2 after season Nicole in a $5 after season 17 inch pot. I turned down that much for my Mr Lincoln....I didn;t know how they would get it home since he is over 6 foot tall and kinda bushy at that. Besides,I kind of like that rose! I also have thought about charging for cut roses but haven't bothered to advertise it.... even though my florist did come cut some earlier this year for a special arrangement he was doing. He gave me $2 each for a dozen.....I was pretty happy cause
I could buy another bush for that!
flaurabunda
13 years ago
Ah---but I was thinking more along the lines of streamlining the process of getting roses to market by the suppliers that currently exist by improving efficiency, technique, and mitigating costs. The problem is that I know about zero regarding the process. I keep reading, though. Maybe someday.....
kublakan
13 years ago
The few that I know personally that have been successful always keep their day job and sell their creations at local farmer's markets or the like.

Most pre-extisting mass markets deal directly with the big stores and work for small margins of profit (some might say that the big box store has played a great role in the demise of the big and small names in rose sales).

I can see myself selling roses at local farmer's markets in the future. The only thing holding me back is the fact that my weekends are precious time for me that I usualy use to tend to my garden. Adopting another job (rose sales) would only endanger my collection through further neglect.

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