Planning
Anyone who believes that they want to start up a business first begins to plan what their business will be about. This person will spend or should spend hours planning and carefully drawing out the business plan of how they will begin to make their profit. The equine industry is no different. It will take time and careful planning and they should examine all risks. “Planning is the key to a successful business of any sort. A business plan is a simple tool that provides you, your banker, your accountant, attorney and the IRS with a roadmap of how you are going to accomplish your goals” (Bain, 2008, p. 1). The owner of the horse farm needs to have great business skills and examine everything that could go right and could go wrong. For example, “Business skills must be considered of equal important to equestrian skills when running a commercial enterprise, as many equestrian businesses fail through lack of planning expertise” (Brega, 1994, pg. xi). It is crucial for the survival of the business to have an excellent manager and to have careful planning. Owning a hose farm easily relates to other businesses, because both are trying to make money.
Recognizing What Your Business Is
Many people have the preconception that everyone who owns a horse farm is well-off financially and that they have no finical worries. That is not true. Most of the welloff horse farms are well off due to the careful business planning that they made when they first started their business. As stated earlier the equine industry is big investment, but it can lead to major profit if the business is planned right and the owner recognizes that. Lauren Nethery recognized quickly that her medium eventing farm would not be enough and therefore also adopted the equine industry of racing. She stated, “Mostly it is the racing world training, galloping, riding, that make money and sometimes here (at the eventing farm) I do sell horses here periodically which is ideal.” I observed at the farm that she had one of her retired racehorses that she was going to begin using for breeding soon. Lauren is hoping that if her mare is correctly bred the foal will race well and will earn a profit. These big investments can lead to horse farms bringing in millions of dollars due to careful business planning which is essential to owning a horse farm. The large profits that can be made is why Laruen also became involved in the equine industry. She said, “I went to school for pre veterinarian and got an undergraduate as a pre veterinarian. However, I learned quickly that I could make more money here as a trainer than I could as a veterinarian.” The business like atmosphere inside the equine industry is something that clearly defines it as a business community. The business atmosphere that connects to the equestrian community further shows that this community is a business community. Just like any other business there are many rewards due to the financial gain.
To learn more about salaries in the equestrian community click here
To learn more about salaries in the equestrian community click here
Sponsorship
The first priority in a business is of course to make money and at the very least make sure to break even. “Many equestrian businesses operate for love of the horse, but this on its own is not enough-for a business to survive it must at worst break even, but should ideally make a profit” (Brega, 1994, p.1). In order to make a profit, the owner must decide how to make money or how to eliminate cost. A common way to reduce cost in the equestrian industry is to have sponsors. Finding a sponsor is something that Lauren Nethery wanted to do. Therefore, she went and approached the pharmaceutical company that makes a very expensive, but good, drug called Adequan. A vial of Adequan can cost fifty dollars. Due to Lauren owning twenty horses the cost adds up quickly, because each horse needs a vial of Adequan once a month. Part of Lauren’s income comes from her horses’ being healthy. Therefore, her horses need to have healthy joints which is what Adequan helps to promote. By approaching a pharmaceutical representative she secured enough Adequan to give a vial of Adequan to everyone of her horses. By having a sponsor it helped to significantly reduce the cost of medicine which is something businesses are constantly looking to do. While going out and pursing sponsorships are important, it is also important to see what will get clients to come to their business.
To Learn more about Adequan click here.
To Learn more about Adequan click here.
Image
With any business you need clients to make sure your business is staying afloat. Therefore, many people are first skeptical to hear that in the United States alone there are five million people who are involved with horses (Parker, 2008). Clients are out there, but your horse farm needs to have something that will attract customers to come to you. Image in any business is important to success for example, “To make your business a success, it must have an image. The image you develop for your enterprise should appeal to current clients and help attract future ones” (McDonald,1997, p. 1). This quote sounds like a typical business quote and one that would not be in the equine industry, but image must be there to help attract customers. While observing at Lauren Nethery’s farm that was something I noticed that she lacked in. Having an image is a standard business operation. Without it. clients will not take you seriously and can hurt your business. Lauren Nethery is well trained and has many areas of expertise. However, her farm showed signs of wear and the need for rebuilding some structures. These areas of concern could lead to difficulties attracting future clients (McDonald, 1997, pg. 1). For a woman with many credentials she could make more money and although she said this farm was only to break even, updating her look and trying to attract new customers could bring in some more clients (McDonald, 1997, pg. 1). The business world that connects with the equine industry is predominate and with business comes a lot of corruption.
