Going to the Chickens

I've read a lot about keeping chickens for eggs over the years, and my homesteader side has always craved a little flock of hens. Now we have two splendid specimens in the back yard, doing those things that chickens do.

Peck, scratch, groom, poop. Repeat.

I love it. They are beautiful, graceful animals with highly ornamental color and form. They hang out with us when we're in the yard and tolerate being followed and picked up by our toddler. They talk back and forth to each other in soft expressive nuanced chicken sounds, and shriek the alarm when necessary with all the classic barnyard buck-ckaw attitude you could ask for. They've transformed our fly and spider population into fertilizer and diligently tilled it into the soil all over our backyard.

No eggs yet, but they'll start coming in spring.

To me, our healthy happy hens epitomize growing something from nothing.

Of course, when you look closer the details give the lie to the phrase "something from nothing" because of course they make something from something else. It's just that they make tasty food from stuff we don't want, don't like, or couldn't otherwise find a use for. Something we didn't even notice the value of.

That's exactly the kind of inspiration we can use to create profitable little niche businesses with little or no cash. Find unrecognized resources, get a cooperative network of folks together, and pool talent to transform them into something unexpectedly valuable.

When you don't know how to make a solution from a whole lot of nothing, remember to go to the chickens.

Speaking of Something From Nothing

I've often thought (and said) that TV channels could benefit from producing a pared down version of each program for the short attention span crowd. Call it the ADD* channel. Combine content from a bunch of channels into a library of densely packed 10 minute films.

Just imagine it: eliminate ALL THE CRAP - - - [intro] [commercial] [preview of what comes first] [commercial] [what comes first] [commercial] [a recap of what comes first] [commercial] [preview of what comes next] [commercial] [what comes next] [recap of what comes next] [commercial] - - - and just SHOW the SHOW!!!

Well, my company is like that. No crap. Just show me the results. And the videos.

*With much respect to ADD folks - I'm probably an undiagnosed case myself.

Cultivating a Garden of Enterprise

I started my first business in 2001 while completing career certificates in Landscape Management and Garden Design. I worked part time then at CalFlora, a legendary local nursery. My lifelong interests in art, ecology, language, and nature all drew me toward the work of garden design, and my contact with nursery customers brought me into constant fascinating conversations. Many such conversations evolved into paying jobs, and without much forethought I was in business for myself as a landscape designer. I was attending the best junior college in the country, so why not educate myself on the art of business? I added certificates in Marketing and Business Management to my arsenal and my imagination caught fire. Over the next years my focus shifted toward cultivating a garden of ideas rather than soil, although matters of the earth still lay very close to my heart.

What I learned about a healthy garden - the value of biodiversity, the strength of complex webs of interacting forces, the importance of adaptation - applies directly to a healthy economic system. The current economic crisis has a lot to do with the monocultural landscape of business. Like industrial agriculture, it's dominated by crowd thinking, where the market favors the largest players, banks fund proven winners, and only the bottom line defines success. The resulting lack of diversity leads to a weak economy - herds of big businesses with similar vulnerabilities.

Now people and organizations are evolving radical solutions to tough times. Whether it's a return to simpler values, a stringent work ethic descended from the Depression era, or a sense of human connection that brings our choices into sharper focus, connections are being made. Success in life and in business is about having a positive impact on the community and the environment while growing the bottom line.

My approach is to demystify business making. One of the most valuable tonics against a depression is a thriving local business economy, and I help cash poor micro businesses make the leap into profitability. I've read a LOT of books on small business and marketing and most can be distilled in a paragraph or a one page list of contact information. The risks are real and the challenges are relevant; these things must be accounted for in preparing for a successful venture, but in reality (especially in today's economic conditions) tiny start-up businesses don't have capital. Many micro businesses begin gradually, almost accidentally - or under the sudden pressure of an opportunity or life change. We can't necessarily afford print advertising measured in cost per thousand impressions. We don't have time to build a library of solid business information and read it through carefully before making decisions.

Through a network of allied local professionals and my own skills, I provide micro-businesses with timely advice, services, and support that can bridge the most difficult gaps in the start-up phase and beyond. Working as a marketing and business coach I feel privileged to help entrepreneurs transform dreams into profitable enterprise.