The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Freeze-Drying Business

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if you are looking at buying a freeze
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dryer like this one and starting a
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freeze drying business I want you to
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take a pause right now and watch this
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video cuz I'm going to go through a full
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guide of things you should know before
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starting a freeze drying business
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including the equipment you should buy
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supplies business tips as well as the
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things that will make sense for you to
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be successful right from the start let's
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get started with this video and I'll
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tell you all about it welcome to the
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freeze Drive business Channel my name is
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David and I run a freeze dry business in
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Idaho I share a lot of tips and tricks
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for people starting out in freeze drying
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or if they're currently in one and just
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want to know things that other people
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are doing in the industry to help them
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succeed in their business so if you're
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new here hit the Subscribe button and
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you'll be notify to Future freeze dry
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videos that I come out with now today
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there's several things that I did prior
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to starting my freeze dry business and
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also things that I have done over the
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past 3 years of owning my business that
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I think would be important for you to
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know before you start venturing into
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this freeze drying business world I'm
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going to make it super simple and go
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through different topics that I you are
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the most important but obviously if I'm
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missing something or there's things that
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you have questions on feel free to leave
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a comment in this video the first thing
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you're going to need in your freeze
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dring business is a freeze dryer I'm
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going to go through several different
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brands that are out there on the market
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I'm going to go through their sizes
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their cost as well as the
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recommendations that I would have for
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you to purchase if you're just starting
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out freeze drying first on the list is
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the leader in poem freeze dryers as well
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as people who are doing it as a business
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and that is Harvest right that's the
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freeze dryer right behind me now this is
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the size large that you can buy they
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have several different sizes in fact
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they have four they have the small
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medium large and XL now when people ask
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me what should they choose first I do
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say go ahead and stick with the large
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first you can do up to 16 they say even
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to 20 lb of product I've managed to do
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about 14 to 16 lb maximum in this freeze
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dryer go ahead and upgrade the second
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machine that you buy to that XL there
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are different colors I would recommend
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going with a stainless steel if you're
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going to plan on going commercial
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because you're going to need that kind
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of stainless steel commercial type grade
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machine now if you're not planning on
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growing any further just go ahead and
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stick with a large machine and in fact
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you can use it for home use and even
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Beyond if you get out of the freeze dry
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business the price range for a harbest
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right starts at a small around
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$2,300 up to the Exel is around $5,000
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each one of these models includes trays
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pumps pump oil as well as different
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trays and supplies for you once it comes
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shipped to you typically they offer free
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shipping check in with their website
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using my affiliate Link in the video
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description and you can check to see if
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they have different specials going on to
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get a discount on a freeze dryer next on
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the list is the brand stay fresh I have
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a stay fresh freeze dryer it's about the
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size of a between a medium Harvest rate
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and a large Harvest rate it can do up to
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12 to 13 lbs of food and that's the only
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size that they have right now now they
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are coming out with a large that I've
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heard of and that's going to be rolled
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out sometime next year it just hasn't
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been released yet of when that's going
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to happen and what all the details are
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but I'll be sure to be coming out with a
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new video once that comes out now the
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price range on that is ranging between
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about 3,000 could be closer to 4,000
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depending on if you get the industrial
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pump I would recommend the industrial
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pump just because the standard that I
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got uh for the cheaper price uh you have
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to do oil changes more often and so the
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industrial pump kind of allows you to
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not have to have to change the oil so
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frequently next is two other brands that
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I haven't personally owned the freeze
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dryers but I have done enough research
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with some of the owners and contacts at
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these companies to where I would
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recommend you taking a look at them and
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seeing if it's the right fit for you the
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third freeze dryer brand is blue Alpine
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now this is a company that had just
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started out just a couple years ago in
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terms of their releasing of their freeze
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dryers to the market but I have talked
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to the owner and they seem like great
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people that are really investing time
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into their technology and their machine
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now their size of their machine right
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now is about the size of a large Harvest
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rght freeze dryer like the one next to
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me and so their price range is right now
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you can look on their website it's about
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the same as a large freeze dryer the
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blue Alpine price for a freeze dryer is
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around $3,000 is a little bit under that
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but you basically get a lot of the same
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components of bags trays things like
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that that come with the freeze dryer
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when you buy it the fourth on the list
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is a company called prep for life they
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own the freeze dryer that's called the
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cube now the unique thing about the cube
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is they do have Bluetooth technology so
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You' be able to coordinate all the
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different components of freeze drying
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and knowing when Cycles done and drying
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all that through your app which I think
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is a really great feature the cube
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freeze dryer price is between 4,800 up
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to about $6,000 depending on what type
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of bundle you have you can look at their
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website in the video description and
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kind of so which freeze ders should you
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choose well I think it really depends on
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what your goals are for your business
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but to start out with if you're just
