Another Small Business Closes Its Doors...Or Greenhouse

Today, another small business closed...not due to a world-wide virus, or government regulations, but because the businessman ran out of product to sell.

The season is over for Taylor Academy Plants, a.k.a. A Simple Life Plants. 

I'm proud of my son. He put in a lot of hard work. Of course, there were things he couldn't do that we helped with, like driving to pick up the plants and driving to the good spot to sell the plants. But still, he got up early on the weekends--something he doesn't usually do. He helped make decisions on what he felt was best for the business, including when to set up, how long to stay out on the sidewalk, and other things.

Yesterday afternoon, he had his best sale. A lone customer bought 1/2 of his entire inventory. Personally, I don't know if the man really needed thirty-two tomato plants, but who are we to argue? It was funny--after he left, we were discussing that very thing when we saw him come back and park his car. We were convinced his wife had told him to bring some of the plants back. Turns out, he came back to buy even more.

Score!

This morning, with an hour to go before we closed up shop, we had a half-off sale. A few more plants sold and then, time came to pack it up. My son decided to set up the table in front of our house with our remaining inventory and give it away to whomever wanted it. And that's what we did. Neighbors picked up a plant here and there, then finally, someone pulled up and took everything we had, about twenty plants. He gave my son $25,  even though we told him they were free. He didn't care and he made my son's day.

Yes, the doors have closed for 2020. But come 2021, he'll be back at it. It was a good experience.

The Things You Learn...Even With The Smallest Business

Tomorrow morning, my son will once again resume operations for Taylor Academy Plants, or A Simple Life Plants (the latter is my son's name for the business, and I like it better...). He'll set up the table, put up the signs, bring out the plants...

And wait.

Hence, the nature of commerce. You provide a good and/or service, and if that good and/or service is needed and worth the price, customers will purchase the good and/or service and everyone's happy. It's a process that's been successful for millennia, one I hope can continue for years to come.

My son has run into issues while getting product moved. Last week was a classic example. The night before our second Sidewalk Plant sale, we received a note stuck in our door. Turns out the city was going to do some road work right in front of our house.

At 7:30am, the trucks rolled in. They were done with our section of the road by 10:30am-ish. The sidewalk sale was to go on from 9am to noon-ish. When uncontrollable factors impact your operation, you can either learn from it, or curse it and blame others.

I know it's a stretch to suggest the road work greatly impacted his business. I mean, people aren't exactly beating down the door each Saturday morning. But, if anyone wanted to stop by, they'd have to circumnavigate pavers, steamrollers, and dump trucks to get to us.

I don't have the most business experience, but I'm trying to teach my son about promotion, marketing, inventory, and rolling with the punches. Tomorrow morning he'll be out--most likely with Nintendo Switch in hand--waiting to serve his customer base.

Here's to another week of experience...

And, hopefully, profit.

The Simple Delight Of Homemade Bread...

Over the past couple of days, I've seen many posts on social media--several pictures of empty store aisles, long lines waiting for Costco to open, photos of toilet paper, even streets with lighter-than-usual traffic.

But a couple of pictures surprised me.

People posted photos of their home-baked bread.

It's the simple things.

We used to bake bread at home almost every day. It was the only bread we ate, and it was so good. I can't remember if we stopped making the bread because we stopped eating as much bread, or the other way around.

A few days ago my mother-in-law gave us a loaf of just-baked homemade bread. That day I had a couple of slices with butter and honey. As delicious as the bread tastes, the smell of bread baking in a kitchen is heaven.

We will all be changed in the coming months. Heck, we're all changed now. Yesterday I moved one of our two bread makers from basement storage to our kitchen to make our own bread. I wonder if the bread maker's going to stay.

Simple things.