Thursday, June 18, 2009

I used to be Plastic but now I'm Elastic

I'm a planner. Operating a fresh produce market takes planning...but it also takes an ability to adjust as things happen. I'm the type of person who has things on my calendar that are 6 months down the road. I also have lists and post-it notes everywhere. Since we've started the produce business, I'm slowly learning to be more flexible and not "micro-manage" everything.
We've been opening the produce market on Saturday and Sunday from 9-5 at Traders World Flea Market in Lebanon, Ohio. Jeff does the buying, and he buys what is available at a price we can afford on Thursday and Friday each week. That means that we don't actually know what our inventory will be until Friday night when Jeff loads our vendor carts (the rolling Lazy Daisy Handcarts that were custom-made at Kin Products). Also on Friday, we're comparing local prices at grocery stores, in newspaper ads, and on-line to determine just how we need to set our prices for the weekend. In fact, most of the pricing won't be set until we actually arrive at the stand on Saturday morning. Barry and Jeff call back and forth on their cell phones, and I scurry around writing the prices on the signs. It's all a little too hectic for me, but I'm starting to adjust.

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