Introduction

When starting any business, you need four core software tools. You’ll need a payment processor, a web hosting service, and bookkeeping software. The fourth tool is for microgreen farms, which is a crop planning and order management software. Without a payment processor, you can’t accept money for your goods or services. Without a website or social media, customers won't know about your business. Without a bookkeeper or bookkeeping software, you risk legal and tax issues. Without crop planning software, you'll overplant or underplant. You'll waste product, miss production steps, and miss orders. This article will cover the benefits of each tool. We'll discuss when to start using them and our preferred options.

TLDR:

• Payment Processor - Square
• Website - Squarespace
• Bookkeeping - QuickBooks Online (QBO)
• Crop Planning & Order Management - Microgreen Manager

Payment Processors

The three primary payment methods in today’s world are cash, credit cards, and checks. Business customers, like restaurants, will often pay via an online portal, which is similar to a credit card payment. Different customer segments have different preferred forms of payment. For example, farmers' market patrons typically pay with cash 25% of the time, and credit cards the other 75%. Restaurants pay with a check 10% of the time, a credit card 25-40% of the time, and an online payment portal most of the time. Each payment method has its benefits and drawbacks. Receiving and depositing cash is free. Nobody is going to charge you a fee to manage or deposit cash. Unfortunately, cash presents a risk of theft by employees and strangers. Cash also requires you to periodically visit a bank to make a deposit. Checks are also free. Today’s technology allows you to mobile deposit checks with your phone and a bank app. Theft is much less of a risk because the check should be made out to you or your company. You don’t need to visit a bank to make deposits, and mobile depositing doesn’t incur a fee. Finally, credit cards are the most convenient, but also the most expensive. Credit card payment processors will charge a fee. For example, the popular payment processor Square charges $0.10 for every transaction, plus 2.6% of the transaction's value. The fee is the same regardless of the transaction size. In return, payment processors make it easy to collect payments and send the balance to your bank.

When starting a microgreen business, you need a way to process payments before making the first sale. You could, in theory, accept only cash or checks. So, you could skip a payment processor. We don’t suggest this method because you’re severely limiting who will buy from you. See, payment processors exist to make everyone’s lives easier. For a small fee, payment processors handle every part of the transaction. They offer a platform to generate a sale or invoice, process the transaction, secure the funds, and then send them to your bank. Without these benefits, you'd have to manually generate an invoice or receipt. You'd need to exchange cash, store it securely, and deposit it at a bank. It's especially inconvenient for business clients to pay you without a payment processor. Imagine, for example, you’re delivering to a restaurant customer. It just so happens that you arrive during their lunch rush. You walk into the kitchen, place the microgreens in their walk-in cooler, and then go to find the chef. The executive chef is frantically managing the kitchen during rush hour. You are bothering him/her about a $100 payment. You think they’re going to be happy about hunting down a cash drawer or checkbook to write you a check? No. Everyone's life is better when you have their credit card on file with Square. You can then charge it at your convenience. For the same reason, using a payment processor at the farmers’ market will likely result in more sales. Customers will spend less time in line because transactions happen faster via credit card. Fewer and fewer people carry cash, so you won’t have to worry about turning away customers.

Here’s my suggestion. Until you’re processing more than $100,000-$250,000 a year in credit card transactions, don’t worry about the processing fee. The processing fee is more than worth the extra sales, saved time, and anxiety reduction. I suggest you start with Square, which is what we use at Piedmont Microgreens. When you create an account with Square, you get a free Magstripe Credit Card Reader. I suggest immediately buying a Contactless Chip Reader if you’re selling at a farmers’ market.

Website Hosting/Building & Social Media

The purpose of a website or social media for a small business is not to make sales. Not at first. The sole purpose of your social media or website is to create legitimacy for potential buyers. If you’re just getting started, the fastest and easiest way to build trust with consumers is by creating a web presence. Don’t believe me? Consider for a moment that you need to replace a broken window in your home or a flat tire on your car. You've never used a company for these services before. So, you don't have one in mind to go to for it. You'd likely search the web for "Tire repair in (Durham, NC)" or "Window replacement in (Durham, NC).” Even if a company doesn’t rank first in the search returns, the fact that they show up demonstrates trust and professionalism. Of course, good reviews are important, but that’s honestly beside the point. I’m not saying you need the sleekest website on the planet or the most five-star reviews. You just need to show up. If you don’t want to go through the process of building a website before making your first sale, try making an Instagram and Facebook account. Spend a few weeks posting product photos, day-in-the-life videos, and anything else to show visitors you’re legitimate.

