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Pumpkin Paddling
The rise of the seed!
Do you have a good use for a pumpkin? Now
don’t get iconic on me, you know I mean other than making a pie
or carving it up to make a jack-o-lantern. Anyone can think of
those uses. I mean something special. Of course if you can make
a pumpkin pie that is capable of winning a national pie baking
contest or your carving ability is something akin to Rodin then
we are already talking special. If not then I mean do you have a
good use for a pumpkin that would make money?
The good people of Windsor, Nova Scotia have
an unusual use for a pumpkin and it works well for them. They
paddle them! Yep, just like you would paddle a canoe or kayak.
First you need to know that some of the pumpkin farmers around
Windsor are extraordinary growers. It’s not too hard to find 40
or 50 locally grown pumpkins each year weighing in excess of 500
pounds and several at 600 to 800 pounds. Not world records, but
sure big enough to carve into a pumpkin type boat and race
across Lake Pesaquid. And that’s exactly what they do every year
in the Great Pumpkin Regatta. On the average 50 entries line up
to race at the big Regatta, so you can see that oversize
pumpkins are not rare up there. And that in itself is quite
interesting given their very short growing season, after all we
are talking Nova Scotia.
Now here is the kicker. Some of those
pumpkins are rather prized by the people who know pumpkins. Fact
is, that seeds from those huge gourds can easily fetch $12 per
seed at a sale. Do the math! Have you ever thought about how
many seeds are in a 600 pound pumpkin? One farmer I talked to,
put his seeds on line and made over $19,600 selling seeds from 3
huge plants. Why? Anyone who ever wanted to grow a big or stout
pumpkin was bidding on them and a few bidders were trying to
control the market and buy all the seeds, so that others
couldn’t get any for themselves. Who knew there were pumpkin
wars?
Now thus far in this article you have heard a
cute story about something unusual to do with a huge pumpkin. Of
course, pumpkins are not the lesson here. The lesson is that if
you do something different, something special with your business
then you’ll attract the attention of the very people you want to
sell.
You can do the same thing for your business.
Ever had a golf tournament? Why not! They are easy to put
together, they generally pay for themselves with participant
fees and golfers love them. Think about it. Especially think
about your business logo and name all over the course, the score
cards and the Golf shirts. Most golf courses are happy to help
you put together a tournament, they have done it many times. How
about a charity rally? Rubber duck race? Pie eating contest?
Biggest home-grown tomato contest?
Do these sound silly? Each and every one of
them has worked for someone and worked successfully. How do I
measure success? Easy, it is when the results equal or are
greater than the effort. Most of these ideas don’t cost a dime,
so any profit, income or attention drawn to your business is
pure gold.
Try a little pumpkin paddling in your
business this month (in other words, something different) and
see how it works.
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