Need Even More Money?

        

          You could approach the manager and explain to them the methods of Square Foot Gardening and all of its advantages, you might also tell them the typical new Square Foot Gardener are quite often a non-gardener.  Someone who would like to garden but tried once and failed, or someone who is afraid to start, or someone that thinks they do not have enough space, time, money or knowledge.  For that nursery, those are most likley non customers.   The advantage to the nursery owner is they will become new customers for them just by coming to meet you and learn all about SFG. 

          The ideal location would be somewhere near the center of their operation that would have space for a small office for you , and a display garden you would put in and maintain. 

          If they don’t have such a space, you could create one by renting or buying a small shed that would fit in with their landscaping, In that shed, you could have a small office as well as SFG display pictures and signs, as well as books and videos to sell.

          On the the back of the shed you could build racks to hold all the garden products to sell. Wood and vinyl boxes, tomato towers, and bags of Mels Mix.  The basic idea would be for you to be a separate part of their nursery, and all of your sales would belong to you. You would pay rent for the space giving them an income.  At the same time all of your customers would more than likely buy all their plants, tools, supplies and other necessities, from that nursery. This will give them a new income from new customers that have never been there,

          You could also explain to the manager, that rather then being in competition for their nursery products, you would actually pull in new customers. Another analogy would be if they wanted to add a new feature to their nursery, such as garden ponds, they would have to hire an expert and invest a lot of money into pre-fab ponds, fish, aquatic plants, and all things that go with adding a pond to landscaping.  We are going to do the same thing with SFG, and they would not have to hire anyone, invest in any products, build any displays, or keep any experts on staff. 

          You are going to do all of that for them, and will even pay them for the privilege to be a part of their operation, and the small space you take up.  You can do this part time or full time depending on the traffic and the season.  Your SFG shop could be open every Saturday, every weekend, or when ever you choose. 

          There may even are other locations where you’re small SFG shed and garden display many be a welcome to other types of business.  How about a wild bird center, or a backyard children’s playground equipment center. Stretch your imagination and you could find many other good locations.

Next idea: You could start and run  a community garden right on the nursery property.  See more details later

Mel Bartholomew

Founder and Originator

Square Foot Gardening Foundation

Mark Fierle

Mark and his master gardener associates in the Orange County,CA area have established 

3 SFG beds; a 4x8,a 4x4 pyramid w/ strawberries,and a 3x3 for children at the Cenntenial  Farm  Orange County Fair Grounds.  Of course an SFG Sign and explanation are on the site.   The fairgrounds have about 5 acres,animals, regular row gardens and fruit trees.1.4 million Fair visitors see the gardens, 12 months out of the year including  80,000 school age children.

The former El Toro Marine Base in Irvine,CA  is now called Great Park.There, Mark and the master gardeners planed and designed Farm and Food Land.  They  installed 3 4x8 SFG's in this demonstration area on how to grow different gardens.

     Mark visits 2 schools  on regular basis  where he teaches SFG to the students.

He also teaches at the Braile Institute. Mark volunteers twice a year to do workshops for the blind to teach them  how they can have their own SFG .  This has been very successful and fulfilling to him.  Even by touch the blind can tell if a tomato is ripe. He plays a seed game with them teaching them the different seed sizes and feel.  He tells them what they are and then mixes them up and has them identify them.  Mel worked at one time at the Helen Keller Institute and helped Mark to develop a curriculum

The blind have learned how to locate where their garden should be by feeling the sun on their face.

     The list goes on for mark.  He has aided Habitat for Humanity in San Juan Capistrano,CA where they

built 27 homes for disabled Marines families    Mark was instrumental in  placing  27 SFG's,  one in each home.

     Just last year in April. …Mark worked with University of Redlands in CA .  They contacted SFGF for help and Mel asked Mark to help with their project for Rwanda.  He corresponded through email and then went to the University to teach those who would be going to that country.  He taught them to make a 2x3 garden on wheels. This benefited people in Rwanda because  they could roll their SFG indoors at night to keep it from being stolen. He taught  how to compost,use scrap lumber, old newspaper or cardboard for weed cloth.

