A garden center is an ideal place to start a home-based garden center. You can buy plants wholesale and sell them retail. In addition, these centers are easy to set up and maintain. Moreover, they require little capital investment.
These centers are popular among people who love gardening. Therefore, if you have a passion for gardening then you can make money out of it by starting a garden center.
This article isn’t about how to grow different types of trees and shrubs. Because growing trees and shrubs depends on several local conditions. Here in this post, we’ve put together a detailed backyard tree nursery business plan for your reference.
You don’t need any special skills to start this business. It’s an easy way to earn extra cash. And women, moms, and students can also benefit from this business.
There are various ways to begin this venture; however, you need to design your own strategy according to your financial capability and skills. Most people prefer buying their domestic plants from a local nursery instead of large corporations.
Here are the 7 Steps to Start a Plant Nursery Business
1. Create a Business Plan
Creating the initial draft of the company’s strategy is most important. You need to figure out the company’s model, its investment, and its marketing plans. A smaller start-up company requires a detailed plan for a successful launch.
As long as you’re starting out small, there are several important topics that you should consider before you start growing.
- Initial and running costs
- Target customers
- Pricing strategy
- Where and how to sell?
2. Make your Plant Nursery Business Legally-Compliant
This is the first stage in setting up your company. You should register your company with the relevant authorities before you begin trading.
Depending on where you live, you may need to apply for a license or permit. For instance, in the UK, you must apply for a Plant Health & Veterinary Certificate (PVCH) if you plan to sell plants. In the USA, you can set up a limited liability company (LLC).
A garden store needs to obtain a license and permission from the local authorities for its operation. But a backyard garden shop doesn’t face many legal issues because it doesn’t require a license and permission from any government agency.
3. Calculate the Cost of Starting a Plant Nursery
The costs and investments will vary depending on the type and scale of your business. You could categorize them broadly into the following three categories: (1) the price of the real estate; (2) the retail storefront; and (3) the supply of plants and soil.
If you want to open a greenhouse flower farm, you might need to spend an additional $25,000 to 50,000.
4. Plant Nursery Resources
In this business, resource plays a big role. You should make proper arrangements for your resources to get good results. Firstly, check the soil quality, irrigation facilities, and drainage system. These are important factors to consider before starting any project. After that, you should choose the right kind of plant according to the market demands and climatic conditions.
Moreover, you need to check which crops give you the most profit. Finally, you must buy fertilizers, equipment, medicine, and pesticides for crop management.
In addition, make sure that your website offers a lot of value to people. You can do this by offering them something they’re interested in. For example, if you sell products online, then you should provide tutorials about how to use those products properly. Another option would be to create an e-book that teaches people how to use your product effectively.
5. Setup Office
You must have an appropriate office setup with your baby’s room. Because you will need to prepare and keep track of customer orders and payments when they purchase your babies from you. Your office needs to include a computer and printer, and a desk and chair.
6. Identify Products to Sell
Apart from selling the above-mentioned products, you can also earn additional income by setting up a garden store at your house. You may even start a small plant supply company if you wish to expand your venture.
You may also want to read: How to start a floral business at home
7. Promote Your Plant Nursery Business
Local fairs are one of the best ways to promote your business. You can also advertise in local papers. Talk to the local landscape experts about getting a business deal done. Getting a business partnership with them will help you reach out to potential customers.
As your business grows you may decide to expand into an actual brick-and-mortar location. You could open a storefront, or you might choose to create a new one entirely.
Regardless of where you go, you’ll need to make sure you’re ready to handle the extra traffic. A good place to get started would be to set up shop on Amazon FBA. With this program, you can easily rent out your storage unit to others who wish to ship products to customers around the world.
You may like to read: 20+ Profitable Laser Cutting Business Ideas to Start
