In my 40+ years in business, Flag and Banner (FAB) has been through decades of drastic changes. When first starting out in 1975, I sold flags door to door and even carried some inventory in the trunk of my car. But when gas prices soared, when my daughter was born, and when long-distance calling became affordable (due to the deregulation of Ma Bell’s monopoly), I changed to a telemarketing sales strategy.
We have found some fun ways of managing stress at work.
Everyone has been affected by the pandemic of 2020. Service industries are stretched, business supply chains are disrupted, and consumers are on long wait lists.
Oh, it is so nice to be able to shake hands, hold babies, and eat out, again.
This week, an old friend and former roommate from my twenties came to stay at my house along with her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
This past Sunday proved to be an experiential lesson for me in America’s current social and global threats. And, as with all realizations, the more you learn, the more you realize you need to learn. It is never as simple as you would like it to be.
How Kerry McCoy Became an Enterprise
My parents could be labeled average people, they were steadfast citizens with a moral compass and an honest bias. Growing up, my siblings and I never encountered drinking problems, violence, or infidelity from within our family. I was lucky to have been born to them.
The 2008 recession was not that long ago. Drawing from the experiences learned, we know small businesses were slow to recover, but not as slow as the unemployment rate (which rose to 10%) … Having been laid off from jobs in my youth, I remember the head game it plays on you.
It is not easy to be the rule enforcer at home or at work. The answers of how, when, and what actions should be taken, will be lessened by following these simple and straightforward rules.
During my ole’ lady swim class, I overheard a fellow participant complain that she was suffering mentally and blamed it on a lack of routine brought on by Covid-19’s restrictions. I told her I was suffering from just the opposite … too much routine.
I’ve long been a believer in the power of saying “Yes.” So, that’s what I did when my neighbor walked by my house recently, on a beautiful, crisp morning, and asked me if his son, Nick Shoulders, could perform on the steps of my big front porch.
Good news has happened again for our non-profit, Friends Of Dreamland (FOD). Shortly after the coronavirus outbreak, while we were all still trying to get our footing and wondering what was going to happen to our world and our jobs, Friends of Dreamland got some great news.
We have found some fun ways of managing stress at work.
Everyone has been affected by the pandemic of 2020. Service industries are stretched, business supply chains are disrupted, and consumers are on long wait lists.
My business mentor, Charles Fisher, was a prankster aficionado. He did things like poke a tiny pin hole in the side of your soda can, just below the tab opening, so that every time you took a sip it would dribble down your chin. For all new employees, he would leave pink return call slip on their desk with the phone number to a funeral home asking them to return a call to “Myra Maines.” He always had a joke ready for any occasion.
Synonyms for small business owners: problem solver, therapist, lender, mother, teacher, enabler, enforcer, sympathizer, promoter, communicator, capitalist, and optimist. Take out capitalist and lender and it could be a job description for a preacher or homemaker.
An aversion to rules is one of the reasons many entrepreneurs become business owners. They are not conformists and find big company policies stifling. I am no exception. But I have learned through the years that written rules keep things fair…and I am all about being fair.
When I was in high school graduation was contingent on the completion…
I remember my mother saying that no matter how old her children…