Please email sfgteachers@gmail.com for a copy of the powerpoint, HOW TO FEED THE HUNGRY

by Mark Fierle.

Mel's Minute

Now that you’re a Certified Instructor, you can not only spread the word and get paid for it, but you can also sell many products that you can either buy at wholesale from the Foundation and sell at retail, or in some cases you can build your own once a sample is supplied and aproved by us, and then make your own copies of that product and sell to your audience.  The most obvious and available things to do are to get speaking dates at places where you can charge admission.  That would be nurseries, auditoriums for rent, sometimes churches, or other types of organizations that would hire you as a speaker.  If you want to give free lectures you can do that at any library or school building.

Back to  being paid for the talk. After your talk,  you can always sell books and videos.  There will be an occasional library that says no, but we’ve been to many libraries that said yes.  As a thank you, we always donate a few books to the library and in an audience of 100 you will probably sell 30-40  books or videos.  If you buy the books wholesale at $14/copy and sell them for $20, you do the math.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

Other opportunities would be to open your home SFG to the public with a paid tour, maybe $5/person and you might have 10 to 20 every Saturday (again, do the math).  You could have a workshop every week to show everyone what’s next in your neck of the woods.  What to harvest, what to replant, how to compost…all those kind of easy things from your SFG knowledge.  This could last the whole season from Spring to Fall and if you have a good group of beginners, they would most likely want to buy all of the products for their garden directly from you.  We have a planned program for all of this and I hope you will consider starting with at least free talks at the library, then do some at your church, office, school, even at the local colleges for the continued education programs.  Next would be finding a group that wants advice on starting their own SFG.  You might even consider finding vacant land and starting a community garden.  This idea would also be possible at local nurseries that would have space way out back.  I’m going to keep sending you other ideas, so look them over and make the most use of all of the effort and study you’ve put in to becoming a certified SFG Instructor.  We are very proud of you and all of your accomplishments so far – let’s see how much we can all do together to spread the word of SFG.

If you are doing these things or more, why not share them as encouragement to others in our newsletter.

One Square at a Time in SC

  Events began at the Lexington,SC  Old Mill historic landmark….Davanna Driggers has worked  with the Property manager there to plan community gardens that are going in this week.10 boxes will be installed in an area where trash cans used to sit.  Many business owners at the Old Mill want to partner together to care for the gardens which plan to  feed needy families across the street.

Mel and Victoria toured several community gardens that are dotting the landscape in Columbia.

The Friday night kick off was at St Johns Baptist Church where they gave away 50 crockpots.Saturday was spent installing the SFG's donated by SFGF.

  Young people and adults wearing tshirts with the words"Change the world one square at a time "

Installing gardens in Columbia,SC

The Sunday Afternoon Lecture at the Riverbanks Zoo Botanical Gardens was standing room only,  with over 100 people! Mel and Victoria spoke inside with PowerPoint and live demonstrations
with props. Followed by Q & A time and a book signing.  We had several
people interested in the school gardens programs including a
Montessori teacher and a home-school mom.  Then they went out to the
SFG's we had donated and taught with the weekend before.  The people
planted in the SFG's and were able to get hands on learning and
instruction from Mel & Victoria.

Volunteers Installing gardens at St Johns Baptist Church,Columbia,SC

Overcoming "The Ask"

 

Anyone with sales experience will tell you, the hardest part about the job is always "the ask."  At what point in the pitch is "So would you like to take that home today?" ever comfortable?  The answer, never.  It may be obvious that they love the car, the shoes, or the puppy in the window. However, asking them to have enough confidence in your product or service, really, in you, is tough.  It's personal, and the honest truth is "not today" hurts.  "No," as any toddler can attest, is even worse.  Rejection time after time is hard to handle, and every time it happens, it makes the next ask even harder.

