We Thank You All For Your Support!

It has been an incredible year in 2008 and we look forward to the increased excitement and changes coming in 2009 with joy! We hope the same for you, your businesses and your families. It has truly been a pleasure serving you and we thank you for allowing us to share our thoughts and ideas with you.

On behald of my partner, Ryan Stone and myself, we want to say THANK YOU!

Forget the Regrets and Remember

It's time to look at 2008 and see what it has meant to you and your business. You may have regrets--things you meant to do and didn't; things you did and shouldn't have; poor decisions; procrastination and more. So what. Forget the regrets. Thinking about them will not change them, but enhance them, so let them go now.

Remember what you accomplished. Remember what worked. Remember how you grew and how you tried and how you adjusted in the face of a different business climate. Remember your success. Thinking about this will change everything, and yes, it will enhance it even more.

Wallow in it and get a good feel of 2008. You only have a few days to rejoice in it while it is still here. I'll leave you now so you can celebrate. See you soon.

Champagne Tasting Saturday

Champagne Tasting

Saturday, Dec 27th, 2008

5-7 pm

Wine & Spirits World

Vacaville CA

See website for details.

www.winespiritsworld.com

Great Companies: Netlfix

This is a commercial for one of my favorite companies. Having been a Netflix subscriber for several years, I can heartily recommend their quality service. And there's much more. . .

One of their commercials stresses the no late fees aspect of their service. That is good and I really do like that. Another talks of their massive selection of available titles--100,000 DVD's and counting. I like that too, but there's more.

You can get a DVD in about 1 day average. This is true and I do like that. You can watch about 12,000 titles on your computer or TV (with device) instantly at no extra charge. I truly enjoy this too, but there's more.

Their service is outstanding! I've had a few DVD's arrive damaged, but they send another one out the same day. Stuff happens, but they stand tall in how it is handled. And they periodically check how they are doing as well. A lot of companies could learn from this one!

What is more and what I have come to like the most about Netflix is the star rating system that allows me to rate movies I've seen and their system will suggest movies that I might like. I can tell you this: I have seen a lot of wonderful movies that I would never have seen if not for this system. It is awesome. I am constantly finding movies I never heard of that are 5 stars!

If you like movies, you have to love Netflix! Inexpensive, great service, massive selection, instant movies online, fast delivery. What's not to like. It is a great company. Check it out for yourself and you too will find that you love Netflix.

Communities Online Network is a leader in developing and marketing area specific websites for cities in Northern California. Each site delivers daily and interactive content to keep the community informed and offer a forum to share opinions and ideas on movies, dining options, books, schools, sports, and more.

• List your Garage Sales & Community Events FREE!
• Businesses: Add your Local Coupons FREE!

Daily Updates:

• Garage Sale Calendar
• Local & National News
• Book Club
• Weather, Sports & Traffic
• Local Business Directory
• Shopping & Local Coupons
• Dining & Movies
• Community Events Calendar
• and much more!

Seven sites are online and more coming in 2009!

• WoodlandCommunity.com
• DavisCommunity.com
• ElkGroveCommunities.com
• NatomasCommunites.com
• RanchoCordovaCommunites.com
• SacramentoCommunites.com
• VacavilleCommunities.com

As the population continues to escalate in California, now more than ever there is a need for one website that serves as a local, one-stop source of information on everything that is happening throughout the city.

For more information, go to www.CommunitiesOnlineNetwork.com, the site nearest your city above, or call Ryan Stone at 707-480-0959.

Make Your Next Event Better

Make your next event better with sound!

I've been to a few events recently that could be very much improved by adding a small sound system that allows the leaders of the event to effectively communicate with the crowd. One event last week was a mixer with over 200 people in attendance and no PA system at all. They were yelling as loud as they could, but you could hear them further than 20 feet away with all the chatter. They also were calling out ticket numbers for prizes.

This is a very easy fix. I found a small, compact, self-contained PA system that is fabulous and it has been used in a wide variety of applications with great success. I highly recommend it. It is a great investment and will last for many years. The unit is the Peavey Escort (R) Portable Sound System. You will find it worth every cent!

