Agritourism

brisknomad6 👍

Families like yours are exactly who we should be targeting, so we really need to tailor our offerings to fit them.

Good catch. Around here, people mostly just look for ways to skin a cat or find stuff they'd normally pay way more for. $3.25 And you start seeing those earnings pretty quickly, too. $10 Regarding guests (and I’m not just talking about the Midwest, but generally speaking).

Jesse Sanchez90 said:True, but that's just you speaking—as individuals, we aren't exactly representative samples of the whole population.
On the flip side, there are plenty of people who aren't up for a trip to London every single weekend; for them, driving out to the National Park is just too exhausting.

Furthermore, when a foreign tourist visits the US, do you honestly think they're flying all this way just to go have dinner in London because nobody here offers that kind of experience?!?
French tourism, for instance, is primarily built on catering to their own domestic travelers first, and then everyone else follows because the locals are the easiest group to market to and the most likely to come back.
Foreigners aren't going to fly across the ocean just to indulge in urban tourism, let alone rural stuff. Even countries with much more sophisticated marketing strategies don't rely on pulling people into cities to survive; so where does that leave us? We only really figured out what "promotion" was last year!
At the end of the day, the reality is that foreigners often know more about our historic landmarks and show a greater interest in finding them than we do ourselves—WTF?

Forget about London for a second; I didn't bring it up because people are traveling there or because it's an alternative to agritourism. I was talking about distance and transport links, and specifically which types of guests actually end up using rural tourism. When you mention foreigners, sure, they won't fly to London for dinner, but someone from London (and I’m just using London as a symbol here—you could substitute Munich or Rome) isn't going to travel to the Midwest for agritourism because of those same issues with distance and accessibility.

brisknomad6 said:Hey... what's up? Just hanging out. 😁 Alright, well... I guess it's back to the grind then. Time to get to work. 😁

I totally get where they're coming from, you know? I mean, when you've got the whole agritourism setup going, plus all the livestock and your own land to look after... it's a lot. I guess I just completely understand why people feel that way.

Well, I guess if we're going that route, we might as well just scrap the whole tourism thing entirely. Honestly, maybe it’s better that way? Just... forget about it.

I mean, we aren't exactly running a full-blown tourism operation or anything, but we are open Friday through Sunday from 2 PM to 10 PM. Just a heads up though—we're totally closed on holidays and during the summer, so don't make the trip if you show up then! 😁
So, we’re looking at offering maybe two or three different dishes—you know, one of them would be made to order, totally custom and stuff—plus some sleeping arrangements for... $83 Maybe we could add some extra stuff too... like a little personal touch, you know? I was thinking maybe adding a walk through the orchards just to give people something more to do. Just an extra bit of flavor for the trip!

So, let's just say there's two people—plus a dog—who are basically itching to ditch the city for a quick weekend getaway. Just get outta town, you know? Grab the keys, pack a bag, and just... go.

I guess I'm just gonna be straight with you—I'm not doing any overnight stays. No way. $167 No dog, huh? Man, that’s tough. I guess life just feels a little quieter without them around, right? Maybe a bit too quiet, honestly. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me.

I mean, I’d probably drop like $250 for the three of us—that would cover the night stay plus a homemade breakfast. And honestly? I’d totally end up staying for dinner too, sipping on some local wine... maybe another $250 just for that.

So, I was thinking about the math on this... if you count the hotel breakfast at $3 per person—and let's say we're actually looking at a $5 cost per head—that would be... $25I mean, even if local food is cheaper or whatever, let's just say we went through a massive amount of bedding and burned through quite a bit of electricity... and, I don't know, maybe the dinner costs were also... $33 Man, I mean, we’ve already blown through half the budget—there's still some left for them, I guess. $83

If they’ve got any sense at all, they’ll just sell me ten eggs, a loaf of bread straight out of the oven, a couple bottles of wine, and a bag of frozen porcini mushrooms. That's basically the dream, I guess. 😉 So, like, maybe I could actually pull in another couple hundred bucks from this? I mean, who knows, right? Maybe. It's probably worth a shot, I guess.

So, if we're actually happy with how things are turning out, I guess we might head out for a couple of weekends with some friends... or, hey, maybe we just send the old folks off for a weekend getaway and boom—there's our little side hustle right there. Not like a massive payday or anything, obviously, but you know, it works!

I mean, honestly, they don't even have any... $83

Yeah, I totally get it. I know some people are gonna jump in now and start whining that it’s too small or that it just isn't worth the hassle... but honestly, I gotta ask—how exactly is it supposed to be "worth it" to them if they're just sitting there staring at empty rooms?

Wait, wait... that’s exactly where the catch is. For this kind of thing to actually work, you really need everything consolidated in one spot. Or, at the very least, you’d have to distribute the roles across the entire town: one person provides the milk, another handles the bread, a third preps the beans, a fourth manages the livestock, a fifth offers the lodging, and a sixth comes up with all the entertainment... That’s the only way it makes any sense! But honestly? I’m worried our people just don't have the vision. They lack the resources because they can't even get access to decent credit. Meanwhile, the government is busy throwing subsidies at phantom businesses—take that jam farm right next door to the refinery near Sisak, for example. Seriously, does the government actually believe that imaginary jam is going to make guests glow brighter at night? ????

brisknomad6 said:Hey... what's up? Just hanging out. 😁 Alright, well... I guess it's back to the grind then. Time to get to work. 😁

I totally get where they're coming from, you know? I mean, when you've got the whole agritourism setup going, plus all the livestock and your own land to look after... it's a lot. I guess I just completely understand why people feel that way.

Well, I guess if we're going that route, we might as well just scrap the whole tourism thing entirely. Honestly, maybe it’s better that way? Just... forget about it.

I mean, we aren't exactly running a full-blown tourism operation or anything, but we are open Friday through Sunday from 2 PM to 10 PM. Just a heads up though—we're totally closed on holidays and during the summer, so don't make the trip if you show up then! 😁
So, we’re looking at offering maybe two or three different dishes—you know, one of them would be made to order, totally custom and stuff—plus some sleeping arrangements for... $83 Maybe we could add some extra stuff too... like a little personal touch, you know? I was thinking maybe adding a walk through the orchards just to give people something more to do. Just an extra bit of flavor for the trip!

So, let's just say there's two people—plus a dog—who are basically itching to ditch the city for a quick weekend getaway. Just get outta town, you know? Grab the keys, pack a bag, and just... go.

I guess I'm just gonna be straight with you—I'm not doing any overnight stays. No way. $167 No dog, huh? Man, that’s tough. I guess life just feels a little quieter without them around, right? Maybe a bit too quiet, honestly. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me.

I mean, I’d probably drop like $250 for the three of us—that would cover the night stay plus a homemade breakfast. And honestly? I’d totally end up staying for dinner too, sipping on some local wine... maybe another $250 just for that.

So, I was thinking about the math on this... if you count the hotel breakfast at $3 per person—and let's say we're actually looking at a $5 cost per head—that would be... $25I mean, even if local food is cheaper or whatever, let's just say we went through a massive amount of bedding and burned through quite a bit of electricity... and, I don't know, maybe the dinner costs were also... $33 Man, I mean, we’ve already blown through half the budget—there's still some left for them, I guess. $83

If they’ve got any sense at all, they’ll just sell me ten eggs, a loaf of bread straight out of the oven, a couple bottles of wine, and a bag of frozen porcini mushrooms. That's basically the dream, I guess. 😉 So, like, maybe I could actually pull in another couple hundred bucks from this? I mean, who knows, right? Maybe. It's probably worth a shot, I guess.

So, if we're actually happy with how things are turning out, I guess we might head out for a couple of weekends with some friends... or, hey, maybe we just send the old folks off for a weekend getaway and boom—there's our little side hustle right there. Not like a massive payday or anything, obviously, but you know, it works!

I mean, honestly, they don't even have any... $83

Yeah, I totally get it. I know some people are gonna jump in now and start whining that it’s too small or that it just isn't worth the hassle... but honestly, I gotta ask—how exactly is it supposed to be "worth it" to them if they're just sitting there staring at empty rooms?

