Ann Brown, 8 year employee, takes special care to get a floral arrangement delivered.

I started with a wish, a prayer and a $2500 loan. And you can be sure that there were many more wishes, prayers and lots more loans as well!

You can do surprising things when you are young and ignorant. I was not discouraged easily. The most depressing and discouraging thing happened a couple of weeks after we opened. A lady called to order flowers for one of the local churches. When she had finished the order, she told me that she wanted me to know that she and her husband hoped that I was successful, but that they didn’t think I had the slightest chance of staying in business more than a few weeks! (I survived, but this couple are still not on our customer list today.)

In the early seventies you could walk into the local Bank of Eagleville, tell the person in charge that you needed to borrow more money … and …. you always got what you asked for. There was never any questions asked. In today’s world, there are endless applications, gimmicks and investigations. (Ever get the feeling that they don’t trust you?)

There were no such things as monthly payments. You simply signed for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars and it was yours to use for 3 months or 6 months. When the loan came due you paid the interest. If you had a few dollars to put on the principle, so much the better, but it was never required. I remember my shock one day in the early 90’s when I walked into a bank to borrow two thousand dollars. I was told that I would have to put it on my credit card because they didn’t loan such small amounts of money.

I didn’t take their advice that day and thankfully I have managed not to have to borrow any more money ever again. (That should help explain why I live in an old house with all used furniture.)
Rare is the bank today that is locally owned with officers on the premises. And in today’s banking facilities there is almost never a single person employed there who has the authority to approve a loan. I have never found that a person’s income has anything to do with his/her promptness in paying me. (If you apply for a loan in today’s environment, they (1) total your income, (2) subtract the total of all your monthly payments/obligations and (3) use some sort of sophisticated formula to determines if you are a good risk. Don’t you just LOVE progress??!!

Silly me. I thought the determining factor of an individuals likelihood for paying back a loan was moral character. I am really stuck in the past!

What are the secrets of success in small business? There are none. Hard work, good financing, excellent employees and lots of wonderful customers are necessary. The most important factors are being open when the customers need you, having the merchandise they want and providing outstanding customer service.

I have always practiced saving at least 10-20% of monthly profits as a cushion for "hard times". (That is really very easy to do when you make very little money!) My kids all tell me that I am a penny pincher and that my life goes beyond the simple. I say, "The simpler, the better."

What is the greatest gift that being in business has given me? No problems answering that question. The circumstances at times were rather challenging, but I was able to raise my children in the same room that I worked in! We were lucky enough to get up every morning and eat breakfast together. I could drop them off at school and pick them up at the end of their day. When we were finished at the shop, we went home and ate supper together, cleaned house together and did laundry together. (If any kids read this in the Times, I am sure that they are thrilled that they did not grow up in our household!!)

In recent years, the business provided me with the flexibility to see that my parents and my Dear, Dear Uncle Arch and Aunt Millie were cared for properly. When it comes to family, I am terribly selfish. I know that I could never have raised my children by myself had it not been for these four wonderful people in my life. I can assure you that, yes (!), you can live on 3-4 hours of sleep a night for 10 years … but when I look in the mirror, I also know that it didn’t make me any better looking!

I remind my children that having a business run my life is a much easier existence than dairy farming. It also taught me that if I am not at work making money, I would probably be off work, going somewhere I really didn’t want to go, doing something I really didn’t want to do and spending money I really didn’t need to spend. Keeping very busy also provides less time for me to fret over the disgusting state of our governments at all levels. There are lots of politicians anxious to strut into office, but in my lifetime I am not sure that I have ever met one that was a statesman. (Was it H. L. Menken who said, "a statesman is a politician who will tell you how he has wasted your money and why you should not re-elect him"?)

Retirement? Are you kidding? In 35 years, I have only missed two days of work for sickness. (When you are self-employed, you do show up many days when you are sick!) I was informed recently that I was the longest surviving proprietor in town.

This year we put together a third generation wedding for one of our long term customers, but I seriously doubt that I will be breathing when the next generation falls in love. I pray continuously that I will continue to be able to get out of bed, have plenty to eat, heat in the winter and that good health will permit me to go to work each day.

"I am the luckiest man in town!"