absolutely fantastic to see someone looking at going full time all because they like bees.
as above, do your costings. vehicle running costs is a big one.
also often you will need a hand. one man bands are hard to do and many will get a 2nd person in. that costs.
be realistic on how much honey you can get. odds are good sites are already taken.
then there is the setup costs. sheds to put supers in, somewhere where you can make gear. somewhere to put full supers before extraction. sheds cost big money. utes, trailers, forklift, lifting gear to shift hives with etc. can you drive a forklift on your yard? need to make honey pallets.
lifting everything by hand sucks.
then the other side of things, can you sell your honey? getting in with buyers can be difficult as many don't like dealing with small players.
mpi registration, rmp's etc, honey extraction. all those personal connections and industry politics.
extraction can be a problem with small beeks. need extractors with the right paperwork for export to certain countries. your often to big for clubs, sometimes to small for the big guys. don't count on being able to get extraction done locally. you may have to take it many hours drive away. that all costs.
then its also beekeeping skill. many have failed due to lack of skill. every hive needs to pay its way, having high fail rates puts you out of business really quickly.
traditionally beeks became semi commercial and built up hive numbers. that also put there skills to the test and gained experience, before going full time. but its a very very risky time.
realistically in todays prices and costs (and that so many are exiting the industry) you really need the efficiency of size. many beeks are inefficient, not having the right setup. that makes it very difficult for small beeks to survive.
