Always Remember, Never Forget

Image via WikipediaPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed 7 December 1941 as "a day which will live in infamy."  It's on the calendars - if you get the right calendar - as "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day."  Seventy years after the fact, and we still remember when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  We tell our children of what happened on that fateful day and what consequences it had for us as a country.

There's another day that will live in infamy - 11 September 2001.  It was on this day that terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.  That last plane - United flight 93 - was meant for the U.S. Capitol Building.  However, brave, terrified passengers fought back and gave their lives to save unknown hundreds.  This is true heroism.  Thousands were killed on 9/11, and hundreds of others remain unidentified.

The president of the United States wants to make the tenth anniversary of this tragedy a day of service, asserting that we should move forward, that remembering 9/11 is "clinging to the past."  Now I have nothing against serving others, whether in my own community or in other parts of the world.  In fact, I believe service should be a regular part of our lives.  I do, however, have something against trying to block these events out of our minds.  Let's review what happened.  Extremist Muslims (those who are dangerously faithful to their faith) hijacked planes in our country filled with innocent people and used those planes to essentially fire bomb buildings where there were thousands of other innocent people.  These people were children.  Mothers.  Fathers.  Grandparents.  Sons.  Daughters.  Friends.  Beloved aunts and spoiling uncles.  Think for a moment of all the people who love you, those who would be sad if you died suddenly.  Now multiply that number by about 3,000.  That's how many lives were indelibly changed that day.  This doesn't include the bystanders and the rescue workers.  Nor does this include you or me.

Pentagon Building, Washington D.C. ~ The space circled in white is where a friend's office was.  He was called out to a last-minute meeting earlier in the morning.

Do you remember what it was like to fly before 9/11?  Do you remember going into government buildings or hospitals without having to pass through metal detectors?  Do you remember not having to have your bags searched when you went to concerts, theme parks or sporting events?  I do, but that memory is getting distant and faint.

ALWAYS remember.  NEVER forget.  Don't dishonor those who died for another group's jihad by NOT remembering the events of September 11th, ten years ago.  Serve others every day; remember these Americans at least once a year.

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Hurricane Irene

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe sky is grey turning to black.  Rain's spitting on us, and the winds are quickly beginning to kick up.  Overhead, the variations of grey in the clouds show us how they're circular around us, moving counterclockwise.  Yes, folks, we're battening down for Hurricane Irene.  We've got nearly two cases of bottled water, we'll have more than a tank full of propane, our cars are filled up and we have enough food to last us for a few days.  Short of evacuating, I'm not sure we can be more prepared.

That being said, we realize that higher than our chances of being flooded or sustaining wind damage is the chance that we'll lose power.  Obviously, without electricity, I will not be able to respond to emails or process orders as usual.  I'll still be able to accept orders, and your credit card payment will go through just fine (that's all done automatically), but there may be some periods of silence.  I've asked my web guru Donal to monitor my site's admin for me, so if any issues come up, he'll be on top of them.

I'm hoping for the best, that we'll get some much-needed rain and we'll all stay safe.  My preparedness kit also includes a lot of books, and there might be some marathon Monopoly games going on, too, should we lose power and cable.  If you're on the East Coast, please stay safe.  If you're told to evacuate, then get the heck out of Dodge.  Prayers go out for all of us and the emergency crews already hard at work helping people.

How Are You Marketing Your Brand?

Image via Wikipedia

I read a great book this past Spring called The Various Flavors of Coffee, a delightful book by Anthony Capella, about - what else? - that black liquid ambrosia that gets so many of us going in the mornings.  Coffee!  It's a fascinating, fun read with delightful characters and, as a person who lives by the nose, amazing descriptions of the nuances of scents and flavors in coffees.  There's one section where Pinker, the owner of the coffee warehouse that sells and distributes Castle Coffees, is in a meeting with two advertising men.  I loved this dialogue:

"How are you marketing your brand at present, Mr. Pinker?" he inquires genially.

"With methods you yourselves, I believe, pioneered in America," Pinker answer promptly.  "Every packet of Castle Coffee has a voucher on the wrapper, which can be redeemed for a ha'penny off the next purchase."

"That's all well and dandy, sir.  But I think you misunderstood my question.  I did not ask how you were selling your product - I asked how you were marketing your brand."

Her father looks confused.

"The product," Mr. Cairns explains, "is what you sell.  The brand is what people buy."

Mr. Cairn goes on to explain that the brand is the expectation people have of a seller's goods and the importance of creating an "expectation of superiority."  It all comes back to a psychology of marketing and doing business, wooing consumers with how wonderful the products are, not bribing them with coupons.

What do you think of these assertions?  Would you agree or disagree with Capella's summation of how to market and sell products?

