Have you ever heard of Mike Ilitch? I heard that he got his start by putting an oven at the end of a bar, and selling pizza. He just walked in a bar and asked if it was cool. He is the founder of little caesars pizza, and went on to own two professional sports teams. The Detroit Tigers and the Red Wings. Have you ever heard of Bob Evans? He made sausage on his farm to sell at his small restaurant. Now his name is on restaurants and packs of sausage across america. I don’t know much more about these men, and I’m sure there are a lot more stories like this for many other common products. It got me thinking, why can’t I just start my own sausage company and turn it into an empire? Can it be done these days, can i compete with big sausage?
Ok so id need pigs i guess. Should I raise baby pigs? I want my sausage to be the best, so I want to have tasty, happy pigs. I’d have to invest in feed and lots of time for this, eventually buying bigger and bigger farms. What if I skip that process and purchase the meat? I’m sure there are bucher and processing fees. Great, I have options as far as meat, but I want a sausage. I’d still need tools like knives, grinders, tables. I’d need sausage liners, spices, and I’m sure there’s thousands of dollars of other things I’m not even thinking about right now. There would be things on the business side too, license, fees, health code stuff. Lets just assume I made the best sausage you ever had, what’s the process of getting my sausage sold in store, could i compete with prices? The more I get into it, the less realistic my new dream is becoming. I have never made sausage before, nor do I eat it often. I dont have the money or time to launch my sausage company and I can’t see myself securing a loan when I tell the bank I have no passion for making sausage. Ok. Well that’s pretty much a dead end there. I can’t compete with big sausage.
I know I’m not the only person doing this kind of thinking of starting a business empire. Seems impossible without lots of money, and a lot more passion. Gone are simpler days where people like Mike Ilitch and Bob Evans got their start. I know alot of us Americans live check to check, and live in small spaces. The idea of making something in America is fading. I don’t know anybody who makes anything. Do you know anybody who can make you a pair of shoes, a cola, a sausage, or even a cutting board? America doesn’t need anything from you, you can just buy whatever you want for cheaper than it would cost to do it yourself. The amount of time and money these things take is unrealic for most people. One year I planted watermelons, I watered, picked weeds and fertilized them. A opossum ended up taste testing each one. So after a couple months of caring for my plants, I just ended up buying a watermelon at the store. How many watermelons do I really want each year? Three at most probably. Way too much work for something I could easily go without. I can’t see myself ever doing that again.
How many great ideas go unpursued by our working class? I simply don’t have a solution or even a direct argument. I just want America to make things, and be the most creative, innovative country. I wish we had paths for thinkers that have no idea what they want to do, and turn them into great contributing people. I know that there are passionate people working hard, and achieving goals. I envy them, but there are a lot more people like me looking for ways to compete with big sausage
