excited!!! But need help...

[BarnBratCSA]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#OK, so my best friend and I were talking about finding a farm to rent with a house on it so we could live together with our horses....basically, we both drive 20 mins from our houses twice a day to feed our horses, but if we lived together, we'd have to just walk outside, and we could split the chores.  BUt we were really just toying with the idea, not too serious.   THEN, we came across the most perfect property, so we went to meet with the people... It's a 12 stall facility with an indoor... 2 barns, 6 stalls each.  Plus a small cottage for us to rent.  The cottage is reasonably priced, and includes all utilities.  They'll rent us the lower barn (connected to the INDOOR!!) for $125/stall.  It has TONS of goreous pastures/paddocks, and the facility is really just a nice place.  They only have 2 horses, so are open to letting us take on more stalls as needed.  We got to discussing it, and we think we ccan do it, IF we have 3 boarders and we lease out two of our horses.  We want to get $450 for board, which is cheap for the area...the barn a mile up the road with similar facilities charges $525, and they're turning people away, so there's definitely a market for us.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Here's my question - how do I market our facility to pick up the boarders and leases we need to open?? We need to be sure that we have boarders/leases before we can open, as without that income, we cant swing it.    Any help will be appreciated! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Trufflemaker]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Life is full of interesting "coincidences." Sounds like a great opportunity! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I am a boarder myself not a barn owner so I can only make suggestions from that side of the fence so to speak. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I would suggest, put an ad in the local tack shop and feed store. Also, talk to the barn down the road and ask them for referrals. If they are turning people away, maybe they would be willing to suggest your place as an alternative. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Make sure you're ready for referrals with a boarding contract, and think out details like herd vet plans, farrier, feeding plans, etc. so that you are prepared for the questions people will ask you. How will you handle blanketing and boots for example--is that included or extra? What about custom feed plans? How will you handle a situation where the horse gets hurt or sick and you can't reach the owner? How will you handle problems with your boarders? etc. etc.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Good luck with your new venture. I hope it works out for you!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graciespook]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Congrats! Marketing marketing marketing. Think about how much work you want to do, write down the services you will offer, and even make a website (which can be done for free on Geocities).#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zooka]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#yeah if that barn is turning people away ask them to reffer to your place and you can say that you need x amount of boarders before the deal would be possible.  This way potential boarders may be able to find friends who also need to board.  Make sure you have some kind of contract.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Kaleena]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Here's my question - how do I market our facility to pick up the boarders and leases we need to open?? We need to be sure that we have boarders/leases before we can open, as without that income, we cant swing it.    Any help will be appreciated! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#P#ed_cl#

#ed_op#/P#ed_cl##ed_op#P#ed_cl#I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, so correct me if I'm wrong    #ed_op#/P#ed_cl##ed_op#P#ed_cl#You need to have boarders and leasers before even considering renting this place? Or are you going to go ahead and rent the place get some things set up and need the boarders and the leasers before opening as a business?#ed_op#/P#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[TequillaJack]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#It is all about marketing, get business cards, flyer and maybe a webiste made up, advertise on websites (and you can always hire a marketing student like moi to do it for cheap hint hint).  If the barn up the street is turning boarders away talk to the people who own it and tell them your opening a place down the street, and when they turn people away they can refer them to you.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[BarnBratCSA]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks for the help guys!!     #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Kaleena -  we need to know that we have boarders before we can start renting the place... Because we're renting the house and the barn, and we're young and just getting started, we need to know that we have some income coming in, or else we really cant swing it.  Right now I have two horses at home that dont cost me anything but food and bedding, and another that costs me nothing at all b/c I'm trading lessons for board, so I cant really swing the same amount for rent, plus MORE than I'm used to paying for the horses, especially coming into winter b/c my lessons and training slows down.   So, we need to know we have boarders before we can start renting.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Kaleena]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thats what I thought, thanks for clarifying #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I understand your position, but I think that you might have a hard time getting boarders commiting to a place that isn't even open and their is a possibility that you might not.You say you need 3 boarders....say you get one person interested and they are willing to move to your place in the next 30days, they give notice to their current barn....but then you can't get the 2 other boarders that you need in time....what happens then? From a boarders point of view, it might seem a little risky.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Just throwing some ideas out there of things to think about, not trying to discourage you at all. I think its a great oportunity if you can swing it. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[BarnBratCSA]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Very valid point, Kaleena.  I'm hoping if we can find at least two boarders, I can probably convince a client to send along a sales horse or something....we'll see...we need to finish ironing out the details...#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[BarnBratCSA]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#well, scratch that idea...at least for this place!! The people were being reasonable before, but not anymore.   My friend and I had come up with this plan to have our own 6 horses share stalls, in the sense that one would be in during the day and out at night, and the other the reverse, so that the horses could have a stall to rest in without us haveing to rent 6 stalls just for our horses....the owners had said that they'd rent us x-number of stalls at a fair rate and what we did with it after that was our business.  But now they want $125/horse, not per stall, and that's not the agreement!  So we declined, and we're looking for someplace else..........#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Kaleena]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Bummer! But at least you didn't sign up with these people only to find out later that they like to play games. I'm sure your perfect place it out their somewhere #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Good Luck!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[babytigger]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#oh BBCSA - that sucks! too bad they decided to change their minds like that, but i guess before it's all on a contract, they can do whatever........#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graciespook]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Its an expensive business..there are so many unforseen costs#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Chisholm]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#It's also just a very high risk in the situation you describe, the owners could suddenly pull stalls out from under you for now reason.  You are better off to rent a whole farm all to yourselves and not share like that.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#