From Birdseed to Seed Money

Birdseed. Imagine if in 1981 someone asked you how much money you could make selling birdseed. Seems to be a limited market doesnt' it? I mean imagine the retail space you need to rent and the amount per square foot you would need to generate in order to make it profitable.

The only way it will work is with one magic ingredient-one that costs no money. Jim Carpenter knew what that ingredient was so he took the risk and launched his business. This "little" business now does $120 million dollars a year in revenue s Wild Birds Unlimited.

Seems to be amazing, especially when you consider how much business he did BEFORE the internet took off. He had to get all bird lovers in an area to come to his physical store and he did it with his secret ingredient.

You, too, can have his secret ingredient if you tap in to the right part of you. He had passion for birds. He loved all aspects of them and he wanted to share that passion with other bird lovers. That is how he started his store.

His passion drove people to come to his store to buy birdseed as well as to learn about birds.

Other companies have had this magic formula and they went away from it in order to have more efficiency and profit. Think of Sears.In the tool department, they used to hire men that loved to build things. You knew you could go to Sears to find a hammer and get a lesson on the nails and other equipment you need to build the proper deck. Most of the men in a neighborhood bought Craftsman tools.

Then Sears when to building center kiosk for selling and hired high school kids to man their floors. Suddenly the "extra" you went to Sears for was no longer there. See they didn't GO for the Craftsman tools- they went for the information and passion that came free with the Craftsman tools. The use value a person got from that experienced salesman on the floor is what made them fork over the money to buy the tools.

So here is your take action:

1.Define what you are passionate about.
2.Figure out how to let others see and feel it so it has a "use value" to them.

When they feel the "use value" that causes them to want to do more business with you, work closer as a collegue with you or to follow you as a leader.

Anne Warfield
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