Milk Product Business

How to start a successful dairy business

   

    Smaller farmers have the opportunity to “add value” to their milk by putting up a factory and entering the market place. Dairy farmers can either produce milk and sell to the larger companies or become smaller distributors of their own products.

The following products can be produced on a dairy farm:

• Fresh milk – straight from the farm, not pasteurized (be careful for the unpasteurized bacteria)
• Pasteurized fresh milk as well as traditional sour milk
• Drinking and eating yoghurt (flavoured cultured milk)
• Cheese products

2. Sachet packaging, from 200ml to 1ltr, is more affordable and is easily available.

3. The “Ama tap-tap” system, a new concept approved in South Africa, allows for products such as milk, sour milk, juice and yogurt, to be sold to the public’s own containers. Benefits of this system include:

• Product is sold while it is still fresh
• It is much cheaper because there is no container involved (client brings own container)
• The work for the dairy farmer is minimized.

2. The dairy’s marketing strategy

Equipment

There are lots of company's which can supply dairies with the equipment to produce the above-mentioned products. Central Milk manufactures most equipment required by the dairy industry. Whether you need process equipment for milk, sour milk, cheese or yogurt, the company has technology and products to suite your requirements.

These company's has been involved with the establishment of various successful dairy businesses across the World continent. Get information about these company's from internet and you can visit these for more information about these. 

Packaging and marketing

While planning a dairy facility, it is important to consider packaging and marketing strategies, which is essential to the success of any new dairy business.

Important factors to consider are:

1. To bottle products is the most common way to do it. Plastic bottles and lids, however, are expensive and are not readily available in certain countries.

Conclusion

Dairy farming is not just about milking a cow under a tree. It is a business opportunity and a business must have a plan in place. The success of any dairy business depends on two things:

• The motivation of the owner and his/her skills
• The dairy’s marketing strategy

Cattle Farming Business

Milk Business

    Are you bothered about your piece of land which grows nothing but grass? Are you looking for ways to gain high net income without investing much? Are you fond of farming and looking for lucrative options in this field? Well, cattle farming could be your answer to all the above questions. It is the most beneficial of all farming activities. It promises high returns without having to invest too much of time, money and efforts. However, to optimize your profits, you need to understand the nuances of cattle farming. Here are some facts that will help you to better understand this activity.

Purpose

   There are various ways in which you can implement cattle farming to your benefit. You can either rear cattle for organic farming or dairy purposes or you can raise them to sell directly to beef wholesalers or consumers. You can either take it up as a sole activity or combine it with other livestock farming activities. However, undertaking only cattle farming means more profit at very less efforts.

Why Cattle Farming

    If you have tried your hand at any of the livestock farming activities, you must have realized that it is no kid's play. You have to look after several management issues such as animal feed, disease control, market returns etc. Though, cattle farming does not alleviate any of these issues, it certainly reduces the labor efforts behind each of the tasks. Since, cattle are naturally sturdy, they are less prone to diseases and infections as compared to other livestock. Similarly, since you do not rear cattle in large numbers, the feeding problems associated with every individual cattle are reduced. Moreover, transportation of cattle for buying or selling purpose is also easy. 

Cattle Farming for Beginners

    If you are a novice in this field, then you might need to consult someone who may be able to guide you on cattle farming. Firstly, you need to understand if you have all the resources for cattle farming at your disposal. If not, you'll have to see if you can arrange for them. Depending upon your purpose, you'll have to make a business plan that will take into account your resources and expenses. A concrete business plan can give you an insight on whether this business is feasible for you or not. If the purpose of your business is to raise calves for meat, then you should buy only a few high quality cows and impregnate them either with artificial insemination or you may require the services of herd bull. The calves should be fed until they attain a weight of 400 pounds. They can be a lucrative option for beef wholesalers if you feed them a little over 400 pounds. 

    While buying cattle you should take into account a few facts. It is always best to go for regular sized cattle or buy all cattle that is more or less the same size. This can alleviate the animal-specific feeding issues. It is best to avoid animals with abnormal fat as they are likely to gain weight over a period of time. Generally, an alert animal that moves around normally and has bright eyes is considered best for cattle farming. Avoid buying cattle that does not meet these basic requirements. Thus, along with the breed of the animal, one should also focus on its size and quality. Farmers are slowly becoming aware of the myriad attractive opportunities in the cattle farming business. An intelligent insight of market conditions, a good understanding of the needs in your local region, marketing strategies and a sturdy business plan that covers all the possibilities can easily allow you to encash these opportunities.

