Five Ways Farm project

Guiding Values: Nature, Health, Friendship, Knowledge, Sustainability

Mission: Living a higher quality life

the idea

The idea

How did the idea come about?

The idea came from two considerations.

 

First Consideration

In my farm, at the moment, two farm buildings could be put to better use:

  • after twenty years (1998 – 2018) I have suspended the restaurant activity, and, therefore, a rural mansion, of 1,126 cubic meters, is underutilized because it is no longer used as an agritourism restaurant;
  • the other rural building, of 5,500 cubic meters, was initially designed to provide accommodation for tourists. In progress, the work was interrupted, and today it is used as a shed to house agricultural machinery and tools.

A real waste!

I’ve been asking myself this question for some time: “Why not make the most of these two buildings?” or “Why not return these two buildings to full use?”

 

It is a matter of starting from some key resources and finding customer segments interested in the use of these key resources (Technology Push): there are some key resources, two rural buildings, looking for a solution.

The solution consists in preparing a Value Proposition that uses these Key Resources, and that can satisfy the needs (Customer Job) of Customer Segments.

Second Consideration

For more than thirty years, I’ve been doing business as sole proprietorship.

Now I still have many ideas that I would like to see realized, but I no longer wish to undertake them alone.

Maybe because I realize that the time available to me is shorter than before and the selected projects take a long time to mature or perhaps because it is time to carry on also personal projects that I left to the “after.”

So I decided that if I undertake this last enterprise, I will do it together with other people who, incidentally, in time, could also turn out to be excellent new friends.

After all, to undertake a project together with other partners has many positive aspects, not least, that of being able to count on several thinking heads to define and implement strategies, that of being ready to start with adequate initial capital, without having to resort to debt, and that of being able to lower the individual business risk.

To start with a minimum of “group affinity,” I have introduced the five ways: Nature, Health, Friendship, Knowledge, Sustainability . These ways are essential and serve as a first filter.

Now, let us put the five ways aside and give a numerical example of organizational and financial nature.

Let’s assume that a person wants to go and live (Working Time and Free Time) in the countryside and has 500,000 € available.

He is presented with two cases to satisfy his need:

  • (a) he uses part of his capital and gets into debt; he decides to invest 1,000,000 € in carrying out his project (a house and a plot of land); he sets aside 250,000 €, provides 250,000 € to the project and gets into debt for 750,000 € to finance the total investment of 1,000,000 €;
  • (b) he sets up an agricultural society with other people who share the same desire to live in the countryside, with the intention that each person provides a share of the capital without getting into debt. It is agreed that the share capital to be raised should be equal to CS = 8,000,000 €; the share capital should be divided into n = 32 shares from Q = 250,000 € each;  there should be j people, with j <= 32 (some people may buy more than one share), each subscribing a share of capital equal to (nj x Q). If you find j people, you will have reached the goal of raising the share capital CS = ∑j (nj x Q) = 32 x 250,000 = 8,000,000 €.

In case (a), the person manages to reach his goal of financing the planned investment of 1,000,000 € by contributing equity capital for 250,000 € and getting into debt for 750,000 €.

In case (b) the person manages to reach his objective by contributing 250,000 €, the same amount as in case (a), without getting into debt, and by participating in a company with an initial capital of 8,000,000 € (financial profile). Also, a significant advantage is to join in the implementation and management of the project, together with many other motivated and knowledgeable people (organizational profile).

It is a matter of starting from customer segments who feel the need to go and live in the countryside (customer job) and get to satisfy this need through the use of already available key resources (Market Pull), that is: there are customer segments with a need to be satisfied (customer job), looking for a solution.

The solution consists in preparing a Value Proposition that satisfies the need to live in the country (Customer Job) of Customer Segments and that uses the existing Key Resources.

The following is the idea, the project, the Value Proposition, the solution capable of linking the Key Resources to the Customer Segments who wish to live in the countryside following the five ways (Customer Job) and, vice versa, linking the Customer Segments who wish to live in the countryside following the five ways (Customer Job) to the Key Resources.

Go to the Value Proposition