Category: Lambda Years

Kids; In the spring of 1988, I became aware that the town of Fergus was selling one acre, serviced, lots in the industrial park for $10,000, which I did not have.  The bank would not loan me any more money and Lambda needed a new home in order to expand.\r\n\r\nAt the time, old Lamdba on Breadalbane St. had been thrown together in a building that had been used for roof truss manufacturing.  A lot of growth and development had taken place there.  Now it was time to move on.\r\n\r\nStep one was to manifest the money to buy the property.  Simple, right?  I just needed $10,000!  Well, in those days, you could get a credit card very easily with a $2,500 limit.  So I applied for four cards, which I got quickly.  I then took the cash advance and went to the Fergus town.  As expected, I walked out with title to one acre, and an option on the acre next door for free for the next year.\r\n\r\nOk, now I had the service land.  Next, I needed a building to be constructed without paying for it up front.  Easy, right?\r\n\r\nI met a contractor who had his offices in the same industrial park and simply asked if we could work out a deal on him putting in the foundations and raising the steel, before he got paid.  Here is an example, kids, of the expression, “If you don’t a-s-k, you never g-e-t”.  He agreed.  Now all I needed was the steel structure – with no money to buy it.\r\n\r\nSomehow I had learned that the Business Development Bank of Canada had what were called construction loans to businesses.  I managed to talk them into providing the money for the steel, long enough to get the shell raised, and then a conventional mortgage on the building could pay back the bank.  Simple, right?\r\n\r\nThe interesting part was that the bank would not release the funds directly to me, but only to the company providing the steel.  And the steel company would not drop the steel at the construction site until they had their money.  Easy conundrum to solve.\r\n\r\nLambda had the one of the first “portable phones”, a Mitsubishi.  It weighed five pounds and had to sit on the floor because it got so hot when you used it.  So I gave the phone to contractor at the site in Fergus, and I drove to Kitchener to the bank to get the money when the steel arrived on site.  It was just a matter of having the driver tell the bank that he was on site with the steel, waiting for his money.  I then raced back to Fergus with the cheque and sealed the deal and the steel was on site.  Now that was an exciting day.  From then on, construction went easily.  The mortgage was approved and the money became available to complete construction.\r\n\r\nAs you can see by the video’s, construction takes time. I remember wanting it to hurry, but it was way cool to watch something that started out as an idea in my mind rise from the ground like a Phoenix.\r\n\r\nThe other thing Kids, is that if you see a turtle on a fence post, just know, it did not get there by itself.  If you have an idea, there will be nay sayers, but more importantly, there will be people who come along, at just the right time to help bring dreams into reality.  I owe a lot of gratitude to a lot of people.  But, none more that Barb MacNeil and Molly McGregor for making this all happen.  Thanks Barb and Molly!\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Servicing Lot July 1988\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Ground Breaking Nov 1 1989\r\n\r\n Lambda New Plant Clearing Nov 3 1989\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Dig Footings Nov 6 1989\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Footings in Dec 1989\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Steel Delivery Nov 23 1989\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Steel Up Dec 13 1989\r\n\r\n Lambda New Plant Roof on Jan 17 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Doors in Jan 24 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Windows in Feb 9 1990 \r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Floor in Feb 19 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Driving In First Time Feb 24 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Framed Deck Mar 9 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Painting Mar 15 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Moved In April 10 1990\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant First Cake\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Grand Opening Walk Through\r\n\r\nLambda New Plant Grand Opening Signing Poster\r\n\r\n Lambda New Plant Grand Opening Cutting Ribbon\r\n\r\nAnd that is how you manifest something from just an idea!

In July 1988, the town of Fergus developed Dixon Drive as part of their industrial park.  In a daring move, I manifested the $10,000 plus required to purchase the land needed for the new Lambda Crystal Inc. factory and showroom. Our Location at 205 Breadalbane St, Fergus

Ground Breaking Ceremony, newly serviced acre.

Steel is up, January 1990

Rough In The Walls

Watch as the infrastructure comes alive.

Opening Ceremony, new factory

Ribbon cutting, new factory

When I started Lambda, I was a novice to business and product promotion. I was adventurous and committed. Here are some of the first product promotion tools that I had done. The first printers were Ampersand of Guelph and photographer by the name of Lewis in Guelph.