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trying to venture into this I think
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minimally you should go with the large
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Harvest Right freeze dryer so that you
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can have enough capacity to do a lot of
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candy fruit even ice cream if you're
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able to do that and the cost on that is
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pretty minimal in terms of entry point
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and getting the ROI back and breaking
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even on that freeze dryer I think it's a
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great machine I think their customer
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support has been good for my experience
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so far and I think they just come out
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with a really good machine now I do own
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the stay fresh freeze dryer I would
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recommend them as well um they just
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don't have the sizes and the upgrades
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just like Harvest Right does but I have
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used the safe fresh freeze dry this
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entire year as of this video and I think
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that the freeze time in terms of the
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shorten down period for it to freeze the
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fruit things like that as well as the
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dry time has been very quick and
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efficient and so that's why I really
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like the stay fresh freeze dryer in fact
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I can do fruit in about 24 hours 12 lbs
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versus the Harvest Right in the large it
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just has more capacity so it's taking a
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little bit longer maybe around 36 hours
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hey if you're liking this video and
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you're excited about starting a freeze
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dry business or you currently own a
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freeze dry business give this video a
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thumbs up it helps me know whether this
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video is relevant to you also hit the
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Subscribe button if you're not a
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subscriber already and you'll get
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notified of more and more freeze drying
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videos that come out of this Channel all
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right let's get back to the list the
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next thing on the list is a little bit
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more business focused you're going to
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want to figure out whether you want to
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be a cottage food operator for your
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freeze drying business or go straight
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commercial I'd recommend starting out in
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cottage food just to start out with
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because you're going to want to
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experiment with what you're allowed to
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do in the area that you are as well as
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there's not as many types of regulations
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in cottage food but there are
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limitations in the products so let's
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talk about that for a second in cottage
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food what that means is that you're
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making homemade Goods typically that's
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what you see at farmers markets and
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trade shows things like that where it's
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more local businesses making honey jams
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things like that and freeze drying
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typically Falls in that as well and
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usually you're limited to a certain
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amount of products now in Idaho it's a
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little more flexible when I first
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started in 2020 I was able to do ice
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cream if I got testing of the moisture
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content and activity now in Idaho in
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2023 the cottage food law states that
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you can't do ice cream so it does change
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and you're going to have to check with
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your Central District Health on that
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it's very easy to start a cottage food
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freeze dry business just go to Google
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type in your cottage food laws for your
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county or your state you're going to
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contact them directly and say Hey I want
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to apply for a cottage food license and
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then typically they're going to request
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a menu of what you're planning to freeze
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dry and package and then they'll approve
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it and that's good to go then you can
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run it out of your home your garage your
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shop anything you'd like from there now
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commercial you can step right into it or
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you can kind of work your way into it as
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you start gaining clients and brand
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recognition things like that the
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advantage for GR commercial is that you
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get to start selling wholesale it really
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opens the doors for more sales
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opportunities Beyond just doing things
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that are more direct to Consumer like
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the cottage food law states that you
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have to do now there's a couple
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different avenues that you can do to get
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a commercial building that you can
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operate out of I got a video about that
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where I talked about the top 10 things
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that I would do if you was starting out
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in a freeze dring business business and
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I'll share that video in the video
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description and in that video I share
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ideas of where you can find a commercial
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kitchen that's rentable for you in your
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area now the big question that I get
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asked a lot in the comments and you can
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see it all on the forums on social media
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is how long do all these different
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products take from Candy to fruit to ice
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cream well I'm going to answer that for
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you in a general range so you're quick
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to know what the expectation should be
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for the products that you're going to
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start freeze dry the first on the list
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is candy a candy is super easy to freeze
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dry it's really just more of the prep
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work that goes into it then you stick it
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in the freeze dryer candy takes 2 to 3
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hours to do some candies take a little
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bit longer and it really does vary based
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on the type of candy that you do I've
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got plenty of videos that I've shared in
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my channel that you can take a look at
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of different candies that I've done and
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the times that I've worked for me now
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the reason times work for different
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people is because you're in different
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environments freeze drying does
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different things based on humidity and
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the moisture in the air as well as when
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it's winter time and it's nice and cold
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versus when it's hot
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and you're in a garage or you're in a
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commercial kitchen the AC breaks down so
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those are the different factors that
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vary and you're just going to have to
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figure that out as you start doing
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different types of product that's the
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fun part about freeze drying is that you
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get to kind of experiment but there are
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a lot of great forums as well as my
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YouTube videos that you can find to kind
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of get you on the right foot to start
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with now in my freeze drag business I
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found the most consistent temperature is
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140° to set your freeze dryer to no
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matter what freeze dryer you have and
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then run the candy for about 3 hours now
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the longer cycle product is going to be
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the fruit and the ice cream and even
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types of meals because it has just a lot