Breakfast prices have already climbed to at least 5 USD over in the European Union, and let's be honest—we're famous for just being experts at the whole copy-paste routine.

brisknomad6 said:Hey... what's up? Just hanging out. 😁 Alright, well... I guess it's back to the grind then. Time to get to work. 😁

I totally get where they're coming from, you know? I mean, when you've got the whole agritourism setup going, plus all the livestock and your own land to look after... it's a lot. I guess I just completely understand why people feel that way.

Well, I guess if we're going that route, we might as well just scrap the whole tourism thing entirely. Honestly, maybe it’s better that way? Just... forget about it.

I mean, we aren't exactly running a full-blown tourism operation or anything, but we are open Friday through Sunday from 2 PM to 10 PM. Just a heads up though—we're totally closed on holidays and during the summer, so don't make the trip if you show up then! 😁
So, we’re looking at offering maybe two or three different dishes—you know, one of them would be made to order, totally custom and stuff—plus some sleeping arrangements for... $83 Maybe we could add some extra stuff too... like a little personal touch, you know? I was thinking maybe adding a walk through the orchards just to give people something more to do. Just an extra bit of flavor for the trip!

So, let's just say there's two people—plus a dog—who are basically itching to ditch the city for a quick weekend getaway. Just get outta town, you know? Grab the keys, pack a bag, and just... go.

I guess I'm just gonna be straight with you—I'm not doing any overnight stays. No way. $167 No dog, huh? Man, that’s tough. I guess life just feels a little quieter without them around, right? Maybe a bit too quiet, honestly. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me.

I mean, I’d probably drop like $250 for the three of us—that would cover the night stay plus a homemade breakfast. And honestly? I’d totally end up staying for dinner too, sipping on some local wine... maybe another $250 just for that.

So, I was thinking about the math on this... if you count the hotel breakfast at $3 per person—and let's say we're actually looking at a $5 cost per head—that would be... $25I mean, even if local food is cheaper or whatever, let's just say we went through a massive amount of bedding and burned through quite a bit of electricity... and, I don't know, maybe the dinner costs were also... $33 Man, I mean, we’ve already blown through half the budget—there's still some left for them, I guess. $83

If they’ve got any sense at all, they’ll just sell me ten eggs, a loaf of bread straight out of the oven, a couple bottles of wine, and a bag of frozen porcini mushrooms. That's basically the dream, I guess. 😉 So, like, maybe I could actually pull in another couple hundred bucks from this? I mean, who knows, right? Maybe. It's probably worth a shot, I guess.

So, if we're actually happy with how things are turning out, I guess we might head out for a couple of weekends with some friends... or, hey, maybe we just send the old folks off for a weekend getaway and boom—there's our little side hustle right there. Not like a massive payday or anything, obviously, but you know, it works!

I mean, honestly, they don't even have any... $83

Yeah, I totally get it. I know some people are gonna jump in now and start whining that it’s too small or that it just isn't worth the hassle... but honestly, I gotta ask—how exactly is it supposed to be "worth it" to them if they're just sitting there staring at empty rooms?

Honestly, when it comes to this kind of thing, you really need to have some level of sanitary standards in place. You need people running the household who actually understand and respect those rules, and every single product used has to be thoroughly vetted. It’s just common sense!

brisknomad6 said:Hey... what's up? Just hanging out. 😁 Alright, well... I guess it's back to the grind then. Time to get to work. 😁

I totally get where they're coming from, you know? I mean, when you've got the whole agritourism setup going, plus all the livestock and your own land to look after... it's a lot. I guess I just completely understand why people feel that way.

Well, I guess if we're going that route, we might as well just scrap the whole tourism thing entirely. Honestly, maybe it’s better that way? Just... forget about it.

I mean, we aren't exactly running a full-blown tourism operation or anything, but we are open Friday through Sunday from 2 PM to 10 PM. Just a heads up though—we're totally closed on holidays and during the summer, so don't make the trip if you show up then! 😁
So, we’re looking at offering maybe two or three different dishes—you know, one of them would be made to order, totally custom and stuff—plus some sleeping arrangements for... $83 Maybe we could add some extra stuff too... like a little personal touch, you know? I was thinking maybe adding a walk through the orchards just to give people something more to do. Just an extra bit of flavor for the trip!

