A very simple business

By now you should have gotten the idea that I like things to be simple!

I've had two jobs in education that I really liked, the only thing I didn't like was the bureaucracy.

My question always was, "why don't we just do it"?  Why all the paper work, the meetings, the compromises and the approval system?

This is one of the reasons that I like the metal sculpture business: it's so simple.

I buy the materials, make the sculptures and sell them.  I am always working just with the customer, whether it is retail or wholesale.  There are no middle people. 

This makes the price of my finished sculptures affordable.

Back in 1973 my wife (at the time) and I sold twelve designs to a conglomerate.  We were living in Ohio and the company we were selling to was in Indiana.   It was autumn and the company was concerned about having samples ready for their showrooms at the various home furnishing shows in January.

I said that I would make the samples and ship them to the showrooms. 

To begin, they only wanted to use eight of the designs.

One day they called and wanted me to come over to Indiana so that we could decide on which of the twelve designs they would offer.  I told them I had already decided.  There was a distinct silence on the other end of the phone.  (I'm picturing them thinking, "who is he to decide"?).

Then they asked how I came to that decision and I said I had chosen the eight best sellers.  There was another distinct silence on the other end of the phone.  When the call continued they had decided that that wasn't such a bad approach.

Now, I really liked this company and the people that worked there.  I was there for almost three years and they were very good to me. Yet, no one could ever reach a decision without a meeting.

A competing line of metal sculpture had a San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge that was about five feet long.  I decided I'd come up with one that was about three long.

I was working for a division that was part of a larger corporation.  All designs had to be approved by the head corporate designer.  He took one look at my bridge and said it was a "no go".  He turned it down flat!

It was a nice looking piece so I hung it on my office wall.  One day one of the vice presidents of the larger corporation came into my office, took one look at the bridge and asked, "why isn't that in the line"? 

I told him the design had been turned down.  We'll he said, "I'm overriding them, get it photographed and send out copies to all the sales reps".

I liked that!  Here was someone who could make a decision.

After I left the corporation I went back on my own and have never looked back. 

I do like this simple way of doing business:  Buy the materials, make the sculptures and sell them. 

I could do the same thing I am doing now and make it very complicated, but I prefer to keep it simple!

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