With food prices on the rise, gas prices soaring and the cost of everything skyrocketing, learning how to make money from your homestead is more important now than every before. You can making money from your homestead with a little creative thinking, good time management and marketable services or products.

If you have a country homestead or even an urban homestead, you already experience the emotional rewards of living close to the land. Now, you need to cultivate financial returns. So, before we look at ways to make money, consider these 4 important points first:

1. Be open minded and reasonable.
Make a careful evaluation of the area you live in, your community and potential customer base. Things like age, median income, spending habits, area tourism and more are important to study. Take a look at the type of businesses in your area that succeed, and compare them with businesses that close within a few years of having opened. You have to be sure there is a market before you invest too much time and money into a project.

Then look for ways to create opportunities, but don't duplicate what already exists. If someone else is working an idea that inspires you, then take the concept and look for ways to recreate it uniquely. Or, better yet, create a niche for yourself that is unique to your situation. While it is true that you are only limited by the boundaries of your imagination, the fact remains that however creative and interesting you think your idea is, the bottom line is that it has to be marketable and something others will spend money on.

2. Start small.
Don't invest a lot of money into something until it proves its money making potential. For instance, I knew of a professional photographer with a newly opened studio who invested over $50,000 in a piece of speciality equipment. Five years later, the photography business closed but that equipment debt was outstanding with payments due for another 10 years. It was debt with no return.

3. "Pennies make dollars."
This is an old quaint saying that is powerfully meaningful. For some reason many people have forgotten the value of and lost their respect for money. I read a study once that said most people walking down a street today would not stop to pick up a penny, or a nickel, or a dime; they might stop to pick up a quarter. I have also seen many times when people through away returnable bottles. If you want to make money from your homestead, then realize the value of every single penny, nickel or dime whether it is in stopping to pick them up or not spending fruitlessly in the first place.

4. Self assessment.
Ask yourself these questions and think carefully and honestly about the answers: