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Ron’s ArticlesThankfully IndependentNovember 2007
I’m so independent and driven that slowing down is hard for me. But it seems that the longer I’m organic, the easier it gets. Knowing that I’m doing what is right for the world is soothing. I’ve talked about this with my employees. We all agree that it gives us a different view of things and puts us in a more meditative and thankful state. Just about the number one thing I’m thankful for this year is that my independent organic garden center is still open. We just celebrated our seventh anniversary although there’s no logical physical or financial reason that we should still be in business. We started out with the right mission and great enthusiasm but our timing couldn’t have been worse. By the time the 2005 / 06 drought hit - the second worst on record, we’d already suffered through five years in the red. The Small Business Administration confirms that most small businesses fail within their first five years. And, with new rates that increased our water bill to $1500 a month, things looked bleak. So, we put up the GOING OUT OF BUSINESS sign. For the first time in almost six years, I felt relieved. I was determined to focus my energies on my successful landscape management company - to quit pouring its profits down the garden center drain. About a month later, in September 2006, I noticed that my wife, Mona, had taken the sign down. Mona manages the garden center while I attend to my firefighter duties and run our landscape business. “Wow! She’s found some fool to take this business off our hands. Great!” Then Mona advised me, in no uncertain terms, that due to the reaction of our employees and customers and the incredible success of our going out of business sale, she was NOT closing down. She’d consulted with family members, professional advisors and business leaders. She was confident it was the right decision. She asked me to remember something I’d said early on when our backs were against the wall - when she was urging me to give it up. I’d told her I couldn’t quit because it’s my mission to provide all natural products that save time, money, energy and even the lives of the people using them. I’d told her I wouldn’t give up until they pried the keys from my cold dead hands. When things were bad I’d tell her, “I’d rather die trying than die crying.” I knew that against all the odds, we’d succeed. When we opened our independent garden center, we knew we weren’t going to going to get rich. But, for the first time in our history we weren’t looking at it with the thought, ’How are we going to get out of this?’ I felt this incredible burst of new found energy. So, I hopped on my Skid Steer one weekend from dawn to past dusk and dug and dug and dug all the time thinking of my new favorite saying “Quitters Never Win, Winners Never Quit and on Only Quitters Fail.“ I knew our luck and the seasons had changed - and that the rains were coming. Much to the amusement of my skeptical employees, the pond filled up the next week. This eliminated our $1500 a month water bill. We have to sell a whole bunch of RONS SPECIAL BLENDS to make a profit of $1500. And the plants responded beautifully to being watered with the nutrient rich natural ground and rain water instead of the filtered and chemically treated city water. I strongly recommend the use of rain barrels to collect this wonderful free elixir. Our staff was so inspired and energized that they improvised a way to double the size of the pond in anticipation of our brutal summers. They’ve continued working extra hard to transform out garden center into a truly dynamic destination. What I’m most thankful for is the loyalty our employees and customers showed during this stressful time and since. It’s a true symbiotic relationship. We sustain each other. I have a newfound appreciation for our community. In September we were named the best garden center in Mesquite by the readers of the Mesquite Community paper- not the best organic garden center, the best garden center. We are also very thankful for the new Living Natural First organic talk show on WBAP at 10 am Sunday mornings. We are among their sponsors. Due to my independence, stubbornness and hard-headedness which I like to call passion, and my constant observance of the natural principle that only the strong survive, after 44 years on this planet the harshest critic of me and the garden center, my father, even told me he’s proud of us for keeping it all growing. I ask all of you to commune with nature, family and friends to find what you are thankful for. And, most importantly, be sure to let the people in your life know how much you appreciate them. 
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