Aug
4
The “Reality” of Running a Small Business
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My husband says, “don’t put anything personal in my blog.” I know he is right but who wants to read an impersonal blog? Reality t.v. shows aren’t impersonal… If they were, nobody would tune in. If the person or family in the show isn’t a little nuts, then it’s boring.
Well, there is absolutely nothing boring about running a small company. Out of my 25 employees, 95% of them are great and have been with me forever. But there are always a few on the fringe of sanity. For example, since May, two of my employees have been sleeping with the same man. Which is fine, if I don’t hear about it. But I do hear about it, in far too much detail. Another employee had an emotional breakdown and ran out of the building screaming the F… word, then called and wanted her job back. Another employee accidentally falsified her commissions and ended up with $8,000 of Arkansas Flag and Banner’s money in her checking account. And just last week, a sheriff showed up and picked up one of my newest employees for a felony charge in Texas, aggrevated assault.
I am sorry, but it is just too good to not talk about. I haven’t written in my blog because all I want to do is spread the gossip. I think I am crazy but these people make me feel sane. I could write my own reality TV show with just the goings on at this place. And I bet it’s the same everywhere. Flag and Banner, after all, doesn’t have a corner on crazy’s. So how do you help these people? All the training and second chances in the world can’t help people who make bad decisions. My kids have the answer… They need to Buy a Clue!
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Apr
21
Hillary Clinton Took The Time
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The real measure of a person’s character is not what they do when everybody is watching, it’s what they do that no one will ever see. That’s why I feel the need to tell a recent story about Hillary Clinton.
Just to give some background to the story, my mother-in-law, Ann McCoy, worked for the Clintons at the Arkansas Governors Mansion and later at the White House, but she has not worked for them in 8 years. The Clinton’s were always nice and polite to all of Ann’s family but Hillary probably got to know Ann’s mother, Hazel, better than any of us.
Recently, Hazel, 95 years old, was admitted to a Hospice. How Hillary found out is beyond me, but 5 hours before her big debate with Barack Obama, she called Hazel at the Hospice to see how she was adjusting. At perhaps the most critical point in a very long and impressive career, with the world spinning around her, Hillary Clinton took the time to console another great lady. Many people think Hillary is cold and impersonal. Maybe it’s because she is so principled that she doesn’t know how to pretend to be sincere. If I weren’t writing this here, no one would ever know about the phone call. Hillary didn’t make the call because it would end up in a story or photo shoot. She did it because she is a great lady. One day, after the history is written, everyone will know, as do I, exactly how great she is.
Ms. Hazel Askew passed away yesterday, Sunday, but not before one great lady spoke to another great lady. Hazel was born when women couldn’t vote and she almost lived to see one in the White House.
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Apr
16
Taxation without Representation
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2007 was the first year since 2001 that Flag and Banner has shown a decent profit and I had every intention of reinvesting that profit into my business, my employees and ultimately, the American Economy. “But, noooo, the tax man cometh.” So instead of reinvesting in my community, I sent the extra money to Washington, where it seems like they just toss it in the air or maybe toss it towards each other. Our politicians just don’t get it… Small business is to our economy what the middle class is to our society. We pay the highest taxes, bear the biggest burdens, and while small business does not literally “die” for our country as the middle and working classes often do, it seems Washington has no qualms about trying to tax us to death.
When the government needs money, we are the first group of people they go to for higher taxes (can you believe Exxon just asked for a tax break, they’ll probably get it). And then when we (the middle class or small business) complain, we are the ones accused of being unpatriotic. I’m not the most well read person in the world, but one quote does come to mind, from Alexis De’Toqueville’s “Democracy in America…” “America is great because she is good. When she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” It’s awfully hard to be good for too long when things aren’t fair. And the tax burden in this country has been unfair for far too long. Not surprisingly, when discussing this blog with one of my friends, he mentioned another lesser know quote from Alexis De Tocqueville, “A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.” Go figure.
I started wondering just how well we compare with the taxes of other countries and so I did a Google search. Low and behold, the only super powers with taxes higher than ours are China and Germany, one a communist and the other a socialist.
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Apr
2
I’m Winning
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For the first time ever, all the number one seeds have made it to the final four. This phenomena has made all the chicks in our office winners in the pool.
If Memphis wins, Stephanie wins. If UCLA wins, Holly and I have to split the pot. I am glad to split the pot with Holly, because it alleviates some of my female guilt that would have come from being the boss and winning the whole pot.
It was really fun having the NCAA tournament in Little Rock. You don’t realize how big those players are till you stand next to one. Recently at the Tip Off Club I had my picture made with big Joe Klien, formerly an Arkansas Razorback and a Chicago Bull.