It's Okay To Not Know

It's okay to not know everything. First of all, it's pretty much impossible to know everything and once you did if you could, it would all change. So, it is okay to admit it: "I don't know much of anything about that . . ." That is a good thing, and even better is to add this phrase to that last statement: ". . . so I could use some help in that area." That's real progress!

CEO's of large corporations, like GM and Ford don't know everything about their own company, but they don't need to. It's not even their job to know everything. It's their job to lead and part of that leadership is finding the people in and out of the company who know what they need so they can call on it as needed. It would be a serious waste of time and talent for the CEO to know everything.

When it comes to small businesses, you may know a lot about the subject of the business that you run, but you can probably really use some help in marketing, web design, sales ideas and so on. There isn't any way that you could know all you need to know about everything either. So, admitting and accepting this and then seeking assistance is a very wise thing to do. Just by coming to this point and stating this will help the assistance to find you. There are lots of people and companies that are ready and waiting to assist you.

Consistency Of Experience

I talked with a businessman who owns several stores in different cities. He stated that his goal was to be a large chain of stores like his competitor is. I briefly talked with him about his stores and my own experience and that of others who notice clearly that there is not a consistency of experience. There is nothing other than similar name to tie them together. They operate differently and they have a different atmosphere. That issue needs to be resolved to begin to create a chain.

A chain afterall, is individual links fastened together and in most chains, the links are the same. Think about McDonald's Restaurant. It is one of the largest chains in the world and if you happen to like McDonald's food, you can trust that as you travel throughout the country, you will have a consistent experience: good food, cooked in the same way, served in the same way and a clean restaurant with clean rest rooms and well lit spaces and so on. Consistency counts.

I went to Sydney, Australia for a couple weeks a few years ago and the first place we stopped after leaving the airport in our right hand drive car was McDonald's. We wanted to see what was different about McDonald's from the way it was in the U.S.. It was so very similar that I would have to say it was a consistent experience. They had a couple of items on the menu that you wouldn't find in the U.S., but other than that, the experience was the same.

Another way to look at this if you don't have and don't intend to have multiple locations is to think about the consistency of the customer experience in each visit to your store. That is very important to convey to the customer that they can expect a certain level of experience each time they come in. This will speak to displays, atmosphere, employee training and so on. People want to feel comfortable and they want to know that they will feel comfortable again should they have the opportunity to return. I know that I do and I choose places based on how I feel when I am in their store. How can you give your customers a consistent experience?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving To Everyone!

Problems Are Wonderful Opportunities

When you sell something to someone and they have a problem with the product, this is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate your value as a company.

Let me share two experiences that happened yesterday. See which business you want to be.

1. I bought 20 volumes of a set of Time-Life books from a seller on eBay. This person has 1,908 feedback's and they are 100% positive. The price was right, the shipping was quick because we live in the same state. It should give you confidence to purchase from them.

The shipment arrived yesterday via USPS Parcel Post. Later when I opened it up, I noticed the box had been dropped on one corner, tearing the box and damaging the corners of all the books except three. I bought them to complete a set, so I needed them to be in very good condition and now they are not good at all. So, I sent them an email letting them know it arrived. I stated that the books were not packaged very well. They were just put in a box with another piece of cardboard folded to take up the extra space. I explained the condition. I asked what they would like to do?

Here's the response--and I quote, "I don't know of any 30 lb boxes of books dropped on their corner that fair well, accounts for loose sections and damaged corners. You need to check with USPS on damages."

2. My wife bought a new handbag from a company she found online called Ebags USA. The bag arrived perfectly packaged in a short time. The problem was that it was the wrong bag. So, she goes online to communicate the problem and together, they determine which bag she received and which it should have been, all the while apologizing for the problem. Then, they issue a prepaid return label to return the package and say they are shipping the correct one via expedited service at no charge to make up for lost time. All very professional and extremely well done. Just what you would expect of a good company regardless of their size. Makes you feel good about doing business with them. And, I will bet you that my wife will have no problem buying from them again. She said they have excellent prices and a great selection.

