THE OUTT.OOK FOR THE FUTURE 23 



The money is there. People are spending it and paying more for 

 service than ever, but as yet only a small part of the population 

 "Say it with Flowers." The more they hear and see of them, the 

 more they will use them. Even should all of these predictions fail, 

 most of us in business today know that good florists' stock never 

 sold at a higher price than at present, and that this is no time to 

 retrench, but a time to go on, to build, to expand, to produce still 

 better stock, to advertise, to give better and still more courteous 

 service. Come what may, flowers wiU always be used, and there 

 is absolutely nothing to fear for those who attend to their business 

 and "watch their step." 



STARTING INTO BUSINESS 



The great majority of those who are successful retail growers 

 today, started with little or no capital. That, of course, doesn't say 

 anything about the many who started and fafled. Most of them 

 are forgotten. 



Under the existing conditions, the man who wants to start and 

 has a capital of say $10,000 will be looking around for more capital 

 by the time he has a suitable lot, a little store and a couple of green- 

 houses. Yet, if he has a knowledge of the business, and is a business 

 man he has, of course, a great advantage over the one who hasn't 

 that amount of money to begin with. 



The first requirement, however, in either case is a knowledge of 

 the business — not in aU its branches, but in the particular one he 

 wants to enter, and for which he sees an opening. GeneraUy speak- 

 ing, a man with $10,000 capital should put not over one-half of 

 that amount into buildings, and reserve the other half for working 

 capital. To put in every cent and borrow funds to work with is 

 dangerous, particularly with those so located that they can buy from 

 the wholesale market the cut flowers they need, or from the wholesale 

 grower the plants they require. A lack of working capital has made 

 many a man close up. When once established for a year or two, 

 things are different. If you have kept a correct record you can find out 

 at a glance the amount of business done, which will give the best pos- 

 sible idea of what could be done. Misusing credit, however, is 

 skating on thin ice. 



There is this advantage about starting in as a retajl grower: 

 the growing end of the concern is the last to be considered. The 

 first and main problem is a suitable place in which to do business. 

 There is plenty of stock in the country that you can buy ready for 

 the counter and seU at a good profit, but to grow, and especially to 

 grow cut flowers, requires modern houses. You can successfully 

 grow bedding stock in a sash house, but in such a building Roses or 

 Carnations would prove a failure. Starting in on a small scale, a 

 little store — no matter how simply constructed, a small show house 