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Mar
20
March Madness
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In the Flag business, the onset of March brings high winds, torn flags and disgruntled customers. But I’m not too concerned this year because, for the first time ever, March Madness arrives in Little Rock, in the form of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. Next weekend, Alltel Arena will be the sight of all the drama and my husband and I are ecstatic. To say we are avid sports fans would be an understatement. And fortunately, we had enough foresight last year to buy tickets to this years’ “Big Dance.” We weren’t sure if our Razorbacks would even make it to the tournament this year after losing Ronnie Brewer… and we were not enthused about last years coach. “What was his name, again? I can’t quite recall.”
Well, we couldn’t be happier now. The new coach, John Pelphrey, has done a great job in his first year. It’s been an emotional roller coaster. Against all odds, we made it to the finals of the SEC Tournament by beating No. 2 Tennessee, only to lose to Georgia in the finals. But who cares, two games ago we weren’t even assured a spot in the Dance. What could have been a horrible season, turned into 22 wins; a testament to John Pelphrey. My first thought when he was hired was that his head seemed to be screwed on a little too tight. I still think it is… and I like it. It’s good for a coach to have a Type ‘A’ Personality, but it is not enough. A Coach has to have passion for the game and Pelphrey does. He also has the ability to dissect the mechanics of the game and his players. That ability to take a situation, break it down, and make a judgment call is a gift that you can’t learn in a play book. In this way, I can relate to Pelphrey. I often think of myself as a coach, my employees as players, and FlagandBanner.com as the game. Making sales is our offense, curbing expenses is our defense, and I make a lot of play changes and substitutions until December 31st when the final buzzer sounds.
I recently met Pelphrey and his family at a luncheon. He is tall, tall, tall and much funnier than I expected. And his family is adorable. His blond, unassuming wife is charming and a wonderful mother to his Son and Daughter. They graciously said they liked living in Northwest Arkansas. Although it’s hard to imagine a college coach not saying he liked the place he coached, but I truly hope they do like it here, and I hope they stay. We need Pelphrey’s passion here in Arkansas. He is a rising star.
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Mar
12
Lent is a Mother Cusser
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Every year I give up the same thing for Lent: Alcohol. And after this years holiday season, Lent couldn’t come soon enough. I actually look forward to Lent because it’s the only time I can give up drinking without catching a lot of hell from my friends. Mention quitting alcohol to most of them and you might as well be bringing a cross into a vampire den. I tend to have a lot of get-togethers and I think my friends consider my not drinking to be a threat to their social life. But 40 days without alcohol is manageable. If I can do without alcohol for a little over a month, they can do without the raving social butterfly that I tend to be after a couple of cocktails. And quitting alcohol isn’t really that difficult for me because it’s not my worst vice. Cussing is. I say “cussing,” instead of “cursing” because I think of bad language more as a creative way of complaining than actually wishing any ill will on anyone. Anyway, I used to try and give up cussing, but I finally accepted the fact that I can’t stop because I do it unconsciously. But cussing does have it’s benefits: my kids hate it. If you want to raise a kid who doesn’t cuss, just do it all the time. But what do they know anyway… For Lent, they gave up paper towels to save the planet, now they use so many cloth towels that we’re adding 400 F****n’ gallons of deterginated water to the planet for every roll of paper towels we do not use! I think cursing does a lot less damage.
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Feb
20
Super Bowl and Our Flags
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We see our flags everywhere, around town, when we travel, in the newspaper, on TV and in the movies. This past Super Bowl Sunday we contributed to the game, you wouldn’t even know you were seeing our product if we didn’t point it out. This is a fun little thing to know about us. We make and sell the little flags that go on top of almost all the goal posts you see on TV. The following article is about Sportsfield, to whom we sell our goal post flags to.
On The Bright Side: Delhi plays a part in Super Bowl
By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI _ A group of 18 to 20 people from Sportsfield Specialties in Delhi headed for the Super Bowl are hoping that on Sunday, they’ll view not only the game, but the goal posts.
The goal posts at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., were custom-made at the Delhi plant, according to Wayne Oliver, Sportsfield Specialties Inc. president.
“We can’t wait to see our goal posts,” said Debbie Oliver, a company employee and Wayne’s wife. “It’s going to be great.” Wayne Oliver said the group would probably have gone to the Super Bowl, but “our goal posts are just another good reason to be there.”
When the ball sails across the end zone, said Michael P. Zambito, modular products business unit manager, he will be thinking to himself, “That is one nice set of goal posts.”
The posts are the Sportsfield Specialties’ AdjustRight model, which are the company’s largest sales volume product, Wayne Oliver said. There are hundreds of the posts installed across the country, he said, including in Delhi on the Delaware Academy and Delhi Central School football field.