 

When I came home from my three day Teacher Certification Course with Mel and Victoria, I was on fire.  I was ready to get out there and tell the world all about Square Foot Gardening, and I expected everyone would listen with open ears and open hearts.  Monday morning I hit the phones.  I called the county extension class director, the city library events coordinator, the Director of Volunteering for the Childrens Home, I was shooting big.  Message after message was left and I only got one call back.  The extension office wanted to know if I was a Master Gardener. "Well no, " I said, "but you don't need to be a Master Gardener to be successful in this method." "Hmm,"  she said, "we'll get back to you."  To date, I've heard nothing.  "What's wrong with these people?," I thought.  Here I was, ready to volunteer my time and resources, to give them the most wonderful gift in the world,  a garden, the place where beauty meets food, and they didn't even have the consideration to return my phone call.  Well, hmmm, them.

 

"So on to bigger things," I said and thought of the ultimate way to reach the masses. People will come to me, have questions, love my product and buy my goods.  Florida's Largest Home Show.  Tens of thousands of people flock to the fair grounds for a weekend chock full of gutters, mowers, and Square Foot Gardens.  But how could I make this happen?  Sounds expensive.  Sounds hard.  Sounds like I have another "no" coming.

 

I pulled up the website and did my research, picked up the phone and waited for the voice at the other end of the line.  This is how it went:

 

"Hello, this is Paige."

"Hi Paige, my name is Dacia and I am calling about the possibility of having a booth at your upcoming show."

"Ok, what do you do?"

"Well,I have a non-profit here in Tampa that puts Square Foot Gardens into homes and communities in need.  Are you familiar with the book Square Foot Gardening?"

"No."

"Well, it is an easy method of growing enough veggies to feed an adult for an entire year in only a 4x4 space.  We like to help people become self-sufficient by providing their own healthy, organic foods, especially for their kids, and you know, like, save the world." (clearly I started getting nervous.)

"Huh, Square Foot Gardening, well that sounds really good.  Oh my boss just said he has one in his back yard." (YES!  I'm in!) "How do you usually price."

"Traditionally, Mel Bartholomew the author of the book has made himself available for presentations in exchange for a booth.  He was just in Florida, but I am a Foundation Certified Instructor and am a very close second to Mel! (I know... bit of a stretch.)  I would be happy to do presentations throughout the weekend for a discount on a booth if that will work for you."

"I will have to run it by my boss."

"Well, I have been to many of your home shows and have seen the Habitat for Humanity booth, they are one of the organizations I have been working to partner with, and I think having a booth next to them would work really well for both of us."

"Oh, who have you been talking to over there?"

(This is the point at which you want to be able to drop the name of the person you ACTUALLY talked to.)

"The director ______ and I have sent a few e-mails back and forth."

"Ok, well let me talk to my people over at Habitat and see what they think and I will e-mail you tomorrow and give you an answer."

"That sounds good, thanks again for your time, Paige.  I look forward to your email tomorrow."

 

That was the longest night of my career. I waited all day and didn't receive an e-mail.  I was crushed, yet another "no."  But instead of giving up I gave her a follow-up call that afternoon. 

 

"Hi, Paige it's Dacia from Squ..."

"Oh, Dacia!  Hi I haven't forgotten about you, my computers crashed and it has been a nightmare here today.  I am so sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet.  Since you called here is what we are thinking,  a 20x20 booth next to Habitat for Humanity, close to the stage.  The girls at Habitat have been bugging the Director to start working with you, they think what you are doing is great, so you should keep on them, too."

"Wow, ok!  Thanks Paige, that is amazing!"

"I will send you the details Monday."

 

When the email finally arrived, I was elated to see that they were going to give me a $3,600 booth FOR FREE.  Carpet, chairs, tables, all included. I could not believe my eyes, I even made my husband read it to me to be sure I was seeing it right.  They even gifted me a half page ad on the back cover of the program and wanted me to set-up a pyramid booth at the enterance of the show.  Amazing!