The first company was a numbered company, which was cheaper to establish. The name Lambda came as a result of me taking physics at UofG. The Greek letter Lambda is used in the formula denoting wavelength of light. Because leaded crystal breaks up white light into its component wavelengths – colours, that is how the rainbows are created. White light strikes the lead and bounces off. As it does, the colour traveling the fastest, that is, the shortest wavelength, reflects first, followed by the next shortest wavelength. That is how lead crystal can take while light, which we don’t see, and turns it into colours. It is magical to me. It is also the first things babies see; flashes of colour. Hand a crystal over a babies crib and watch the baby become mesmerized by the lights.

I have not lost the ability and guts to try new things in my life and hope I hold onto that adventurous side into the next existence. I came up with the first figurines while preparing orders for basic crystal prisms. I put a couple of pieces together and thought, that looks like a little mouse. I remember using a black felt tip pen to mark the eyes and nose. I used some crazy glue to put the first one together. I needed some whiskers so I found a jeweler in Elora, ON who sold me silver wire, drawn to a smaller diameter in order to glue three pieces together through the hole to look like whiskers. Once I had one creation, I needed more to create a line of figurines. I shortly came up with City Mouse, Country Mouse, Church Mouse, Dormouse, Castle Cat, Crusader Rabbit, Flying Crusader Rabbit. These became the first crystal figurines manufactured in N. America. Later on, Swarovski sued a company in the US saying they had copied their idea. I was summoned to fly to Washington DC to provide an affidavit which proved that I was the first in N. America. Swarovski had to pay the US company damages and apologize. That company had actually stolen my designs and admitted it. Very interesting history. This would have been in 1978-79 that I created them.

Of the many reasons that I write this story, life lessons are the ultimate source for future family members to perhaps gain some insight into.

In August of 1977, I had completed eleven semesters straight at the University of Guelph.  That included summer semesters, which were great by the way, so I was ready for a month off before heading into the next fall semester.

A friend from U of G, Kim Boggild, (whom I met while waiting in line to see JJ Cale on campus) along with her dog, had already ventured to Colorado, and I talked Liz Marusic into taking an orange 1960 Volkswagen, of Tim Todd’s to join the adventure.  The driver’s seat was falling through the floor, so we had a piece of 2×4 stuck underneath to keep it from dropping out the bottom.  Consequentially, the noise from the ground made it difficult, to say the least, to hear inside while driving.

On the way to Colorado, Liz and I stopped to camp near Omaha, Nebraska.  Hopefully there will be a slide of this.  We found this deserted farmhouse front yard, still marked by a broken down mailbox at the entrance of the laneway.  The rest of the farmland was under soybean cultivation as far as the eye could see in all directions.  We could see the skyline of Lincoln in the far off distance.

After setting up our tent, and starting a propane stove for supper, we noticed a car in the distance winding its way between the fields of soybeans and headed our way.  Just a bit concerned, because we had no invite for the property, I waited for the arrival of what turned out to be a Cadillac with a gun rack in the back window, unique, eh?

So this huge looking cowboy, farmer type rolls down his electric window and I say howdi, being social.  He says howdi.  I said I hope you don’t mind if we camp out here tonight on your property.  He says with the longest drawl imaginable, “Nope this here is my daddy’s property, and you can just have at er all you want!   With an enormous sigh of relief, I waved goodbye and we settled down for one of those most amazing nights under the stars, when it is so dark, the stars and shooting stars just have to remind you of your insignificance.

I remember vividly, walking down the main street of Boulder, CO at about midnight and seeing something down the street in a window that caught my eye.  It attracted me because I saw flashes of color and could not decipher the source, so I had to explore and investigate.

As I stood in front of a gift store with crystal prisms hanging from a tree branch inside the front window, the rainbow colors literally sent shivers through me as I said this aloud, “Man, I bet that shit sells like crazy”.  Now at that time, I had no intention of ever going into business.  My total focus had been to get sufficient marks in undergrad to get into med-school within the next couple of years.

The challenge is that when you think you know what’s going on, you have no idea what is going on – that I learned in basic training for Vietnam.

The next day, I went back to the store during open hours and purchased what turned out to be: a pair of dangly earrings Art. 6400, and a prism, 6208 called a sunburst.  As I was paying for the items, the clerk asked me “where are you taking these?”.  Now, has anyone ever asked you that?