“They are the most specified goals posts by far,” Oliver said. “We are the nation’s largest manufacturer of goal posts.”
He said that when the University of Phoenix Stadium was being designed, semi-custom goal posts that could be easily taken down were needed. This was to accommodate the movement of the natural grass field outside, where it could be watered and fertilized and receive natural sunlight.
He said to move the tray that the field grows in, the goal posts must be removed, replaced and uprights adjusted.
Zambito said that because the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals host many televised games, it was essential for them to have perpendicular/parallel uprights on the goal post with the ability to quickly and easily adjust them.
Sportsfield’s AdjustRight provided this capability by a simple adjustment of hardware, versus pulling out roll pins, drilling new holes, adjusting to level then inserting new pins, Zambito said.
Oliver said that when the posts are being constructed, “almost everyone in the factory works on them, so that makes this a neat small-town story that Delhi has a part in the Super Bowl.”
During the construction process, the post had to be painted the distinctive florescent National Football League yellow, Oliver said.
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Feb
19
My Arkansas Journey
Filed Under my business | 1 Comment
You know, sometimes it’s the little things in life that give me the most satisfaction. Sure, a twenty-percent jump in sales would be really nice about now, but something that happened recently has given me almost as much pleasure.
In a new Arkansas History textbook, The Arkansas Journey, my story and that of Arkansas Flag and Banner are profiled in a chapter entitled “Making A Living in Arkansas.” The piece, which is used to illustrate “The Entrepreneurial Spirit” of Arkansas, tells a brief history of Flag and Banner, along with a picture of our building, and one of myself with then governor Mike Huckabee. How cool is that?
I mean, a lot of people can say they work for themselves, but not so many are pictured in history books. No matter what we accomplish in our lives, we sometimes tend to ask ourselves, “What if…” we had done something else, as if the work of our life might not be good enough. Things like this make me feel just fine about what I’ve accomplished. To top it all off, I noticed that on the first page of the chapter, under the heading “People to Know,” six names were listed, and of those, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Charles Murphy of Murphy Oil, and William T. Dillard of Dillards Department stores were mentioned with that of little ol’ me, Kerry McCoy. Not bad. Not bad at all. Now I’d better get back to work before my entrepreneurial spirit gets lost in my gloating.
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Feb
15
On November 12th, I wrote a little blog entry called “Married to My Employees.” After yesterday, I need to change it to “Marrying My Employees.” That’s right… on Valentines Day, we had a wedding right here at Flag and Banner.
It all began during the Monday morning meeting, when our purchasing agent, Jeremy, informed us that he would need to take a half-day off on Valentines Day to marry Ashley, his partner and mother to his son. Hearing that they intended to get married at the Justice of the Peace, our accountant, Sandra, flatly rejected the idea, saying “The Justice of the Peace is for ending marriages and not starting them!” She then immediately got on the phone to her Baptist Preacher husband and before we knew it, we were planning a wedding on the fly. 
It was decided that the Ceremony would take place in the Dreamland Ballroom and the reception would be held afterwards, downstairs in “Doc’s Pool Hall.” The women of Flag and Banner brought in arches, balloons, rose petals, banners (of course), a wedding cake, champagne, mints, chocolate strawbery fondue, more flowers and, of course, the Wedding Cake. As Ashley walked the red nylon runway, we all hummed “Here Comes the Bride” and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Overcome with emotion, Ashley almost fainted while saying her vows.
After the ceremony, everyone moved downstairs to Doc’s Pool Hall for the reception. The cake was cut and Champagne flowed. Meanwhile the men of Flag and Banner crept off to decorate the getaway car. As Jeremy and Ashley drove away, I couldn’t help but smile. It was such a blessed day.
So if you are one of my customers that tried to call the office between 2 and 3 pm, central time on Valentines Day and got the voice mail, I apologize. I have been the Mother of the Bride before, but this is the first time I have ever been the Boss of the Groom. And it feels good. But just like being the mother of the bride, it is a little hard on the pocket book. Next time, if there is a next time, we will do it after 5 p.m.
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Dec
10
Wounded Soldier’s Email
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This Holiday Season I expect to be a heart warming one, it will be the third anniversary of my Father’s passing. He died on Christmas Day along with my husband’s, fifteen year old, brother who died 20 years earlier on Christmas too. It is a special day for our family to get together and celebrate their lives. This will also be my second Christmas with my granddaughter, Evelyn.
But what about our servicemen healthy and wounded in the hospital awaiting the time to spend with their families? We had an e-mail circulating around our office with an address to send season’s greetings to soldiers in the hospital. Sounds like a good idea but after further investigation the address is wrong.
If you want to find out how you can do more for our servicemen, go to USOCARES.ORG.
Happy Holidays!
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