Now that I've hopefully convinced you of the necessity of a web presence, how do you go about creating said website? I built the Piedmont Microgreens website using Squarespace. Squarespace makes it easy to get started with plenty of templates, as well as a drag-and-drop building platform. You can expect to pay $15-35/month for a personal plan or $25-$45/month for a business plan. You don't need to create an online shop. You only need a place to showcase you, your business, and a few product photos. Don't overthink it.

Bookkeeping

I don’t have a good definition for “bookkeeping,” so I asked Perplexity, my favorite AI tool.

• “Bookkeeping is the systematic process of recording, organizing, and maintaining a business's financial transactions. This practice is essential for tracking all financial activities, which include incoming revenues and outgoing expenses, and it's foundational for effective financial management.”

Perplexity goes on to explain the difference between bookkeeping and accounting.

• “While the terms are often used interchangeably, bookkeeping is primarily concerned with the accurate recording of transactions, whereas accounting involves analyzing and interpreting this data to inform strategic decisions.”

Bookkeeping is important, but you don’t necessarily need to get started with software before making your first sale. I used Excel for the first 14 months to track four pieces of information. What did I buy? What company did I buy it from? When did I buy it? How much did it cost? Tracking your expenses this way will suffice in the beginning. As for income, you can use a Word template to generate custom invoices. If you plan on selling at the farmers’ market, use Square. Square will automatically track sales data for you. If you’re not convinced that Word-based invoices will suffice, let me tell you what I did.

Here is my company’s first invoice from November 13th, 2020, our unofficial business birthday. Between 11.13.2020 and 1.14.2022, I created my company’s first 434 invoices this way. That’s 14 months of manually generating invoices. I shouldn’t have waited quite so long before converting to QuickBooks, but it shows that it’s unnecessary to use bookkeeping software from the get-go.

When it’s time to use bookkeeping software, I suggest using QuickBooks Online (QBO). You should expect to pay $35/month for their basic option, Simple Start, or $65/month for their Essentials option. I highly suggest using their Essentials option AND partnering with a local bookkeeper in your area. Bookkeeping is far from simple. You should pay a bookkeeper on an hourly basis to get you setup in QBO and teach you how to use the software. Once you’re familiar with how to generate invoices, process payments, link your bank accounts, and categorize transactions, you won’t need the bookkeeper. Those four activities are 95% of what you’ll do in QBO. Pay the bookkeeper on an ongoing basis to reconcile your bank accounts and answer questions.

Crop Planning & Order Management

Crop planning is the process of determining what to plant, when, and in what quantities. Crop planning depends on client orders and expected farmers' market sales. The tricky part of crop planning with microgreens is the huge number of variables. Imagine, for a second, you have 10 restaurant clients. You also have 10 varieties to grow, and each variety has five production steps. You must, at worst, forecast hundreds of variables and tasks. This is to ensure everyone gets what they need, on time, and in the correct amounts. I went back into my photo archives and found this weekly planner.

H = Harvest

P = Peas

S = Sunflower

R = Radish

I don’t know how many restaurant clients, if any, I had at the time. I do, however, remember the fear of missing a soaking, sowing, planting, or harvest. I made this planner to help me remember what to do each day, but there’s nothing here about tray counts. How did I figure out the correct number of P, S, and R trays to plant? Honestly, I don’t recall. I eventually built an Excel Production Planner, which was a massive improvement. You can still find it on our website and use it for free, but it pales in comparison to proper crop planning software, like Microgreen Manager.

Obviously, we’re biased. I’m Garrett, the COO and Co-Founder of Microgreen Manager. I’m also the Owner of Piedmont Microgreens in Durham, NC. We’ve been in business for four years. We have a team of three. We grow microgreens for 50 restaurants, two grocery stores, three distributors, the Durham Farmers' Market, and the Durham Public Schools. Clearly, I’ve done the pen-and-paper crop planning method. I’ve done the Excel method. I've used other farmers' Excel planners. I've even tested other microgreen crop planning software. Microgreen Manager is the most adept at handling crop planning across all scenarios.

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