I'm done with the book seller. I won't even waste my energy leaving negative feedback. I'll just move on down the road. Now, this seller doesn't know this, but since I found him, I had bookmarked a number of his auction items and it looked like we could have had a great relationship, but with his kind of service, I cannot afford to waste any of my time with him.

It's so refreshing to have heard all about every step that Ebags.com took in handling my wife's problem. It was efficient, friendly, effective and painless. Just the way it should be, don't you think?

How Do You Improve the Mundane?

It doesn't get any more basic or mundane than shopping at Costco. I've been a member for many years and they have some incredible bargains. If you have been to one, you know that they are pretty basic in design. They used to call it a warehouse store and that still describes it very well. The selection of merchandise is great and there is always new things coming in all the time. They choose high quality items with recognized brand names on purpose and they buy in quantities sufficient to reduce the cost and pass that savings to the members. It is an excellent store and I continue to pay for the privilege each year.

Yet, with all the positives of this store, the one negative that most of us could agree on is that it is slow to check out and at most times there are long lines waiting to get up to the check out register. This makes it unpleasant enough that I do not go there except about once a month. If this were not the case, I think I would go more often.

So, how do you improve the shopping experience at the warehouse super stores? Simple: speed up the check out dramatically.

Now, my business partner likes Sam's Club which is a similar type of store run by Wal Mart. So, for our business, we joined Sam's Club and they have improved the checkout process. They have a guy that has a hand-held scanner and he gets your membership card, scans it, then scans all your items, so that when you get to the check out register, all you do is pay. Wow. I was really impressed. It was much faster and much more pleasant.

How can you take a lemon in your operation and make lemonade with it? Find out if there are any negative experiences of customers in your shop or store and think of great ways to solve that and create a superior experience. It will pay large dividends in repeat and more frequent visits.

Rollie Fingers in Vacaville, CA on Oct 31, 2008

Major League Baseball Hall fo Fame inductee and former Oakland A's pitcher, Rollie Fingers will be in Vacaville on Friday, October 31st to release the first in a collection of specially bottled California wines featuring Baseball Hall of Fame players called the Cooperstown Cuvee. Mr. Fingers will appear at Wine & Spirits World at 1020 Helen Power Drive, Vacaville, CA 95687 from 10:00am to 3:00pm and will be available for interviews. Get your signed bottle for your collection--matter of fact, get a case of signed bottles!

This is the official release month for the Cooperstown Cuvee wines and Rollie Fingers, famed Oakland A's pitcher is the first of Baseball's Hall of Fame members released. This wine will be sure to become a must have for any collector as the series releases more Hall of Fame athletes in the coming years.

"I Can't" Should Be Erased From Your Vocabulary

I just got back from a trip to Seattle and I'm in the lobby of the hotel waiting for a ride and I get to listen to this conversation between a customer and the desk person. It is a conversation that I have heard in many variations many times at many different businesses. I have even participated in such conversations in my past. One phrase is stated again and again: "I can't. . ." "I can't do that." "I can only do this, but I can't do that." "Our policy is. . ." This is killing your business, one customer at a time.

In this particular conversation, it involved a man from Korea who spoke fairly good English who was staying at an Extended Stay hotel. He had paid for a period of time with Traveller's Checks and then his trip was cut short because he completed his work in less time than expected, so he wanted a refund of what was owed. He wanted the refund in cash. The clerk said they could not refund any cash, but only refund on a credit card. They went back and forth a bit with the customer not understanding this. Finally, she looks at the ledger and sees that he had paid with Traveller's Checks and then she says that they can only refund $75 in cash and the rest would be a check and they would have to mail it to Korea.

She had said to the customer that she could refund on a credit card, so he hands her a credit card. Now, she says that she can't refund on the credit card because he didn't pay with a credit card. Of course, she also can't issue a refund in Traveller's Checks or this conversation would have lasted a much shorter time.

