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stumbling self sufficiency in a small space
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9:13 am
Sat 12-Aug-06
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The first 15 posts below were moved here from another thread.
That content is worth a topic of its own.
Shelley has started up a small home business in France, making and selling her range of jams, jellies and preserves. She currently takes a stall at the local market.
Never knowingly underfed
10:05 pm
actually, just counted up the jars and the total was over 300!! The profit after all deductions though for all that work is a paltry 1000 euros; around 2 euros an hour !!! I foresee that the jam empire is not going to make me rich!!
8:02 am
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Wed 12-May-10
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shelley said:
actually, just counted up the jars and the total was over 300!! The profit after all deductions though for all that work is a paltry 1000 euros; around 2 euros an hour !!! I foresee that the jam empire is not going to make me rich!!
maybe not rich shelly but it certainly seems to make you HAPPY and that is worth lots more than cash .Keep on jamin !! MOS
sit down with a cupa and the urge will subside
10:02 am
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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shelley said:
actually, just counted up the jars and the total was over 300!! The profit after all deductions though for all that work is a paltry 1000 euros; around 2 euros an hour !!! I foresee that the jam empire is not going to make me rich!!
Not yet, Shelley, but maybe when your name gets a reputation of excellence, the price may have to go up a little. Also a clever bit of marketing may also help, making yourself unique, perhaps .....
Just some thoughts!
7:28 pm
yep indeedy; my fear is that in fact 300 jars might not be enough if marketed successfully and I am not sure I would be able to keep up!! Defeatist perhaps but all of us have off days!!
Love jamming so going to keep going just diff on the financial front at the mo as hubby ends yet another 10 day contract for a pittance!! Keep everything crossed for us that he gets a decent contract next time!
1:21 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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I've got fingers and toes crossed for you and your hubby Shelley.
Is your web-site up and running yet and if so, will you let us see it please?
I'll try that again!
6:54 pm
nope not yet!!; it is a work in my head yet; will get there eventually and when I do I will let you all see at once!
Thx for your kinds words all!
just bought a new type of jar; smaller than I had envisaged, but should still be able to sell at the same price, so long as I dont have the old and new too close together!
6:59 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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Best of luck to you and your husband Shelley.
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
7:22 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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Hope your hubby Shelley gets a better contract this time.
2 Euros an hour might not seem like much but would be acceptable here in Latvia at the mo, what's the average wage in France? Small jars are definitely the way to go and maybe some value added combinations perhaps? It's like folks add a drop of whiskey into marmelade and suddenly its twice as expensive, well maybe not twice but you get the picture.
7:57 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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Stick with it, Shelley. One thing can lead to another (evidenced by actresses and bishops through the centuries 
). But if you don't do the thing in the first place, or quit too soon, then the knock on positives cannot materialise.
I have had this discussion with Fiona regarding the required profit margin to make a small enterprise worthwhile. She is happy with 50% margin but I would push for 300%. To put it simply, if your costs for a unit are 1 whatever, you should aim to sell it for 4 whatevers, or more if you can get it. You cannot charge four times the market rate for a jar of marmalade, say, but you can introduce premium ranges as Joanna rightly pointed out.
Reducing costs is the obvious aspect to look at first. That may require bulk buying of jars, for example, to the extent of x 10 maybe, which is a bit of a gamble, requires storage space and capital.
Bulk cropping too, at this time of year. Again, it might require investment in second hand freezers or maybe friends might allow you to store a little in theirs for a short few weeks in exchange for some jars of the finished product. Also, you could advertise for schoolchildren to pick for you as long as you are strict on quality control and check for stones in punnets.
I am rabbiting on and I am no management consultant.
We have inadvernetly hijacked this thread, which is meant to be about tips and tricks for finding food and general foraging. But this debate is worthy of a thread somewhere under Self Sufficiency. I plan to move these related posts to a new thread.
Never knowingly underfed
10:36 pm
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Thu 7-Jan-10
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Years ago when I sold wholefoods in a small way the mark-up was 33%. That way you can have a sale at 25% off and still cover your costs fully. A friend who had a good toyshop used the same pricing and she had researched it pretty thoroughly. When I did a stall at a playgroup I asked someone selling china stuff (not to my taste!) on the next stall if her mark-up was 100% and she said seriously that no, she wasn't greedy. I think it was about 80%.
The mark-up on non-foods is much higher than on food, and the more extra value the more the mark-up. I think the WI used to suggest doubling the costs of production of jams to get the sales price as being much easier than costing the labor involved. That theoretically gives something for labor plus profit.
The low standard mark-up shows why it is so hard to make a living from hand-produced goods!
blog: Devon Garden
1:15 pm
my mark up varies as at the mo, I sell for a set price! It thus varies from 10% (very rare) to 75% but averages around 50-55%
Thanks for all your comments and thanks Danny for offering to move this!
Andy still no work so probably none until next week at earliest 
3:35 pm
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Thu 7-Jan-10
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Shelley, I hope a contract for Andy comes through soon!
Doubling the price of ingredients (or whatever multiplier you use) means
you don't have to figure out your overheads and risk forgetting any of
them such as your own time. Setting a price and sticking to it is
easier, but you risk the 2Euros per hour self-payment. Another way to
look at it is how much income do you need/want? Then do the hours it
takes to earn it, and enjoy the rest of the time, or enjoy making the
jam with the bonus of some income from it!
One of the main considerations for mark up is what the market will bear. If everyone tries to undercut the opposition the price goes down for everyone, which seems A Good Thing to consumers until everyone cuts corners, quality goes down, and suppliers are squeezed. But if the prices are all the same, there is no market incentive to make excellent products because they bring in as much as mediocre ones. And if good things cost more, you risk the bad driving the good out of the market. Which I guess just shows there isn't yet a sensible, responsive economic system. 
blog: Devon Garden
7:18 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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I agree with Barbara that the market varies on mark ups. My parents sell jewellery and that often has a 100% mark up and if it doesn't sell then mysteriously they find putting the price up helps but like she said food is different. Another added value option is to package them into gift packages. Perhaps some local wicker baskets (or something else suitable) with three jams arranged prettily.
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