Funny Bidness–The Competitive Marketplace

My neighbor posted this on his blog about us. I thought it was pretty hilarious. Here's a link to his blog if you want to check out his other stuff. (http://stasisabc.com/blog/)

"So I went over to my neighbor’s the other day to borrow a hand trowel so as to do some weeding in my yeard dontcha know gee golly. As I approached their garage I noticed my neighbor’s wife was in the garage working with power tools in a manner that would make the guy who played ‘Marty’ in Back to the Future nervous (love that guy). She was building what looked like a little storefront stand for the kids to sell things at. I asked her what she was building and she said, “I’m building a little storefront stand for the kids to sell things at.” “Oh.” Then I asked her to put down the power saw because I had MANY questions for her and I didn’t want things to get out of hand. Her husband came out and they proceeded to tell me this inspiring story about how both of their parents were entrepreneurs, and growing up they learned everything about running a business first hand. They were taught at a young age the ins and outs of running their own business. Their parents raised them to be self reliant and independent. They taught them how to be their own bosses. So naturally, when they got older and wiser, they became entrepreneurs and started their own businesses. Now, they are passing on this legacy teaching their kids how to be independent and make their own money. I thought, “Wow! I am inspired. There is a life lesson here that I need to teach my kids!” I was so excited about the ‘aha’ moment that I ran home immediately! I sat my two boys down and said, “Boys, I have been inspired by the neighbors to teach you the most valuable lesson you can learn in life…it’s time you learned about market competition and corporate warfare, because you need to know how great it feels.” So we set up an identical stand selling nearly identical products (so as to not infringe on patents, trademarks, and copyrights). We set up our stand the same days they set up theirs. We have even painted our stand in nearly identical colors! And the BEST PART IS…I almost get teary eyed every time my boys run in the house and yell, “Dad! We just captured another 10% market share!” At those moments, I KNOW…I KNOW that I have done my part. Job well done, Dad, job well done. So what is the moral of the story? Tell the self reliant, independent entrepreneur in you to watch out for your neighbor because he will be the first one to copy your idea and introduce competition into your marketplace."

Here's the "general store" he's referring to. It's still under construction. The grand opening is coming soon! :)