So, let's just say there's two people—plus a dog—who are basically itching to ditch the city for a quick weekend getaway. Just get outta town, you know? Grab the keys, pack a bag, and just... go.

I guess I'm just gonna be straight with you—I'm not doing any overnight stays. No way. $167 No dog, huh? Man, that’s tough. I guess life just feels a little quieter without them around, right? Maybe a bit too quiet, honestly. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me.

I mean, I’d probably drop like $250 for the three of us—that would cover the night stay plus a homemade breakfast. And honestly? I’d totally end up staying for dinner too, sipping on some local wine... maybe another $250 just for that.

So, I was thinking about the math on this... if you count the hotel breakfast at $3 per person—and let's say we're actually looking at a $5 cost per head—that would be... $25I mean, even if local food is cheaper or whatever, let's just say we went through a massive amount of bedding and burned through quite a bit of electricity... and, I don't know, maybe the dinner costs were also... $33 Man, I mean, we’ve already blown through half the budget—there's still some left for them, I guess. $83

If they’ve got any sense at all, they’ll just sell me ten eggs, a loaf of bread straight out of the oven, a couple bottles of wine, and a bag of frozen porcini mushrooms. That's basically the dream, I guess. 😉 So, like, maybe I could actually pull in another couple hundred bucks from this? I mean, who knows, right? Maybe. It's probably worth a shot, I guess.

So, if we're actually happy with how things are turning out, I guess we might head out for a couple of weekends with some friends... or, hey, maybe we just send the old folks off for a weekend getaway and boom—there's our little side hustle right there. Not like a massive payday or anything, obviously, but you know, it works!

I mean, honestly, they don't even have any... $83

Yeah, I totally get it. I know some people are gonna jump in now and start whining that it’s too small or that it just isn't worth the hassle... but honestly, I gotta ask—how exactly is it supposed to be "worth it" to them if they're just sitting there staring at empty rooms?

And to wrap things up—tourism is fundamentally built on local guests and easily accessible travelers. But here’s the real kicker: how do you build something sustainable for the long haul when a huge chunk of the nation isn't working, is living off social assistance, or is just content with those tiny crumbs of imaginary incentives handed out through connections? Or consider the massive number of people working in the US for peanuts...

Whether it's symptomatic or not, where does tourism actually thrive? Is it driven by pure curiosity?
It thrives where the standard of living is high enough that the average citizen can actually afford it. That creates a whole web of interdependent categories that eventually turn into a meaningful industry once there's an economic engine behind it. Honestly, I'm afraid we won't be able to count on that until much closer to fully integrating with the global economy. And I don't mean that things will suddenly start flowing like milk and honey—rather, that only then will the focus shift to: work, work, and more work.

Yesterday, there was an article in the Evening News about a woman on a TV show who basically presented a lie—she featured this guy who supposedly has a regular job but somehow owns a Porsche and a massive mansion. Now, we're all left scratching our heads, even though logically speaking: undermining the value of hard work is one of the worst things that can happen to a country and its society. It's like we think we can just outsmart the textbooks.

Charles Ramos7 said:Forget about London for a second; I didn't bring it up because people are traveling there or because it's an alternative to agritourism. I was talking about distance and transport links, and specifically which types of guests actually end up using rural tourism. When you mention foreigners, sure, they won't fly to London for dinner, but someone from London (and I’m just using London as a symbol here—you could substitute Munich or Rome) isn't going to travel to the Midwest for agritourism because of those same issues with distance and accessibility.

I completely understand that we're talking about symbolic destinations here—and honestly, I’m thinking along much the same lines. But let's be clear: my intention isn't to bury our local tourism industry or throw dirt on the whole operation. What I'm really trying to do is propose a solid concept and pinpoint exactly where things are starting to go sideways.

Honestly, we all have those days where we really crave something specific, but because fulfilling that wish for Washington, D.C. just isn't feasible right now, we simply head over to the neighboring areas where we already know all the best spots.

