Entrepreneur Observation Report Essay, Research Paper
This report outlines a very small business of my brother?s.
It describes his business, target market, financial plans, and
marketing plans. I have tried to keep a neutral opinion
about his opinions as much as possible. I have tried to keep
my inputs and thoughts in the conclusion only.
The whole idea of my brother, insert name here, owning a
business started in early March of 1998 when one of the
neighbors jokingly suggested he should raise chickens and
sell them to people. A few days later he realized it could be
easily done, and with a profit. From mid-March to
September, he and I raised, and easily sold 600+ chickens,
we only wished we could have raised more. When March
of 1999 rolled around we were contemplating how many
chickens to buy, when the person we bought the chickens
from told us about the possibilities of rabbits. Because
rabbits are a yearlong project, and we knew I would be
leaving in the fall, it became his decision and ultimately his
project. He started out with 20 baby doe (females), 3 baby
bucks (males), and a small-borrowed hutch (cage) with all
23 rabbits jammed in tight. His investment in rabbits,
although considerable, was still to be outdone by the ones
in hutches and feed. He essentially spent all profits from
chickens the year before and then some. His project now
consists of 20 mature doe, 3 mature bucks, and
approximately 60 babies. He has taken over a section of a
large barn and turned it into a 30+ hutch rabbitry system
with a circulating automatic watering system., and recently
acquired a large weaning cage.
I asked him how he felt when he was getting started and he
said he didn?t like spending all that money but he knew he
would get it all back someday. I then asked him if he was
afraid of competition, or of there not being a big enough
market. He said he knew of nobody else selling rabbit meat
in the area on any scale, and that because rabbit meat is
practically thee healthiest meat, he couldn?t see any
problems in the market. He then said that if personal selling
fails he can sell them through his "chicken provider" on a
per pound basis.
One thing I have always known about my brother and his
rabbit business is that he is very confident in its success and
that even though he knows there will be small problems he
is very sure of overall success.
When I asked him who he sees as his typical customer he
said that first he would talk to people that bought chickens
last year, and then possibly put an add in the Kearney Hub
(an area newspaper). He then said that because rabbit
meat is so healthy he saw the health conscience as his
primary customers he also said that because it wouldn?t be
real cheap, they would be people with money to spend on
special health food. He didn?t have any demographics,
Psychographics, or Geographics, but that he knew there
the supply and that all demand would be his. I asked him if
he saw any reason for his market to shrink, and he said he
didn?t see any reason for it not to grow.
Most of the funding for his business came from our chicken
profits, from me (expecting to be paid back plus some) and
from his savings. While he did not have a business plan set
in concrete he had some basic numbers that he thought
would be attainable and some ideas on how to attain them.
He did not receive funding from a bank. Profit margins for
his business are somewhat unpredictable the number of kits
(baby rabbits) a doe has a year can greatly effect the
business. He tries to conservatively figure his profits.
Here I will try to give you a little info on the possible
income of a 20 doe rabbitry. If the average doe has 12 kits
a litter and has a litter every 1 ¾ month or 9 litters a year,
then each doe averages 108 babies a year. Take this
number times the number of doe or 20 and you get 2160
babies a year. If each baby weighs 4-6 pounds (we?ll use
4) when sold on a per-pound rate you are selling 8640
pounds of rabbit a year. Take this number times $.95, (a
conservative price for rabbit meat per live pound) and
you?re bringing in $8,200.00 a year. Subtract the estimated
$900.00 a year in feed and $500.00 for any other
expenses and you?re left with $6,800.00. This only for 20
doe, because it only takes 6 months for a rabbit to mature
he could, in theory increase his number of mature breeding
stock by a power of 10 in 6 months giving him ten times the
income. However he would have to buy that many more
cages. As you can see though the business definitely has
possibilities for expansion.
There is also the prospect of composting rabbit droppings,
bagging it and selling it at the farmer?s market. This would
nearly cancel out the cost of feed. Rabbit compost is
renowned among gardeners as the best fertilizer because of
the super efficient digestive system of rabbits.
He hasn?t been able to figure the profit percentage yet, but
says it will be quite a while before he pays for all of his
expenses as doe often need to have a few litters before
they become good mothers. He does do all of his own
accounting, and book keeping of rabbit due dates weaning
dates etc. In four years he plans on going to college, but he
said his business has great growth potential and could be
quite large by then. He also went on to say that he could
sell the business to our youngest sister who has raised and
shown pet rabbits before, thus letting the business continue
for a few more years.
He is not currently marketing any rabbits he does have
several baby rabbits but they aren?t quite at the age to be
sold. He will initially use personal selling, for this he will call
people we sold chickens to last year as well as other
people that have shown interest in acquiring chickens. The
price for a rabbit won?t be much different than it was for a
chicken. Though many people might hesitate at buying a
rabbit instead of a chicken, he believes this is only because
they are uninformed about rabbits. He is also considering
the idea of putting an ad in the local paper to increase his
direct sales. He knows that he will produce more rabbits
than he will be able to sell directly so he also has permanent
buyer lined up that will come pick them up and pay by the
live pound. This buyer could do many things with the
rabbits, most will probably go to processing plants, but
some could go to research facilities. This situation is what
he calls a no lose situation.
He has read several books on raising rabbits, which
suggest talking with local
Supermarkets about buying your rabbit meat for them to
resell, this is something to look into. While he plans on
using the farmer?s market to sell his composted rabbit
droppings to home gardeners, he also plans on using this as
an opportunity to advertise his rabbits.
Because his rabbits will be used for food and possibly
research, his product is for both the consumer market and
the industrial market, though the consumer market is much
bigger.
The fact that he will sell a rabbit for roughly the same price
as a chicken the year before I consider the price of his
rabbits to be low to medium. Due to the fact that last year
we charged a little more per chicken than the supermarket
it will be a great price for a rabbit which usually goes for a
little more than a chicken. He is able to price the rabbits
this low because he is producing them compared to buying
each chicken as a chick and raising it from there like we did
last year. His lack of competition is a key factor to any
success he experiences through his limited marketing
methods. It also makes his rural location less relevant.
I do believe that he is more of an entrepreneur than a small
business owner, manager, or technician, because he is
always looking for a way to advance his business. He is the
owner, manager, and technician, though he doesn?t have
anybody to manage he does have to manage his time
around the rabbits. Sometimes he can expect ten or more
rabbits to have babies within a couple days and must check
them constantly to make sure every think is ok. He plays
the role of technician when he builds cages, and maintains
cleanliness.
I don?t think this business could ever become a franchise
although it could become a very large company with
thousands of rabbits, and several employees. If it were to
become a franchise I think it would best be managed by the
franchisees. I think this would eliminate any hierarchy or
bureaucracy involved in most franchises. Of course there
would be a main office to coordinate advertising and to
offer help to franchisees with questions or problems.
I don?t have too many suggestions except to attempt all of
the plans he has thought of. I also think that he needs to
make a profit before he starts expanding any more. Once
he gets into the cycle of raising and selling the rabbits he
can then begin to expand, but not before then.
This is really a business that has a lot of potential, and had a
lot of things going for it. It is proof to me that the only
successful entrepreneur is the guy that gets the idea and
does it, not the guy that just thinks it would be a good idea
for someone else to do.