December 19, 2011

Fun With Music and Videos

About ten years ago, I came across this motivational site while looking for something to help motivate my students to achieve more, to give their 250% all the time. I lost track of the site when I had my computer stolen about 4 years ago. Recently, I was working on my dance ministry blog and was moved to look for this site again...and I found it.

I want to share one of the most beautiful messages given to me.

SimpleTruths.com

How do you make your customers know that you appreciate them?

December 15, 2011

Social Media Thursday

 During the month of November, I participated in a campaign sponsored by American Express called “Small Business Saturday”. It occurred on the Saturday after Black Friday and before Cyber Monday. It was a push to draw the consumer to invest some of their holiday spending in small businesses. Part of the campaign included $100 (one hundred dollars) of Facebook Advertising. For FREE. I applied and my little ad was accepted and then, quite honestly, I forgot about that part of the push. I put up information on my Facebook fan page, business page and my personal page. Tweeted about Small Business Saturday and placed signage about it in my booth during the Christmas Wonderfest in Detroit.

I have had an increase in sales (slight, but still even one new sale is better than no sales, right?), but I still didn’t make any connections to AmEx and their campaign. Yesterday I received the following email (excerpted here) :

We are happy to report that with your $100 in free Facebook advertising, your campaign reached 134,036* potential customers. (*Reach is defined by the number of unique impressions delivered within your geo-targeted area.)

To keep the momentum going, American Express OPEN offers a variety of helpful resources on OPEN Forum^®, including social media tips and tools for businesses like yours. It is all part of our ongoing commitment to the success of small, locally owned businesses.

Wow!!! The ad ran on Facebook for approximately 15 days (I got in on the deal late) which meant I was able to spend more per day than I ever would be able to afford (almost $7 per day)on a regular basis. At the same time, Facebook offered a 50% match of AmEx’s $100.00, again FREE, so that meant I was virtually spending $10.00 per day in Facebook Ads- YOWZA! 

Of course, I am, indeed, a small business and so obviously could not keep those ads running. I cancelled my ads, but I have had an increase in my Facebook fans and more specifically, a request from an international company to possibly market one of my products!!! Double YOWZA!!

Check out the open forum and think about saving some of your advertising dollars for one or two times a year to invest in Facebook Ads. You never know how the results will pay out in the end!

See you tomorrow ^_^

December 14, 2011

Anything Can Happen Wednesday

My children get out of school for the holiday break this coming Friday, December 16^th. Two weeks ago, I was feeling a tad bit overwhelmed and more than ready for them to be home (three less “things” to have to prepare every day), but now that it’s almost time….AAAGGGGGHHHHH!

It’s actually more planning to have them home during the school hours than at school. I totally forgot about preparing lunches and planning activities (no way are they vegging in front of the tv with video games for two weeks) and sharing my daily routine with theirs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE spending time with my boys (my daughter can’t come home for the holidays, she just got a new job), I just have to have a game plan that will hold the interests of a 15-, 13- and 6 year old boy. 

Lunch Plans

My sons love hanging out in the kitchen, sometimes with me, sometimes not. Lunch plans look like this:

Sat, Dec 17 – Homemade Burgers and Fresh Cut Fries	Sun, Dec 18 – Mom & Son Day – Mom’s Ramen Noodles	Mon, Dec 19 – Sub Sandwiches	Tues, Dec 20 – Mom & Son Day Tuna Salad
Wed, Dec 21 – Middle Son’s Birthday – Meatloaf/Mashed Potato “Cupcakes”	Thurs, Dec 22 – Spaghetti-Os and Mondo Salad	Fri, Dec 23 – Mom & Son Day – Mug o’ Tomato & Grilled Cheese Soup	Sat, Dec 24 – Brunch: Pancakes, Bacon, Sausage & Eggs
Sun, Dec 25 – Leftovers All Day	Mon, Dec 26 –International Week – Sushi, Tempura Shrimp, Rice Noodles	Tues, Dec 27 – International Week – Grape Leaves, Hummus & Chicken Shwarma	Wed, Dec 28 – International Week – Bratwurst & Sauerkraut, Potato Pancakes
Thurs, Dec 29 – International Week – Polynesian Chicken Skewers	Fri, Dec 30 – Boys’ Day In The Kitchen – Make Your Own Pizzas	Sat, Dec 31 – Ramen Noodles (Eating feast with family tonight)	Sun, Jan 1 – Day At The Movies – Hot Dogs, Potato Chips & Milk Shakes
Mon, Jan 2 – Fish and Chips	BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

 