Now, she gets a relative on the phone who speaks Korean. This goes on back and forth for another 10-15 minutes. Still, the "I can't" is all you can hear. The hotel owes the customer $215 dollars. They "can" now refund $75 in cash, so then they must issue a check for $140 and send it to Korea. Then she thinks that since he is staying one more night that she can refund $75 in cash today and $75 in cash tomorrow and then a check for $65 sent to Korea.

I'm just sitting there listening to this silliness and thinking, "I wonder if they have a clue or even care that this customer is probably done with this hotel chain?" I know that I would have no desire to return and after hearing this exchange, and I will not be returning. Now there are two customers gone.

Finally in frustration, the customer gave the clerk his address in Korea for them to mail the check.

The question for you is what could they have done to not only keep this customer, but to enhance the experience of the stay and the hotel? I'll give you some of my thoughts of what they could do.

1. Disown the word "can't." Stop saying "no" to customers. Find ways to say "yes." Maybe it is a reasonable alternative, but starting with the word "can't" is not the way to get there.

2. Rules have to be flexible. I understand policies. They have a purpose, but in this case, following the policy exactly will create an unhappy customer. Rules are not made to do this. The flexibility here would have been to refund the money in cash. If they didn't have sufficient cash, they should go to the bank and get it. Worst case--and I mean worst case--give the customer a check and take them to the bank and let them get it cashed. Simple. You have his money, you need to give some of it back. He lives in Korea, not Seattle. Sending it to him in a check in Korea is ridiculous.

3. Unhappy customers tell others. I cannot imagine this customer coming back to this hotel, or even this chain. There are other places to stay. He will tell his friends and business associates about this experience and how stupid it was. I am not going back either and I am telling you as well. That is called Word of Mouth advertising. It can be the best or the worst and it can kill a business no matter how many dollars they spend on advertising. Just do it enough and you're done. What could they do? They could have done this simple thing without even hardly a second thought.

What was really saved here by having this policy? If they can refund $75 per day, they can refund $215. It's not even a matter of can or cannot, it is a matter of will or will not. Rules do not make choices for us, they are meant to make things flow smoothly and efficiently. In this case, the rules are running the business and running it poorly. A better choice makes sense and common sense is a good rule. You might ask yourself, "if this were me on the other side of the counter, how would I be feeling about this?"

An Upward Trend In A Downward Market, Part 5

Let's look at merchandising today. This is one of my favorite topics. It is all about choice and display. I'll give you some examples from an industry I have a lot of experience in.

Many car dealers have acres of vehicles on display, yet their merchandising is generally not very good in my opinion. Think about it. They typical dealer has lines of cars. There you go. That is their main merchandising. They line them up. Nice, crisp lines. All in a row. Very little space between them. They have one message: We have a lot of them--which equals great selection, or at least that is the intended impression. Their secondary message is that they know how to line them up. Then, the typical dealer takes two more merchandising steps: 1. They tie helium balloons on the mirrors and float the balloons up high so you see them. and 2. they put flags or banners on the light poles. That's it. Average price is about $25-30,000 and this is all they do. The hot dog vendor has more merchandising going on than this.

Is this what people see when they come in your store? You have a lot of stuff and you know how to line it up? I hope not, but if so, I suggest some changes.

To me, merchandising is about selective attraction. You have to be selective because the mind has so many things to notice, that you have to draw the mind's attention to something specific, or it does not know what to focus on, so it ignores what it sees or it just becomes background. What that means to me is that you need to merchandise a few things differently than the normal display--make them stand out and draw the eye and mind to it. Grocery stores do it on the ends of the rows and sometimes in other areas so you have to weave in and out and around various displays.

The tendency is to fill up all the space with stuff. The goal is no wasted space. I think this is a common mistake. Think about an ad in a magazine or a newspaper. The ads that really get your attention have a good deal of white space. The space draws your attention to the product or the word or whatever it is they want you to see. Many people feel that they are paying for the space, so we need to fill it up. The mind sees that as confusion and it doesn't know what to focus on. The white space takes away the confusion and then the mind can focus. This same thing applies to your store layout. Don't fill up every space, create white space and use it to draw attention to what you want people to see.

