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My son's potato learning experience


Trigger Mike

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A couple of years ago my now 15 year old son planted 200 pounds of potatoes and sold some to a local restaurant and to individuals.   Last year right as the virus hit he planted 400 pounds worth and sold them to a farmers market and individuals since his restaurant customer closed.  

 

He was so encouraged by the results that he planted 750 pounds this year.  As he harvested and saw the large crop he began to dream of how much money he was going to make above the feed costs.   I told him not to count his chickens before they hatch.  

 

He sold some to the same feed store but they are not selling as much this year as last year so they are not buying from him with several rows left to harvest.   

 

He sold some to individuals and is to deliver some to a new restaurant customer tomorrow but we will likely still have plenty left over unsold.  

 

He is learning that a good crop does not always mean good profit.  Another customer offered to buy some for 45 cents a pound and he got.mad and said he paid 44 cents for the seed.  I told him 45 cents is better and a new customer than zero cents and rotten potatoes.   He finally said yesterday he is going to cut his price some.  

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Good learning experience. 
 

Years ago when I was a kid when it snowed I would make money shoveling walks. 
I would go door to door and I got a lot of work. Turns out I was bidding half of what anyone else did so I doubled my price. 
Problem was no one would hire me after that and other kids were taking my customers, so I came up with a plan. 
I came up with a measurement plan. I charged by the square foot and my calculations put my prices just a little above my original bids. 
I would then knock on a door after measuring their walkway and driveway and I would say “Hello Ma’am or Sir, I shovel walks in our community. As you may know or not know our town has a snow removal ordinance and I would like to help you stay in compliance by removing the snow from your walk or driveway. I have calculated the square footage of snow on your sidewalk and at 2 cents a square foot and you have 300 square feet of snow to be removed the charge would be $6. If you want the driveway done I will have to make another calculation.”

Most people would not go for the driveway clearing as it wasn’t required by law. 

That ended up being $1 more than what I would have charged but people were so impressed with my pitch that I got a lot of work. 
I also made verbal contracts with folks to always get the job of clearing their snow. 
I was only able to do that for one year because we moved around a lot but that lesson has helped me many times through my life. 

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13 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

MAYBE you can teach your boy how to make Vodka!

Best way to store potatoes ever invented! 

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11 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

MAYBE you can teach your boy how to make Vodka!

That’s it, make him a moonshiner, maybe he can get a tv contract.

 

BTW, very little vodka whether or not Russian is made from potatoes, grain is easier.  Russians did not even have potatoes till the 1600s though they did make vodka.

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4 hours ago, JD Lud said:

What about as an ammo supplier for potato guns?  Or are they no longer “in”

Create the demand.  Organize a potato launcher or fry cook off competition.  Everyone is required to buy from him so they are on an even playing field.

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8 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Good learning experience. 
 

Years ago when I was a kid when it snowed I would make money shoveling walks. 
I would go door to door and I got a lot of work. Turns out I was bidding half of what anyone else did so I doubled my price. 
Problem was no one would hire me after that and other kids were taking my customers, so I came up with a plan. 
I came up with a measurement plan. I charged by the square foot and my calculations put my prices just a little above my original bids. 
I would then knock on a door after measuring their walkway and driveway and I would say “Hello Ma’am or Sir, I shovel walks in our community. As you may know or not know our town has a snow removal ordinance and I would like to help you stay in compliance by removing the snow from your walk or driveway. I have calculated the square footage of snow on your sidewalk and at 2 cents a square foot and you have 300 square feet of snow to be removed the charge would be $6. If you want the driveway done I will have to make another calculation.”

Most people would not go for the driveway clearing as it wasn’t required by law. 

That ended up being $1 more than what I would have charged but people were so impressed with my pitch that I got a lot of work. 
I also made verbal contracts with folks to always get the job of clearing their snow. 
I was only able to do that for one year because we moved around a lot but that lesson has helped me many times through my life. 

My son had the best angle on that. We bought him a snowblower so he could make some money. The first decent snow storm we came home from work to find the snow not cleared and him playing video games. He had rented the snowblower out to his friend and was collecting 25%. Needless to say he was handed a shovel and did it by hand 

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22 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Let the boy come up with a solution. Make it an even better learning experience. 

Good point, my sister never learned from pa bailing her out.  Or charge a consulting fee as a business would do.

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13 hours ago, Trigger Mike said:

A couple of years ago my now 15 year old son planted 200 pounds of potatoes and sold some to a local restaurant and to individuals.   Last year right as the virus hit he planted 400 pounds worth and sold them to a farmers market and individuals since his restaurant customer closed.  

 

He was so encouraged by the results that he planted 750 pounds this year.  As he harvested and saw the large crop he began to dream of how much money he was going to make above the feed costs.   I told him not to count his chickens before they hatch.  

 

He sold some to the same feed store but they are not selling as much this year as last year so they are not buying from him with several rows left to harvest.   

 

He sold some to individuals and is to deliver some to a new restaurant customer tomorrow but we will likely still have plenty left over unsold.  

 

He is learning that a good crop does not always mean good profit.  Another customer offered to buy some for 45 cents a pound and he got.mad and said he paid 44 cents for the seed.  I told him 45 cents is better and a new customer than zero cents and rotten potatoes.   He finally said yesterday he is going to cut his price some.  

future farmer in the making - do not Stifel his education , we will need him down the road when the city folks understand that everything does not come from the market shelf , wonder if the petta folks ever think about supporting the vegetable crops ? they seem to like them even tho theirs are generally over processed 

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