Intro to Micro-Enterprise
Take one thing you have built or grown, work out what it costs you, and try to sell it. This is the module where a project turns into a small business.
Module sheet 5 of 5
- You make
- A product, a price, and one card that explains it
- You measure
- What each one costs to make, what people say they would pay, and what they actually buy
- Bring
- Something you made in modules 1 to 4, or an idea for one
- Toward a sale
- This is the sale. The lab's drip kit from module 2 is listed on Farmish Store.
Sell something small first
Farm and garden projects make good first businesses because they are cheap to make and easy to explain: a drip kit for one bed, a tray of seedlings, a planting tool. If nobody buys, you are out a few dollars of materials and you have learned why.
- What's sellable. Spotting which of your projects someone would pay for.
- Cost and price. Adding up materials and losses, then picking a price that pays for your time.
- One sentence. Saying what it does for the buyer, in words they would use.
- Real buyers. Testing with people who would use it, then changing one thing.
Business modeling at seedling scale
No spreadsheet needed, but there is some math.
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What makes something sellable
Someone has a problem it solves, and they can see that in a few seconds: a drip kit for a gardener who travels, a seedling starter pack for a beginner, a dibbler for someone sowing a hundred cells. Ask three questions of anything you might sell.
- Who needs this?
- What problem does it solve for them?
- Why would they pick yours over what they do now?
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Start tiny
Price your first products somewhere between $2 and $15: a $2 tool, a $5 kit, a $10 starter pack. Small prices mean small risk, and they let you start with people you already know.
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Say it in one sentence
Say what it does for the buyer, not how it works.
- “This tool helps seedlings grow straighter.”
- “This kit saves water in a small garden.”
- “This starter pack gets a beginner growing herbs.”
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Price it with the math
Add up every material, divide by the share that turns out sellable, then add something for your time. The worked example below does it for one seedling.
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Test it with real people
Show it to five people who would actually use it before you make twenty. Ask what they would pay, watch them use it, and change one thing based on what you see.
A seedling, priced
Example numbers for one basil seedling in a 3-inch pot. Swap in your own prices and your own loss rate.
| For one seedling | Cost |
|---|---|
| 3-inch pot | $0.35 |
| Potting mix | $0.20 |
| Seed | $0.05 |
| Label | $0.05 |
| Materials per pot | $0.65 |
| Cost per seedling you can sell, if 1 in 5 dies ($0.65 ÷ 0.8) | $0.81 |
| Price | $3.00 |
| Left for your time and the next batch | $2.19 |
At $3 each, ten seedlings bring in $30 and cost about $8 to make.
Five challenges, pitch to second version
Each one ends with something you learned from a real person.
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Mini market
Make one small product and pitch it to your group in under a minute.
Write downThe questions people asked you
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Starter kit
Pack a kit and write one card that explains how to use it without you there.
Write downWhat someone got wrong using only the card
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Who would buy it
Name three people who might buy it, then ask each one what they would pay.
Write downEach price, in their words
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The $10 batch
Plan a first batch that costs $10 or less in materials.
Write downHow many you can make, the cost of each, and the price where you break even
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One change
Collect feedback, then change exactly one thing about the product or the card.
Write downWhat you changed, and whether more people bought it
By the end, you can
- Tell a project that's ready to sell from one that isn't yet
- Work out the cost per unit, losses included
- Set a price and say what it pays for
- Test a product with real buyers and improve it
Take it into your project
Run these numbers for your own project and bring them to a workshop. If it is ready for a field pilot, the lab can help you find a local farm or community garden to test it with.
Ask about this module