The Last Straw
Feb 24th, 2007 by tortoise
So I’m talking with a lady at a potluck. She’s interested in starting a raw food business. She just got her certificate, so she’s an official Raw Food Something and she wants to get to work starting a raw food business.
Great! I think. I’ve been thinking about starting a business as well and not only would it be great to network and share resources, we could support each other as well.
Wonderful! I think. We’ve got a small raw food group and we can combine promoting her business and the raw food group in tandem. A total win-win situation.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I email her with some ideas on getting her name out there.
No answer.
None.
Not a “What a great idea! Let’s do it!”
Not a “I don’t think that’s for me. How about …?”
Not even a “Please leave me alone. Your ideas suck.”
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Okay! I think. It’s the holidays. Maybe she’s really busy and just doesn’t have time to think about this right now.
Months later, well after the holiday rush and well after “Oh no! Did I really spend that much?!” reality checks, we’re at another potluck. She mentions (again) that she wants to start a business. I bite.
I re-iterate some of the ideas I’d emailed her and if I thought not responding to my emails was like dropping bowling balls in quicksand, she’s even more vague and non-responsive. I really don’t understand where the block is here. It’s not solid enough to be resistance… What’s going on here? What does she want to do?
Well, another woman is apparently wondering the same thing and asks her “Well, what do you want to do?” And she replies, a bit shortly, “I just want to sell my cookies.” (She’s been making raw food cookies and selling them to friends.) I wonder at the shortness; it’s the only solid indication I’ve received up to now, but I’m wondering if I’m imagining the shortness, or if the shortness is even directed at me.
And the other woman says to her, “Oh, then you need to get certification from the health inspector.” To which the would-be businessperson replies brightly “Oh! You mean like my husband?”
It’s at this point this blog is born.