Is the $1,000 egg worth it?
My family has made four attempts at being egg farmers.
The longest attempt lasted a year and a half, and the shortest attempt lasted less than four months. The first three attempts ended similarly, with predators killing our hens. This article is about attempt #4.
This picture is of our first egg from our fourth flock. I call it the $1,000 egg because that is the actual financial cost required to create an environment where we successfully received this egg from a hen.
In addition to the financial cost I also gave up dozens of hours to learn the things required to keep the chickens safe and putting in the time/labor needed to keep them safe.
We didn’t decide to invest the time and money to start flock #4, hoping to obtain a single egg. That would have been stupid, there is no way I am letting anyone eat a $1,000 egg, no one will buy a single chicken egg for $1,000, and eventually the egg will go bad and be worthless. We made the investment because we perceived we could reasonably obtain thousands of eggs and that the initial cost would eventually be worth the investment.
Quick chicken facts
You don’t need a rooster for hens to lay eggs
A healthy layer hen will produce 5-7 eggs per week
So the math on our current flock of 15 hens is over a year the number of eggs produced will reduce our initial investment per egg to $0.25. And if they live five years, it’s reduced to $0.05 per egg. $0.05 per egg is worth the investment.
The cost of buying the same quantity of eggs during a five year span would be between $5,000-$6,500. So, in reality, the initial investment will save my family $4,000-$5,500.
The math doesn’t lie; it’s totally worth the investment. And experience reveals that without the upfront investment, we lose big, like 45 chickens that died because I cut corners on the investment big.
So what?
There will be an initial cost to anything new you try.
It could be a financial cost, a time commitment, or it could cost you physically/mentally/emotionally. In reality, it will likely cost you some combination of these things.
Foolish folks decide if they should start something new based solely on the start-up costs. They ignore the reality that anything with a start-up cost of $0.00 is too good to be true. They may have never heard how there is no such thing as a free lunch or there is no such thing as free progress towards a new goal. Foolish people look for cheap alternatives to the actual investment required.
Wise folks decide to move forward not based on the initial cost but based on this simple formula.
When benefits are greater than investment + sacrifice, wise folks make the investment and go for it.
This simple chart could help you figure out if an investment you are considering is worth it and how confident you can reasonably be about achieving the outcome.
But don’t make decisions that require an investment on an island. Engage others in the process. Your community of trusted advisors is a great resource when thinking through your equation and when moving toward the goal. They will also likely be the ones who feel your sacrifice the most so let them know what you are thinking of doing and what you think is the wisest thing to do.
Pay attention to both sides of the equation
You may have seen an image like this about how everyone wants to have the fruits of success, but very few are willing to do what it takes to be successful.
Consider that this sentiment isn’t only true because people aren’t willing to make the investments necessary to succeed. It is also true because success requires sacrificing things you might be enjoying and people don’t enjoy the sacrifice.
You might need to sacrifice by having a relationship take a back seat, your money spent on a hobby might be used for other things, or your binge of Netflix might be reduced. Think of all the possibilities of fearing you will miss out (FOMO).
Please don’t ignore the sacrifice part of the equation. The money, time, physical labor, and mental/emotional capital you invest in the new adventure will be taken from the areas you are currently investing those things in. Anticipate this; don’t pretend to be surprised. You can plan for the pain of sacrifice to make it easier to bear.
Close
Wisdom is deciding not to make a decision if you should pursue something new solely based on the size of the initial investment. Everything worth doing requires an initial investment and sacrifices. The investments and/or sacrifices might cause you to reconsider if it is worth it.
Take the time to do the work of figuring out your answer to the is it worth it equation.
Then decide what is the wisest thing to do and do it. As you make progress be sure to celebrate your first $1,000 egg, your $.25 eggs and the sustained success that comes with achieving $0.05 eggs.