Hello everyone, I hope your doing good, I'm writing this to reassure you that everything will get better! In 2008 when the world economy crashed, we were all affected. I had to make tough choices in my business and family environments, on how to cut back ordering-trying to keep our employees working-paying bills and on top of that we are a seasonal business, we are open to around Christmas making flocked Christmas trees, but after that we are closed until around April 1, so I know what lean times are. We took a close look and set short, medium and long term goals, for instance of course we ordered less products for the garden center but also in the nursery, with many trees taking 4-5 years of care to produce. The crash actually made us stronger, it showed us how important our customers, families and suppliers are to us. It showed us how important planning is.
Someone I know recently was going through a tough family crisis and asked me for advice... I said when I was at the bottom, I thought of it like I was an overloaded truck, with the world on my shoulders, and I said you start off in a low gear and over power everything in your way, keep moving is all important, until you get to the next gear and your moving a little faster, feeling almost lighter, going until your at the top of that hill, that is a great feeling. I did that with you my customer- you see, you may not feel like you contribute much, but you do! you are the reason we are here.
Think of World War 2 and how bleak things looked for England, and Winston Churchill said one of my favorite quotes "when your going through hell-keep going".
I hope to see you all as soon as the weather allows, our greenhouse and garden center will be fully stocked and many trees, shrubs and perennials will be dug fresh! we will be ready and waiting, you'll know when, you'll see the truck out front!