Recently, our creativity has been on vacation. It could tell we didn’t really need it just now, so it said, “Fine by me! I’m going to the beach. Call me when you finish your…bookkeeping! Ha!” (I think it was a little disgruntled, since it’s usually so indispensable.)
But while did feel a little strange to have our creativity gone, it also felt good to focus on ordinary pursuits like, well…like bookkeeping!
The past few weeks, we’ve been well occupied learning a new bookkeeping system, adopting a new shipping software, stocking up on materials, and making pieces to have on hand so they’re ready to ship in busier times. While these types of jobs are not illustrious as the creative ones, they can be just as rewarding (and entertaining).
We do try to be forward-thinking, taking steps that will help us do a better job getting our work to you. One of the biggest demands on our foresight is finding materials. Since our raw material is mostly scavenged, we have to do some planning to make sure it’s here and ready to go.
And sometimes we have to allow for what I’m calling a “domino trade.” This is where someone trades you for something, then you trade that thing to someone else for another thing. Confused? Yeah, me too. Thankfully Ben knows what he’s doing.
Here’s what it looked like recently: Ben traded a cow (a real, live one) for some scrap metal I-beams with a local farmer. Ben didn’t need any metal I-beams, but he knew of a neighbor who needed them for a ramp he was building. So Ben then traded the I-beams with that neighbor for the reclaimed barn planks we needed in the first place. Bingo! (Or…domino.)
So while no one anywhere would typically describe us as tactical, we do occasionally give our creativity a break and tap into our deliberate side – all while arranging for a pig to be turned into a box of welding rods via the magic of trading, of course.
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In this month’s newsletter, we’ll share more stories about some projects that didn’t work out quite as magically as Ben’s domino trade, along with the Gatski of the Month and more! We also share sales and special deals with our newsletter subscribers first, so sign up right here.
And if you’re interested in finding out what we’re building with those hard-won barn planks, email us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!
