There are many.
Being in flowers, the most important lesson is to enjoy what
you do. While the business is serious, having a job that
requires you to walk around and look at flowers better
be fun, or you are in the wrong business.
I have also learned to listen. I think this is one of the
most underutilized abilities that people have, in that we
don’t actually listen to what others are saying. I try to cut
through all the extraneous material and get to the real
issues, and that has served me very well. I have also learned
that people are all different, and in particular that there
are distinct cultural aspects to how people do business. A
discussion that would be insulting to one person could be
normal business for someone else, and I better know who it is
I’m dealing with.
Dealing with seed means that how the product performs is
very dependent on how it is used and treated, and I have found
that it is best to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone who
has problems with our product. If they aren’t happy with our
seed, correct the problem. It is counter productive to try and
prove them wrong, so we don’t even try to do that anymore. The
cost of replacing the seed is low when compared to the good
will that is created.
