During and around the COVID-19 pandemic, I purchased three businesses from women in their 70s who were ready to retire. Two were flag companies, which I merged into FlagandBanner.com, and the third was OurCornerMarket.com, a website specializing in plaques and memorials. At the time, I was in my late 60s and thought, “I will never retire” …

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Because so often our names fit our personality, I have often wondered if we pick our baby’s names or if, somehow, from the other side of the universe, our naming is sublimely picked by who-knows-who (or what).

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This past week, I have laughed myself 10 years younger. It started during my Miami work week, when my daughter and granddaughter visited me at the beach for Spring Break. We did the usual things; dined on stone crabs, cruised South Beach, took an everglades tour, and went to Mai Kai, a tourist show of hula dancing ladies and fire throwing gents, all in grass skirts.

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I consider myself lucky that I no longer have to travel on holiday weekends. When my kids were young, vacations had to be planned around their school breaks, which always coincided with a holiday. But since then, I’ve avoided those crowded travel times. This is twofold; I’m graciously giving space to families with school time constraints and selfishly circumventing my own stress level brought on from overcrowded airports and delayed flights.

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Sometimes I feel like I am shouting (my metaphor for writing) into the wind. Therefore, when I get a reply of any kind on my blog, I like it. It is nice to know people are reading my weekly posts, even if the knowing is sometimes coming from a not-so-nice comment or an unsubscribe.

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Our life has changed since adding our new puppy, Coco, to the family. For instance, Grady and I are subjugated to her bodily functions and puppy antics, and we can no longer walk freely around the house; it is a maze of toys and barriers. There are fences and gates everywhere in my home and yard. Coco is not allowed upstairs because, just like any unsupervised baby, she gets into trouble, and she’s not allowed out of the yard for the same reason.

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Grady McCoy cleaning up after a fire in the showroom

On the afternoon of March 31, 2023, I sat at my desk while sirens blared a warning that a tornado had been spotted. For their safety, my employees were sent to the first floor to hunker down in the center hall. Watching out my second-story window, I scouted for possible approaching tornadoes.

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Salespeople are a lot of help. I know they are often stereotyped as a nuisance, as robocalls are (which aren’t real people), but a good salesperson is more like a secretary to their client. And, over the next ten years, both salespersons and secretaries alike could become an endangered species as they are replaced by chat bots, electronic calendars, and online tutorials.

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Prior to emails and the internet changing our lives, English teachers worried that writing was going to become a lost artform. Ma Bell had turned all of us into voice communicators, making lawyers the only letter writers left. In this school of thought, typing classes were dropped from many high school curriculums. But alas, the power of the pen is back, big time, along with keyboarding. It’s time to dust off the old grammar books and learn some new tricks on how to write a good email.

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