Start With A Five Year Plan
By: Stefani Vader
Tags: Goals, Planning, Productivity, Startup, Business

Start With A Five Year Plan

Photo by Andreas Klassen on Unsplash

When you are starting a new endeavor, whether it’s a business or not, don’t just think about the immediate future. Look further.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you want to be in five years? What is it going to take during those five years to get there?

When we bought this property, I had so many ideas and plans and dreams. I knew there was going to be a lot of work to do, and I was okay with that. But as the money started pouring out, it was easy to get discouraged.

Start With A Five Year Plan

When you start with a five year plan, you plan on a slow build. You realize that during those five years, there’s going to be time and money spent that may not be immediately coming back in.

We bought chickens this past spring. There were a few reasons for this. One, we wanted the security of knowing we would always have fresh eggs. Two, by the end of five years we could build up the flock to the point where they would pay for themselves by selling some of the eggs.

Well, when they first started laying, we were thrilled. Not only did we have fresh eggs, but we had enough that we could share some with the neighbors. Here it is, nine months into it, and we are selling enough eggs to my coworkers to pay for the chicken feed. By this time next year, we are hoping to make a few extra dollars each month.

It’s not something that will make us rich, but just the fact that our eggs are now completely free is enough for me. Anything extra is the icing on the cake.

Spending Money To Make Money

Part of my five year plan is to develop our property to the point where I can sell produce and cut flowers. But, along the way, the first priority is to feed my family.

Year one, I started a small garden. It’s hard to get to know your soil and what you need to do in order to amend it and improve it. We were able to harvest a lot of tomatoes. We now have rosemary, oregano, peppermint, and spearmint that are established and won’t have to be grown again.

We bought several trees. One orange tree, a lemon tree, a pomegranate bush, and a peach tree. Not expecting for any of them to produce this year, we were thrilled with two huge delicious oranges. Hopefully in year two we will get more so that we can share with the neighbors. By year five, I want to be able to have enough to start selling some.

As far as the cut flowers go, during year one, I failed miserably. The only flowers I was able to grow were sunflowers. They gave me so much joy though that I was happy with it. Preparing for year two, I spent some extra money. My favorite flower is the Dahlia. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s an example:

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

They are awe-inspiring. They come in so many different colors, sizes, varieties. But, they can be super expensive.

I just shelled out sixty dollars for four tubers. One each of four different kinds. It’s hard when money is tight to justify spending money on something that isn’t a sure thing and won’t give you a return on your money for years.

Sometimes, they may not even bloom the first year. Luckily I live in a warm enough zone that I don’t have to worry about digging them up each winter. Each year though, I plan on spending a small chunk of money to get my perennials established so that at the five year mark, all I will have to worry about are the annual flowers.

Until then, I plan on enjoying what blooms I do get, and hope I have enough to drop off some bouquets to my neighbor each week.

My point is, any big plan you have, if you don’t look further into the future than just one year, disappointment can eat at you. Money is being spent, but maybe money isn’t coming in right away. Use your failures as lessons and learn and improve along the way.

Don’t stop moving forward regardless of whatever setbacks you may have. Keep looking ahead.

Good luck!