I am not sure I would know how to go about starting a flag business today. 50 years ago (yes, next year we celebrate 50 years), business was simpler. You identified a need, then filled the need by either door-to-door sales or a store front. And advertising was simpler, too, with only 3 mediums to choose from: radio, tv, or newspaper. All that seems archaic by today’s standards.
Should American flags be made in America? The National Independent Flag Dealers of America (NIFDA) thinks most people would say “Yes” to that question. That is why we went to Washington DC during National Flag Week to speak for the American people who are currently being duped by online false advertisers who claim their flags are American made, when they are really a Chinese import.
Surprising to many, election years are not good for the flag business. Sure, we sell bunting to campaign offices and pep rallies, but that doesn’t make up for the overall downturn in annual sales …
I started my radio show Up in Your Business to pay forward my earned business knowledge. Business principles are the…
Recently, I decided to use AI to help me reflect on FAB’s year-end sales and write some ad copy. This is what I sent ChatGPT…
It’s that time of year again: time for the flag industry’s annual convention. Yes, flag makers have conventions too and…
It may seem too early to start planning for Christmas. But for us retailers, it is late. Most retailers buy their holiday stock in January, with a late fall delivery schedule. Though FAB doesn’t have all its holiday inventory on display yet, we still need to start planning our advertising campaigns, buying ad space, and ordering print material for our December mailers.
We’ve had 5 months of a writer’s strike, 2 months of talks with auto workers and, according to CNN on Wednesday, more than 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente walked off the job, marking the largest healthcare worker strike in US history. And don’t forget, the actors are still on strike, and after this week’s brouhaha in Washington, I guess you could say the House of Representatives are too, creating the biggest chaos and a potential government shutdown.
Being a flag maker of 40+ years, I’ve witnessed a lot of redesigning of country and state flags. For instance,…
Anyone who knew me in high school might never have thought that one day I would be giving tips on how to be successful. From what I can recollect, I barely got out of high school.
It seems like it has been a while since I have written about the business of entrepreneurship.
My daughter-in-law, the newest entrepreneur in the family, has hung up her apron as manager of Heights Taco and Tamales for more professional attire and a career as The Property Group’s newest real estate agent.
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.
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.
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.
Many things are coming back; like the return of shopping catalogs in my overflowing mailbox, conventions are making a comeback, too.
Amazon is putting the squeeze on small businesses in ways you might not have thought of. Everyone knows Amazon sells everything cheap (remember when they only sold books?). But another big part of their schtick is selling shipping cheap or, better yet, giving it away for free. So, who is paying the shipping companies? The nice guys at Amazon?
In high school, Pat Matthews had a compulsion to create and his talent was evident by the art competitions he entered and won. But, alas, he knew the career of a young artist was uncertain. This rational thinking led him to a degree in architecture.
What a week. After the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe vs Wade that has ALL women reeling in their emotions, I went to Florida to work.
No longer having mouths to feed at home, I was able to travel to Connecticut this past weekend to see a long-time friend of mine’s daughter get married. It was fun. The weather was picture perfect, the mountains and rivers plentiful, and the roads windy.
The Dallas Cowboys football team is about as close to a pro sports team as Arkansas gets. We Arkansans relate to them because their current owner, Jerry Jones, and their former coach, Jimmy Johnson, both harken from Arkansas. And their alma mater, the U of A, is a feeder school for the team’s new recruits.
