How To Grow A Business

It was so cold yesterday morning that neither one of us was in a hurry to get out of bed. If this is a preview of things to come, I think it’s going to be a long cold winter. Fortunately for us, we plan to be in Florida for a good part of the winter. Of course, we’ve had some winters in Florida that were dang cold too! And I haven’t found a pair of earmuffs yet that go with my Hawaiian shirt.

I goofed around on the Internet for a while checking my favorite bloggers, answering e-mails, and checking my e-book sales stats on Amazon and Smashword. The sales across the board are way down from those heady days last winter when I was selling over 1,000 books a day, but things are plugging along and hopefully will pick up again now that kids are back in school and vacations are over.

Greg needed to pick up something at the Home Depot in Harrison, Ohio, about 20 miles east of us, and Miss Terry needed some Danish oil finish for her loom, so I rode along with him. Usually Greg’s a pretty responsible fellow, but he left me to my own devices while he went off in search of whatever it was he needed. Fortunately, store security recognized me from the flyer that must circulate all home improvement/tool stores, because a clerk latched onto me immediately and helped me find what I needed, then made sure I made it back to Greg all in one piece, carefully avoiding the power tools, chisels, screwdrivers and anything else with a sharp edge on it.

When we were at the Fiber Festival in Allegan, Michigan back in August, Terry met a very nice lady named Barb Gallagher who owns a shop called The Weaver’s Loft, which is in Guilford, only 15 or so miles away from the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails Preserve. Barb had invited Terry to stop by when we were in the area, so we drove over yesterday afternoon.

Barb’s shop is in a small building across from her house and Terry was amazed at the variety of yarns, looms, spinning wheels, etc. she had in stock. Actually more of a variety than the much larger and better-known The Woolery that we visited in Frankfort, Kentucky a few days ago.

And Barb is someone who obviously loves her business and is dedicated to helping her customers get the most out of their efforts. Even though she was packing to go to another fiber festival in Detroit this weekend, she stopped what she was doing and spent over two hours with Terry, patiently explaining how to do some things on her loom, sharing some tips and pointers and answering all of her questions.

Terry bought some things she needed, but Barb also steered her away from several items that she was going to purchase, telling her that she really didn’t need them yet or explaining how something she already had would get the job done without spending more money.

Now, that’s how you grow a business that will last! Instead of just grabbing the bucks when she had the chance, Barb wanted to be sure that Terry had what she needed and did not spend money on things she could do without. You can bet that when we’re back in this area again, Terry will be back to visit with Barb again, and she’ll take her checkbook with her!

By the time we left The Weaver’s Loft it was 5 PM, so we met Greg and Jan for dinner at Gold Star Chili. Gold Star and Skyline Chili are two local icons, with restaurants all over the Cincinnati metropolitan region on south into Kentucky. I had to pass on the chili because of my allergy to onions, so I settled for sandwich, but everybody else said their dinner was awesome.

Greg needed to get some gas in his truck, so we parted company after dinner and headed back towards the campground. Five miles from our exit, traffic came to a complete stop in both directions on Interstate 74. It was obvious that whatever was going on up ahead of us was going to take a while to clear, so I called Greg and advised him to take State Route 46 back to the campground. He did and they were already there once traffic finally started moving again and we were able to get home. The backup was caused by a terrible three vehicle collision in the eastbound Lanes. Early news reports said at least two people were killed and two others were airlifted to area hospitals.

Our friends John and Kathy Huggins, who produce the Living The RV Dream podcasts, arrived a couple of days ago, but we had not had the chance to catch up with them. I walked over and we visited for a while, talking about some of the Thousand Trails campgrounds we have been to, and will be staying in this winter. It looks like they’ll be at the Orlando Thousand Trails Preserve during the same time we will in December, so we’ll see them there, I’m sure.

Today will be another road trip day, back to Ohio for some more sightseeing. Terry wants to go back to Jungle Jim’s supermarket, and Greg and I are going to check out a huge model train display for a story in a future issue of the Gypsy Journal.

Thought for the day – The meek shall inherit the Earth after we’re done with it.

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