Creative Business Ideas..

How to Start a Travel Service

          Downturns in the economy can't stop it. Weather conditions can't shut it down-at least, not for long. Even the catastrophic events of 9/11 couldn't derail it. It, of course, is the travel industry, and while the economy and unforeseen incidents that tragic day in September have tended to slow down the pace of travel, the industry continues to enjoy robust activity despite challenges that are enough to send other industries into tailspins. No doubt that's because people will always want or need to go places, whether it's to a business meeting or conference, to spend the holidays with Grandma in another state, or just to enjoy some much deserved R&R.

    This overall need to travel that's shared by average citizens and corporate denizens alike means that this is an excellent time to launch a travel services business. The travel industry is huge. Research by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) indicates that the travel and tourism industry generates $1.3 trillion in economic activity in the U.S. every year. That's equivalent to $3.4 billion a day, $148 million an hour, $2.4 million a minute and $40,000 a second. No wonder the opportunities for aspiring travel services business owners abound.

   Today's travel services experts offer a wide array of valuable and time-saving services to individuals, groups and corporate clients. Besides acting as ticketing agents for the airlines, cruise lines, railroads and other modes of transportation, they also engineer complex itineraries. They suggest exotic destinations that might appeal to adventurous customers, then dole out advice on how to get passports and visas. They offer timely information about important travel advisories. They help coordinate all the details necessary to stage a special event, like conventions or weddings in tropical locations. And they know exactly who to contact to arrange a lei greeting at an airport or to have the body of a client's loved one shipped home.

Different Paths

   Here's a brief look at the five different types of travel service businesses covered in this article, and in Travel Services start-up guide:

1. Homebased: If you want to keep your overhead low and your profits high, this could be the type of business for you. Thanks to the internet, homebased agents have at their command all the same tools that used to be available only at a traditional brick-and-mortar travel agency. The internet also has delivered another important advantage to homebased travel services: Such businesses are no longer expected to be brick-and-mortar. After years of buying books online, bidding and selling in online auctions, and paying bills online, customers today are very comfortable buying all kinds of services via the internet-and in fact, they look rather askance at companies that do not have an internet presence since they want to surf for information day and night.

It's also important to note that it's possible to run any of these five types of businesses from the comfort of your home, although specialty/niche businesses, corporate businesses and franchise business are the most likely to be based in a brick-and-mortar facility.

2. Independent contractor: If you like working in a traditional travel agency but love the freedom of being your own boss even better, then working as an independent contractor in the travel industry could be the right move for you. Independent contractors make their own hours (with the needs of the travel agency in mind, of course), build their own client list, and are solely responsible for paying their own way at tax time. At the same time, they benefit from having a physical office where they can meet with clients, pick up walk-in business, and drop the name of an established agency when they make cold calls or follow up on leads. That gives you the type of credibility that can be very valuable when you're just starting out on your own.

But you don't have to be present physically in someone's office to be an independent contractor. Some travel agents, like Bill Jilla, an independent contractor in Florida, handles travel arrangements and other services for an established company right from the comfort of his home office, although he also has worked as an independent contractor in a brick-and-mortar travel agency.

3. Specialty/niche business: Since leisure travel makes up 80 percent of total sales in the travel industry (according to Plunkett Research), there are plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to offer specialty travel services. You can get into the field in more than one way. First, you can offer tours and packages tailored to the interests and needs of particular groups. Second, you can choose to offer very specialized niche services that will appeal to a very narrow demographic. For example, California entrepreneurs Michael Chu and Ying Liu offer a highly specialized set of services to business travelers to China. Third, you can offer luxury travel services. For example, on entrepreneur we've met offers charter airline services to top-level business travelers and another arranges stays in luxury villas in both the United States and abroad.

