By Popular Demand: The Ice Cream Story

Okay, okay, okay. Since many of my dear readers are clamoring to hear my stories of entrepreneurial intrigue, adventure, and discovery, I will tell them. Be forewarned that given the blog format, which goes against how we traditionally read stuff, it will be somewhat of a challenge to tell stories in installments. I’ll try to break them up into bite-sized portions that can stand on their own. We’ll see how I fare. So buckle your seat belts, here we go:

Once upon a time (actually it was 1979) I moved to Fairfield, Iowa from the east coast where I had been teaching Transcendental Meditation. I relocated because I wanted to participate in the advanced meditation programs that were being offered at the then-named Maharishi International University. (The university’s name has since been changed to Maharishi University of Management.)

Teaching TM was my livelihood, however being a TM teacher in Fairfield was like being a Toyota in Tokyo. Several hundred TM teachers lived there. And, on the other side of the coin, it being rural Iowa where hogs out-numbered humans, there were very few humans to teach. (Plenty of pigs but I didn’t speak Snort.) Basically it meant I needed to find a new way of supporting myself.

The thought of getting a job never fluctuated a single brain neuron. In the past, I responded to jobs and work in the exact same way a cat responds when you try to put it in water. I’d run out screaming, usually in a matter of days, and that’s assuming I wasn’t fired first. My resume has gaping chasms of time between a couple of weeks of employment here and there.* To give you some idea of how work-adverse I am, I was even fired from a civil service job.

So, unless I wanted to starve, there was only one viable choice for me – become an entrepreneur. 

(The definition of an entrepreneur – someone who will do absolutely anything to avoid getting a job.)

I had no business experience. I had no knowledge. I had no skills. I had no education. (I was an art major in college.) I had no money. I had no direction. And I had no clue. 

We’ve all heard the expression that the key to a successful business is to find a need and fill it. The need I noticed was strictly personal. Having come from the east coast where there was great ice cream, I couldn’t find anything comparable in Iowa. In fact, the ice cream in Iowa was hideous. I called it cow snot. As much as I loved TM, the thought of living anywhere without great ice cream was simply intolerable. If I wanted to stay in Iowa I knew I had to fix that problem.

This is a good place to stop for today. Tomorrow, or whenever I get around to it, I’ll write Act 1 Scene 2.

*(By the way, my record for holding a job is two months. That’s when I was a lifeguard at a private beach on the Jersey shore. Every day I’d arrive late, sleep, read, sun-bathe, body-surf, hustle girls for lunch, and leave early. Since it was a private beach, not many of the rich people ever went in the ocean so I never really had to stay alert. Plus I got enough tips beyond my salary to pay my college tuition.)

www.lazyway.net

Comments

[Nerio Vakil]

Waiting for "scene 2"!

[Ben]

Entrepreneur = "someone who will do absolutely anything to avoid getting a job". I love this and I'm going to put it on my desk :-) Excellent stuff, keep it up!

[Maharishi Akademie Black Forest Dieter & Edith Junk]

Hi Fred,
all the beautiful memories come up when I read
a story like this. Remember when you were in
the Black Forest (tiniest academy of the world) and talked about all your beautiful
stories about Maharishi and all your personal
experiences. I cannot get enough of your
exciting way of looking at things. People
often ask when you will come back. One man
called recently and said he is willing to
get initiated after he has seen you live!

[Maharishi Akademie Black Forest Dieter & Edith Junk]

Hi Fred,
all the beautiful memories come up when I read
a story like this. Remember when you were in
the Black Forest (tiniest academy of the world) and talked about all your beautiful
stories about Maharishi and all your personal
experiences. I cannot get enough of your
exciting way of looking at things. People
often ask when you will come back. One man
called recently and said he is willing to
get initiated after he has seen you live!