I am coming to the end of my story. I started this Accidental Business nearly forty years ago (funnily it was right about the time that the first issue of Ms. Magazine was published). Feminism has never played a role in our organization, but I find it ironic, nevertheless. I was more of a pioneer than anything else.
I found that I had a tiger by the tail in my home business, and I took it from there to where we are today through a series of moves from my garage to a small storefront, to a small factory, to our present home where we have, during our thirty years here, grown the business from local to international supplier with major customers worldwide.
As soon as I bought my original partner out, in 1974, after only a little more than one year in business, I knew with certainty that I needed to do this thing. I developed ambition overnight…I would see it through and nothing would stop me. My innocence kept me moving forward because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In most cases, building a successful business is a 24/7 proposition, and it is very painful. And, unfortunately, in most cases, new businesses fail within the first few years for many reasons, the primary reason being a lack of resources to see it through the start-up years.
I beat the odds. I still ponder whether I was lucky or, with steely determination, made my own luck. As I have said before, I had no preparation whatsoever for business ownership. I was completely clueless and had no resources, but I managed to stumble upon the identification of my market. I could supply quiches to a variety of establishments that had no way of preparing them from scratch. I provided an alternative to the hamburger that could also be served any time, from breakfast through late night. And we were the first company to do so. It bears repeating that it was our product that started the trend almost 40 years ago. And we had the perfect marketplace: the metropolitan tri-state region (NY, NJ, and lower Connecticut) provided thousands of potential customers with pubs, restaurants, hotels, gourmet shops, and so on, almost everywhere I looked. The desserts, for which we are mainly now known-- in spite of our name-- came later.
Yet, a good idea is not always enough. I needed to find out if the need was truly there or if it was already filled. For that the answer was no. For Love and Quiches, the answer was (a resounding) yes.
I needed money. I had very little in the way in personal financial resources, but I had parents who could help me if they chose to. They chose not to, because I had an older sibling that my mother was determined not to allow me to outshine. I was hurt and angry at first, but, as always, I got over it and built this business, slowly, one quiche at a time.
With drive and focus, I learned what business is and how to run one. I made lists and sweated the small stuff. I got help wherever I could find it. I sought advice from my mentors, my customers, my suppliers, my professionals. I took my many embarrassments and small failures (described all throughout this blog) in stride, and would not allow myself to be side-tracked. I was stubborn, and would not allow my optimism to falter.
Small as it was, I slavishly adhered to my budget, because at this juncture we had no reserves and could not afford any errors which may have proved fatal. I remained patient, and little by little, the dollars started to build and we were on our way.
One step at a time, I developed the knowledge and skills I needed to run a business and become a leader, all by just living it. As the organization and the volume grew, so did I. Today we are light years away from where we were then.
Until next time...make someone happy —serve them dessert!
http://www.loveandquiches.com/
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