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more moisture content and Candy doesn't
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really have necessarily a ton of
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moisture that you're going to be taking
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it out through that freeze drying
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process expect that fruit takes anywhere
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between 24 to 36 hours sometimes even
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longer if it's hot or humid or there's a
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lot of humidity in the environment that
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you're Freez drying typically in a large
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Harvest Right freeze dryer like I've
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shown or even stay fresh it's about 24
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to 36 hours if I'm really packing the
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large freeze dryer with about 14 to 16
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lb then I typically see almost about a
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42 to 48 hour time frame for all that
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fruit to freeze dry if you're planning
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on doing vegetables it's about the same
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as fruit if you're planning on doing ice
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cream I typically see about 24 to 36
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hours now the temperature for fruit and
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ice cream that I use is 125° it comes
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default on the Harvest rate as well as
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the stay fresh freeze dryer and I run
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the final dry time that's the key
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component fin dry I do 8 hours or more
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all right two more topics that you
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should know before starting a freeze
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drying business one is the bags that you
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choose now you're going to wonder hey
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freeze drying typically it's been with
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like mountainous type of freeze drying
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meals where it's a myar bag and it's
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sealed up super airtight and things like
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that for longevity and that is true but
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right now with freeze drying candy and
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things that are just kind of fun to kind
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of see and they're all new to the
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consumer is it's more for short-term use
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you don't need to look at things that
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are going to last 25 years freeze-dried
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candy is flying off the shelves as well
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as ice cream for me and fruit so you
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really just need to look at something
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that's going to be more short-term
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consumption for bags now if you want to
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go that route of more long-term storage
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for your bags to kind of tout that as
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your brand of your company I think
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that's great now you're going to want to
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look at myar bags that don't have a
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window and they are able to be sealed
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with a like vacuum sealer or something
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that can suck the air out even something
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that can put nitrogen back into it would
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be a great option for that and that way
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your selling it as a long-term storage
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now if you're looking for the short-term
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bags I personally use the craft myar
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bags it's used for more beans and rice
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and things like that but I found it to
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be consistent for storing my
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freeze-dried fruit as well as my candy
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and ice cream for about 3 to 6 month
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storage and I list that on the
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disclaimer and I tell all of my retail
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customers as well as my customers that
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that's kind of the shelf life you can
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also look at bags that are on UL line as
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well as other types of outfits online
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and I'll include links in in the video
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description of where you can buy bags
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things that you should consider for
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purchasing bags for your freeze-dried
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business is that you should look at
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windowed type bags this gives a great
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visual appeal of the product whether
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it's candy ice cream or fruit or other
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types of products and a lot of the candy
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is very visual in terms of the colors
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and the pop and things like that so I
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would choose something that has a window
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you can also choose ones that don't have
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a window also different size bags I'd
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choose bags that have maybe more of a
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sample size it's very small where it
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just gives someone kind of a little bit
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of a taste as well as having kind of a
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medium and even a large size bag for
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those people that really love your
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product okay last on the list is going
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to be Business Supplies I've done a
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couple videos I recently did one on
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thermal printers and labels to put your
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ingredients and things printed out to
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put on your bag as well as you're going
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to need something for your brand and
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your logo of your company now you can
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use things like Avery labels they have
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templates and ways that you can build a
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template for your ingredients as well as
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your brand and then I use an inkjet
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printer to print off those labels for
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ingredients you can use a thermal
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printer for shipping also for labels as
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well and it prints off very quick but
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typically it's not in color it's only a
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black and white a couple other things
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you might want to look at is looking at
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a camera so you can take pictures of
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your product and your bag and things
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that you're doing in your business an
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iPhone or an Android phone whatever type
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of phone you have it's going to be
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perfectly fine for that but if you want
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to go for something more Prof
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professional you can always look at
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other types of cameras that are pretty
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handy and they're digital and they do
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kind of everything for you nowadays you
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might also want to look at different
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types of software that can help your
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business in marketing as well as
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accounting I use QuickBooks I'd also
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recommend using canva canva.com is a
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great tool for creating social media
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posts on Facebook YouTube thumbnails
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like I create and different types of
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poster templates things like that and
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they have a free version as well as a
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pro version that gets you access to a
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lot of different things so check that
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out and I've got links to all of this
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stuff that I've talked about in the
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video in the video description below and
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lastly you are going to want some totes
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and some things to store all your bags
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in I would suggest getting those black
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totes with the yellow Lids at Costco
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they've been great and I've seen a lot
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of different people using those you can
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also just use regular baskets and
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different types of like little tote
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fabric bags if you want to and I've got
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some suggestions in the video
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description as well if this video has
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sparked you to continue looking at
14:27
starting a freeze drying business
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don't let this stop here I've got plenty
14:31
of videos that I've invested in to make
14:33
so that you're equipped to have a
14:35
successful business starting out and
14:37
avoid some of the pitfalls that I've
14:38
made check these topics out right here
14:40
and I'll see you on the next video

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