Why did I start soda vending?

I have had several people ask me why I started my soda vending business. Most people think that I am a little crazy making more work for myself when I already have three children under 5 to take care of. Sometimes I wonder why I always want to do more. I am not satisfied with the status quo. I wanted something more for my children to do besides watch PBS all day. I was raised on a farm. I remember helping my father and grandparents with the farm work at a very early age. I learned so many valuable lessons working on our farm. I enjoyed spending time with my father while he worked. It made me feel grown up if I was able to help out a little bit. I was given a lot of responsibility at a young age.

Since we live in the middle of Dallas, I will not be able to teach my children how to farm, milk cows, feed chickens, hogs, cows, goats, etc. My husband and I want to teach our children the value of hard work. I wanted to spend time doing something with the children that they could participate in and learn from. That started my quest for a job that I could do with them. I will tell you more about my journey in another entry.

After a lot of soul-searching and research, my husband and I agreed to try soda vending. It has been a wonderful experience. My kids know that we go on our route on Monday and Friday every week. If it is hot or cold, we still go. If we are not feeling all that well, we still go. (I do find someone to take care of the kids if one of them is too sick to go with me, but thankfully, the children are very healthy.) The only time that we might not go to all of the machines is if it is raining hard. Electrical systems and water do not mix very well. We have two machines that are outside. These two machines we try not to open when it is raining. We still run the rest of the route in the rain because the other three machines are inside. The children do not even ask what we are doing any more. They just get in the car/van and we go. They are already learning several valuable lessons.