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I think I have been an entrepreneur since I was 6 years old running errands for my invalid grandmother through the streets of Brooklyn. I have been working legally since I got my first work permit at the age of 14.
I have only had 3 or 4 jobs since then, waitress (4 months), working in a dress sweat shop (3 days), ravioli maker (8 weeks) and a consultant on the corporate level of a big real estate franchise (6 months). I have been working forever, it seems, even when I was raising 5 children. However, all those times I have been self employed in many different kinds of businesses.
The secret of being in business whether you ever have or have not ever been is knowledge. You need to know your product. What it is, how to market it, who the buyer(s) will be and whatever else is needed.
This article is titled “Growing Herbs for Profit” and I would suggest to you that the first thing you need to do is to go to the library and take out every book they have on growing herbs even if you have been growing them for yourself since God made dirt! Because growing them is the easy part, marketing and selling them is where it counts.
The next thing you need to know is who your buyers will be. Basically one can eliminate most local people and even local farmer’s markets simply because of what you may have to charge for your product may be more than the local market can pay. Plus many people do not cook as they used to. At this point you may have sales to that market place if you sell the small pots of herbs in the spring because these buyers will take them home and put them in their gardens or in pots on their window sills etc. These can also be sold to your local nurseries that do not start their own seed pots.
However, if you live in or close by a metropolitan area then the market place may well be your better upscale restaurants. Then you will have to visit each one with some of your wares as free samples. At this point you need to remember, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. It will be “Show time” boys and girls. Go early in the morning not when they are busy cooking.
You will have to take into consideration the cost of growing, the cost of gas for delivery when you price your herbs. The biggest thing you will have to be is reliable. These chefs will depend upon you to deliver on time and on the days you say you will deliver. Remember even Chefs have a grapevine and if you are unreliable the word will get out.
You will have to line up enough restaurants to make these trips worthwhile. You may be able to contact local supermarkets and convince them they should be selling your fresh local herbs.
As you can see the biggest part of the growing herb business is selling them. If you dry your herbs then that is a local market place and then you can sell them on the web. I do herb blends and sell some on the once in awhile. Once QVC called me up and wanted to market my Herbes de Provence and they could not believe I turned them down. The reason being I did not want to work that hard.
One can expect the normal time for a business to take off is 2 to 5 years of hard work and I don’t mean just weeding your herb beds. You need to think 360 degrees as to where the buyers can come from. They will not come to you at first, you will need to go after them.
Growing fresh herbs for profit can be extended if you dry them. Blending them into dips that can be sold by wineries or wine stores is a good source for another selling outlet.
Having a catchy name for your business helps, plus a snazzy label, being organic is a must and having the desire to succeed is a required essential.
Finding all the state and county fairs within a 250 mile radius of your Herbery is another potential source of income. If you are fortunate enough to live in a state such as Kentucky that has a state wide guild for artists and craftspeople you will fall into their niche where you can get certified as an authentic “Your State” business and once a year here in Kentucky this group holds a 3 day fair where on one of those days all the professional buyers come in and set up their wholesale buys for the upcoming year.
Check on your competition and see what works for them and either copy it or do it better, with more style. Don’t be cheaper, because good organic fresh herbs are not cheap!
Get written up in the local papers, have tours at your Herbery, become a specialist by asking your local newspaper if you can write a column on cooking with herbs. They will usually say yes and give you a by-line with your picture and your business name, address and telephone number, website etc. In the event you get that deal, then remember, most editors are lazy, so if you send them what they are used to seeing they will usually print just about anything you write.
Here is an example.
To the editor
For my next upcoming cooking column.
In the event of questions call Harriet Herbalist at 123 456 7891
Headline: Garlic soup made easy!
Begin copy:
Everything you want to say write here. Make sure your English is correct and your spelling is correct. Use paragraphs generously. Attach a picture if you are sending via email to the editor and they will usually print that also. Make sure they have a heading for your column that includes your picture, the title of your column, business name etc.
End copy:
Then email it off to them. Know their deadlines. You may not get paid for this, but you cannot and repeat cannot buy the kind of advertisement for yourself and your business that this will provide. So if you are lucky enough to have a local newspaper that will do this then grab it.
My motto for Growing Herbs for Profit is “The hardier I work, the luckier I get”!
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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