Need help generating a business plan 18 yr old

[acl2]

Go to college for something, anything. Then you will have something to count on, education is always a wise investment. Then after school, or during, get hooked up with a logger willing to take you out and show you the ropes and there is a whole bunch of ropes, then decide if you really want to be a logger.   

[Okrafarmer]

You would have to be a real self-sufficiency spend-thrift kind of guy to make your living only off a single piece of property like that, selling your logs wholesale. Better to get part of your living from your own land, and part from logging other people's land, if you want to go that route. With wise, scientific management, you can get the most from your land over time, but even 80 acres of good wood still isn't going to get it done over 20 or 30 years of life.

By excellent management, in some places, and with some low standard of living expectations, I suppose you could get 20-50% of your income sustainably. But you also never know what the markets are going to do. None of us do.

Now if you do as some have said, and make some value-added product, you may do better.

About going to college, it can be a good thing if you have a specific goal in mind that requires a college education. Such as becoming a certified forester, economist, doctor, lawyer, etc. But I have found that college is highly over-rated for those who do not have a specific calling like that. You can spend way to much money and time wasting time in college, when you can self-educate yourself about most things in life.

It sounds like you are asking a lot of the right questions, and you are patient enough to save your money and learn while you get ready to make these moves. You are wise to save up and pay cash for stuff. Far better than paying interest.

This is a great place to learn. Also, as others have said, there is no substitute for finding a good mentor to teach you the art and science of tree harvesting.

[Copes]

I don't have a lot of experience in the bush, but I am in the process of executing a very loosely made plan that involves a 50 acre wood lot and mixed farm.  You have to value ad everything you do.  We raise grass fed beef, pastured pigs, chickens, goats, and if we sold it by the pound frozen we would barely get by.  Add a wood fired oven and turn it into pizza and you do a whole lot better. It is the same with the wood.  We sell enough firewood, cut, split and delivered, to pay the taxes and keep our older vehicles running without cutting off the forest.   Saw some of it into lumber with the portable mill, and make do with an old 2 wheel drive tractor with a good set of chains.  I love working in the forest, I can't wait for winter.  At todays prices for logs you need to cut a lot of wood to cover the costs of logging.  We are not getting rich, we work hard,  but we own what we have, we eat very well, and really get to enjoy all that country living has to offer.  It's not for everybody.

[Okrafarmer]

Pastured pigs?  8) I salute you. What breed? Or crossbred? where do you live?

[acl2]

I would completely disagree with okrafarmer about "self educating yourself", education is never a waste of time or money. With an education you open yourself to many more opportunities, self educated on a resume would get you laughed at.       

[Okrafarmer]

I would completely disagree with okrafarmer about "self educating yourself", education is never a waste of time or money. With an education you open yourself to many more opportunities, self educated on a resume would get you laughed at.     

I'm happy to point out, that resumes are almost useless these days. They are only useful for very specific professions, like doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, and foresters. If you have a specific profession you are pursuing, then you will need the proper credentials. Even when pursuing a profession like that, much of what you will sit through in classes is useless to you for your profession. (Sometimes it has residual value).

I have gone through 4 and a half years of college. It is questionable whether it was worth the $40,000 or so that I spent on it. I got good grades by the way, or decent-- basically a B average over the course of my college time.

You do not need a college degree to start a business, run a business, or learn skills and trades. You do not need a college degree to become a software designer or computer technician. You do not need a degree to become a mechanic, gunsmith, truck driver, or a lot of other things. You do need to learn certain things in order to do them, but these things can be learned without a college degree. Often by taking a class specific to that profession. IE, truck driver's school lasts 4-8 weeks, but does not result in a degree.

If you are self-educated, and you are making a resume, you do not list "self-education" under education. You list up through high school, or whatever education you did receive. The self-education part shows up under your achievement and work history part of your resume.

People with specific college training for a well-defined task (ie, foresters, doctors, lawyers, etc.) need a good resume. For the rest of us, I've found that I have NEVER had a job that required a resume. I have given out my resume many times, and never been hired off it. The best jobs I have had (including my present one) have been ones where I never even filled out an application.

If you just want to go to college and "get an education" then go for it. Just please justify that the cost in time and money is worth it.

[acl2]

My point was an education would be a good thing to have to fall back on when he decides his plan may not work out, and as far as your "B average" I did not at all mean to question your intelligence. I have personally never handed out my resume either, but I have been employed by my families logging business since early in high school. I did not at all need a college degree to continue doing my job, but I am still very happy I did. I bring new ideas and techniques into the company and have a respected opinion, which makes me feel pretty good being a 22 year old kid around veteran loggers. All this talk really isn't contributing to the topic though so I'm done here.           

[Okrafarmer]

Sorry, I shouldn't have gone on about it.  :-\