Page 26 - Cityview_Jan_Feb_2014

From the

Publisher

E

ver since I was manufacturing, and deliver the finished goods on schedule. I

was having a ball!
a young man, During my first year at junior high school, I noticed that

many of my classmates seemed to like Charms Pops suck-
there has never ers. These were available a short five minute walk from the

school at Hodges Confectionary for a nickel each. I overheard
been a doubt
a friend of mine who had offered a Pop to another friend for a

quarter. Viola! I wondered how everyone else had overlooked
this opportunity. The next day, I was on the early bus and that entrepreneurism

seated in the very front seat so as to be able to launch my-
self at an olympic walking pace toward the confectionery. I would be my life.

wanted to be careful not to seem rushed—as it might give away
my plan. There were three boxes of 24 pops in stock, and I

purchased them all and quickly headed back to school. With Like many of my peers, my early summers in Bristol, Tennes-
the market cornered, the top shelf of my locker became my see, were filled with yard work. The difference for me? unlike

impromptu warehouse—and I was in business. For the small my competitors, I used print media to advertise. Thanks to my
price of a quarter, my classmates no longer had to bother with mother’s access at her work to a mimeograph machine, I was

walking to the confectionery. Soon there was literally a line at able to run off handbills, which I then placed in every mailbox
my locker every morning—and I was rolling in cash.
in our neighborhood. The advertising worked—and business

Then, one day, as I turned to respond to the tap on my boomed. Soon I was so busy I needed a helper to keep up with
shoulder—thinking it was yet another smiling customer—I the workload.

was summarily put out of business by none other than Mr. That same year, wanting to earn some extra money for new
Hutchins, the Vice Principal. He was a harsh man, with a flat- fishing tackle, I proposed to the local department store that

top haircut and a noticeable twitch in his neck, the type of per- I supply them with hand-tied trout flies. When I made the
son who doesn’t seem to be enjoying his job. He accused me
proposal, I didn’t even possess the ability to manufacture the

of being a lowly lollipop dealer and declared that no one was flies! My nights after mowing yards were filled with learning
going to do that in “his” school. I was busted and sent to the about being a small-scale manufacturer. My father’s friend,

office, scared to death of receiving a paddling and threatened Bob Wherry, was nice enough to show me how to hand-tie the
with expulsion for my misdeed. It made no sense to me, as the fly—for which I now had orders. I then had to source the raw

venture only sought to fulfill the needs of the sugar-hungry
materials, allow for preparation, allocate adequate time for

30 The
Johnny Carson The

Macintosh
hosted the 10th

Years personal 56th Academy space
computer Awards; shuttle

was released Terms of mission

Ago.
for sale Endearment launched

by Apple won Best Challenger

Computer.
Picture.
into space.

24 cityviewmag.com january february 2014