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Being Real

I can't remember where it was, but sometime last week, I saw a challenge issued in a blog.  This author's assertion is, those of us in business and with business blogs tend to blog almost exclusively about business.  He further challenged to take a day and write about yourself, opening yourself up and sharing parts of yourself that your public may never see.  This isn't a bad challenge, and although he was proposing that Monday of this week be that day, I simply ran out of time before now.  So, I'm making this week's blog post about the real me.

Technically speaking, the me in my blog posts is real.  I've blogged about vacations and vacation disappointments, soap production, recipes and day trips.  These are all me, all bits and pieces of my life and that of my family.  This week, I'll open up a bit more to you, make it less business.

Not only do I run my own business, but I also homeschool my older daughter and am the family's Minister of Finance.  That means I'm in charge of making sure what's supposed to go out goes out when it's supposed to, and holding people accountable for not spending recklessly.  Say my husband wants a brand new flat screen TV.  He can have a brand new flat screen TV - if he can show me how he'll be able to afford it without compromising the household finances.  It's up to me to keep things in balance, which I don't like more often than not, because I feel like the bad guy, always saying, "No, that's not in the budget."  (Why don't homeschool moms run the government?  We'd have the budget balanced and America out of this debt in under six months!)

I love to write, which presents a struggle with my math-lovin' daughter, who can't stand writing.  I have a few blogs besides my business one, and I enjoy writing stories with romance and passion - when the time allows for me to indulge my hobby.  It totally blows my mind that she can be my daughter and not LOVE to write.

So, I'm business owner and homeschoolin' mama and baby wrangler and minister of finance.  My friend Donna Maria said the other evening, "You multi-task like nobody's business!"  Another friend, Ginger, chimed in, "I want her to bottle that skill and send it to me."  I only make it look easy.  Truth is, this level of multitasking is draining.  They might admire my multitasking skills, but they don't see me in the wee, predawn hours of the morning, wide awake because my to-do list is running through my head.  They might see how well I finesse homeschooling and business, but not the heartbreak I feel when one of my girls wants to spend some quiet time with me as I'm scrambling to cook dinner, return emails and throw down just that one batch of soap.  The tension is how to do it all without staying up half the night.  I look at Saturdays and think, Woohoo!  A whole day with backup to get things done!  But then I think, A whole day of family time.  And, yes, there are days I work.  And then there are days - like a couple of weeks ago - when I say, "Let's go to the beach!"

This coming Sunday, my baby turns two.  Since my older daughter doesn't do so well with watching her sister getting all the attention, I'm toying with the idea of taking her to a movie on Saturday, just the two of us.  I don't know.  I've got 175 bars of soap to make for an order and some experiments I want to try.  And a party to put together.  It's hard sometimes.  OK, a lot of times.

As my older one gets older, we have to find new ways of getting along together.  I'll send her outside to play just to ensure that she gets time to be outside playing with her friends.  This is the same girl who'll ask me a hundred times a day if she can go outside to play with her friends.  This evening as we sat beside each other on the loveseat, she told me she doesn't always want to go outside.  I told her that sometimes I want her to go outside so she'll have a chance to play with her friends, and sometimes I just need a mommy time-out but have to get work done in the kitchen (meaning no hiding out in the bedroom for a bit).  We just have to keep the lines of communication open.

We had some good giggles today.  We decided that our language for this school year would be American sign language, something she's interested in and something we can learn together.  We were going over hand lettering, and she was looking at her hands as she formed the letters.  I instructed her to turn her hand around; she was talking to herself.  This is fun so far, because it's like translating English to English, and we both talk with our hands.  Besides, she could use this one day in church to minister to people, something she's seen done in our church.

I've probably rambled enough.  If you could ask me anything, what would it be?  I'm fine with answering almost all questions.

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Small Biz Lessons from World War II

Image via WikipediaWe spent yesterday visiting with my parents, paternal grandparents and aunts.  It was a lovely visit and well worth the drive there and back.  My grandpa served in the Army during WWII, and it's only been in the past few years that he's really begun to speak of that time in his life and to share his pictures and memories.
                                                                                       
Yesterday, he had Grandma bring some of his treasures out to show me - a letter he sent to her in 1945, some pictures and some centavos, the Japanese-printed currency in the then Japan-occupied Philippines.  He told me that the Japanese had introduced this currency when they went into the Philippines, but once the war was over and Japan was ousted, the money was worthless.  Citizens would throw it out into the streets and soldiers would pick it up for souvenirs.  Grandpa has nearly 200 centavos, their monetary worth likely equal only to the paper on which they're printed.

