ABSTRACT
Sam sat at his desk lost in reverie. His landscape business was doing far better than he had dared to hope and it was time to do something to develop it even further. He and his wife had agreed to build the business until its sale could provide enough for their retirement. In his mind's eye he could see the two of them sitting on a beach somewhere in Greece, the setting sun bathing them in a golden light. He abruptly turned his thoughts to how he could achieve this blissful goal. Clearly the business had to be expanded, but there was not enough landscape business in town to go in that direction. He tried to make himself think in other directions. He imagined what might happen if he expanded his line of bedding plants—hard to imagine making enough profit. Perhaps he could supply plants for restaurants and hotels—he just could not see Roe Inc. letting him horn in on their business. Then it struck him! He could specialize in office plants specific to particular businesses: poppies for a drug manufacturer, venus flytraps for an adult bookstore, lilies for a funeral home, ivy for a physician's office, a wandering jew for a travel agent, jade plants for a jeweler, and palms for a fortune teller. 1 He could see it now, getting the exotic plants, selling the business managers on the idea, setting up schedules for taking care of the plants, and selecting the advertising materials he would need for getting out the word. Then it struck him. Most of this picture involved working indoors, something he hated. Suddenly the plan lost its attraction. He considered it a moment or two longer and then rejected it, turning his attention to coming up with a different idea.
