I strongly believe in giving people knowledge and skills that can help them to help themselves. I take inspiration from many places. One is the success of the Microcredit movement around the world.
I am currently trying to get up to speed on the basics of raising Japanese red maples from seedlings or cuttings as a possible education tool for budding entrepreneurs who can most benefit from a profitable, relatively low-maintenance, part-time (or maybe scaling up to full-time) business. I love the beauty of these trees and they are in high demand for landscaping. In our area, a 2 to 3 foot high tree sells for anywhere from $35-75 per plant, depending on where you buy them. Seedlings can be bought in bulk for about $ 3-4 apiece, including postage. A group of people could get together to buy seedlings, lowering the overall cost of seedlings, as the more you order, the cheaper they are. Another possibility is raising seedlings from cuttings, with relatively simple technology. So, with a little deck or yard space, conceivably someone could raise enough trees up to landscaping size, as a part time activity, to bring in a significant amount of income. Trees could be marketed right from an apartment or house using local internet or newspaper classifieds, or at sales such as farmer’s markets or flea markets. I hope to find other potential plants that would be easily raised and profitably marketed as I dig into this further. I plan to post in more detail on this subject later, including startup costs, but wanted to put it out quickly into the cybersphere for potential constructive feedback and maybe as inspiration for others.