Activities

Sat, Dec 17	Put up Christmas Tree, decorate the house (tree, lights, bulbs and garland inside & out)
Mon, Dec 19	Mom’s Date with Son #1 – Window Shopping at the mall (Must check out the new high school fashions while allowing him to flirt with girls as if I don’t notice ^_^)
Tues, Dec 20	Gift making day – (Make presents, bake goodies, wrap it all up for gifting)
Wed, Dec 21	Middle Son Birthday Celebration/Kick’s TaeKwonDo Holiday Party (older boys are Black Belts)
Thur, Dec 22	Mom’s Date with Son #2 – Lunch Date @ Buffalo Wild Wings (who can eat the hottest wing sauce challenge – he usually wins)
Fri, Dec 23	Great American Wii Decathalon! (Just Dance, Wii Sports, Wii Games – May the best mom win – hee hee)
Sat, Dec 24	Christmas Eve at the Grandparents House (A family tradition!)
Sun, Dec 25	Boys visit with Dads (my time to recover from the late Xmas eve celebration)
Mon, Dec 26	Veg out in front of the TV all day – Movie Marathons
Tues, Dec 27	Prep Day for Back to School (Laundry, School Work, Clean Back Packs, etc)
Thur, Dec 29	Shopping for Pizza fixings
Fri, Dec 30	Mom’s Date with Son #3 – Play Date @ Arcade (bells and whistles for 6 year olds)
Sat, Dec 31	Prep for Mondo Dinner with Family for New Year’s Eve Celebrations
Sun, Jan 1	Let’s Go To The Movies (Boys watch the games, Gals go to the movies)

So what are your plans for the holidays?

December 13, 2011

I was all set to talk about the fabulous three shows I just completed back to back, when I changed my focus on how I wanted to cover those shows - not as a vendor, but as part of the management team.

I'm not sure how many of you are into the art/craft show scene. It's a wonderful way to interface with the public and come away from the virtual office and "hawk your wares". You also get the chance to talk, face to face, with fellow vendors/artists, trade ideas and even, sometimes, products. Many of these shows are produced by local development authorities, community programs, civic centers, arts organizations. Some are produced by companies that specifically look to create these type of events. I am part of one of those type of companies.

As an event coordinator, your staff's job is two-fold. One part is to get the show up and running, keep it running and then take it all apart afterwards. Sounds so simple, doesn't it? It's not. The other part is to keep the vendors and artist happy during the set-up, run and tear down of their individual booths. Sounds so simple, doesn't it? It's not.

Let's say you have decided to do an outdoor spring event over a three day weekend. You apply, get accepted (Yea!) and receive all your important documents in the mail - load in schedule, parking passes, booth sign, name badges, show hours, pertinent phone numbers, etc. According to the schedule, you may arrive as early as 11:00am to start setting up your tent. You arrive at 11:30am, running behind because you forgot to pick up receipt books and had to stop by the Five and Dime (yes, I said it!) to pick up a few. You stop by the check in desk, and are greeted by a smiling individual who welcomes you to the show, hands you a few last minute instructions and points you in the direction of your booth. Off you go. On the way, you pass two people carting around a wagon full of extension cords and carrying a ladder. They smile and greet you. There is another person distributing trash cans throughout the site. Another smile, perhaps a wave instead of the verbal hello. You note that you are near a food trailer, (great no long walks for food), and next to an artist who's work compliments yours wonderfully (mmm, maybe some display collaboration or vendor to vendor trading). Happy? Good.

Let's cut back to those smiling, greeting and waving people. They have been on site since 6:00am. They have marked out the booth spaces, accepted deliveries of equipment (generators for the electricity, barricades to close the streets, port-a-potties, tents, tables, and chairs, oh my! They have collated paperwork, reviewed site plans, directed traffic, answered questions (where do I catch the bus, what's going on here, how long is this going to be here, why is that tent set up outside my store, are you all supposed to be here, I forgot my tent, do you have an extra one, can someone help me unload my car, can you ask the driver of that van to move so I can drive up to my booth, on and on and on). These same people are there when you can't get your electric outlet to work, when the booth across from you needs a potty break, when your neighbor needs trash bags. They are emptying garbage cans, directing customer traffic, finding lost children, removing unauthorized vendors from the site and more. At the end of the day, there they are, helping to close artist and vendor tents, cleaning up the site, powering down generators, directing walking and driving traffic for vendors who just have to get the car onsite to take some things home for the night. When you leave, they're still there. When you arrive the next morning, there they are already, smiling and greeting you.

I'm not rambling, I promise. I say all this to say, consider the background folks when you do or decide to do your next event. When something isn't quite the way you expected, don't bite off the head of the first event person you see - explain your issue and listen to the answers and/or reasons why things are the way they are. Also, don't expect instantaneous results. Remember that you are not the only person in the show.

For any weekend show, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday hours, you can bet the show crew has put in at least 40 hours of work that weekend, per person.That's a week's worth of hours in three days.Not to mention what has occurred prior to the event.

As you prepare for your 2012 show season, I just want you to be aware of the other side of the picture. I'll be touching on various aspects in Tuesday's Getting To Know Who posts. I'll include "Show Do's and Don'ts", "Being Prepared", "What To Do When There's Weather", "Finding Accommodations When Staying Out Of Town" and other show type topics.

See you tomorrow for Wednesday's Anything Can Happen Day!

December 12, 2011

I'm baaaaccccckkkkkk! I've been out of the office for what seems like FOREVER, but I'm back with an adorable little video from Pixar Films because its...

Fun with Music and Video Mondays!!

I hope you enjoyed this one! See you tomorrow with updates on why I've been away so long!