4. Corporate travel: Actually a type of niche travel service, corporate travel has been singled out in this book because of the various opportunities it offers. But beware, it can be difficult to break into this particular field. A lot of companies already have their own in-house staff or have been dealing with the same travel agency for eons. However, new companies of all kinds with no previous travel agency ties spring up all the time and may be open to the idea of having their own travel service, while others may be looking for a new company because they aren't entirely happy with the job their existing travel agency is doing. Conversely, you might be able to land a spot as an independent contractor or homebased agent on a travel agency team that already has an established clientele. Either way, there is money to be made for the right entrepreneur.

5. Franchise: If you like the idea of launching a "plug and play" business that is ready to go right out of the box, then a travel services franchise could be your ticket to success. With a franchise, you purchase the rights to use a tried and true concept, as well as the name recognition and business procedures that come along with it. However, you do have to conform to the franchisor's established methods of doing business. In addition, the best franchisee is a person who has been successful in a previous career, because, of course, franchises don't run themselves and a basic knowledge of established business practices is necessary.

Creating a revolution with honeycomb paper

Honeycomb Packaging Education and Training

      Honeycomb manufacturers offer various types of honeycomb packaging, such as reverse slit score packaging, honeycomb cookie-cut packaging and die-cut packaging. If you want to buy honeycomb packaging, you will need to have some basic information on the different types of honeycomb packaging products and their applications. 

     If you want to establish yourself as a honeycomb packaging distributor or manufacturer, you will need to understand the fundamentals of honeycomb material and the honeycomb packaging process. If you are a honeycomb packing material supplier, you will need to keep your knowledge up-to-date in order to stay ahead of the competition. In addition, constant communication with other professionals in the industry will help you to expand your business. 

    To educate yourself and/or your workforce about honeycomb paper packaging, you can:

1. Browse through various resources that provide basic information on honeycomb packaging material
2. Read magazines and periodicals
3. Interact with experts in the packaging industry
4. Join associations for professionals in the packaging industry.

• Understand the basics of honeycomb packaging and the relevant terminology

If you have very little exposure to honeycomb packing, you can learn the basics by browsing through different resources, such as websites of manufacturers of paper honeycomb packaging and online knowledge resources.

• Keep up-to-date on information about developments in the honeycomb packaging industry

If you are a honeycomb packing manufacturer or distributor, you will need to keep your knowledge up-to-date. Magazines dedicated to the packaging industry provide important updates that can be useful for your business.

• Join associations to communicate with professionals in the honeycomb packaging industry

Associations for professionals in the packaging industry provide a platform for communication. You can join these associations to interact with other professionals, to keep up with the pace of the industry.

Creative Business Ideas

Make yourself obsolete or your competitors will

              Here is a great story about how the leading American consumer electronics manufacturers fumbled away their technological advantage during the early days of the transistors.

“In 1947, Bell Laboratories invented the transistor. It was at once realized that the transistor was going to replace the vacuum tube, especially in consumer electronics such as radio and the brand-new television set. Everyone knew this; but nobody did anything about it. The leading manufacturers--at the time they were all American--began to study the transistor and to make plans for conversion to the transistor “sometime around 1970.” Till then, they proclaimed, the transistor “would not be ready.” Sony was practically unknown outside of Japan and was not even in consumer electronics at the time.

   But Akio Morita, Sony’s president. read about the transistor in the newspapers. As a result, he went to the United States and bought a license for the new transistor for a ridiculous sum, all of twenty-five thousand dollars. Two years later, Sony brought out the first transistor radio, which weighed less than one-fifth of comparable vacuum tube radios on the market, and cost less than one-third of what they cost. Three years later Sony had the market for cheap radios in the United States; and two years after that, the Japanese had captured the radio market all over the world.

   So why did American manufacturers reject the transistor when it was clear that it was going to replace the vacuum tube? Drucker thinks the manufacturers rejected the transistor because of a “not invented here” mindset in that it was not invented by one of the electrical and electronic leaders at the time--RCA and General Electric. He felt that it was a typical example of pride in doing things the hard way. The American manufacturers were so proud of the way their products were built that they viewed the new transistors as “low-grade, if not indeed beneath their dignity.”