I honestly didn't think anyone would be traveling all the way from London just to join us for an agritourism dinner here! 🤣 Since he’s already here—we aren't actually going to send him off to some local grocery store like a broke traveler would, right?😂

When it comes to traffic connections, the Midwest has had that highway for decades now, but honestly? It’s basically a ghost road. Nobody actually drives on it. We were heading out toward Small Town, USA, and we barely saw a single car—unless, of course, you count the one vehicle that was probably just on a massive cross-country trek! But still... An American through and through just doesn't drive like that.What exactly is the fundamental basis for exploiting the Canadian highway?😕 Even if a local driver isn't directly topping up their toll account because they have a subsidized vignette price, they’re still contributing. In a way, every resident benefits from this system; whether you're paying for a sticker or just filling up your tank, you’re effectively helping fund that highway. There’s this common misconception among people here that if they aren't out on the road driving, the highway doesn't concern them. That couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, through various taxes baked into everything from the price of gasoline to the cost of an annual vehicle inspection, everyone is chipping in to cover the construction and maintenance of those roads. It's all interconnected.

Charles Ramos7 said:brisknomad6 👍

Families like yours are exactly who we should be targeting, so we really need to tailor our offerings to fit them.

Good catch. Around here, people mostly just look for ways to skin a cat or find stuff they'd normally pay way more for. $3.25 And you start seeing those earnings pretty quickly, too. $10 Regarding guests (and I’m not just talking about the Midwest, but generally speaking).

With that "factor of 3" you mentioned, you’re actually landing right in the middle of what Tomić calls the "optimist" category... 😍

If you were to walk up to some guy out in rural, small-town America and tell him, "Hey, you could actually pull in an extra ten thousand dollars a year from tourism," he’d probably just look at you like you've lost your mind and say, "You're crazy!"

But, I guess, if someone actually sat down and walked him through the logistics—if they showed him exactly how to make it happen and gave him a little nudge of encouragement... well, if the government actually stepped up with a concrete, coherent plan instead of just winging it, then maybe, just maybe, he might actually listen. I honestly get this nagging feeling that anyone in this country who tries to build something legitimate from scratch immediately hits a brick wall of pure, unadulterated resistance.

Let me give you a super basic, almost cliché example to illustrate what I mean... there’s this specific stretch of highway somewhere in the States—I won't name names here—but to actually make it profitable, you'd need something like 12,000 cars passing through every single day, yet it's barely seeing 3,000. And yet, someone went ahead and built it anyway. Why? Because it’s clearly just a way to wash massive amounts of cash. Now, I hear they’re planning to extend highways all the way down toward Venice using borrowed money, too. Just imagine if that kind of staggering amount of capital was actually funneled into tourism instead. In my opinion, tourism should be the absolute backbone, or at least one of the main pillars, of this country's economy. If we invested in projects to extend the travel season or developed tourism in regions that currently have nothing, it would pay off tenfold. Seriously, man, let's build the roads and the infrastructure once we actually have people who can afford to drive on them! But no, that’s not how things work here; everything seems to be backwards. And honestly, there are a million examples just like this where the money is being thrown into the wrong holes.

From what I’ve been seeing regarding the money flow, the larger portion of the funds coming from the European Union will be distributed through various grants...

It’s the same story for farmers out in the rural areas, too; they can tap into those EU funds to kickstart their own agritourism ventures, but there’s always that catch where you have to actually step up and risk your own hard-earned cash, which, if you ask me, is the single biggest hurdle we face here in America...

Not to mention all the usual headaches involving politics and endless bureaucracy, of course...
But honestly, the real issue lies with the people themselves, those who just can't seem to pull the trigger and make a decision to get moving...
I mean, why should the government have to sit down and explain to someone what’s good for them and what isn't?

And who exactly is supposed to educate them, tell me? I mean, a farmer out in the rural Midwest working twelve-hour shifts in the fields... how is he even supposed to surf the web or figure out all this digital stuff? Someone’s got to step up, give him a nudge, and actually explain things. And take the older folks living out in the Dalmatian Hinterland, for instance... how on earth are they going to navigate the internet when they don't even know it exists??? ... In my opinion, that was a pretty mindless comment... specifically that part about "Why should the government help someone if they won't help themselves"!!

exactly, there’s really no point in trying to educate them... it's better if they just focus on their own work, and then eventually someone else steps up to take over the reins, you know, like their son, or a nephew, or some other relative...

