February 01, 2009
Roberts Cattle Hauling will offer farmers quality service of hauling cattle toand from local sales throughout various times in the year as needed. Thisbusiness is meant for a small scale entrepreneur and poses opportunity for growth in surrounding counties as well. This idea was brought to my attentionafter interviewing several local farmers from my home area. Below I will addressthe business essentials to Roberts Cattle Hauling.
How it Works
This business will offer farmers the choice of having their cattle hauled to/or delivered from a sales to the farm for a price. A lot of farmerstoday have full time jobs or can’t afford to invest in a trailer to haul their animals to and from a sale. I will save the farmer time by being the one totake their animals to the local sales as well as delivering them so that theywon’t have to take time off work. I will also save the farmer money. Investingin a trailer is a huge amount of money for some local farmers that only hobbyfarm or don’t have a big scale operations. With me providing the equipment itsaves the farmer having to buy his own equipment or rent equipment for a highprice when only using the trailer for a day at a time. The farmer wouldn’t haveto worry about cleaning any equipment because I would take the responsibility ofthat as well as ensuring the safety of his animals.
Target Audience
My target audience will be primarily the local farmers from my hometown. I willtarget the farmers that I already have good relationships with and market otherfarmers from word of mouth. If I am reliable and provide consistent service wordof mouth will spread fast. I will also target my service to aging farmers thatstill have livestock but that aren’t able to do the rigorous work that isinvolved in loading cattle and hauling big equipment.
Growth Potential
I can start this business for relatively a cheap priceand this will allow me to keep my prices that I charge the farmer low. I alsofeel that growth potential for this service will expand. Since the personperforming the service can live out of his/her home it is an ideal job. Also Icould hire people as needed to live in surrounding counties and offer the sameservice but would target customers in their specified area. This is a good thingas well because the people that I hire will hopefully have relationshipswith prospecting clients so that I won’t have to take as much time to build newrelationships.
Competitors
My service that I am envisioning has the benefit of not being introduced intothe areas where I would like to introduce it. This means that competition wouldbe relatively low. Competition would be the neighbors that rent out theirtrailers to their neighbors who might try and beat my price. What is good thoughis that I offer the service of actually hauling the cattle and that is an addedbonus if the farmer does business with me. Competition would be minimal sincecattle hauling isn't a service that has ever been offered in my local area before.
Financials
What is good about this business proposal is that start up costs will be low because I don’t have a lot of equipment. I am mainly offering a service and this service can be performed mainly by me, allowing me to keep my input costs down. Currently I already have the truck that I need to be able to haul cattle with. I would need to invest in a trailer and I could easily borrow the money from my parents and family members. Once the business gets underway the trips that I make hauling cattle should quickly pay off the trailer. The remaining costs that I would then have would be keeping my equipment in proper and safe conditions.
Skills Needed
I am looking for a team that includes hard working people. Also, since my business does require some seasonal peaks I would need people would have flexible schedules. I would have to have drivers that have clean records and that are able to provide safe service. The last thing I think that my team should posses is good communication skills. In order to have my business expand I need a team that can convey my message clearly.