Grandpa went on to tell me that, when the U.S. troops went into the Philippines, their primary objective being to liberate them from Japan, they took the new Philippino currency in with them.  Go back and read that again.  It gave me pause.  Do you hear what he said?  I looked at Grandpa and said, "There's a lesson for small business in there," and the lesson is this:  March forward as if you know you are going to succeed.


Why in the world would the U.S. Army have carried all this newly minted Philippino currency with them if they didn't have utter and complete confidence that they were going to succeed in their mission?  Obviously, they wouldn't have.  It would have been a waste of paper to print it and just excess baggage to carry.  When Grandpa's unit entered the Philippines, they were going in to win.  Not try to win, not negotiate with the Japanese for more favorable conditions for the Philippines, not lose, but to WIN.

This is how small businesses should drive their businesses - like a liberating army that is going to win the battle.  Of course, there will be set-backs.  Some American soldiers were injured, captured or killed during the Pacific War of WWII, including Grandpa.  However, the divisions, squadrons and platoons kept advancing, kept driving the Japanese back.  It was this steady forward progress that enabled the U.S. to defeat Japan.

This same steady forward progress helps small business be successful.  Like most small business owners, I have had set-backs.  I have made mistakes... and I have learned from those mistakes.  I have lost some squirmishes - made business deals that ultimately weren't beneficial, was poorly organized for shows and forgot to ship a customer's order.  Like some soldiers do, I'm sure, I've also wondered what the crap I was doing, why did I want even to go on, why didn't I just give up.  Then I look at my daughter and young apprentice who has fully embraced soapmaking and running her own segment of the business, and my husband who really likes making swirled soaps and think, "No man left behind!"  They're counting on me to keep us motivated and driven.

My Twitter friend @ThatRikkiWebb posted today

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Business pains...  Business growing pains...  All serve to make for stronger small businesses and stronger small business owners, which serve to make stronger communities.

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First World Problems

With all the unrest recently in the Middle East as citizens of various countries are protesting their governments and fighting for democracy - even going so far as to risk their lives in many cases - I've thought about how good we have it here in America.  Our time of fighting for our freedoms and democracy has passed.  As I hear reports of so many people who not only have not had the democracy we take for granted, but who have also been living in abject poverty, I start comparing our problems in the First World to their problems in the Third World.  Let's look at First World problems first:

• Can't find the TV remote
• Lock keys in car
• Computer crashes
• Have to clean out the refrigerator
• Air conditioning runs out of freon on the hottest day of the year

Now let's look at some of those problems the Third World faces:

• Debilitating illness because of diseases
• No food to eat
• No clean water to drink
• Child dies of starvation
• Living in daily fear of nation's military

Looking at these Third World problems can make our "huge problems" feel quite manageable and certainly not like it's going to be the end of the world.  We could have eaten that food we just threw out when we cleaned the fridge.  We can go to the doctor when we're sick.  Government programs ensure our children will have food, even if we can't afford to pay for it ourselves.  Our military fights for us, not against us.

One company is making a huge difference to combat some of these Third World Problems.  Clean The World is an Orlando, FL - based company that's working hard to reduce the number of deaths caused by cholera and diarrheal diseases.  It's all in how you wash your hands.  Clean The World collects bars of soap to distribute in Third World countries; they also collect scraps of soaps and rebatch them into small bars of soap.  I've got a few bags of scraps that are slated for this mission, with big plans on the horizon that I'll share as it gets closer to the time.

Do you want to help this fabulous organization?  The biggest help you can give them right now is to text "clean" to 20222 to donate $10.  Your money will provide soaps for 35 children for a month.

What are some First World problems you encounter, and how does thinking about very real Third World problems help you put them into perspective?

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Great Day to Be Alive

Image by jimmywayne via FlickrWhile parts of our country are completely shut down due to insane blizzards dumping snow on top of snow and ice, here in southeast North Carolina, we're enjoying some gorgeous weather, with highs floating around 70 under blue skies with some pretty nice breezes.  Morning rain sent my husband home from work, and our older daughter declared she wanted her daddy to teach her today.  No problem and see ya!  I got dressed, made a delivery, scooted by the bank and checked on another account.

My customer isn't having a good day, because her delivery van is broken down and the repairs are high.  As I was driving home, I saw it up on jacks at one of the local repair shops, and it really hit me how many businesses around town are named after people - Brittney's Blooms and Blossoms (my customer).  Adam's Car Repair.  Calvin's Computers.  Harold's Car Sales.  It's charming to me, and a business like Sara's Soaps 'n Such just seems to fit seamlessly into this nook.

I guess this is one of the reasons I like living in Burgaw, besides the fact that it's just 30 miles from the ocean.  It's the kind of town where everyone knows your name, especially if you use it in your business.