I rambled something about being from Canada and that is where I would be going.  The sales clerk, immediately chimed, “I don’t think anybody is importing these into Canada.  You should talk to the guys who import this here, just outside of town, in the mountains.  They sell about a million dollars of this a year.”  For no reason, I asked, yeah, but how much of that ended up being profit?  He said, “I think about 30%.”.  I then dismissed the idea with some comment about going to med school and having no intention of going into business.  I left the store with a seed planted.

That evening, Liz and I were out to dinner with Kim & her bo and got to talking.  I remember saying, well, my dad always said, “Talk is cheap”.  It can’t hurt to go talk to these guys.  So the next morning, off I go, with Liz in hand, back to the store where I had made the infamously psychic purchase.

I asked the clerk if he would call the supplier and allow me to speak to them.  He agreed.  Once on the phone, I asked frankly, if the clerk was correct in the sales figure of one million after one year in business. He confirmed.  I asked if we could meet and he agreed to have me attend his home in the mountains outside of Boulder.  The drive was spectacular, through lush river road, winding this way and that and each new view as full of wonderment as the last.  It was truly an in the now experience.

I turned into a wide asphalt drive that expanded to reach toward a large, two car garage on the left, and a large log home on the right, both canopied by tall pines casting shadows far below.  Both structures had been freshly hewn and epitomized the back to earth movement of the mid-seventies. I was in amazement. To see that one could be in the middle of nowhere and carry on business. That awareness started a passion to develop a business that was not limited to local sales but could be international.

After a couple of hours of conversing, I asked if they would front me some samples in order for me to get orders and then I would place orders with them until my volume got too large, and in which case they would introduce me to their European suppliers.  Wow, how simple to say was that? Their answer was to be expected, NO!  “You seem like a nice enough guy, but, Canada to get our money back, No.

Suddenly, I had a Dream.  Ever since starting university as an older than average age student, I had this compelling lack of fall-back plan for what if I did not get accepted into med school.  Perhaps that seemed like a good idea at the time.  I knew that I could not go back into an employment situation as I had experienced in hospitals, and the idea of owning something, that I could control, seemed to bring comfort.  The fact that I could buy something and turn around and sell it for a profit was attractive. And, if I had a product that was at the front of marketing, then I had supply and demand on my side.

As the fall of 1977 arrived, I obtained my OSAP payment. OSAP at the time was a student loan which eventually had to be repaid.  I was also receiving an educational allowance from the US government for having served in the Army during the Vietnam era.  Under the GI Bill, I received a monthly stipend, which was just enough to afford me the ability to go to school without working.

When my student loan arrived in September, I sent a $750 post payment to the guys in Boulder and told them to send me samples of the most popular items.  When they arrived, I began learning about the customs and duty game for importing products into Canada.

I remember organizing them on a set of shelves I set up in a corner of one of the two rooms I rented on Forbes Ave from Caroline Inch.  I labeled them on the shelf and just looked at all the sparkles  I remember saying, “there’s my money”, just like when you see an enormous flock of birds on a crisp fall day and utter that to a friend.

My first sale was to a gift store in Elora, named “The Green Owl”.  It was owned by the cutest little lady from a small town.  She explained that I should sell my crystal at a trade show, which I had never heard about.  She also taught me my first economic law of wholesaling, “Terms”.

When I return with her first order, while we chatted and looked at the crystal, she placed the hand-written sales slip on her desk and paid no further attention to it during our conversation.  As I needed to leave to deliver some other product, I asked if I could receive payment and be on my way.  Her response was, “I will pay you in thirty days”.  I am sure I looked dumbfounded when I said, Excuse me?  She said that is the standard in the industry.

My quick, little rebellious brain took over and I heard myself saying, “Who made up that rule? Why not this rule, I take your money and bring back the goods in thirty days. That’s how I have to buy.  She said, well, that is how the game is played.  How naive I was to business.

My friend, Andrew Smith made a display sample case for the crystal pieces from an antique violin case. It was just unusual enough to get everybody’s attention when I would walk into a giftware store. I would not need to say much other than to say, may I speak with the owner. Inevitably, they would ask what was in the case, as their imagination went wild as they considered it might hold a machine gun, like in the gangster movies. It opened the conversation and I made huge sales because of it.  Thanks again, Andrew.