I sell onions online

Original author: Peter Askew
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More precisely, the onion of Vidalia.

This onion is considered sweet: thanks to its mild taste and aroma, people eat it just like apples. At least that's what most of my customers do.

During a phone order - in the season of 2018, if my memory serves me right - one of them shared with me a story about how he carried Vidal on board a cruise ship on his vacation. During each meal, my client tormented the waiter: "Take the onion, crumble it and add it to my salad." This story made me smile.

Yes, if you love Vidalia, then you love her ...

However, let me not run ahead.

How did i start? I am not a farmer. I am an IT specialist.

I am dependent on domain names


It may seem strange, but my path did not begin with an idea.

In 2014, the domain name VidaliaOnions.com was auctioned: for some reason, the owner abandoned it. Being born in the state of Georgia, I am a little familiar with the industry and immediately recognized it. I bought expired or abandoned domain names and enjoyed developing them. However, then everything was different - although I made a bet, but solely for fun, I entered with an offer of $ 2,200 and being sure that it would be closed.

After 5 minutes, I became the proud owner of VidaliaOnions.com and did not understand at all what to do with it.

On your marks! March! Attention!


After the domain fell into my possession, I tried to concentrate on other projects, however its name continued to hang in my head.

It seemed to say:
... hey ... i'm here ..


William Faulkner had an interesting approach to creating characters - they seemed to write from the very beginning, and he (Faulkner) served as a kind of mechanical layer. His quote:
“I would say that you need to settle the character in my head. Once there, for real, he himself will do all the work. All that is required of you is to keep up with him, recording everything that he does and says. You must know your hero. You must believe in him. You should feel that he is alive ... After you understand this, the work on his description turns into a purely mechanical work. " [ source]
I relate to my projects in the same way that Faulkner relates to his characters. I buy domain names with the intention of developing them and give them the initiative. They themselves serve as a source of inspiration. They lead me to what they should become. I'm just the guy behind the keyboard.

Sometimes I buy them at auction, sometimes from the original owners. But, as a rule, the domain comes first, and then the idea.

Usually I take my time with a project. The path of some domains seems obvious even before the purchase, and the path of some becomes clear only in the process. Vidalia's onion domain was one of the last. After I acquired it, he continued to shove me with his elbow in the side:
Take care of me, take care of me ... You know how, you know how I should become
A month later, I began to understand what he was telling me. Every year I buy pears from Harry & David. I needed to do the same service for Vidalia onions: instead of delivering pears from the farm, onion delivery.

The idea is not bad, but it’s not so easy to tackle. I am not a farmer, I do not have workers, I do not have a packaging workshop. I do not have a logistics and distribution system.

But the domain continued to look at me ಠ ~ ಠ //// in a whisper ////
Just start ..

“Set yourself the goal of Nothing and go nowhere until you reach the goal”

(c) Tao of Winnie the Pooh

I did so, being stupid enough to take on a project of such complexity. The size of the market justified the online adventure. Google Trends showed a steady number of searches for the name of this variety, and chefs around the world praised "sweet onion caviar."

Thus, I began the journey without an end goal or a pillar of miles. Just started to go. Without God sent investor. Without a patron. To finance the company, I used a modest income from other projects. It was February 2015.

Having got down to business, I found out where the onion committee of Vidalia is located, which represents all the farmers growing this variety. I made contact with them: they were kind enough to listen to me.

In the end, I was introduced to three farmers in my region.

Alright with the third of them, we decided to give it a try. His company has been on the market for 25 years: never concentrating on direct deliveries to consumers, she nevertheless realized the importance of such work. In addition, they had a packaging workshop. However, the most important element was that they grew first-rate onions.

And we started.

According to the most conservative estimates, we planned to receive fifty (50) orders in the 2015 season. The season was over with over six hundred (600).

While the farmer was growing onions, I made every effort to work with clients, sales, online segment development and logistics. Prior to this, I did not have projects directly working with consumers. And I realized that I really like it.

The more we immersed ourselves in work, the more we grew. To such an extent that our competitors stopped trying to sell onions by mail and sent their customers to us.

We began to try alternative marketing opportunities - we placed a billboard on I-95, south of Savannah - facing traffic coming to Georgia from the north; we also sponsored a cyclist traveling across the country for charity and a basketball team from a local school; In addition, we assisted the local elementary school.

We have organized a hotline for orders, which - from time to time - gives us more sales than the site.

Of course, we made several colossal mistakes, which are completely my "merit." For example, we spent $ 10,000 on defective packaging boxes, which we ordered from an uninformed and incompetent manufacturer in Dalton (this happened at an early stage and almost made me stop).

Fortunately, I decided not to allow such miscalculations to put an end to the enterprise. And, in truth, our customers would be rather disappointed if this happened. Last season, when I called back to one customer, his wife picked up the phone. I began to introduce myself, but she interrupted me in the middle of the sentence, shouting to her husband in complete delight: “VIDAL-MAN! VIDAL-MAN! PICK UP THE PHONE!"

At that moment, I realized that we were doing something right. Something that helps people leaving a positive mark.

Sometimes I say that I prefer the goal to income. Now, when we enter our fifth season, I do not refuse my words.

And it gives me extreme pleasure. I am happy to have contacted this industry.

I am Peter Askew and I sell onions on the Internet.




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