Thursday, November 5, 2015

Setting a 'Genuine' Agenda


Recently we considered going into the seed business.  One of the small business customers is involved in real estate development and financing.  He's bored with that, but needs the income.  Conversation with him is always pleasant.  We like good customers, good people.  You learn a bit about people's lives, their spouses and partners, past and present, their children and their interests.  Listening more than talking is good.  Living in the woods, his yard was challenged with shade.  He likes grass.  Several years ago he heard about a lawn expert in St. Paul, a fellow with whom you had to make an appointment and show ups with three samples of your sod.

The business is a second generation deal.  The lawn business, seeds, fertilizer, supplements, etc., is widely know.  Most of the revenue comes from the sale of seeds to the Hmong and Vietnamese farmers.  They serve thousands.  Without going into too much detail the lady part of the business developed notebooks with pictures that the customers could look through and buy seeds in large quantities.  Customer loyalty was huge.

Our customer talked to us since we've been doing farmer's markets for 18 years, and along with beekeeping have been growing fruits and vegetables for that entire time.  The beekeeping part has been going on for 50 years (as a kid I was a nerd; certainly I've outgrown nerdness).  He said that he was interested in doing something with his life that was more genuine, something with character, closer to the earth, with more value to people, tangible value, not the abstract financing and commercial real estate development work that he did.

We met with the couple and had many conversations about buying and re-developing the business and how our experience as growers and as retail food people could bring new value to this old business.  After many conversations we determined that the building and real estate were of little value and that the one-year gap in direct selling and the departed employees had left little to work with.  While there had been a wonderful legacy it had faded away.  The three of us came to the same conclusion that it would be like starting from scratch.  What we wanted was the name and the customer list and the sellers and we were far apart on price.

This blog has been about job opportunities, resumes, outplacement firms, the challenges of unemployment and adjusting to the end of he infamous 27-year gig and the many years preceding that.  Chasing a similar job to what I had is pretty simple but what would that give me?  Money-good.  A cubicle or office-so what?  Professional contacts and relationships-regardless of my interest in this I am at the twilight of this kind of work.

Driving to the small business this week I passed over the freeway that I frequented on my daily commute. Bumper to bumper in each direction I recalled wearing out several vehicles going to work, essentially nowhere, laughed about adding satellite radio to my vehicle when I thought I was about to lose my mind and was thankful for only one accident during those years (which happened on the fifth floor of a parking ramp) and thought "I just want to do work that is genuine."  That's not on the freeway or at the historical endpoint of that (or similar) commutes."  The patron who prompted this business review came in for lunch today.  He was too busy to talk, focused on spreadsheets and due diligence documents related to a property sale (I used to work like that, too busy to talk, focused on the information age).  As he left we chatted for a moment and reminded each other of the need to focus on "genuine" work.  This was a good reminder. 

Choosing 'Genuine' Work


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