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Crystal Coast Christmas Flotilla - Pt. 3

Party No More

Having missed last year's Flotilla, we missed the encore of the previous year's party, missed seeing the people and just missed the whole experience that IS our Flotilla weekend.  Apparently, a lot had changed in two years.  With two little ones, one of which would be ready to go to bed soon after the Flotilla ended, my husband and I decided we'd tag team the party so we'd each get a chance to go.  Since our baby settles easier without her sister in the room, Peter suggested I take our older daughter to the party, socialize a bit, come back and he'd go.  It was a good plan and so she and I set off for the lounge, eager to see our new friends again.

That didn't last very long.  The Wilmington crew had undergone some pretty interesting changes.  There were a few familiar faces and welcoming smiles, but the tenor of the group had changed significantly.  The old group was warm and friendly, and they drank some, but mainly because it was there.  This new group drank to get drunk (not our thing) and engaged in some behaviors that we're just not into.  Whereas the old group engaged our daughter in conversation and made her feel welcomed, this group kept saying, "I can't say what I WANT to say" with a pointed look in the direction of my little girl.  She heard and felt the exclusion; she took her plate to a quiet place to eat, then told me that she was ready to go back to our room.  I'd had enough, so we headed back and my husband went to the party.

It got interesting at that point, and it was while he was there that we discovered the lifestyle preferences of this new group of people.  He had gotten his plate and two ladies - cougars both - approached him to invite him to join them in their room.  I don't think I need to go into greater detail than that.  He decided at that point he needed to come back to our room.

We've decided not to even try to party with this group again.  It would've been nice to have the opportunity to enjoy a Christmas flotilla celebration with these folks, but we much prefer the old group.  That was a very baby tradition, so it's not one we're going to miss.  It also won't take away our enjoyment of a great parade of boats or the lovely Inlet Inn.

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Crystal Coast Christmas Flotilla Weekend - Pt. 2

Image by katiescrapbooklady via FlickrNostalgic Memories

As our weekend began, it dawned on me that the Inlet Inn, which we just started patronizing in 2006, has fit so seamlessly into our tradition.  I do miss the beach house - lots of space, outside shower, beach right outside the door (and over the dunes), the option to cook meals as we wish - but the Inn is very nice and a relaxing escape for us.

My memories took me to the "notable" experiences of our Flotillas.  In 2006, I was sporting a seriously cute pedicure a la my husband to go with the orthopaedic sandal I had to wear as my broken foot continued to heal.  That made navigating through Beaufort a bit of a challenge, but it wasn't bad.

Two thousand seven was pretty bittersweet.  We were glad to be there, but I'd just found out the week before that I'd miscarried the baby we had conceived, and I was waiting to see if my body would get rid of it naturally; if not, my D&C was scheduled for the Monday right after the Flotilla.  It was hard sharing in my daughter's excitement, knowing the sibling she wanted was resting dead within me.  That year, though, we discovered a model train exhibit, and my oldest daughter simply loves model trains, having gotten one the year before for Christmas from Santa Claus.

In 2007, we ended up with a room on the third floor.  The Inlet Inn has three floors - the first two have balconies, the third has window seats.  We spent a lot of time sitting in the window seat as a family, sipping decaf coffee flavored with Hershey's candy cane kisses, and it was that year that something new started that still continues to this day.  Our daughter said, as the three of us sat in the window seat, "I want Kisses."  So, we gave her kisses - lots of them, but not the chocolate variety.  Every time after that, when she said, "kisses," we'd give her kisses.  Since a window seat and a smallish window is no way to enjoy the Flotilla, we went up to the Widow's Walk Lounge to watch the Flotilla.  Imagine our surprise to discover a whole bunch of people up there!  They were sweet folks from Wilmington, and they invited us to join them for their Christmas party - simply pot luck dinner.  We declined because we were still very full from dinner and we didn't have anything to share.  (I'm a born-and-bred Southern lady; you don't go empty-handed to a pot-luck meal.)

We made our reservations for 2008 very early and scored a room on the first floor.  The view was good, the balcony was nice and the bittersweetness of the year before was replaced with hope, anticipation and a reason for me to decline the offer of wine or beer at the party.  I remember asking one lady if there were any non-alcoholic drinks available, accompanied with a small rub on my belly.  We went to see the model trains, walked the wonderful downtown area, our daughter talked to Santa and we watched the Flotilla from our balcony, eating homemade macaroons and Toll House cookies as we watched the parade, ending our day with our new acquaintances from Wilmington.

We missed last year's Flotilla weekend.  It broke my heart having to cancel our reservations, but a new house and a new baby left us strapped for extra spending money.  I made a point, though, of going ahead and booking our reservations for this year's Flotilla, determined we'd go.  Missing it had left us maudlin with an empty spot in our traditional Advent memories.

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