Yup. It’s time. The relative peace and quiet (aka: break from the airports) over the holidays has passed, with the show season and speaking engagements in high gear. I’m headed to the Big Apple for a record-speed-race through the New York International Gift Fair, then jet straight to Louisville, Kentucky, where I’ll be addressing members of the ANLA (American Nursery and Landscape Association). With luck, I’ll squeeze a show report in there along the way, anxious to see how attitudes and show specials play, now that we’re getting down to the end of the winter circuit.
To vendors and reps making their way to New York, heads up. There are a few patterns coming into play that you’ll want to be ready for…and open to, if you get my drift: [click here to continue…]
Yesterday morning, Jim Blasingame rolled out the red carpet for The 3/50 Project again, on his nationally syndicated radio program The Small Business Advocate. As always, he’s proven what a true believer he is in independent, locally owned businesses, fully committed to better educating their owners on how to succeed.
If you missed it, no sweat. Jim keeps a copy on his server so you can listen later.
As a bonus, the piece ran on Forbes.com too (yes, I’m dancing around the room as I say that).
Thanks, as always, to Jim for being such a wonderful champion of small business. I suggest everyone take a moment to peruse the other recordings provided on his site, then tune in regularly to this terrific program.
I’ll be the first to admit frustration with Delta since they took over the Northwest Airlines WorldPerks program, post-merger. Loss of available flights, loss of direct flights, and loss of upgrades have all taken a real toll on my attitude where the “new” airline is concerned.
Imagine my surprise when receiving a letter from the airline apologizing for a weather delay…then giving me SkyMiles points for it. [click here to continue…]
You asked, you received. Welcome to the new, greatly improved AmericasMart website, folks!
It’s a direct reflection of the things you’ve asked for, been frustrated by, and didn’t know you needed…yet. The best part, in my opinion, is the significant upgrade in the site’s search function. Unlike before, you can now locate items by name, by product type, and by market. Sure, the reliability rests on how showrooms submit their info (ex: product name versus manufacturer’s corporate name), but the Mart is doing its part by ponying up the platform to make info flow smoothly.
Check it out. Troll around. Pretty sure you’ll be smilin’ in the end.
Thanks, AmericasMart, for listening. You’ve done us all proud.
A big, honkin’ high five to the editors of Gifts and Decorative Accessories Magazine (who I’m a contributing editor for, by the way). Unbeknownst to me until opening the January issue, they posed the following question on this month’s We Ask page:
“Is your store participating in any ‘buy local’ programs or The 3/50 Project?”
And yes, my heart sang when reading comments by both Steven Lora (Motif Modern Living, Austin and San Antonio, TX) and Elizabeth Howard (The Cordial Cricket, Chester, VA), who are Supporters of The 3/50 Project. I adore what Elizabeth wrote; to see her response, or to chime in yourself, click here.
Thanks to everyone connected to the page. Every voice out there counts!
We have more than 14,600 Supporters listed on The 3/50 Project website. Over 35,000 fans on Facebook. Legions of bloggers and tweeters spreading the word.
So why haven’t we been on one of the national morning news programs yet?
Those of you who have heard me speak know that I’m hell bent on getting us some prime air time with the breakfast crowd. What better time to share this small business lovefest than on Valentine’s Day?
Enter: The 3/50 Project Valentine Campaign. [click here to continue…]
It’s official. The gift show circuit is in full swing, the starting line firmly planted in Atlanta. So…now that the show’s wrapped up and the circus has moved to other marts, how did it go? What’s the buzz?
Well, buzz there was…and then some. [click here to continue…]
Heads up, all you wonderful folks in western Pennsylvania-—I’m being interviewed on WISR-AM (680 on your dial) about The 3/50 Project tomorrow afternoon.
Tune in at 1:00 p.m. EST to get the scoop on what we’re up to, or, if you’re outside the immediate broadcast area, check out the live feed on the WISR website.
Note: To listen, it appears you need to save the live feed file to your desktop, then open it in iTunes. I had trouble getting any sound when testing this out, but hopefully, you’ll have better luck.
