I truly love stumbling across businesses that focus on a particular skillset and add horses to it! Take the Reins Virtual Solutions is one such example. You may remember Alyssa as the author of Spike. Since releasing this non fiction book about her horse with lordosis, this mother and entrepreneur has set up quite an online presence!

Take the Reins Virtual Solutions focuses on administrative, website and social media assistance to business owners. What makes this business unique, is that it targets equine and agricultural businesses. As it states on the website:

“Take the Reins Virtual Solutions assists equine and agricultural industry business owners with a variety of administrative, website and social media tasks, so they can worry less about the books and get back to doing the work they love.”

Alyssa focuses on exclusively catering to small businesses within the equine and agricultural industries. And if you think about it, there are many of these! Horse riding schools, horse breeders on a smaller scale, those who train and race horses… family farms. The list goes on! How wonderful to be in contact with someone who knows and is skilled in an area that will help your business promote itself.

But what an added bonus that this person is also a horse lover and familiar with the equine industry. This is just another great example of using your skills – and your horse passion – to cater to a particular niche market. What’s to stop you from doing something similar?

Take the Reins Virtual Solutions

What I love about the online setup of Take the Reins Virtual Solutions is that Alyssa offers packages to equine and also agricultural small businesses. They’re set out at a predetermined price and are also able to be used up over a fortnight or a month. They cover a specific number of hours and Alyssa highlights what could be done with those hours for any business.

• Support could come in the form of social media assistance,
• website setup and maintenance
• and of course administrative assistance

Alyssa can also manage email and phones for clients. For those who are unsure how a virtual assistant (VA) could help their business, she also outlines this in points on her front page. This seems to me a really effective and simple site.  It outlines what she does as well as how it can help equine and agricultural small business. Brilliant!

I was recently made aware of an article that discussed effective cooling techniques for performance horses.  This article by Dr. David Marlin was backed up with images to explain the concept.  This was then shared across Facebook to help get the word out.  A friend brought it to my attention and highlighted the importance of an online presence.  So what’s so important about developing an online presence as a horse business?

Horse people – and indeed horse businesses – need to develop skills and knowledge in the area of an online presence to help promote their product and/or services.  If you have an established online presence and following, then it’s easier to share products, ideas and concepts that are important to you as a business or professional in the equine industry.

So what does an online presence look like?  It could involve many different aspects:

• a website that promotes you and your product and/or service
• a Facebook page or group where you can reach people that are interested in what you have to offer and want to know about the things you may choose to share with them
• a Twitter account that can have followers who are notified of any updates/tweets you choose to share
• a Pinterest account that shares articles and blog posts of interest to your followers

Developing an Online Presence as a Horse Business

At the end of the day, if you have information that you want to share or feel would benefit people who are interested in your products/services then developing an online presences as a horse business is beneficial to you.  It means people can choose to ‘follow’ your business and be kept up to date on issues that are important to you.  With social media today, it is very easy for people to like and share this information with others.

This has a follow on effect – it makes others aware of you as well as what you can offer and builds up your brand and knowledge within the equine industry.  Have you developed an online presence?  Even if you don’t have a business, product or service yet, you can be building a presence as a knowledgeable horse person and gaining followers who want to hear from you.

Want to be kept in the loop about what is important to Equus Education?  You can like the Facebook page where all blog posts are shared and also follow Equus Education on Pinterest.  Here I have boards full of:

• free horse resources
• horse book reviews
• horse courses
• riding careers
• and much more

With close to 20,000 monthly views, why not check out what is already there that others are benefiting from?

There are many products or services out there that become successful and a business is able to build on them.  Then in time, the business can branch out into other products and/or services.  Mane ‘n Tail Shampoo of Straight Arrow Products seems to be one such example.  Originally established by the Katzev family on their home farm, the Mane ‘n Tail shampoo and conditioner products soon became popular for equine enthusiasts.

There is a statement on their site that a well-groomed horse leaves a lasting impression.  And isn’t that the truth!  And if not, perhaps you could spin it the other way – a badly presented horse leaves a lasting impression!  Just not a good one 😉

These horse cleaning products are boasted to be high quality, safe and also effective.  As it states on their site:

“These micro-enriched protein based formulas performed incredibly well, providing a down to the skin clean, without being harsh or stripping the necessary oils found naturally in the horses’ coat, mane, tail and skin.”

Mane ‘n Tail Grooming Products

Now more than shampoo and conditioner, Straight Arrow Products are made up of many other things.  And yet, the products all have one goal: “to make horse grooming easier, horses healthier while making their owners, happier.”

What horse product or service idea do you have that you can see making a difference in the equine industry?  It just goes to show, you can focus on one idea and make this a success and then in time, expand.  Chances are if you work in the equine industry, you’re at a level where you can see what may be lacking or desperately needed.  As you meet a need in any industry with a product or service, people will embrace it.

“It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.” ― Adlai E. Stevenson II