7+ Unique Tips To Make Money Homesteading For Beginners

Most often it’s not the “HOW TO” or ideas to make money homesteading or farming that gets people stuck. If you have the drive to make it happen you can absolutely make money. It’s the actual running of the homesteading business where people stumble.

There are several things you need to think about before you jump in headfirst in order to have a steady stream of income. AAAAAND have a business that supports your lifestyle.

You don’t want to build something that forces you to be a slave to the business. Sure there are lots of businesses I could run and income streams I could have. But I don’t want the lifestyle that comes with that.

Also, remember that it’s not a get rich quick thing nor will it happen in 6 months. You might start seeing traction even some income your first year. IF you stay consistent with the marketing. But if you are sitting on the fence you are going to get splinters.

So get on the train full trip for a year and see if you like it. If you don’t. That’s fine too. But you will not see good results from half doing your job. Cool? Ok now that we got that out of the way lets get into these tips.

To Make Money Homesteading You Must Treat It Like a Business

In short, you are making data-driven decisions instead of heart lead ones. 📈>💓 — This is where you need to be honest with yourself and admit whether or not you can sit your emotions aside and make choices for the betterment of your homestead and business as a whole.

You will not make a profit if you don’t treat your homestead like a business. EVEN IF you are only raising things for food.

Here is an example. — If you have 5 hens that are laying and pulling their weight and 5 that are not laying hardly anything. You are paying double the price for those eggs in just feed. All because you can’t make the hard choice of culling them.

And that’s your choice, which is fine if that’s the way you want to live. But it’s no one else’s fault but yours. So own it.

It might sound mean to sell or butcher the hens that are not laying eggs but the more you keep the larger your feed bill is and that will drastically decrease your overall profit. — A hen that is not producing eats just as much as one that is.

What To Do If You Don’t Want To Butcher The Animal

If that older rabbit, goat, sheep, or something else is costing you money and you are not bringing in enough to warrant feeding it until the end of its life. Consider selling them as a pasture companion for a very low price if you don’t like the idea of adding them to your freezer meals.

There are tons of people on Craigs List looking for unwanted farm animals and will often take them off your hands.

You have to research profitability

Before jumping into all the livestock that sounds interesting to you, make sure you can make a profit from that animal. It would not be good to get into a breed and find out there are so many people selling that same thing you have a hard time making sales.

You have to be strategic about WHERE and WHO you are going to sell your products to.

An example would be (if you live in a place like I do) it is difficult to make money selling eggs because a lot of people have their own backyard flock and they are also trying to sell eggs.

But if you lived closer to a larger city or in a city you would have much better success and sales. — There are more people who can’t raise them due to location and city folks will pay more for fresh or free-range eggs than people who live around it and it’s the norm. (no offense intended if you live in the city, I love y’all just the same😉)

When considering getting into an animal there are a few things you should look into before you purchase the stock.

• The price in your area. – If you start to market online and get a wider reach you can start to increase your prices.
• Are a lot of other people selling them?
• What is your PROFIT MARGIN and PROFIT POTENTIAL for that income stream?

You should also consider what time of the year it is when you are doing this research. — For most livestock, you are going to get the best deals at the end of the year about a month before winter starts to set in. You will pay more as spring comes around because the demand is higher.

Don’t Be A Slave To Traditional Income Streams

Sure having a hobby farm you think of selling animals and produce. But there are so many people who want to learn what you know. We are not in a world of in-person transactions only anymore.

You can make money by creating Ebooks, courses, brand deals, ad income, and affiliate product sales.

All of these income streams take time to build but they are a great way to make your one business more profitable.

Here is the one thing I could make sure you think about first.

Ask yourself ” Do I want the lifestyle that income stream will give me?” For example, if you want brand deals you are going to have to build a social following. Meaning you have to become a personality that people want to follow. If you are not someone who loves to share that and it drains you just talking to people in your normal life. Being an influencer may not be the right choice for you.

There are PLANTY of ways to make an income you just have to test things out and cut what doesn’t work for you.

One Avenue, Many Income Streams.

In planning a business, you should also look at all the different revenue streams you can generate from one animal or avenue.

For example, with goats, you can sell many different dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese. Let’s not forget soaps and other beauty products as well as becoming a breeder.

But again make sure you WANT to serve the people who will buy that product and what type of person that will cause you to become. I have been at max capacity for my rabbitry sales for years. Could I have stuck to rabbit care and product creation? Sure. But that isn’t my calling in life. I want to help a different type of person. So I chose to add a different arm to my business. BUT you have to have the time to grow something new.

There are so many different ways you can make money on the internet now. If you are not afraid of a little tech or writing then think about starting a blog, creating an online course, or writing an ebook. You can teach people how to do something and get paid to do it. How cool is that? I give examples of what I mean here in this post.

Be Strategic In Your Planning

It might seem easy at first to keep everything you want to do with your homestead business in your head or in your thoughts.

But once you start expanding on what you are already doing, gaining more customers, attending events, and trying to remember the tasks you want to do each day your brain will be on information overload! — Watch out because you are on your way to burn out.

The other part of this that people don’t think of is sure you may be getting tasks done… but you aren’t doing the things that will grow your business or move the needle in the right direction.

Take the time to lay out your ideas so you are not taking the scenic route to your goals. You will get a lot more done if you lay out a plan.

Budget & Tracking Expenses

Oh my, I cannot say enough about this. It is tempting to want to skip this critical step but please don’t. If you try to keep track of your finances in your mind or have a “rough estimate” that is not going to cut it if you are serious about making money.

Tracking your expences will help you see where your money is going and what is giving you a return on your investment of time. Not just floating along.

It is the main tool to help you make data-driven decisions once your homestead starts making money on its own.

It’s More Than Making Money

I know I know, people say that all the time. But it’s the truth. When you make it about the money and push hard toward that you will get tired and burnt out. It also leads to pushing continually without enjoying what is right in front of you.

Another side to only doing it for the money you can make is that somehow the finish line always seems to move further ahead on you.

Start making money on your homestead doing the things you love or at least enjoy. Not the things you feel you have to do because it’s the most lucrative.

Have 1-2 main income streams that fund your lifestyle

You don’t have the capacity to sell every single thing you create on your homestead. Each thing is like its own little business that needs to be marketed. That is why I said earlier you need to choose income streams with high-profit margins and high-profit potential so one or two income streams can fund your other homestead projects.

Be intentional about what you choose to invest your time in. Don’t burn yourself out pushing for success. You can have the same dreams and make just as much progress if you hold the same dreams lightly with open hands.