When I tell people the first business lesson I ever learned was with Louisiana Pinks, they often think I was in the nail polish or lipstick businesses, or maybe rose bushes. Sorry, not at the age of 15 living in rural southern Georgia. I was in none of those businesses. I was selling worms.

A Louisiana Pink is a premium live worm that is an excellent bottom-fishing bait in rivers and ponds. They are bigger and pinker than earthworms, and their real advantage is that they stay alive longer on the hook, which attracts larger catfish and bream. But, boy, they came at a price. Thirty or 40 years ago, they cost about 10 to 15 cents each — compared to regular earthworms, which were basically free.

When our local bait and tackle store, Winges, went up on the price to 20 cents apiece, or $4 a box, my Uncle Buddy and I decided to dive into the Louisiana Pink business. We quickly learned a lesson I would long remember: that all businesses are technical in nature no matter how simple they may seem. Do you know your business? Do you have resident knowledge of the ins and outs of the business that others don’t have? I have seen over and over again that the answers to those questions are among the strongest indicators of success.

Sometimes we jump in too quick because the business is a passion or a passing fancy, which is what it was for Uncle Buddy and me. When Winges raised its prices and we got market intelligence that the store was buying them for $2.25 per box, we saw dollar signs — never mind that we didn’t know anything about worm bed habitation or whether a premium product like this might require extra care. We saw those dollar signs again when the worm distributor told us he would sell us the worms for the same price he was selling them to Winges. As we posted our sign — “Louisiana Pinks $3 per box” — we figured this was just too easy.

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