Location Is Everything
We loved fresh fruits and vegetables, so we grew many of our own.
We had several fruit trees and no matter how much fruit they bore, we always wished there was more.
Every week on our way home from church during the summer and fall, we would always stop at a corner vegetable stand.
I'm sure they had a lot of variety but I always remember the corn, it was so good and we ate it often.
One day my dad overheard me telling a neighbor about the fresh corn and how good it was.
I mentioned that it was the freshest corn in town because it was at the corner of a corn field, so all they had to do was pick it every morning.
My dad told me that the corn grown in our area was feed corn, not consumer corn.
The corn grown in our area didn't get full ears because of the heat in the area.
Corn doesn't pollinate properly when the temperature goes above 90', which it does in the suburb of Los Angeles where I grew up.
I was crushed and didn't believe him.
I argued with him a little but knew not to argue too much.
The following week when we stopped at the vegetable stand, he took me by the hand to the owner.
With me standing there he asked the owner how fresh the corn was.
The owner said that it was as fresh as can be, he said that he gets a shipment from the Vegetable mart in Los Angeles 4 times per week.
Dad asked if he gets a shipment on Sunday and the owner said that the last shipment for the week would be Friday morning, the next shipment would be Monday morning.
Again, I was crushed.
It just didn't make any sense, here is a corn field and a corn stand.
It didn't make sense that the stand didn't sell the corn grown in the field.
My dad told me that it wasn't stupid, it was brilliant.
Everyone in the world specializes.
One family grows the food, an entirely different family sells the food.
If you're lucky enough to find a corn farmer with a corner of his lot for rent, then you've hit the jackpot because most people would believe exactly as I did, that the corn is picked and sold the same day.
In reality, it doesn't work that way but perception is reality.
When enough people believe that you have the freshest corn in town, you'll do the most business.
We had several fruit trees and no matter how much fruit they bore, we always wished there was more.
Every week on our way home from church during the summer and fall, we would always stop at a corner vegetable stand.
I'm sure they had a lot of variety but I always remember the corn, it was so good and we ate it often.
One day my dad overheard me telling a neighbor about the fresh corn and how good it was.
I mentioned that it was the freshest corn in town because it was at the corner of a corn field, so all they had to do was pick it every morning.
My dad told me that the corn grown in our area was feed corn, not consumer corn.
The corn grown in our area didn't get full ears because of the heat in the area.
Corn doesn't pollinate properly when the temperature goes above 90', which it does in the suburb of Los Angeles where I grew up.
I was crushed and didn't believe him.
I argued with him a little but knew not to argue too much.
The following week when we stopped at the vegetable stand, he took me by the hand to the owner.
With me standing there he asked the owner how fresh the corn was.
The owner said that it was as fresh as can be, he said that he gets a shipment from the Vegetable mart in Los Angeles 4 times per week.
Dad asked if he gets a shipment on Sunday and the owner said that the last shipment for the week would be Friday morning, the next shipment would be Monday morning.
Again, I was crushed.
It just didn't make any sense, here is a corn field and a corn stand.
It didn't make sense that the stand didn't sell the corn grown in the field.
My dad told me that it wasn't stupid, it was brilliant.
Everyone in the world specializes.
One family grows the food, an entirely different family sells the food.
If you're lucky enough to find a corn farmer with a corner of his lot for rent, then you've hit the jackpot because most people would believe exactly as I did, that the corn is picked and sold the same day.
In reality, it doesn't work that way but perception is reality.
When enough people believe that you have the freshest corn in town, you'll do the most business.
Source...