Business Success is Like a Blueberry Bush

Okay, weird title but bear with me…

Three summers ago, nearly autumn actually, my husband and I picked up some blueberry bushes on clearance. It was not a planned purchase. We just saw them and were like, hey, we both love blueberries, they’re supposed to be a super food, and we have plenty of space so, why not? And I have blueberries in my smoothie every single morning so it seemed like a no-brainer.

We took the dried up, scraggly things home and planted them in a corner of our vegetable garden where the peas and green beans had been. It wasn’t exactly the section with the best soil. I gave them a good watering and put mulch around the bases to help keep weeds down.

Then I kinda forgot about them until just before the snow hit (we live in western New York state, USA). At news of the first winter storm coming, I ran out and covered our perennials with armloads of straw, including the blueberries plants. Because of that, they survived the frigid weather.

The next spring, there was a little bit of new growth, but I understood that during the first year after being transplanted, most of the plants’ energy would go into developing strong root systems. I purposely didn’t water them much so the roots would have to go deep. I kept the weeds and grass away and covered up the little blueberry plants with a thick blanket of straw again for winter.

The second spring, the plants had doubled in size. They actually looked like baby bushes. But I was gone a lot and didn’t weed regularly. I watered them… um, maybe twice. In spite of that, we got a handful or two of blueberries.

While I was gone, my husband tended the garden. Not wanting to bend over, he got a weed whacker to cut off the grass and weeds that had grown around the base of each plant. Winter came and we had forgotten to buy more straw so had to make due with what we had. The blueberry bushes got only a little bit around the base. Sub-zero temps hit.

That brings us to this spring. Two of the plants didn’t survive the winter, their spindly branches looking like little skeleton fingers reaching for the sky. The other two didn’t look much better except they both had a few tiny buds near the base. Their roots had survived but the top growth was minuscule.

It was a slow-start spring but grass and weeds finally started popping up around the blueberries. As I easily weeded around the first plant, I noticed that the new growth looked healthy. Hopefully, it will flourish and produce berries again.

But the second plant seemed barely hanging on to life. Only two tiny leaves were attempting to uncurl. A big clump of nutgrass was growing so close to it that it touched the sides of the plant, blades twisted in with the dead sprigs of the formerly healthy blueberry bush.

Have you ever seen nutgrass? If it isn’t cut, it can grow up to 4 feet tall. And it grows a very complex root system. I just didn’t realize how fast.

I started to pull the nutgrass when I realized that if I did, the blueberry plant was going to be uprooted as well. When my husband had cut off only the top of the grass, the roots had burgeoned, intertwining with those of the blueberry plant.

At first I thought, “Well, that’s it. I can’t do anymore.” The blueberry plant was going to die because the nutgrass was already choking it.

Then I thought, “Hmmmm… I wonder…” and I tugged at a few blades of grass at the edge. They came out rather easily. It took me nearly half an hour, but one by one, I tediously untangled the insidious nutgrass from the base of the struggling blueberry plant.

While toiling in the garden, my mind drifted to when I was building my first business. I contemplated the similarities between that blueberry bush and business success. Here’s what I came up with:

• A business can be built(planted) in many different places but if it is done haphazardly without much planning, it may not be successful.
• If a business is treated as a hobby (giving it attention sporadically instead of consistently), it may not be successful.
• If a business is given what it needs and is tended carefully, it will develop a strong foundation (root system).
• While the foundation of a business is being formed, it may not look like much is happening on the surface but be prepared for sudden, rapid growth once it is established.
• If bad business habits such as laziness, distraction, procrastination, etc. (weeds) raise up and aren’t corrected quickly, they grow and multiply, which slows down success.
• If bad business habits are eliminated as soon as they are discovered, the business can recover quickly.
• If bad business practices such as dishonesty, greed, profiteering, etc. (nutgrass) are allowed to take root and not eliminated, they will choke out success.
• If bad business practices get established, it means the death of a business if they aren’t taken out completely, one agonizing step at a time. It’s much better to keep them completely out of the business to begin with.
• And lastly, if a business is taken care of in proper order, it will provide profits for years to come (lots and lots of blueberries).

There. You have it. May your wee little blueberry plant grow into an ever-bearing bush.

Questions? Comments? I would love to hear about the fruits of your labor.