In this post we explore the top consulting services you will need to run a successful agriculture business. You can outsource them to freelancers and management consulting firms to lower your business costs. On the other hand, they are very essential for success
Starting a small business is a risky undertaking. It is harder for an agriculture business. They register a higher business failure rate across the world compared to other sectors. In our earlier post, we discussed some possible solutions to help you succeed in agriculture business such as working with qualified professionals or outsourcing some of your functions to a business services provider.
The following is a list of the key business services you need to outsource if you are running a small agriculture business;
In the detailed section, we give you a brief explanation for each business service. Besides, you will understand the benefits of procuring these services to guarantee you, business success.
👔 Business advisory Services
Is your agriculture business a new start up or an expansion farming project? Hiring a professional business advisory firm can accelerate your success. You will get a hand holder in starting up your farming, value addition or agriculture marketing firm. The common services you should seek are;
- 🏅Business/Formal Registration Work with a business professional to help you in setting up an LLC, registering with the tax regulator (KRA, IRS) and other legal obligations of your agriculture business such as national health and social security funds. Besides they will ensure you are fully registered and compliant with all rules and regulations. The business consultant will help you get the certificate of incorporation, certificate of trade, Tax compliant certificate and other licenses and certificates needed for you to start operations.
- 💼Business structure; Be assisted in setting up your business operations into specialized departments or units such as human resources (HR), production, finance and marketing. The business advisor will set the management structure and assign roles or Job description to each office in your agribusiness. The result will be efficient delegation, coordination and success in your business.
- 📊Business planning; Failure to plan is planning to fail they say. One of the cheapest ways to avoid business failure is writing and implementing a business plan. The document works as your success road map. It will be your reference guide in marketing, winning competition, hiring and other functions such as pricing.
- 🎯Strategy planning; The other benefit of working with a management consulting firm is strategy planning. They will help you to define, communicate and implement your corporate vision, mission, goals and values of your farming business.
📠 Book Keeping & Accounting
Working with an accountant for small business will save you time and business failure. They will help in most of your book keeping routine tasks such as record keeping, virtual bookkeeping and tax payment. They will prepare your daily, monthly and annual financial statements such as the balance sheet and income statement (finance and loss statement) for informed decision making. Besides, hiring an accountant will also help your agriculture business in tax planning and management services such as timely filing saving you money.
The other benefit of outsourcing your accounting function is accessing online bookkeeping software such as go daddy, QuickBooks and waves.
🧾Payroll Services
Don’t fall to the trap of employee litigations and failure due to common payroll mistakes such as delays in payments. If you are looking for the best Payroll solution for the small business, Work with a Payroll services for small business like yours. S/he will help you to choose the best payroll companies available Online or the one near you. They will help evaluate the payroll service providers pricing, rating and functions to give you the best.
As rule of thumb, your payroll service of company should offer direct deposit payments to your employees, tax filling and payment. The other features of the best payroll software are self-service portal and third-party integrations with contract management and accounting software such as QuickBooks.
⚖️Legal Services
Most likely in your business operations you will face the 3 most common types of civil cases; tort claims, breach of contract terms (esp. with employee) and landlord/tenant issues. To avoid losing income and reputation in those disputes, it’s better to procure litigation services of a civil law attorney.
In addition, to help in cases of a litigation, they can assist on other business improvement services such as;
- Drafting your company privacy policy.
- Reviewing your contractual agreements
✍Grant writing
Hiring a certified grant writer can make your agribusiness startup raise more funds faster and easier. Grant writing is very technical, time consuming for you given the research efforts and rules you have to comply with.
Hiring a certified grant writer for a small business is a good investment. They will help you in research, drafting the business proposal and submitting them to top donors and government cooperative agencies such as the USDA and USAID grants for small farmers.
💱Online Marketing
Which marketing initiatives have you adopted to promote your agriculture business, goods or services? To avoid marketing failure, work with an a reputable online marketer such as the Rensyl Integral.
An experienced online marketer will help you in agriculture market planning and a brand communications plan. Besides they work with you in pricing, SEO and social media marketing including corporate blogging. This way, your company can have an internet marketing plan with an ecommerce website, a mobile app or an engaging social media page such as Facebook, Tweeter or Instagram. A video marketer can share your company updates with clients and customers.
👷🏻♀️Temp Agencies
Agriculture activities are highly seasonal. As such, one way to reduce your payroll costs is hiring temp employees in relative to permanent workers. Work with a temp agency to hire some for you during demanding periods such as harvesting season or when there is a need.
Which high paying temp jobs would your agriculture business would you need from time to time? The top most demanded freelance jobs in the agriculture industry include;
| Visual merchandiser Interpreter/translator Agriculture equipment operator/machinist Computer programmer/App Developer Data entry clerk | Paralegal Human Resource Specialist Copywriter Accountant/Auditor Operations manager/officer |
💵Insurance brokers
Like other businesses, agriculture businesses are exposed to a number of risks such as climate risks (drought & floods), theft or loss of key personnel. You will need an insurance brokerage company. It will help you to select and get the best crop or livestock insurance as well as health, motor vehicle and life insurance products. Besides, they will handle policy, premium and other term negotiations between you and best insurance companies.
💲Loan Advisor
Access to capital and credit is among the number one causes of business failure for small farming ventures. Consider working with a debt manager to achieve finance freedom. It will help you in your financial planning, budgeting and evaluating the best banks giving you farmers loans. If needed they can help you choose, restructure and negotiate your asset loans, mortgages and agriculture finance loans for you.
