This past year, with virtually no fresh posts, blogrush continued to rack up the hits. BoldRush’s blog stayed number one on Google images for “snow load” snapping to the photo attached to our post “Energy wanes under snow load“. Searchers also came to the blogrush site via assorted combinations of snow, cabin, lake, Canada, mountains and the odd person looking for the elusive Cowboy Larry Smith. Knowing that most of these viewers have little connection to our struggling business venture, I’d still like to pull them in.
In business, construction metaphors abound. There is a consequence of having too much weight and insufficient support. Or, as often said, you can’t build a structure that lasts without a good foundation. So, having absolutely no idea what the interest of these fearless, yet persistent, searchers might be, I’ve erected a slight construction detour within a business recap.
That winter of 2006-2007 marked one of the highest snowfall records in the southwest Yukon. A month after our blogrush snow load post, James and I knew what we had to do. We hunkered down and James maxed out on BoldRush bar production as the lease on our commercial kitchen space expired. We labeled and piled bar upon bar, in box after box. We sold our suburban home to cover business losses. We hosted garage sales at the Bistro, hauled the remaining kitchen equipment into storage and moved out to the cabin.
The cabin looks quaint under snow, but underneath all that snow was torn and shredded 30-year old rolled roofing spread over thin and rotting plywood. The cabin’s foundation posts were slipping towards the lake, but the floor was solid (albeit in a peculiarly wonky fashion). And, most challenging of all was the lack of a water and septic system. The lake was frozen solid and summer water buckets were not an option. The ice finally went out at the end of May and the construction season began soon after.
All this time, the cheques rolled in from our retailers. We had our distribution methods down and a steady consumer following. Ah! The joy of business when the heavy work’s been done and it’s all just a trip to the bank!
But we knew it would end eventually. Our stockpile of bars sold out sooner than expected (sales exceeding expectations is usually a good thing, exceeding production is not). By September the house was still barely livable (lighting by extension cords, heating by the oven, and the insulation was still non-existent).
In business, as in life, choices have to be made. Winter was inevitable. Children have to be fed, houses need heat, and light needs to be available to stave off the Yukon’s long dark nights. BoldRush powerfood bars required commercial production space. Time, energy and money were in short supply.
BoldRush bar production would have to wait; our lives were under construction.