I mean, why on earth would a farmer want to deal with this? Why should he be expected to pivot his whole life toward tourism?
The older folks living out in the {{Dalmatian Hinterland}}... they aren't going to find it easy at all to jump into the tourism industry, believe me, I know from experience...😉
Of course, the local municipality ought to offer support to anyone who actually shows interest, but according to your logic, someone should be going door-to-door, practically begging people to see that tourism is a good path to take, while the rest of us are just supposed to foot the bill for it all...🤷

Well, I’m not talking about door-to-door visits or anything like that... but what would you think about an organized town hall meeting over at the local municipality in Small Town, USA? You know, where someone actually shows up to sit down with the farmers and walk them through how they might realistically pull in an extra $2k, $5k, or even $10k...

It’s kind of like when a farmer just plants wheat or turnips because, well, it’s the easiest thing to do, right? But then at the end of the season, they’re basically broke because nobody wants to buy their stuff since everyone else is selling the exact same thing... so, if someone could just point out that maybe, just maybe, they could make a much better profit off a different type of crop... that's more along the lines of what I'm getting at...

cosmicviper10 said:If you were to walk up to some guy out in rural, small-town America and tell him, "Hey, you could actually pull in an extra ten thousand dollars a year from tourism," he’d probably just look at you like you've lost your mind and say, "You're crazy!"

But, I guess, if someone actually sat down and walked him through the logistics—if they showed him exactly how to make it happen and gave him a little nudge of encouragement... well, if the government actually stepped up with a concrete, coherent plan instead of just winging it, then maybe, just maybe, he might actually listen. I honestly get this nagging feeling that anyone in this country who tries to build something legitimate from scratch immediately hits a brick wall of pure, unadulterated resistance.

Let me give you a super basic, almost cliché example to illustrate what I mean... there’s this specific stretch of highway somewhere in the States—I won't name names here—but to actually make it profitable, you'd need something like 12,000 cars passing through every single day, yet it's barely seeing 3,000. And yet, someone went ahead and built it anyway. Why? Because it’s clearly just a way to wash massive amounts of cash. Now, I hear they’re planning to extend highways all the way down toward Venice using borrowed money, too. Just imagine if that kind of staggering amount of capital was actually funneled into tourism instead. In my opinion, tourism should be the absolute backbone, or at least one of the main pillars, of this country's economy. If we invested in projects to extend the travel season or developed tourism in regions that currently have nothing, it would pay off tenfold. Seriously, man, let's build the roads and the infrastructure once we actually have people who can afford to drive on them! But no, that’s not how things work here; everything seems to be backwards. And honestly, there are a million examples just like this where the money is being thrown into the wrong holes.

I don't think we should lump these things together. Agritourism—like a family farm stay—is a completely different beast than the classic beachfront hotel scene. Telling a farmer he'll pull in massive profits from tourism is just plain dishonest.

What you actually tell them is that they'll still be working 12-hour days in the fields, plus adding a few more hours to play host to spoiled tourists, all just to find a better market for their crops. The whole point of a farm stay is the lodging and selling food they grew themselves.

As for tourism in general, building the roads wasn't the mistake. The problem is the lack of follow-through. If a road needs 12,000 cars a day to be profitable, and each car carries three people, we need the hotels to house them. But we won't build those either because of protected coastal zones, a mountain of stupid regulations, corruption, and all this green bureaucracy.

I mean, if he’s just going to grind away year after year turning out the exact same stuff as everyone else, then he’s never actually going to see any real profit... 🤷

He won't really be touching those kinds of numbers until he's put in maybe five or six years of hard labor 😉 (we're talking around $5,500)
Honestly, instead of just throwing money down the drain on stadium seats or whatever, it would be way more efficient to just lend that cash to someone who actually wants to make a go of it

It would be much better if things were organized through cooperatives—though, let's face it, that’s always been the biggest headache here, all that fear of collaboration and the sheer inability to reach an agreement... but if they did, you'd have everything streamlined, from the cattle farmers to the guys running rental properties and everything in between
But hey, don't feel too bad about it, this isn't just our local struggle, so there's your small consolation

I mean, I totally agree... cooperatives are honestly just the perfect solution for so many different things, if you think about it...

cosmicviper10 said:Well, I’m not talking about door-to-door visits or anything like that... but what would you think about an organized town hall meeting over at the local municipality in Small Town, USA? You know, where someone actually shows up to sit down with the farmers and walk them through how they might realistically pull in an extra $2k, $5k, or even $10k...

