Investing In This New World

I've been thinking lately about investing. Just a few years ago, when the stock market was hot, people were tossing money in without much thought or care. Unless you made really bad investments, you mostly saw your funds increase over time. Then along came the sub-prime mortgage mess, credit card debt and the economy cycled downward. Gone were the days of free money and ever increasing bank balances. As the stock markets headed lower and lower day after day, a lot of people began to re-evaluate their view toward investing. I know I did. I started looking at the world around me and saw, more clearly than ever before, that there are many different forms of investing - many of which are far less visible to us than picking the latest hot stock. There's a reckoning happening - big banks, big institutions, big anything - are all being challenged right now. Perhaps our 'bigger is better' mentality is fading away. Here's what I've discovered.

When we started shopOrganic back in early 2008, we were headed into a weakening housing market. At the time, we had no idea what the impact would be. Late in 2008 and early 2009, we saw markets tumble all around us. It impacted everyone we knew - and still we needed to build our business.

Like most start ups, we were tight on funds and we still needed to do things every business needs to do. So, we talked with folks - our suppliers and vendors, in particular. We simply asked, is there anything you can do to help us out? We were surprised and delighted by the response. We found almost everyone was willing to pitch in just a little bit to help. We shaved some costs off here, got a few extra free services there, extended small credit terms (even net 7 instead of COD make a difference) - and before we knew it, we were well on our way. No one went to extremes, but every little bit helped. It's like the coin tray or jar or drawer most of us have at home. You drop your spare change in there and suddenly you have a few hundred dollars. Each person that helped us dropped a few coins in our jar, enabling us to continue to build our business.

But it wasn't a one-way street. We also worked to help our suppliers and vendors where we could a well - a shout out here, a recommendation there. And as I thought about how this had all come about, it dawned on me that this may well be the roots of a new economy. (Of course, it hasn't removed our need to raise capital, but it sure has helped us significantly extend our runway!) Bigger isn't always better. We've been working with a lot of small companies who in turn have helped us out and we've all benefited. Just like sustainable, organic farming, a network of small producers may well be the most sustainable and beneficial economic model moving forward. It feels a bit like back to the future but maybe that's the best place to be.

With that, I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to those who have helped us along the way. We're still growing, we're still looking for investment capital, we're still growing, and we're still here. Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who's helped us get to where we are. We are incredibly optimistic about the future and look forward to expanding on this new economic model. If you'd like to join in the fun, contact us and we'll be happy to chat with you!

Thanks go out to:

Kris Nicola at Intelligent Design
TCR Solutions and Chris Compton
Login and all the geeky tech guys over there
Donna Oakley at GSL Fine Lithographers
TLC Communications
Dave Blanchette at Bourn Partners for helping us find an amazing location
Dave Blanchette for introducing us to Mike Jaglois of Arlyss, Jaglois, Lynch
Arlyss, Jaglois, Lynch, marketing firm extraordinare, and in particular Mike Jaglois and Shelly Lynch
Eric Layland (Confluence Digital)
Russell Parker, Sally Gatchel, Curt Mullen and all the great folks at Nature's Best
Cyndi Dain, accountant and trusted advisor
Deanna Conn, Jacque Westling, Quarles & Brady
Monique at Tucson Container/Kino Packaging
Susan Quinn (and Chico)
Gary Frost
Linda Fredin
Sallie Mansbacher
Jackie Brown & Rosie (of Border and Black fame)

A thousand thank you's!

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The Audacity of Going Organic - Year One

My dear friend Gary sent an email over the weekend about some group that is up in arms because Michelle Obama planted an organic garden. The problem, it seems, is that this flies in the face of established convention. I find it puzzling (and a bit sad) that a garden planted and grown without chemical fertilizers or insecticides is seen as a bad thing [click here to read more on this topic], but enough about that crazy world, let's look at the world around us....

Last year, our small team started shopOrganic. Leveraging the experience and expertise of our tiny team, we boldly launched the site on May 8, 2008. At the time we launched, we had begun to see the softening of the real estate market and we assumed that the worst of it would be falling housing prices for a bit. Little did we know at the time that the coming year would be among the worst years (financially) in decades. We didn't see the banking crisis coming, we certainly didn't see the meltdown on Wall Street coming but BAM! there they were.

There were times in the past year that we thought the economy would collapse and take our little company with it. It's been quite a challenge - both professionally and personally. Having put all our time and a lot of our money into this company, there were many sleepless nights worrying that the company would not survive the cold economic winter. We worried that those seeds planted were locked in some frozen economic tundra never to be seen again.

Like Michelle Obama, we too rolled up our sleeves on a cold spring day... and planted the seeds of a new beginning. Like Michelle Obama, we may have planted our seeds a bit too soon - the cold days of early Spring can be harsh and can delay the appearance of those vibrant green shoots that indicate that winter is over and spring is in progress.

We've hung in there this year - sometimes by the barest of margins - because we believe powerfully in what we're doing. We believe that a world in which everyone has enough clean food and clean water is just the baseline, the barest minimum of an acceptable reality for us all. As we have said from the beginning, what we want for ourselves, we want for everyone - it's pretty simple.

We started shopOrganic because we believe in organic principles of sustainability and stewardship. We wanted to create a company that reflected our values of quality, honesty, integrity, cooperation and well, fun.

We have found building relationships with the small vendors we work with to be immensely rewarding. We have gotten to know the other small (sometimes tiny) business owners that are dedicated to the same sustainable and organic principles. As we have worked with them to help them find a market for their great products, we have benefited from being able to provide our customers with a wonderful variety of amazing new, small vendor products that you can't find anyplace else. We have had a great time sampling, testing and trying out products of all kinds.

We have enjoyed getting to know our customers, exchanging emails and phone calls. Perhaps more than anything, we have enjoyed providing the best customer service you'll ever receive. It may sound a bit dopey, but it really gives us immense pleasure to know that when a customer has a problem and it's within our power to resolve it, we just do.

People are often amazed that we answer emails within an hour or two (sometimes within minutes, even at night and on weekends) with a real response. People are often amazed that we take their word for it when they report a problem and we just fix it. People are often amazed when they place an order as a gift that we print out a small gift card with their message on it and pop it in the box - without being asked. We are often amazed that these simple acts amaze people. We love to delight our customers and sometimes just getting an order shipped out the same day it is placed is enough to make someone's day.

We hit a few important milestones in this past year in terms of sales and number of customers and number of orders - but the most important milestone we hit was that we are still here. We have survived to this point and we will be around to celebrate our first anniversary.

We are seeing those tender green shoots start to push through the damp earth. We are not yet fully formed but we are full of optimism and hope for the future. We have managed, somehow, through rolling up our sleeves and working hard, to plant our own organic garden and it is starting to grow.

We have been honored to be part of this new world that is emerging and we are honored to be a part of the lives of each of our customers. We thank you for your support over the past year and we look forward to growing bigger and stronger this year with your support and our hard work.

We took a leap of faith when we planted the seeds of this business last year and we're seeing that faith (and all that hard work) start to take hold. Join us on this adventure and let's see where this next year will take us!

Stop by and see us - shop with us if you're a new customer or a returning one - and see what a difference a small committed group of people can make - join us!

www.shopOrganic.com - For The Greater Goods

Now go out there and enjoy your day!

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