On the car dealer lot, they way to do this is instead of having 10 vehicles in a space, you put 4 and you park them at odd angles that draws your eye, but the thing that really draws your eye to the car is the space between them. This same thing applies to your display cases. Want to sell more of certain things, create this kind of display and the mind will be able to focus on the product you want to sell. The more there is to look at, the worse is your opportunity to make a sale unless they know exactly what they wanted when they came in and they go right to it, buy it and they are out of there.

You can demonstrate that you have a lot by keeping it in the background and showing just a few pieces in the foreground. On the car lot, they can fill up the back row, but leave the front row for more interesting displays. This way, they get the best of both philosophies.

Look at your store and how you think a customer's eyes are going to view all of your merchandise. Where are your eyes drawn. Now go into some other stores and take notes of what draws your eyes and why. Take all of that data and make good use of it in your displays and merchandising.

An Upward Trend In A Downward Market, Part 4

I was having so much fun with yesterday's post, I just have to continue and have some more fun with the Brownielocks wonderful website tool and using it to create prosperity in our businesses by using them for unusual promotions and events.

So, I'm looking at September on their website for some promotional ideas, although you will have to move quickly, or plan for October. I say, do it now and do it quick, because you need it now, right? Pick one and go with it!

You sell baby items? It is Baby Safety Month. Sell food? It is Go Wild During California Wild Rice Month and also National Rice Month. Have a restaurant? It is National Chicken Month. Sell pianos? It is National Piano Month.

Have a restaurant? It is National Waffle Week (almost over already). Sell books? It is Banned Books Week - Celebrating the Freedom to Read 9-27 through 10-4. Sell office supplies? It is National Love Your Files Week the 21st through the 27th.

Sell candy? You must prepare for International Chocolate Day on the 13th! I'm getting prepared as we speak. And I'm really stoked about National White Chocolate Day on the 22nd. My favorite. Have a deli? Get excited for National Salami Day on the 7th. Have a pet store? Who could forget Responsible Dog Ownership Day on the 20th and Dog Scouts of America on the 26th. Sell gifts? It is Wife Appreciation Day on the 20th and National Good Neighbor Day on the 28th. And, this is one of my most favorite sale days: Talk Like A Pirate Day on the 19th. Ayya Matie!

Whoever said you can't just have so much fun doing business? Of course you can. It can be a blast. You get to choose. Seriousness is no fun. Let's have a ball and make some money too!

An Upward Trend In A Downward Market, Part 3

Promotions. The sky is the limit in promotions. Traffic is off and business isn't happening? Have a promotion!

No need to wait for the same old sale periods like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Presidents day, etc. Boring. Have some new promotions. How about Elephant Appreciation Day. Have a Hobbit Day Celebration. Have a Bee Sale for National Honey Month. Maybee they will make a beeline to your door. You could celebrate National Payroll Week (could be your pay), or Line Dance Week. Great time to sell some of those country CD's.

I'm not making these up, I'm taking them from the Brownielocks website. It is just a wealth of fun for promotions. Get attention, create a new sale every week or even every day! They have bizarre, crazy, silly, unknown holidays & observances categorized by month. Need a spike in your sales, click on the month and you're off with a great new idea. Couldn't be easier or more fun. You never have to do those tired old other holiday sales again.

Another thing you can do for promotions is to decorate your store a bit. It doesn't have to cost much or be elaborate, but just some things to blend with your chosen theme for this sale. I worked at a car dealership as a sales manager and decided to have a Western Days Sale just for something different. I 'rented' a truckload of straw bales and put them all over the lot, had the staff dress in Western clothing and off we went. Another time I had a "Cheaper Than Meat" sale and sold cars and trucks by the pound. I took them all across the scales, got their weight and created a sale on each vehicle by the pound. It was great fun to see $4.79 a pound for a vehicle. So, just go have some fun with it and some will work better than others, but you will be doing something rather than Waiting On the World To Change as John Mayer so aptly puts it.

