Rid: Well....we're waiting. And waiting. Still a few details to work out with the ingredients. But I think today might be the day we get our new prices. We are ready. TGIF.
Enough of that though, two days ago, my computer crashed big time. Since I had the web design files, P.O.P. display designs, label designs, pricing info, correspondence and a million other important items on there, I was freaked. Michael A. would talk to me and it would just go right past me. "Huh?", I would respond. He might as well have been talking to a turnip. Ya see, I hadn't backed up a lot of these files in awhile. It was uh oh time---big time.
Well, my buddy, Randy, the MAC fixer came by yesterday to see what the problem was. I sat there like a scared child as he went through my drives and so on. "hmmmmm.....gee......hmmmmmm....".
"Shit Randy, don't say that. So Randy, am I a goner? Am I screwed, dead, done... out of business?"
"I'm not sure--" Randy replied. "Looks like you may have lost all your data----hmmmmm.....oh wait! You're okay! Your startup drive is fine!" I immediately went to my dog, Max, and gave him a big kiss on his nose. Bless you oh wonderful MAC guy Randy. Bless you.
Turns out I had a corrupt drive--not a primary drive- just one of four I had in my computer. Once it was replaced, we were back in business. (I was back in business). I was one happy camper.
Once I had finished hugging Randy, I told him that I was starting a food company with my neighbor. He quickly told me that his brother, Steve had been a friggin biggie in the food biz for years. Had started his own food business from scratch, had worked for Nestle's. Made a verrry handsome living in the biz of food.
Wow, it seems like every person I talk to has a relative or knows someone who's in this crazy business. I got steve's number from Randy because we'll be calling him to pick his brain and to get some insights and strategies from him. When we are ready to go to market, we will need to tread carefully. There are evil forces at work out there.... we will need guidance from people like Steve.
LESSON: CONNECT WITH EXPERIENCED FOOD PEOPLE TO LET THEM GUIDE YOU FORWARD. IT'S A NASTY BUSINESS AND THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE AND LARGE FOOD STORE CHAINS OUT THERE THAT WILL STEAL YOUR RECIPES, CONCEPTS, ETC. --ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE BIZ. PROTECT YOURSELF!
We also received a mockup for our spice display. Pretty cool. A cardboard shelf display for gourmet stores. Seemed to work well. Price is an issue however. Damn! It's tough to get these prices down when you're starting out because you don't want to by a large quantities of anything until you actually need to (AKA-getting orders). If we buy 500 spice displays now, the price will be great. But, what the hell are we gonna do with 500 displays? And where would we store the damn things anyway? We need maybe 50 to start with. Ughh.
LESSON: BE PREPARED TO OVERSPEND IN THE BEGINNING. SMALL QUANTITIES OF PRODUCTION, MARKETING MATERIALS, DISPLAYS, ETC. ARE GONNA HURT, CRUSHING YOUR MARGINS AND PROJECTIONS. BUT THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS. YA GOTTA SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY....YATTA YATTA......
LESSON : BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER DAILY.
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