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Home » Backyard Nurseries » What is the Backyard Growers Business Center?????

What is the Backyard Growers Business Center?????

Published : August 6, 2015

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Hi, Sharon here.

I am Mike’s assistant and also an administrator on the Backyard Growers Business Center forums.

I thought I would share this dialogue with you to give you an idea about what goes on there.

Backyard Growers

Thanks everyone!
 July 28, 2015
12:59 am
Sarah12417
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 5
Member Since:
June 27, 2015
Offline

Using my last three minutes as a (free) member to say thanks for the advice and encouragement. I’m looking forward to coming back as a permanent member later on, hopefully after my first plant sale.

Ciao!

July 28, 2015
8:08 am
Mike McGroarty
Admin
Forum Posts: 11746
Member Since:
July 26, 2011
Offline

Sarah,

Glad to have you here and hate to see you go.  Waiting until after a plant sale to come back might not be the best approach.  Being here daily if you can swing it will make things happen so much faster and if you sell a few things here on the board that could be enough to pay for your membership.

Opportunities inside the members area abound, year round, season by season.  Membership here runs about $2.20 a day until paid up.  A person here could purchase liners on the board, pot them up, sell them on Craigslistt and or Facebook the next day and pay for a membership.

I know most people don’t think that way, but it really is possible.  There are a lot of ways, opportunities to pay for your membership here and the very people that will help you achieve that are right here in this group.  Ask them, they will help.

Just something to think about.

Mike McGroarty Zone 5, Perry, Ohio “Keep making baby plants and do something everyday to grow your business!”

July 28, 2015
6:33 pm
Susan Golden
Collins, NY Zone 5a
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 102
Member Since:
July 22, 2014
Offline
 Sarah,

I understand your situation. I was so short when I decided to try to do full time membership that I had no idea how I would make the payments. Confused It was nip and tuck, but they were super understanding. They even let me change the date to a better time in the month ($$$ wise). It has been one month at a time, but I am almost there! I have purchased many cuttings, rooted cuttings, and liners at great prices and in great condition. I bought the pots from Mike and just recently the misting system (which is working perfectly and proving to be the missing element in getting my cuttings to take off). I have gotten much needed answers to my questions about every stage of the process, too! Seriously, this connection made me feel as though what I was trying to do was REAL, not just a day dream. The oldest members are the first ones there to help you along! If there is anyway you can swing it, I hope that you will try to go for the full time membership! Best of luck to you, either way! Smile

Sincerely, Susan

“Golden Gardens”

July 28, 2015
8:15 pm
Scott Jensen
Tacoma, WA
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 1590
Member Since:
July 26, 2011
Offline

I agree with Mike. The value of staying on here is difficult to measure in $, but the information and the daily encouragement is worth way more than the cost. When I first joined, I struggled to meet the monthly cost, but I focused on how much I needed to make daily to stay on the board. It worked out to only a few bucks a day, which adds up to only about 1 1/2 plants a day or something like that. Do whatever you have to to stay on here is my advice. I went to the box store, bought 1 quart perennials, potted them up to 1 gallons, let them root in for a few weeks and then sold them at a profit using Craigslist ads to promote. That’s an easy way to pull in the extra money needed to pay for the board.

Being forced to come up with the money to pay for the board when  you aren’t sure how you’re going to forces you to think and to take action that you might not otherwise take. Once you are free of the burden of worrying about the membership fee, you will find you don’t have as much motivation.

We’ll still love you whatever you decide to do, and if you do go and come back, we’ll be glad to see you back!Smile

July 29, 2015

12:40 am
Cheryl Hannan
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 3574
Member Since:
July 26, 2011
Offline

 

 Sarah,

If you’re really passionate about plants & this is something that you really want to pursue, you will somehow come up with the money to stay on board here.

I went through the whole “I can’t afford it thing also”, but if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Think about it….this is like a college course that would cost you how much more??? & it’s not “text book” knowledge…it’s hands on knowledge from real people & an ongoing community of friends/family that will encourage you & answer questions.

When you wake up in the morning & doubting yourself, you can come here & ask questions & read the topics & ask questions & get inspired & motivated.  It’s a great place & hopefully you can somehow manage to stick around…you won’t regret it!

Best of luck to you!Smile

July 29, 2015

1:10 am
Pam Lee
Belmont, NC
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 2335
Member Since:
April 21, 2012
Online
 When I was making the decision to join the board, I had to think of it as an INVESTMENT rather than a cost.  This board has saved me much more money in what I have not done and in finding out what I did do wrong and the knowlege not to do it again.
Pam Lee, Pam’s Perennial Plants – NC Licensed and Inspected Nursery #6683
 July 29, 2015

7:05 am
Mike McGroarty
Admin
Forum Posts: 11746
Member Since:
July 26, 2011
Offline
 Ya know, years ago when I was a starving meter reader, trying to raise a family, I found this newsletter that I wanted to subscribe to and I really wanted all the back issues as well.  The cost?  About $700, and that was back in the late 80’s.  That was a lot of money for somebody who read meters for a living and to be honest, I didn’t have $700.

But I ordered them anyway on a credit card because the author inspired me.

Those newsletters changed my life and are the only reason all of us are here to day.  Because of those newsletters I had the courage and the encouragement to write a book and self publish it, another $4,000 on my credit card.  Then a website, then Backyard Growers.

Publishing that book was a huge risk and there were plenty of people who so hoped that I’d fail they couldn’t hide it, I saw it on their face.  But I didn’t fail.  I was determined to sell those 3,000 books in the garage.  That book has now been out of print for years.  But I just looked on Amazon and Free Landscape Plants!, used copies are selling from $1.11 to $100.00 a copy.

Here’s my point.  It is so, so easy to talk yourself out of this without the support system you have here.  When discouraged you can come here and be reminded of how excited you were in the very beginning.

When Scott joined he pretty much held my feet to the fire, asking me to tell him how to make those monthly payments.  He was reluctant.  We’re all reluctant.  After I wrote that book I sat on it for a year.  When I wanted to build a website I bought the software to build the site for $150 and 13 days later returned it to the store unopened for a refund because I didn’t think I could do it.  Two months later I bought the software again and built http://freeplants.com

Dreams are easy.  Follow through, stick with it ness?  more difficult.  That’s what makes the difference.

Mike McGroarty Zone 5, Perry, Ohio “Keep making baby plants and do something everyday to grow your business!”

July 29, 2015
7:08 am
Regina Bunning
Central Illinois
Member
Members
Forum Posts: 898
Member Since:
November 7, 2013
Offline
 Sarah,

I, too, wondered whether I could justify spending the money but have found it was just a few dollars from my grocery budget and dining out budget each month! If you eat another meal or two of “beans and rice” as Dave Ramsey says, it’s amazing how much money you can come up with! My Hubby and I talked about it and decided to do the free trial but since I did the monthly budget, I just didn’t cancel it and he never commented about the cost when I continued to talk about “The Board” long after my trial was over, LOL!!  I can do amazing things with hamburger when I have too!!

And it’s a business expense you can use on your taxes too!

So after reading all of these glowing replies to Sarah’s goodbye, wouldn’t you like to get started in your own Backyard Nursery business?

www.backyardgrowers.com/join

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