More specifically, Vidalia's bow.
This variety of onion is considered sweet: due to its mild taste and aroma, people eat it just like apples. At least that's what most of my customers do.
During a phone call - in the 2018 season, if my memory serves me - one of them shared with me a story about how he carried Vidalia on board a cruise ship on his vacation. At every meal, my client tormented the waiter: "Take an onion, chop it up and add it to my salad." This story made me smile.
Yes, if you love Vidalia, then you love her. you love...
However, let me not get ahead of myself.
How did I start? I am not a farmer. I am an IT guy.
I'm addicted to domain names
It may seem strange, but my way not started with an idea.
In 2014 the domain name was put up for auction: for some reason, the owner abandoned it. Being born in the state of Georgia, I'm a little familiar with the industry and immediately recognized him. and enjoyed developing them. However, things were different back then - although I made a bet, it was purely for fun, entering with an offer of $2.200 and being sure that it would be closed.
In 5 minutes I became the proud owner of VidaliaOnions.com and didn't know what to do with it.
On your marks! March! Attention!
After the domain came into my possession, I tried to focus my attention on other projects, but its name continued to hover in my head.
It seemed to say:
… hey… I'm here..
had an interesting approach to creating characters - they kind of initially wrote themselves, and he (Faulkner) served as a kind of mechanical layer. His quote:
“I would say that you need to put the character in your head. Once there for real, he will do all the work himself. All that is required of you is to keep up with him, writing down everything he does and says. You must know your hero. You must believe in him. You must feel that he is alive ... After you understand this, the work of describing him turns into a purely mechanical work. [
I treat my projects the same way Faulkner treats his characters. I buy domain names with the intention of developing them and give them away them initiative. They themselves serve as a source of inspiration. They lead me to what they should be. I'm just a keyboard guy.
Sometimes I buy them at auction, sometimes from the original owners. But, as a rule, the domain comes first, and then the idea.
I usually take my time with a project. The path of some domains seems obvious even before the purchase, and the path of some becomes clear only in the process. The domain for the Vidalia bow was one of the latter. After I acquired it, he continued to nudge me in the side with his elbow:
Take care of me, take care of me... You know how, you know how I should be
A month later, I began to understand what he was talking about. Every year I buy pears from Harry & David. I needed to do the same service for Vidalia's onions: instead of delivering pears from the farm, they delivered onions.
The idea is not bad, but it is not so easy to take on. I'm not a farmer, I don't have workers, I don't have a packing plant. I don't have a logistics and distribution system.
But the domain kept looking at me ಠ~ಠ ////whispers////
Just start..
“Aim for Nothing and go to Nowhere until you reach your goal.”
(c) Tao of Winnie the Pooh
I did just that, being stupid enough to take on a project of this complexity. The size of the market justified the online adventure. Google Trends showed a steady amount of searches for the variety's name, with chefs around the world praising "sweet onion caviar."
So I started off with no destination or milestone. Just started walking. Without a God-sent investor. Without a patron. I used modest income from other projects to finance the enterprise. It was February 2015 outside.
When I got down to business, I found out the location of the Vidalia onion committee, which represents all the farmers who grow this variety. I made contact with them: they were kind enough to listen to me.
Eventually, I was introduced to three farmers in my area.
Having agreed well with the third of them, we decided to try. His firm had been on the market for 25 years, never concentrating on direct-to-consumer sales, but nevertheless aware of the value of such work. In addition, they had a packing shop. However, the most important element was that they grew first-class onions.
And we started.
At the most conservative estimate, we planned to receive fifty (50) orders in the 2015 season. The season ended with over six hundred (600).
While the farmer was growing onions, I did my best to work with clients, sales, online segment development and logistics. Before that, I didn't have any projects working directly with consumers. And I realized that I really like it.
The more we immersed ourselves in work, the more we grew. So much so that our competitors stopped trying to sell onions through the mail and sent their customers to us.
We began to explore alternative marketing opportunities—placed a billboard on I-95, south of Savannah—facing traffic entering Georgia from the north; we also sponsored a cyclist traveling across the country for charity and a basketball team from a local high school; in addition, we provided assistance to the local elementary school.
We have set up a hotline for orders, which - from time to time - gives us more sales than the site.
Of course, we made some colossal mistakes, which are entirely my “merit”. For example, spending $10.000 on defective packaging boxes we ordered from an obscure and incompetent manufacturer in Dalton (this happened early on and almost made me stop).
Fortunately, I decided not to let such miscalculations put an end to the enterprise. And, to be honest, our customers would be pretty disappointed if that happened. Last season, when I called back a customer, his wife answered the phone. I began to introduce myself, but she interrupted me in the middle of a sentence, shouting at her husband in complete delight: “VIDALIA-MAN! VIDALIA-MAN! PICK UP THE PHONE!"
At that moment, I realized that we were doing something right. Something that helps people by leaving a positive mark.
Sometimes I say that I prefer the goal to the income. Now, as we enter our fifth season, I do not go back on my words.
And it gives me great pleasure. I am happy that I got involved with this industry.
I am Peter Askew and I sell bows online.
Source: habr.com