It’s kind of like when a farmer just plants wheat or turnips because, well, it’s the easiest thing to do, right? But then at the end of the season, they’re basically broke because nobody wants to buy their stuff since everyone else is selling the exact same thing... so, if someone could just point out that maybe, just maybe, they could make a much better profit off a different type of crop... that's more along the lines of what I'm getting at...

Why? Honestly, I'm gonna be a little selfish here, if you don't mind me saying.

Who gave me an entrepreneurship course eight years ago? Who gave me any kind of break on my taxes or social security contributions back then? Who bought me equipment for my business or handed me a grant eight years ago?

Nobody. 🙄

So why on earth should we be handing out funds or teaching them all about tax obligations when we don't do that for any other private business owner out there? 😉

But, okay, looking at it from the heart... I'm definitely all for the government helping EVERYONE who starts a private business—people who might one day be the ones driving production and filling up the state treasury.

Like, show an entrepreneur how to file their sales tax, or have the government handle the paperwork for them until they finally hit enough revenue to afford their own accountant.

Maybe waive those payroll taxes for the first month or so.

Or subsidize equipment costs for the first year or two (for example, if you buy software, maybe skip the sales tax or customs fees).

And don't go chasing down sales tax that a small firm hasn't even collected yet.

Keep those social security contributions at a minimum for small contractors.

And give them a reward if they stay on top of their payments to the government.

But it has to be for EVERYONE, not just hand-picked favorites, because honestly, playing favorites just isn't fair. 🙂

brisknomad6 said:Why? Honestly, I'm gonna be a little selfish here, if you don't mind me saying.

Who gave me an entrepreneurship course eight years ago? Who gave me any kind of break on my taxes or social security contributions back then? Who bought me equipment for my business or handed me a grant eight years ago?

Nobody. 🙄

So why on earth should we be handing out funds or teaching them all about tax obligations when we don't do that for any other private business owner out there? 😉

But, okay, looking at it from the heart... I'm definitely all for the government helping EVERYONE who starts a private business—people who might one day be the ones driving production and filling up the state treasury.

Like, show an entrepreneur how to file their sales tax, or have the government handle the paperwork for them until they finally hit enough revenue to afford their own accountant.

Maybe waive those payroll taxes for the first month or so.

Or subsidize equipment costs for the first year or two (for example, if you buy software, maybe skip the sales tax or customs fees).

And don't go chasing down sales tax that a small firm hasn't even collected yet.

Keep those social security contributions at a minimum for small contractors.

And give them a reward if they stay on top of their payments to the government.

But it has to be for EVERYONE, not just hand-picked favorites, because honestly, playing favorites just isn't fair. 🙂

It’s probably because then offering incentives would actually make sense—because people would actually have to earn their keep. Right now, these incentives are being handed out without anyone checking if anyone is even planting anything or doing actual work. It ends up feeling more like a substitute for traditional humanitarian or social welfare, but unlike those types of aid, this doesn't actually multiply profits.
We’re paying into the budget regardless, so why not use it to actually educate people properly? We could encourage them to earn their own way while also keeping Shuki happy so he doesn't leave us saddling our great-grandchildren with debt. Everything we do is built on trade and tax policy—just like how it used to be at the old customs houses, and how it is today in the IRS offices.
It’s tradition, really...

