Saturday afternoon I met with my landscape guy (Noe) to plan out our spring plantings and yard treatment. And then he gave me an update on the little side business he started back in his hometown in Mexico. Six years ago he told me he wanted to come up with something for his Dad to do—so he would not just be totally dependent on the son’s income. Noe bought 3-4 freezers from Home Depot here, drove to Mexico and placed them in little markets there. Then they would fill those freezers with popsicles they made. The markets paid nothing up front—but simply passed on 60% of all money generated from sales of the popsicles—keeping 40%. That model proved to work very well.
Yes, people told him it would not work. Yes, well-meaning friends said he was crazy to try to do this. He would have trouble finding people to work and the merchants would cheat him. But Noe forged ahead—treating people with respect and expecting the same. No, he doesn’t have a business degree—in fact, he completed the sixth grade and moved into running his own businesses.
Today he has 820 freezers in place, with a goal of getting to 1000 early next spring. He purchased a machine that can produce 10,000 popsicles every 8 hours. Currently, he is selling about 9000 daily at the equivalent of $.70 each. He brought his cousin in to run the business there while he continues to operate his successful landscaping business here. He never borrowed a penny and attends seminars to learn how to do business better. He has negotiated for a special recipe of the Love Fruit popsicle, with exclusive rights for a four hundred mile square area.
Obviously, this is not a high-tech business. Noe still has a flip phone and doesn’t text or use Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. He just provides a good product at a fair price and keeps hustling to grow his business.
He never waited for someone to give him a job or to guarantee him a salary and benefits. He simply saw opportunities and took action.
What’s holding you back from doing something similar? Noe had a lot of reasons for not being successful. But he took his desirable difficulties and moved toward success anyway. What opportunities have you seen that would open the door to this kind of success?