   My take is different. I think that the American manufacturers were scared of introducing the transistor too early because it would make their existing product obsolete. The problem, of course, with this strategy is that if you don’t continue to innovate and make your own products obsolete, then somebody else will. In this case, their fear of cannibalizing themselves allowed Sony to step-in and devour their high-margin radio business. Here’s the takeaway: if you don’t continue to innovate and make your own products obsolete, then somebody else will.

Creative Business Idea..

Creative Idea.. Get it Patent..

           If you have a bright new concept or an innovative idea, don’t be afraid to approach a big company and offer them your proposal. Be prepared to face people who may tend to dissuade you, as they are more likely to tell you that those topnotch company executives will never take interest in talking with you. Truth be told, now isn’t the right time to lose hope.

The key to piquing their attention is by thoroughly preparing for the coming of that day. You don’t expect to win their favor all at once, or hear them praise you for a job well done. Many of those executives will have to let you wait for long hours, or even weeks before they finally find the time to meet you. Many of them will certainly require you to do a bunch of rigid legwork before they even attempt to take a look at what you have to offer them.

Whether you are eyeing foreign exchange brokers, food chain executives, or SEO specialists, you must focus your attention on the procedures you have to start with. It is when the significance of patenting comes into the picture.

You must be asking why there is a need for you to go through the hassle of dealing with legal stuff when in fact all you will be selling is no less than a business idea—a concept which you may think isn’t worth any fuss. But wait. I hope you care to stop for a moment. It is at this point that you should begin to understand the vital role that patenting has to play.

Patent means you are officially and legally protected against people or organizations who may try to steal your business—whether it is a brand name or a mere idea. You don’t want other businesses to exist with a name that doesn’t only sound alike with yours, but rather actually carries the same name with yours, right?

Even when what you are selling to investors is your business idea, and no stocks or any product or service in its physical form, you still ought to secure your exclusive rights to it. To be properly assisted, you may visit the Patent Office anytime.

Creative business..

Differentiate or Die

        

         When someone starts a company (be it product or services but more so in a product startup) they will be so enamored by the technical details and the features of the product that sometimes they lose sight that someone actually has to know about it in the first place and then they have to shell out dough to actually buy it.  General rule among techies who start a startup is that you build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door step. In an ideal world this might be true but in the real world this is far from truth. Today we are spoilt with choice and you take any product and there are 1000s of choices if not hundreds and be it in anything and when such a choice exists it becomes even more critical to let know people what are you are trying to sell and why your product is better and different than the competing ones. Then again due to constraint in the budget and the resources, you find a smart way to letting people know about your product. You will let know only those who might be interested in buying your product and you let them know in only those places where that section of people go. You are now talking about marketing and you are now talking about how to slice and dice the market and how to position your product so that people will notice your product, feel has value and finally might buy it. This was of slicing and dicing the market is what I call GTM strategy or “go to market” strategy which I feel is very critical as much as the product and its technical capabilities are, if not more and if not less.

Peter Drucker who is considered the father of marketing said which I quote here: “The purpose of a business is to create a customer. Business has only two basic functions: Marketing and Innovation – they produce results and all the rest are costs.”

As people who know market say that it is not the best product that wins but the best perceptions tend to be winners. Hence marketing is very critical and since we all belong to that startups or SMEs with limited budget and limited reach, we should always create a very clear GTM strategy (slice, dice the market and attack a narrow segment to start with) as we all know there is a unforgiving world out there and it is very tough to survive there.

Remember another thing. In the written history of mankind of 3500 years or so, wars have been waged throughout and only in a handful of such wars, a better weapon was responsible for the victory and in most cases it has always been the strategy. Our marketing is no different than any wars waged winning or losing has pretty much the same dynamics here too. Which brings to another point of mine which is, don’t always assume that a better product wins but it is the better strategy that wins. Please don’t take me wrong. Neither am I diminishing the engineering activity (I myself am from an Engineering background) nor enhancing the importance of marketing. It is always an advantage to be able to offer your customers “a better mousetrap.” However, it is also very true that all other things being equal, a product that offers equal value in the customer’s eyes will win if you can better communicate its value and uniqueness.

Remember when I say strategy it is really a strategy and not doing something cheaper or faster. Making it cheaper means you are running the same race faster but choosing a strategy to run a different race because it’s one you set yourself to win. If you just live by the price, remember you die by the price and hence a strategy to make run a different race is very critical.