Table of Contents

Foreword
Gratitude
Preface
Disclaimer
How to Use This Book

Chapter 1: Introduction—Why Bother
Understand What Makes You Money (and Why)
Invest in Your Business
Plan for Growth
Plan for Slow Periods
Avoid Out-of-Control Debt
Weather Covid-Like Pivots and Other Disruptions
Keep Your Eye on the Prize

Chapter 2: Building the Foundation: The Financial Statements and Basic Accounting
The Income Statement—A Summary of the Operations
The Balance Sheet—What You Have and How You Got It
The Statement of Cash Flows—Where Cash Rules the Roost
Tying It All Together
Underlying Principles

Chapter 3: Planning Your New Venture

Chapter 4: The Business Planning Process
Getting Started
The Business Planning Process
Business Plan Writing Guide
Creating Financial Projections

Chapter 5: Financing Your New Venture
Save Money
Borrow from Friends and Family
Outside Organizations
Financing Sources
Preparing for Investors

Chapter 6: Setting up a Bookkeeping System (and QuickBooks)
QuickBooks (and Bookkeeping) Best Practices
Choosing a Bookkeeping Software
The Initial Setup
QuickBooks: An Overview of Things You'll Do
Reports in QuickBooks
QuickBooks Terminology

Chapter 7: Day to Day: Using QuickBooks for Cash Management
Create Your Annual Budget by Month
The Bank Feed
Regular Bookkeeping—Every Day-ish (10 minutes)
Review, Refine, and Stay on Target—Every Month (1 hour)
Big Picture Planning - Year End (1 to 2 hours, plus cleanup)
QuickBooks Quick Tips

Chapter 8: Digging into the Numbers and Beyond
Section 1: Calculating the Cost of Production
Section 2: Allocating General Production Costs and Enterprise Analysis
Section 3: Marketing and Pricing Strategies
Section 4: Benchmarking
Measuring Success: Keep Your Eye on the Prize

Chapter 9: Stabilizing Your Business
Managing the Hole
Should You Stop or Persevere?
Key Takeaways

Chapter 10: Growing Your Business
Establish Goals
Is "Growth" the Right Strategy?
Deciding How to Grow
Growing Your Team
Marketing
Key Success Factors

Chapter 11: Building Resiliency into Your Business Model
The Process to Pivot
Shifts vs. Pivots
Building Resiliency into Your System

Chapter 12: Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
Money Shame
Mental Models
Time Management
Being the Employer of Choice
Decision-Making
In Summary

Epilogue:
Final Words of Wisdom

Appendix 1: Sample Income Statement Accounts
Appendix 2: Sample Balance Sheet Accounts
Appendix 3: The Business Plan
Appendix 4: Suggested Accounts for Chart of Accounts
Glossary
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
About New Society Publishers

Promotional Information

The no-nonsense, practical guide for farm-preneurs to grow a successful farm business – completely revised and updated

About the Author

Julia Shanks is a chef, entrepreneur, and business consultant who provides business assistance and coaching to new and established farm and food entrepreneurs. She has an MBA in entrepreneurship and is co-author of The Farmers Market Cookbook. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

Jean-Martin Fortier and his wife Maude-Helene Desroches are the founders of Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an internationally recognised micro-farm famous for its high productivity-profitability using low-tech, high-yield methods of production. He lives in Quebec, Canada.