The flag business is seasonal. During the cold months, our sales drop off dramatically. It makes sense; during the winter, we’re all indoors and flags, for the most part, are outdoor products. Last year, during these slow months, FlagandBanner.com made a calculated decision to allocate more money for advertising than ever before. If there was ever a silver bullet for selling flags in the winter months, we were going to find it. I can conclusively say: There is no silver bullet.
As you can imagine, I had lots of comments about my decision to stop selling the Confederate battle flag. My favorite response was from a lady who was in favor of my decision. Her closing words were “Not today, Satan, not today!”
Shortly after my announcement, I got a visit from my friend, Randall, who also happens to be the President of the Sons of the Confederacy in Arkansas. He, as he put it, “Came in defense of my ancestors.” I was expecting him.
As I said in a press conference on the front sidewalk of the FlagandBanner.com building, freedom of speech is what makes America great, which includes waving the flag of your choice. And, frankly, I just figured it would blow over soon. I was wrong.
A few years back I took a leap of faith and hired for a new position, a sales assistant position. My thought was, this new person could help streamline and alleviate some of the busy work of my sales staff, thus freeing up my experienced salespeople to use their time more wisely, ie. selling. It worked. Sales increased, morale increased, and a team atmosphere was garnered.
I’ve heard it said, “He is a natural born manager.” I don’t believe it.
It took me years no, – decades – to learn how to manage employees. As I sit in the salon chair getting my hair blown out and listen to my stylist (who also happens to be the salon owner) shout orders to her assistants, I realize how much I’ve learned.
In FlagandBanner.com’s parking lot stands an 80 ft. flagpole with a 15×25 ft. American flag. The past few Mondays as husband Grady entered the parking lot, he noticed that over the weekends someone was driving circles around our flagpole.
At first it was a curious site, like a crop circle, but as the circular ruts in the lot deepened, the problem of potholes and strewn gravel became a nuisance. As Grady pondered who would so consistently be returning to do “donuts” in our parking lot, a suspect came to mind.
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.
Contrary to popular belief, the phrase “I don’t understand” may be the most empowering sentence you will ever utter. As…
In order to mitigate risks, large companies become inflexible and impersonal. Avoiding the risk of discrimination is accomplished by discouraging nepotism. But, at FlagandBanner.com, we feel a societal duty to support our employee’s families and train the young. So much so, that our employee roster reads much like the book of Numbers in the Old Testament.
Being afforded the opportunity to work, both physically and legally, is a liberty revered by many who cannot. Like children…
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At the end of every year it’s the same, sad story – low sales at FlagandBanner.com. All the profits made…
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“Take all opportunities and win at them.”
This September we nearly hit our sales goal. Go Team! Unfortunately, when we closed the September books, we hadn’t yet…
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Fun with Flags is an episode on The Big Bang Theory sitcom and also what the whole country was having…
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