It's still summer, so that is a great time to rent or buy a popcorn machine cart and stick it out front of your store and give away some popcorn! I've done it and though it is a bit corny, it is fun and it brings people over to your store. There is something about the smell of cooking popcorn that is just appealing.

Team up with some stores in your area and combine sales. That could be a lot of fun. Have an offsite sale where you take a portion of your inventory somewhere else and sell it. That is a perfect place to combine with some others and make it a much larger promotion.

There's a zillion things you can do. Let's get doing!

An Upward Trend In A Downward Market, Part 2

You might take a look at the inventory you sell and see how it has done over a period of time. When times are good, sometimes we just keep doing what we've done. Many are experiencing a slowdown and that is a great time to analyze a lot of things. So maybe your inventory has done okay, but there are too many things that sit unsold all the time. You might try concentrating in the areas of the items that do sell more quickly.

Sometimes people try to be to many things to too many people when if there were more of a focus on a few things, you could become a superstar with them. Let me give you some examples. A local music store here has guitars (a decent selection), acoustic and solid body electric, bass guitars, guitar amps, bass amps, pianos, PA equipment, Recording equipment, drums and accessories, music books, outboard effects equipment and much more. It is really hard to do a good job with all that width in inventory in one location with no online sales. This means that there is a lot that goes unsold for a long period. If they chose to specialize more and drop a number of things and not try to be something for everyone, they could have more depth. Depth is far more important than width. If you have enough capital to afford to have width and depth like Lowe's or The Home Depot or The Musician's Friend, that would be fine, but on a much smaller budget, there can be a better return by narrowing the focus of the offerings.

In a music store I had some years ago, I sold a lot of guitars, but I only carried a couple of different brands, but I had a large selection of the different models they offered, so in a town of 50,000 people, I had more depth than the big store in the city of 400,000. It made it easier to deal with inventory and I could target my advertising better as well.

Let's say you had a store that sells music CD's, so you have as wide a selection as you can afford in inventory. You've got Jazz, Rock, Rap, Blues, New Age, Country, Some Spanish titles, some Classic and so on. With the volume of things on the market today, unless you have a huge budget for inventory, you can only have a very thin surface of coverage. Though you have a lot of width, it is not the least bit deep. Think about specializing in one or two types of music and see what you might do with it. Let's just go for Rock for example. You can get some good depth now if all you sold were Rock CD's. Just think how you could market that and how you could really become known for that specialization. The fear of not having what the customer wants is more of a reality with width and no depth, than with depth and no width. This would also make a perfect online store.

Are there some things that you might do with your inventory that you haven't really thought of until now. Maybe you could add a line of used items and create a consignment venue or you give up new and go totally used. The best thing about used items is that every item is unique. The other best thing about used is there tends to be more profit on used than on new.

Back to the local music store. They could specialize in guitars. Take all the dollars tied up in all the rest of the inventory and focus it into guitars. They might even change the name to have guitar in the name. Perhaps they could make that transition a one year goal. They would have a much stronger draw in having the depth that they cannot afford to have now simply by thinking about their inventory in a different way. That was the point of this exercise.

More tomorrow.

An Upward Trend In A Downward Market

Someone told me this quip a long time ago and it sticks with me and serves me today. It was this: the definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting a different result. It serves me today because every time I think about wanting a different result, I remember that I have to do things differently. I relate this to small business by watching so many do the same things and wanting a different (better) result. It's a problem.

The answer is clear. Do things differently. What does that mean? It can mean a lot of things, but to me it means to look at the things you do all the time and see if you can improve or modify them. Here's some things you might look at. Are you running the same ads you have always run in the same papers in the same place with the same themes? If so, are they producing results and what kind? Maybe they haven't produced tangible results in years. Maybe you just think they work. Or maybe you think that if you aren't in there, everyone will forget you. Mass marketing is a challenge in any market and it is always changing.

