Daily Excerpt: Forget the Goal, the Journey Counts (Stites): The Wig Business
Excerpt from Forget the Goal, the Journey Counts I did believe, however, that there was a good market for human hair wigs, and a few weeks later I told Borghese that I would start my own distributorship. I knew a young man who wanted to be in his own business and thought he would be a reliable partner. A large man of six foot two, “Big Mike” was tired of working in his father’s auto parts store and wanted to strike out on his own. He had an attractive little wife and a new baby boy. Mike and I each put in $7,000 and agreed that I was to sell the product outside the D.C. area while he ran the office and sold in D.C. and surrounding suburbs; his wife would keep the books. We ordered the wigs, rented a small storefront on Wisconsin Avenue, and when the first shipment arrived from Italy, we were in business! I loaded up the car and took off throughout Maryland and eastern PA, visiting beauty shops. In the second month, I contracted with a small but exclusive department stor...