My suggestion is to find a way to keep the 9-5 job while you get the new venture up and running.
This and here is why: 7 years ago (I was 40 at the time) I started working remotely in the software industry and went through a period of depression because I actually enjoyed going into an office and conversing with people (mostly water cooler talk and banter). I needed a physical outlet and started researching farming.
I learned about Curtis Stone and Jean-Martin Fortier and started watching and reading everything I could about farming. We purchased 7 acres in a rural area and are farming on about 1/3 of that where it was easy to irrigate off of the county water supply we have coming to the house.
I wasn't the brightest when acquiring the property as it had next to no infrastructure and a single water source. 7 years in and after investing $167K into buildings, tunnels, and machinery, I still haven't paid myself a dime. We sell everything we grow as we operate a CSA program (membership with weekly pickups) and sell wholesale to restaurants and the local school district.
I pay my wife, who is a teacher and a helper that we have had for 4 years $15/hr. My wife is an employee, and my helper is a contractor. My wife works about 10 hours a week and the helper works about 20 hours a week.
We have a perfect pasture that would enable us to triple the amount of land under production. To do that I need a deer fence ($25K), we would have to dig a well for a water source $25K, then I need to add onto a shop that I paid $40K to have built so that we can get GAAP certified (this is mandatory if you are selling over $100K of product a year) and do the processing there instead of having to hump everything from the wash area in the shop into the home to do all the processing. That's another $50-60K. We would like to have an actual heated greenhouse to pair with our two tunnels, which would be another $30K. So far I have bootstrapped everything except a $50K tractor and my truck that I financed.
So all in, for me to be able to quit my day job where I am lucky enough to make six figures a year, we are looking at an investment of about $300K in addition to the property that cost me $330K, before I can even draw a paycheck.
The only reason it pencils out is the tax break and the fact that I am building equity and I look at this as my retirement project. I had hoped to be able to quit the rat race within 5 years of starting up and with the way the economy and interest rates are now, I will be lucky to pull in off in 10 (3 more years).
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