>If the writer of the above had created a business model for himself
 >that was self-sustaining and did work, why then would he not sell
 >it as an ongoing business rather than liquidate it - saying "no
 >reasonable offer refused" for mountains of equipment?

I'm going to treat this as a serious question, although I'm not
sure it was intended that way.

Frankly, I'm a little puzzled why you would care
since I am not advocating doing anything the way I do it and
since I have detailed all that information and more in my public
diary at http://honeybeeworld.com/diary/ and do not make any
claims about any business model or specific ways to keep bees.

Anyhow, I'll go over it again since I am sure the question is of
interest to many who are trying to figure out which way to jump.

When I was retiring other commercial beekeepers came over and
asked me how best to sell out when the time came because they
had seen other beekeepers beaten up badly by selling at auction,
and other outfits sit years without a serious buyer showing up.
The owner had to deal with tire kickers form time to time and
had no clear idea when he would be free, if ever.

Let's get one thing straight right off.  I do not claim to be
the best example or even an example at all.

I tell anyone who will listen that I have made the same mistakes
over and over and am still making mistakes.  I invite
people to look over my shoulder and watch me make more mistakes.

On the other hand, I think that anyone who claims to have all
the answers owes it to the public to reveal relevant info
about the results of his or here methods.  It is only fair to
those who are expected to invest their time and money into it.

There are a number of reasons I chose the method of selling
that I did, the first of which is that my approach was the most
obvious way to make the quickest, greatest and most certain
return.  Selling a bee business is not easy and can take years.
There are some Alberta bee businesses that have been for sale
for ten years.

In spite of my many miscalculations over the years, I did quite
well in the bee business -- once I figured out that it was a
business, not an idealistic pursuit, and that I needed to find
successful models and turn my back on the advice of the crazies
who write and speak convincingly, but advocate a route that leads
to a lot of useless work, under-performance, disappointment and
hardship.

Why did I not sell my operation as an ongoing business? I would
have loved to sell, it to my employees and looked into that
as an option, but none of them had what it took in terms of
management ability, psychology or financial depth to step up and
take charge of an operation that size.

Additionally, one of the reasons we sold when we did was that
the market was peaking -- I sold a truckload at $2.50 / lb! -- and
swift action was necessary to capture the prices at the time.

Moreover, our buildings were not for sale as my wife is strongly
attached to the property, and besides, our facilities were not
designed for beekeeping. We made do with an old school and when
pollination demand decreased, we  reached a point where we had
to pour in a half million or sell down.  Being the ages were
were, investing further did not look wise since the payback would
be over 15 years and building and them selling would guarantee
a loss.

As it worked out, we did very well.  Selling was fun, and we
were in the clear in about a year.

I imagine some will understand all this and some won't, including
the one who asked, but there it is.  It was a good business
decision, executed well, with excellent results.

Questions?

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm