7 Tips for Surviving The Recession with Your Alpaca Business
Over the weekend I received an email from an alpaca friend. She was so discouraged about her alpaca business. Full of doom and gloom, I could tell she was thinking of throwing in the towel.
Her state of mind inspired me to write about how to survive the economic downturn.
- Remember that you are not alone. People with money in the stock market, real estate, cattle, horses, and pretty much any business you can think of have lost a significant portion of their investment (at least on paper).
- If you don’t sell your alpacas at today’s current low prices, you don’t lose money. Economic advisors have called alpacas a “hold” investment for now.
- Don’t let panic selling cause you to drop your alpaca prices to a place where you’re not comfortable selling.
- Keep in mind that your pregnant alpacas are out in the field growing your investment now. They are working for you. Focus on their care.
- Your Investment almost doubles with each female cria. This knowledge should leave you feeling good about the money you have invested. (Stock holders do not have this assurance.)
- If you don’t already use the alpacas’ fleece to bring in money – this is the time to do it. Let the alpacas do their part to earn their keep.
- Remember why you got into the alpaca business to begin with. For the majority of people in the alpaca business, money was not the number one reason they invested in alpacas. The animals and the lifestyle they allow are more important to most of us.
Get back in touch with what motivated you to have alpacas in the first place.
What other ideas do you have for surviving the recession with alpacas?
June 29th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Great points Katy! We also need to remind ourselves that a recession is a temporary and to find joy in some part of what we do every day. Hard not to smile when you are watching crias race around!
May I reprint this in my July newsletter? with full credit for you of course.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:42 am
That’s so true Linda. “This too shall pass!” And you are welcome to put this in your newsletter.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Excellent post as always! Times are tough and everyone’s feeling it. As you point out, the current value only matters if you really need to sell now. Which is why it’s important, no matter what you do, to have multiple income streams to spread the risk.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Great post, Katy. We need to be creative in these tough times – there are other ways to build the business and make some money with alpacas – take awesome photos and make note cards and calendars; invite kids and seniors out for fun, education, and more photo ops; invite spinners and knitters out to meet the critters and help unload some of that fiber that may be sitting around; spend the time writing short articles and press releases for local publications to get some attention and traffic; offer your property to host a fundraising event for a worthy cause – gets people out to see your animals. Not all of these ideas will bring in immediate cash, but they’ll stir up excitement and bank some potential income for the future. Especially as the economy recovers. Then we’ll be positioned to get good traction once people have the income to spend again.
The thing that’s helping my business the most is developing relationships – by having people out to the farm and by keeping them in touch with the daily business of the farm through newsletters, the blog, and other social media. I’m building a community of awesome folks (mostly spinners, knitters, and locavores) that not only loves the farm, but is willing to pitch in and help at the slightest opportunity! Can’t beat that!
June 30th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Astute point Anthony. Multiple income streams spreads out the risk of income decrease over a variety of sources. This year we have been able to make up some of lost income in lower sales figures with breeding fees. We lowered them somewhat to make them more affordable and it helped bring in more business.
June 30th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I think there is something to be said for identifying what “enough” is. I mean, of COURSE I’d all like to roll around in thousand dollar bills, but when I’m able to identify just what I NEED then everything past that is gravy/butter…. icing…. I’m hungry now….
June 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I think I should have said a tad more – now that I reread that sounds a little dismissive and I don’t mean it that way – when I can identify “enough” then things seem less scary – while I may not sell as much or make as much, if I’ve hit that “enough” point then at least I’m not losing out. I think that makes more sense. (long day)
July 27th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Cindy, Those are excellent ideas! Thanks for sharing them.
Dawn, I know what you mean. We all need about the same amount for the basics. And that’s a good way to maintain peace of mind.
July 27th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
[...] « 7 Tips for Surviving The Recession with Your Alpaca Business [...]
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 am
the Economic recession made a lot of jobless people in my own country. We could only hope that our economy becomes strong again
December 8th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Our country was also hit hard by the Economic Recession. At least we are seeing some signs of economic recovery now. I hope that we could recover soon from this recession.
*….
January 5th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I think we are also seeing some signs of recovery from the Economic Recession. Of course, we have no idea of how long it will take to completely recover, but some say it’s going to be longer than for the other recessions in decades. I also scanned an article yesterday that said business owners need a new set of tactics to do well during recovery.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Our home business was really affected by the Economic recession, we have to cut jobs just to cover up our losses. fortunately, we have already recovered. :