Here’s how to save thousands

I hope readers of this article who do what I say will save so much money that I will be swamped with dinner offers, cruises on yachts and a new Jaguar, just to name a few Thank yous.

Naturally, I can’t come right out and tell you how to save all this cash; there must be a story first.

In the past three months I have moved one store to a major strip center, going from a free-standing, 7,500 square feet to 15,000 square feet next to a Staples and a grocery store.

There are a series of questions I would like to pose to you, dear readers, as we begin a new year. 

1. What will the birding industry look like in a year? In five years?

Answer: Too difficult to forecast.

The industry is fascinating. We make a great deal of our profits on a product – seed – that is largely a secondary or tertiary item for the large companies who produce it.

Going it alone is an attractive option in many business situations, but sometimes it makes good sense to partner with someone else. This is true especially when you combine different strengths to make the whole stronger than the sum of its parts.

A case in point is the partnership between the Miami Herald and the St. Pete Times, two prominent newspapers in south Florida.

Here’s a quiz for you. What’s small, gray and white, hangs upside down from the feeder and hammers nuts open with its bill?

It acts a bit like a chickadee, a bit like a woodpecker and is as small as a titmouse. Well, of course, you guessed right. It’s a nuthatch.

These acrobatic little birds are fun to watch and they are welcome guests at backyard bird feeders, especially in winter when they forage with chickadees and titmice.

I didn’t build a culture of service by myself

Good customer service depends on many factors. This column deals with the importance of partnerships.

Whether you are a franchise owner like me or an independent nature store, you need good partnerships to succeed.

The franchise system offers you internal structure and support. But it cannot do everything for you.

Peering into the steel-blue stillness of a mid-winter evening, I am struck by the profound coldness. When the temperatures plummet to near zero, my mind turns to the amazing ways that birds cope with such extreme weather.

Winter poses several challenges to birds. Scarce food supplies and limited water are just a few obvious challenges to winter survival. Extremely cold temperatures, strong winds, driving snow and nights that seem to go on forever can be deadly for birds.