Jessica Fry waits for customers at her produce stand in Three Way just past the exit to Milan on Friday morning. / KATIE BRAKE/The Jackson Sun
The two sell watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes and sweet potatoes on the roadside at two separate produce stands, one on the way to Milan off of U.S. 45 and another in Three Way.
They also sell peaches when they can get them, Jessica said.
She spends her summer weekends with her parents and is a biology major at the University of Tennessee Martin. She has about a year and a half left in school; Daniel will be a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University in the fall.
Right now Jessica operates her produce stand Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and starting July 8, she will be there from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day until summer's end.
"My dad has a friend, Stan Anderson, who owns a produce business in Lexington, so he actually got me into it. I get my stuff from him," Jessica said. "It was actually my dad's idea. He was just trying to find a way for me to make some money when I was home from school."
She brings in about $300 a week.
"You can work for yourself, and if you do, you will get out of it what you put into it. It takes a lot of dedication to get out there and do it every day, especially when it's so hot, but I definitely get a lot of benefits from it," she said.
Benefits include taking time off when she wants to "and also the main thing, I can be my own boss," Jessica said. "I feel like it teaches me a lot about dedication, because when I do have to work, I'm used to doing it for long hours and sticking to it."
Daniel is proud of his sister.
"She has shown me that she can stick with something and do a good job with it," he said. "In this business, you've got to spend money to make money. That's what my dad says. And you've just got to learn what your profit is and save up."
Daniel decided to run a stand "just to have something to eat on next year (in college). We actually started it last year, selling just sweet corn, but (Jessica) kind of branched it out to where we sell watermelons and everything now," he said. "It's good for teenagers to learn how to save money and start buying things on their own. When you save all your money for the next load of produce, that's when you start making your own money. It's just a good starting point for teenagers, a good stepping stone."
Brad Barnes, a criminal justice major from Murfreesboro, is Jessica's classmate and will graduate from UT Martin in December.
"With the difficulty of getting a job in today's economy, (Jessica) has used her entrepreneurial skills to open the produce stand," Barnes said. "I guess her stand has gotten a lot bigger since she first started. Honestly, I thought she was kind of crazy for wanting to do that, but she makes pretty good money and has fun. She gets to sit out there and read all day."
Jessica estimates she spends about 12 hours a day working. That includes driving time to get the produce.
"Once I graduate, I'll probably get a more steady career, but when I retire, it's something I'd definitely like to do," she said. "I'm a reader; what better thing to do but sit around and read?"
Watermelons sell for $5 to $6, "but later on in the summer, when they're coming from Missouri, they might get cheaper. Cantaloupe, too, will be about $2," she said.
"Four big tomatoes sell for $3. People love those home-grown tomatoes; I have a lot of people come back for the tomatoes. They really come back for everything, but especially for them. Sweet potatoes are about $2 for a bucket of seven of them."
When they can get them, the peaches the two sell come from Alabama, "and they're about $2 for about nine of them. They're really good, too," Jessica said.
Daniel takes his golf clubs to the stand with him and passes the time between customers by hitting golf balls into a field behind where he sets up. He also just tries to stay cool during the hottest part of the day.
"I got a tent, and the tent gives a lot of shade, so that's fine. There's been a good breeze for the last few days so it hasn't been too terrible, but it's pretty hot," he said.
Still, it's a good side job to keep him busy, Daniel said.
"I'm making probably $300 to 500 a week; on a good week, about $500. I'm selling the most of tomatoes, then watermelon and cantaloupe. In this heat, you've got to keep (the cantaloupes) in the shade or they're ruined."
Jessica said he has learned how to be responsible in many ways, "especially with having to keep up with buying the stuff. You have to spend money to make money, so it teaches me to save money ... I've definitely become much more cautious, and even though it's a little bit of money at a time, by the end of the week I look back and see that I made a lot of profit."
Dave Montoya, veterans employment representative with the Tennessee Career Center on Carriage House Drive, recommends that college and high school students apply for jobs with employers who offer summer work.
"There's a lot of seasonal work for people who are in school," said Montoya, who regularly counsels people who are unemployed. "Lowe's and Home Depot are good places to apply because they hire people just for summer work. We get a lot of seasonal stuff here, but it's mostly nurseries and places like Lowe's and Home Depot."
For a summertime job, "you need to start applying in February and March. Think of 'anycompany.com' — you know, take a company and add the .com to it — and go to their website and apply," he said. "You never know what might happen."
Montoya stressed the need for a solid résumé and said residents can create one at the career center.
"They can leave it with us, they can send out résumés to whatever is in the newspaper, and they can drop them off at some of the employers if they will allow them to do that," he said. "When you're young, you don't have that much to put on a résumé. We tell them to get on the Internet and search the Internet within maybe a 50-mile radius of Jackson."
Students should stay in touch with their school counselors, he said, and don't neglect to dress the part.
"First and foremost, what I see is the way people dress. When you come into the career center, apply like this is the place you're coming to work. And come early. We open at 8 o'clock, and you should be here at 8 o'clock," he said. "Dress for success. ... You'd be surprised how many people don't dress for success. I don't care if it is somewhere like Pizza Hut, don't go to an employer dressed in a T-shirt and flip-flops, like you're going to Beech Lake."
Source http://www.jacksonsun.com/
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