With it still being early in the New Year, are you thinking about ways to expand your boarding barn business this year? If business has been thriving, it may be time to take on additional boarders, expand your service offerings, or otherwise build your business and increase its profitability. The following strategies can help you break down the task of expanding your business into more manageable steps.
Update Your Business Plan
When expanding your boarding barn business, chances are that you’ll want to bring on additional boarders. But before you start marketing and expanding, update your business plan and make sure that increasing your numbers makes financial sense. Upping your numbers can mean that you’ll need to hire additional help. Make sure that the increased board income you’ll receive justifies the increased expenses that you’ll face.
Find an Unmet Need
It’s easy to set a goal of bringing in a certain number of new boarders, but actually drawing those boarders to your facility can be more of a challenge. Sit down and take a look at the local equestrian industry and the current boarding options. Try to identify whether something is missing. Asking local horse owners and spending some time on your regional Facebook groups may also give you some insight to this.
Ultimately, your goal is to find an unmet need that your business can naturally offer to horse owners. For instance, owners might be hard-pressed to find a boarding option where they can put their horse into full training with a talented trainer. Or, you might realize that local owners are looking for lower-cost pasture board options. A facility with talented staff who can rehabilitate injured horses is another need that may be hard to find locally. There might also be a demand for particular facilities, like a cross-country course or trail obstacle course, that aren’t otherwise available locally.
If you can find a way to meet one of these needs, you can set your facility apart from the others and will be marketing to horse owners with a problem that you know you can solve.
Focus on Your Marketing
Once you’ve identified the need that you can solve, it can make your marketing easier. Revisit your marketing strategy and come up with a plan to advertise your new boarding opportunity. This may be the time to take updated photos of your barn and facilities. Think carefully about what you do differently than other barns and be sure to include that in your marketing.
Add on More Stalls
If your facility isn’t large enough to accommodate the additional boarders that you’re hoping to bring in, then it’s time for an expansion. You may want to add on to an existing barn or build a new separate barn. Before you start planning, check with your local zoning board to make sure that your property is zoned for your increased numbers.
When planning your new stable or addition, be sure that you start the project early on to account for any delays that might occur during construction. At Equine Facility Design, we can help you with your project from start to finish, including the design and construction phases. Contact us today and let us help make your expansion into a reality.