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Basic principle of free enterprise:

A Successful Strategy



When I was growing up on Dad’s Mississippi Delta farm, my mentor and best friend Jaybird often took me to The Old Rugged Cross Chapel, a tiny country church, always packed on Sundays. I remember the towering, trumpet-voiced preacher, Reverend Moses Malachi Magee, whose sermons balanced hell-fire-brimstone admonitions with soft-spoken, impassioned pleas to do unto others, as we would have them do unto us. I remember the ladies, so dignified in their Sunday-best white dresses and wide-brimmed hats, who writhed in rapturous moments, shouting hallelujahs, offering orisons to the Almighty and waving bright red bandannas. I remember the powerful, moving, rhythmic, hypnotic, gospel music — how it coalesced the congregation into a collective, swaying mass, chanting in a unified, volcanic voice that rolled like a symphonic tsunami across the surrounding cotton fields.
I remember the pews — hard, uncomfortable, straight-backed, flat-bottomed, cypress board benches. When the church bought new pews, I asked Jaybird what would happen to the old ones. “They’ll burn ’em,” the old black man said. “Too bad. If a fellow was to fix ’em up, they’d sell like hotcakes.” “Really? Let’s do it! Please ask Reverend Magee if we can have them.” From the pews that were beyond repair, we salvaged pieces to patch up those in better shape. When we finished, thirty were as good as new, and we set one on the porch of the farm’s commissary store with a “For Sale” sign on it. 

I thought we should write “$10” on the sign, but Jaybird said, “Let’s wait and see if anybody makes us an offer.”

 Not long after, a town lady, Mrs. Ibsen, stopped at the store. Noticing the pew, she said, “That would look nice under the shade tree in my backyard. Is that yo’ pew, boy?” “Yessum.”

 “Will you take $20 for it?” Straight-faced, I held out my hand.

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I gave Jaybird the money, and we hauled another pew to the store. Smirking, he asked, “You still want to write $10 on the sign?” 

 The next day, two ladies, friends of Mrs. Ibsen, pulled up to the store in a pickup. Each wanted two pews. After loading them and collecting eighty bucks, Jaybird said, “We only got a few left. If y’all know anybody who wants ’em, we’ll take $30 apiece while they last.” The ladies nodded and drove away. “Do you really think folks will pay $30 for those pews, Jay?”

 “Well, they didn’t cost us nothing, so whatever we make is profit. I say we risk sticking with $30.” 

 The gamble paid off. We sold all of the pews and divided the money. My share was a whopping $425! Jaybird masterminded a simple business experience to teach me a basic principle of free enterprise: Balance what you stand to gain against what you stand to lose. If the risk is acceptable, take it. For a boy the old black man loved like his own son, the pew project turned out to be just what he wanted: a successful strategy.


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Jimmy Reed -- Bio and Archives

Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.

This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.

Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).


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