How to Start an Avocado Business

Step 1: Planning

If there’s one thing all businesses have in common, it is the need for thorough planning before you even go into them. Nine times out of ten, this is usually what determines whether or not a business ends up a failure.

Think about it this way: thorough planning, even before actually starting a business, might not be the absolute guarantee of success, but it will definitely ensure that you have a much lower chance of failure.

You’re able to strike out bad ideas and chart out the right course towards success.

Location and variety

Two of the very first things you have to make a solid plan for before starting an avocado business are the location upon which you intend to grow your avocados, and the variety you would love to cultivate.

Location is dependent highly on climate, soil types, weather, and of course temperature. These also influence the variety of avocado you choose to go with, as some thrive in different environments while some are highly specific to particular climates.

Cost planning

One of the most important areas of planning, cost planning ensures you get an overall idea of how much you’re going to be spending to run your avocado business successfully.

In such a business as the avocado business, you will not only have to consider how much to spend on your avocado plantation but also on harvesting and marketing.

It is only after going through proper cost planning that you get a solid idea on these things, and get to work on securing the funds before putting them to use.

Revenue planning

On the other side of cost planning is revenue planning. Having determined how much it’s going to cost you to properly set up your avocado business, the next step is to weigh that against how much you’re going to be making from it.

This not only helps in your overall feasibility studies, it also goes a long way in ensuring that you set proper goals that are not only achievable but scalable in the long run.

How does an avocado business make money?

This part is quite simple. An avocado business makes money by growing and selling avocados.

Most avocado farmers are also self marketers. They have their own avocado plantations. They go through the task of planting, caring for the trees, and harvesting.

And after all these steps are complete, they market their harvests themselves and sell for a profit.

This is how a typical avocado business makes money.

Estimated profit

The avocado business is a really profitable one. Based on location, volume, variety, and a few other factors, the estimated profit from avocado businesses tends to vary.

A study, however, found the typical avocado yield to be an estimated 11,000 pounds per acre (2 avocados make a pound) when poorly managed, and 20,000 in a well-run plantation.

Either way, one thing is constant. The avocado industry is still a young, vibrant one. With great planning, production, and marketing, anyone can make a lot of profit.

And most importantly, you can scale.

Step 2: Market research

Having gotten an idea of the profit to be made, the next step is to go further into how exactly that profit will be made.

Target market

The first step in market research is to identify your target market. This is easy in this case. As an avocado farmer, your target market, obviously, is avocado consumers.

Depending on the scale, you may either sell your products at a farmer’s market or enter into a contractual agreement with retail businesses or stores that are willing to purchase your harvests.

Step 3: Naming

Another important yet underrated aspect of starting any business is the naming. Especially for a business like an avocado business, many feel the name isn’t as important as a lot of other aspects.

This may have been true in the past, but certainly not anymore. Now branding matters a lot in any business, and the avocado business is no different.

Having a proper name not only comes in handy for branding and marketing, but also for establishing a web presence, and of course when registering your business.

Feel free to make use of the tool below to find out if your desired business domain is available for registration so that you can lock it down before anyone else does.

You should also take it a little further by securing a professional business email from Google’s G Suite. Try it for Free.

Step 4: Register your business as a legal entity

There are numerous benefits to registering your business as a legal entity. You remove personal liability, get your tax structure right, and give yourself a great chance of scaling.

In this case, there are a handful of business structures to choose from, including LLCs, DBAs, and Corporations.

Luckily, there are also some good reputable companies whose job it is to help with registering your company with the appropriate bodies.

Check out our in-depth reviews and comparison here for more details on which LLC registration company suits you better.

Step 5: Register for taxes

Tax compliance is another reason why you should always register your business. Again, luckily, a lot of the companies we reviewed above also help with obtaining EIN for your businesses through the IRS website.

Step 6: Business bank account

No matter the business you choose to go into, your personal finances must always be separated from your business. This ensures that you’re safe from liability and are able to keep track of business growth better.

You can also use your business account to build a solid business credit that makes you eligible for an even greater range of financial benefits including business credit cards, better interest rates, and so on.

Step 7: Licensing and permits

Assuming that you would have done your research in the planning section regarding governmental laws and licensing, this is the point where you actually comply by acquiring all necessary licenses and permits.

Step 8: Insurance

Getting business insurance is not only great for keeping your business safe from unforeseen liabilities, but it is also legally mandated and a no-brainer for any business owner.

The policy you choose to go for is up to you, as there are a lot of options in this regard for business owners.

Step 9: Branding

Now that you’ve gotten your legal steps covered, the next important point to keep in mind is establishing a proper brand. This plays a few key roles: it helps you stand out from the competition, helps you become more memorable to customers, and also helps your business gain the much-needed trust any business needs to survive.

Step 10: Promotion

As mentioned earlier, your outlet as an avocado farmer is either directly through farmer’s markets or striking a partnership with established stores.

Either way, you will have to carry out some sort of promotion at first.

This is another area where having a solid brand helps a lot.

Step 11: Online presence

Having a solid online presence is without a doubt one of the most effective, and least tedious ways of promoting your avocado business.

Step 12: What are some major aspects of avocado farming to have in mind?

Registering your business, establishing a brand, and efficient promotions are all important aspects of running a successful avocado business, but one thing just as important as all of these is making sure that your actual farming practices are as great as they can be.

This involves choosing a great location, proper irrigation practices, fertilization, and adequate spacing to reduce competition.

Step 13: Scaling

Finally, like most businesses, a consequence of success in the avocado business is the need to enjoy more success. Once your business starts to really take off and your brand becomes established, the next thing to do is scale.

Growth potential

The avocado business is very scalable. Whether or not you choose to actually scale is all up to you. Either way, you can scale your avocado business by investing in a bigger location, farm equipment, and gears, more fertilizers, and so on.

Building a team

As you scale you can also decide to hire a team to make the business run even more successfully. The farm helps marketers, web designers, SEO engineers, are some of the positions you should choose to be on the lookout for.