 

What we do is exciting, inspiring, and for many people around the world- life-changing.  For those who will listen, what we have to give is something special. 

Do not ever be afraid to ask, you never know what  kind of gift you might be given in return.

 

By Dacia Mitchell

New Teacher,Tavares,FL symposium class

Mel's Minute

 

Our very first two-day symposium, in 2004 here in Eden, Utah, was a great success. It all started when a lady from Minnesota wrote to say she wanted to start a small home business utilizing SFG and how could she get certified. Within a few days a teacher from California wrote to ask how she could expand her SFG classroom experience and start sharing this with other teachers so they could include SFG in their classroom work.

I thought by golly, I am going to hold a two-day symposium and invite others, but it all has to happen very quickly, so I should be prepared to teach just these two people if they’re the only ones to come. Well, they did come, and so did twelve others, we had fourteen people at our very first ever symposium. They came from all walks of life and all for a different reason. Now this symposium wasn’t to teach people how to Square Foot Garden, it was to show those that already know how to Square Foot Garden , but want to do something with it. And that desire ranged from a small part-time business out of their home, to all kinds of humanitarian projects around the world. The end result was, one person going to India to teach Square Meter Gardening. Another person went to Africa to teach homeless and orphaned children how to raise their own crops. Another couple from California, who are also going to a different part of Africa for a humanitarian project. Another couple from California are going to teach all of the different subjects taught in school by an association with SFG and how this can be made into a fun project for the children in a classroom situation. Another couple from California are also going to work in a school system as well as interest in various humanitarian projects. Several of the people will be doing neighborhood type work and several will end up with a small business of speaking and teaching in their town about SFG. So, all in all, the results were quite amazing and very gratifying for us.

And the beat goes on, year after year, we hold more Symposiums (now 3 days) and Certify more and more people. It has been very gratifying to me to see this happen and I feel that you, our Certified SFG Teachers are the backbone and lifeline of our Foundation. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart and keep up the good work. You will make a big difference in this world. See you on my blog melbartholomew.com          Happy New Year & Keep up the good work.

Mel's Minute

$ Making Money $

There are lots of ways to make money with SFG. Sometimes really big money! It’s helpful but not necessary to have small plots of land and you don’t have to go to a farmer’s market either. But we’ll talk about those later.
To me, the best way to make money is to teach. Everyone that starts any new project or hobby wants to learn. Once you become certified, you are the person that can teach them. All you have to do is think: why, how, when, where.
So let’s take each one of these. Young, new or even old gardeners are not all alike. They will all quickly see advantages of SFG. No work, no weeds, no tools, no nothin’. But they want to learn and they need a teacher.
They can read a book. They can watch a video but there’s nothing like an enthusiastic person that give them the excitement of first hand learning. It can start in the classroom. It can go through a workshop and then move to the outdoors. It can be in your garden, their newly created garden or a central teaching garden. Using your imagination! You’ll figure out how to attract them.
Ask yourself, “Where do they gather currently?” Where do they go now to learn something new? Schools all have classes. There’s even continuing education at night at universities for the neighborhood. Another idea would be to think of where gardening equipment, plants and paraphernalia are sold. Another idea is to of where aspiring gardeners gather? And that could be clubs that specialize in gardening of any kind. A rose society or an African violet society would perk up and be very interested in a talk on SFG. Not necessarily to grow roses and African violets, but because that’s where gardening people gather and want to learn new things. Sometimes these locations already have a program for speakers with fees and arrangements and other times you have to create interest and find a location for yourself.
What happens at the end of every garden lecture or workshop? What does most of the audience say? I hope you are thinking, “Where can I buy the book? Where can I watch the video? Where can I buy the supplies? Who can I get to help me? Do you also teach children? Do you have anything for handicapped or elderly?” Your answer of course is “Yes. Yes. Yes. And finally Yes.” You can do it all. The world is waiting for you, so decide with determination to do something with your diploma. Help others, and make the world a better place.
To be continued . . .Mel