Richard Lewis16 said:I mean, if he’s just going to grind away year after year turning out the exact same stuff as everyone else, then he’s never actually going to see any real profit... 🤷

He won't really be touching those kinds of numbers until he's put in maybe five or six years of hard labor 😉 (we're talking around $5,500)
Honestly, instead of just throwing money down the drain on stadium seats or whatever, it would be way more efficient to just lend that cash to someone who actually wants to make a go of it

It would be much better if things were organized through cooperatives—though, let's face it, that’s always been the biggest headache here, all that fear of collaboration and the sheer inability to reach an agreement... but if they did, you'd have everything streamlined, from the cattle farmers to the guys running rental properties and everything in between
But hey, don't feel too bad about it, this isn't just our local struggle, so there's your small consolation

You're overlooking a "major" obstacle—even though we live in this weird, mutated version of socialized capitalism, how are you supposed to convince someone to join an association similar to what they had back in the old communist days? Nobody's interested in going back to that mindset... 🙄
Even though forming these groups is the most logical way for small producers to band together and defend themselves against the corporate sharks in wholesale, there's already enough literature out there written on napkins about why we need to scale up to get products into markets.

First off, we need to "untether" people from government handouts...

On a side note, I'm curious about how everyone defines "making a living." It's not like anyone is out there begging in the countryside, and housing isn't exactly cheap either. Most people in the big cities can only dream of what life is like out here, especially since they have to buy every single scrap of food they eat...

Richard Lewis16 said:exactly, there’s really no point in trying to educate them... it's better if they just focus on their own work, and then eventually someone else steps up to take over the reins, you know, like their son, or a nephew, or some other relative...

I mean, why on earth would a farmer want to deal with this? Why should he be expected to pivot his whole life toward tourism?
The older folks living out in the {{Dalmatian Hinterland}}... they aren't going to find it easy at all to jump into the tourism industry, believe me, I know from experience...😉
Of course, the local municipality ought to offer support to anyone who actually shows interest, but according to your logic, someone should be going door-to-door, practically begging people to see that tourism is a good path to take, while the rest of us are just supposed to foot the bill for it all...🤷

Believe it or not, that’s actually how the whole process works when you're trying to secure funding from the European Union: the government has to chip in a specific amount just to make the competition viable in the first place. Essentially, the bureaucrats in various agencies and departments are supposed to encourage people to join the system. However, the real issue is that someone actually has to draft the proposal, organize everything perfectly, and submit the paperwork. In our neck of the woods, that's where everything usually falls apart.

As for the farmers—they don't *have* to do anything. But if they choose not to participate, then they shouldn't be receiving subsidies for things they aren't doing, nor should they be competing for social assistance if they are perfectly capable of working.

Getting our hands on this money from the European Union is going to be an uphill battle because they require us to match every cent with our own funds, and frankly, we don't have the capital unless we put our very homes on the line... On top of that, they demand perfectly organized paperwork and all sorts of permits, which, let’s be honest, is nothing short of a pipe dream in this country. You hear people down by the coast complaining that tourism isn't paying out enough, yet here we are being told to develop rural areas, but if you ask me, I don't see that ever actually happening...

Sam Murphy said:Getting our hands on this money from the European Union is going to be an uphill battle because they require us to match every cent with our own funds, and frankly, we don't have the capital unless we put our very homes on the line... On top of that, they demand perfectly organized paperwork and all sorts of permits, which, let’s be honest, is nothing short of a pipe dream in this country. You hear people down by the coast complaining that tourism isn't paying out enough, yet here we are being told to develop rural areas, but if you ask me, I don't see that ever actually happening...

You’ve got a point in the first half of what you said, but this whole thing about the coast just feels like constant complaining to me...
I mean, how else are they supposed to make a living during the off-season? And why on earth do they keep coming back to such a grueling, low-reward grind year after year?🙄

I’ve been reading through all your posts, and honestly, the only thing I can say is—there’s a grain of truth in everything being said here.
The reality of the situation is just plain depressing. Truly sad.
I have some friends living in a gorgeous part of the American Midwest—young, smart people, some even with specialized degrees in hospitality management—who really wanted to get an agritourism project off the ground.🙏 We're talking cozy lodging, guided excursions, farm-to-table food grown right on the property, scenic hikes across a massive, beautiful estate...
But once they actually stepped up to the plate? Once they presented the plan to the local authorities, went to the bank, hit up the county offices, and dealt with those endless federal departments and agencies... well, when they were handed a mountain of paperwork requiring every single permit, certification, and clearance imaginable, and then the bank had the nerve to quote them a 12% interest rate on a loan—they just threw in the towel.
Now, they just run things under the radar, serving a few hunters and lost bikers on the side.