If you lived in North Alabama in the 1960s, if you didn’t live on or near a farm, you either knew someone who did or were related to someone who did. The good side of this was that you got to learn about some of life’s little secrets through the eyes of a farmer.
If I recall correctly, the idea of not carrying all your eggs in one basket relates to someone who went out to gather eggs from the hen house. You can carry a lot of eggs in a basket, but if you put them all in one basket, then drop that basket, you’ve lost them all. However, if you had two or more baskets, you reduced the chances dramatically of losing all your eggs.
The same holds true about most any job. If you only have one client, and you lose that client, you are ruined. Many clients help to smooth out cash flow and reduce risk. It is vitally important, in most situations, to be diversified to reduce your risks.
This lesson has been important to me. I have carefully tried to find just the right thing to work on that allows me to complement my main source of income, for instance. Dad did the same thing. Since before I can remember, Dad had little side ventures that kept him busy, developed his skills, taught him lessons and sometimes even produced additional income!
Dad has always been able to keep some sort of operation going. One of the first major undertakings was an ice cream drive-in that is still in business today, some 40 years later. It must have been a good idea. Others came and went like fads and fashions. In addition to the “business,” Dad has either owned or been involved with a number of businesses and ventures over the years. Of course, there has always been a long line of horse-trading of cars, boats, guns, motorcycles, and too many other items to mention.
He taught me that this free enterprise system we have is very valuable. It provides us with opportunities too vast to even comprehend. Around every corner there awaits a new possibility. I don’t think Dad will ever stop making deals and trading things. It’s in his blood.
During the course of all this trading and wheeling and dealing, Dad taught me one more lesson that I think he learned as he taught me. That lesson is that when you have too many baskets, you cause problems too. With eggs, the problems are pretty simple. Too many baskets meant having to make several trips to the house, or having to watch the other animals while someone made the runs to the house.
With other things, the problems get more complex. Sometimes you try to carry all the baskets at once. This creates a similar, yet different problem. You may end up dropping a basket and not even realize it. You may juggle so many baskets that you trip and lose them all. Anything is possible. If you work too hard, your family suffers. If you spend too much time with your family, work will suffer.
The trick is to know how many baskets you can carry, then never attempt to pick up more than that number. Doing so would be certain disaster. Just look around the barnyard at all the broken eggs. It happens all the time.
