ShopTalk: Interesting

[Arniesclubs]

"If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage. " (Book IV, Section ii, 12)



Interesting reading! I guess I should go buy a farm since that's what we in the US seem to be best at! Only problem is I know nothing about farming! I don't have the capital for the land and machinery needed to be productive and I hate the smell of manure! I can't work in agriculture because I don't speak Spanish and never had a green card!
Therefore, I will stick with producing golf clubs with components produced in the third world and add my skill in fitting and production methods to keep the price right and the profits in line with my monetary needs. I will sell these products to the people in my trading area until they have no source of income and choose to buy food instead of golf clubs. When that happens I will seek another form of self employment. I could go back to teaching marketing at a university level until I am replaced by a grad student who is brilliant but hardly speaks understandable English.
This story sums it all up................
There was a Greek immigrant who came to Detroit, he spoke very little English. He got a job as a busboy at a Coney Island (a hot dog stand), learned to speak presentable English, saved his money and bought his own Coney Island. He worked 60 hours a week, married and raised two sons. One son became a doctor and the other went to the University of Michigan and studied marketing. He loved the subject and finally earned a Doctorate in business administration. He could not find a job in his field so he started working with his father at the Coney Island. One day I told his father that there was a recession on the horizon and that he should cut back on his food orders. The father so respected the son's education that he heeded the advice and cut back on his orders. Soon they were running out of hot dogs during the busy lunch hour. Customers stopped coming in during lunch and the son told the father that the recession was surly arriving and that they should further reduce the orders and lay off some of the staff. The father knew that the son had this wonderful education (after all he paid for it) and must be right so he further reduced the food orders and laid off some of the staff. You guessed it, business worsened and in a short time the father could not do all the work without the staff nor pay the rent with the decreased revenue. He closed the Coney Island and to this day he will tell you that his son is smart enough to predict recessions, depressions and other economic disasters!

Moral of the story: Do what you know, be the best at it, buy at the right price, sell at the right price, service the hell out of your customers, work your ass off and don't listen to those who "know" It's a big world, go get your piece of it.