I'll give you an example. We suggested to a liquor store that they could use our services in helping them learn to better merchandise their store and market their products. The owner said he couldn't afford it, but we found them spending $2500 per month on a display ad that I doubted could be very effective. I asked if the ads were working. They do not know, because they do not track the ad or what is in the ad. They are just in the paper for being in the paper and they think people are looking at the ad and coming in to buy what is in the ad.

So, we suggested they stop the ads, hire us for the same amount and they would not be spending a penny more than now, but get a much improved result. They declined because they had a commitment to the paper, etc. I find out a couple months later that two months ago when we talked about this and we suggested they stop the ads, they did indeed stop the ads, but were looking to pocket the savings rather than use the money in a different way. So, the manager says that sales are off. He thinks it is the lack of the ad. This is when I find out. So, I ask how much is it off? He says about $2500. I say, you haven't lost anything since you saved that amount in not running the ads that you had no idea whether they worked or not. However, you didn't get the help that could have increased your sales by that amount or more, so maybe it is a $5,000 loss or more from that perspective.

It just depends on how you want to look at it. One thing that makes total sense to me is that if you are going to run an ad, make sure you will know if and how much it is working or not working. You need to track the results. That applies to anything you are doing.

Next item. No website? You think that online thing will go away soon? It's not only not going away, it is going to cell phones and who knows what else. You might as well get your feet wet now. Let's get that going and keep it growing. A website isn't something you do and get done, it is something you build and grow constantly. It becomes and integral part of your business and your marketing. In addition, you can begin becoming an online seller yourself.

Five years ago, I probably spent about $500 a year online. Now I spend many thousands online. I now buy all my shipping supplies for my business online (great service, great pricing, very easy) along with hundreds of books, video, audio and other items. It is way easier than driving downtown and doing that parking thing and then seeing a poor selection, etc.

Having an online presence and possibly an online income will enhance your local business. When you go online you have the world to market to. Don't be afraid. Just get in and get learning. We all have to do it. It's not so hard once you let go of the fear of it. I have shipped thousands of items all over the world. I have had two lost shipments. An extremely small problem. Not worth mentioning. You probably spill that much in your store. Mostly it is fear, so let go of it. The reality is that it is not a problem to sell online--it is exciting!

What else can you change? Inventory? Marketing? Merchandising? Advertising? Promotions? We will take a look at some more tomorrow.

Getting It Right Step By Step. Ready, Aim, Fire.

Some people say that you need to have it right before you start. Those same people say that you must 'count the cost.' They say that you have to be ready--that you cannot start until you are ready and have all your systems in place. They say that people who don't do these things are like the "Fire, Ready, Aim" folks, when they should be "Ready, Aim, Fire."

I get it. No one really wants to be foolish, do they? But, here's the deal. If I follow this advice, I will never get started. How many of you knowing the realities of retirement, started saving money every month when you were 18 and never touched it and always put more in when you could and always sought out the best advice to grow it? Let me guess. . . none? Why not? It's great advice. It's smart.

When it comes to your business opportunity, I will follow my own intuition. I am happy to listen to advice and learn from others experiences, but ultimately, I will follow my own intuition. I will give it my best shot. But, I still call that "ready, aim, fire." It's just that it is in increments. Today you get started and you are constantly improving every day in every way that you can. That is not "fire, ready, aim." You are being as ready as you can at the moment. You are being the best that you can be at the moment. You are aiming as good as you can at the moment. And, you are executing or firing as good as you can at the moment. Frankly, that is all that can be expected.

Insurance is a good thing. But, if I were 'fully insured' I could not buy anything except insurance. There's life insurance, health insurance, dismemberment insurance, business insurance, liability insurance, auto insurance, identity theft insurance just to name a very few. A case could be presented where I need all of those, but I would not be able to make a house payment. Silliness. I choose what I feel is absolutely needed and go with it and the rest get ignored. Treat your advisers that way. It's okay to listen, weigh the facts, sort the emotions, keep what you want and discard the rest. You have to. It's your business, not theirs.

So feel confident that you are doing the best you can do in pursuit of better. Ignore the naysayers. If people ask you how business is, answer "I'm getting it right step by step!"