Operational Business Plan (4th year commercial beekeeping business)

Established in 2019 in Revelstoke BC, BeeKind Honey Bees operated with 80 hives until April 2021. In April 2021, BeeKind Honey Bees purchased an existing reputable 100 colony beekeeping operation in Armstrong BC (1.5hrs from Revelstoke). Now operating at 250+ colonies our focus is diverse between, bee stock sales (Nucleus colonies and Mated queens) in the spring, beekeeping education opportunities for youth and adults spring and summer, and raw honey production harvested in the fall. We operate mostly through our ecommerce website www.beekindhoneybees.ca and social media. We have invested in developing a basic operational business plan through an online platform called https://www.liveplan.com that is integrated with our QuickBooks Online account providing real time financial data. Now that we are in our fourth year of operation, and have defined our operational scope and business model, we would like to update our business plan to a point where it can attract small business lending, business support, grant opportunities, and potential investment. We're open to extending collaborative access to our LivePlan account to have it finalized there (ideally) or cutting and pasting a formal business plan in your preferred format into our LivePlan account. Our provincial apiculture office offers a Business Plan guide for agricultural producers focused on Beekeeping that could be very useful. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/agriculture-and-seafood/animal-and-crops/animal-production/bee-assets/api_beekeeper-business-plan.pdf Additionally, we are considering the purchase of an established beeswax candle company to compliment our operations and fill in the slower operational times. The business is https://beeswaxworks.ca/. They retail candles through their ecommerce website, and wholesale to roughly 50 accounts. The purchase of this business would require financing, and a suitable business plan to go represent our operations. We currently have not started a formal Marketing Plan, however are applying to Riipen for this as our second project. We're open to a shared collaboration between the two plans for the greatest consistency and optimized effort.

BeeKind Honey Bees (Marketing Strategy)

BeeKind Honey Bees is a small commercial beekeeping (apiculture) operation based in Revesltoke BC. This company started in January 2019 on a bootstrap budget with no formal branding/ identity. Each fall we offer annual honey sales in increasing volume as we grow our operation. In addition to raw liquid honey, we offer bee pollen, bulk beeswax, and have started selling four frame nucleus colonies (to start a new hive, replace winter losses, and increase operation sizes). I would like to develop a marketing plan/ strategy that takes into account available opportunites through various media (social, photo, video, online, etc.)

BeeKind Honey Bees (Branding & Product Labelling)

BeeKind Honey Bees is a small commercial beekeeping (apiculture) operation based in Revesltoke BC. This company started in January 2019 on a bootstrap budget with no formal branding/ identity. Each fall we offer annual honey sales in increasing volume as we grow our operation. In addition to raw liquid honey, we offer bee pollen, bulk beeswax, and have started selling four frame nucleus colonies (to start a new hive, replace winter losses, and increase operation sizes). I would like to establish a brand identity, logo, consistent marketing (look, feel, messaging) up to and including (CFIA) Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved lables for 2 size honey jars (500ml, 1kg) and 3 bulk buckets (3kg, 5kg, 15kg) that will allow me to break into the retail market, getting away from the basic farm gate lables I currently make.

BeeKind Honey Bees SEO

BeeKind Honey Bees is a small commercial beekeeping (apiculture) operation based in Revesltoke BC. This company started in January 2019 on a bootstrap budget with no formal branding/ identity. Each fall we offer annual honey sales in increasing volume as we grow our operation. In addition to raw liquid honey, we offer bee pollen, bulk beeswax, and have started selling four frame nucleus colonies (to start a new hive, replace winter losses, and increase operation sizes). I would like to increase searchability for the products and services offered through my self made squarespace website with ecwid store that was created October 2020. I understand the value of SEO, but feel overwhelmed by the effort to complete effectively.