So Keep Going

You're trying to reach a goal.

You haven't. You're frustrated.

Keep TRYING!

let's look at sales. You keep trying to reach a certain goal.

You don't, so you get frustrated and give up. Why?

Does a musical artist give up after only a few tries?

Does any other performer?

Sales is a performance, an art form. One that must be perfected and practiced and practiced and revised continuously.

Don't give up.

Make more money with the customers you have

Wow, I can't believe my last post has been since January. Sorry, folks. It's been hectic here. Months ago, I got a button in my BNI group that said, "I Refuse to Participate in a Recession". I've held true to that statement.

Business has been doing really well lately. I know a lot of people that are pulling themselves out of the trenches and are starting to climb up.

So, how are we to make it in this economy?

My personal predicition is we will see record fortunes made over the next 5-10 years. I have many ideas and theories about this. One example; alternative energy. Think of all the people that invested stocks with Exxon and Texaco back in the day. They say history repeats itself. So, if we know that history will repeat itself to a degree, we can control the outcome. Or, at least, where we will be when that does happen.

Okay, so let me get right to the point here.

I don't care what kind of business you are in. If you do anything where you have customers/ clients there IS a way to retain those clients and have them refer other clients to you.

In an economy where we see many large corporations folding, it's the "Mom & Pop" mentalities that are again resurfacing. Meaning; if you treat your customers well, and connect with them on a personal level, they will continue to spend money with you.

People still have money to spend. They just need a reason to spend it. To spend it wisely and with you.

This "economic downpour" is truly a good thing. It helps implement values into our homes so people don't spend so foolishly. Sadly, recent surveys indicated households aged between 25-40 have less than $500 in savings. We needed a wake up call! Plus, this forces companies to produce a good product or service. GM is the perfect example of producing an inferior product. Foreign makers come in, produce a better vehicle, better crash ratings, fuel savings and at a lower price. Now GM is crying to get bailed out of the mess they put themselves in. Truly, I don't think they should get a dime. Why? Because they're a large corporation? Pfftt.

How do we get people to spend the money with you? How do we connect on that personal level?

Like I said, I don't care what it is you do.

Are you a hairstylist? Photographer? Jewelry Maker? Dog Trainer? Baker? Pampered Chef Consultant? Insurance Agent? Stock Broker? Mortgage Banker? Attorney? (Okay, that was fun....really tired of naming things now)

It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. You know if you treat your clients well and you know if your service or product is worthy of purchase. If it's not or if you're a pompous ass, don't bother attempting to retain business with anyone. Go hang yourself somewhere and let those that wish to make a difference in people's lives do so. (Disclaimer: if anyone does this, I'm not responsible for their stupidity.)

Stop wasting your money on advertising. After the Spring I will no longer have a website. It won't affect me one bit! In fact, it will help. (That however is another topic related to photographers only, one which I may address later.) For now, let's try to stick to the topic.

Stop doing what everyone else is doing. Piss on sending out a coupon, a flyer a this or a that. None of that crap is personal! None of that connects to your client and says, hey...let's do business. It is junk that gets tossed about with all the others.

STAND OUT. Your service does, so why shouldn't any correspondence you provide blend in?

For this example, let's say you are the customer and I am...your mechanic.

You bring your car to me for repairs. You are impressed with the service and value you've received at my repair facility.
Throughout the year I've sent you a few coupons for tires or brakes. Yet, every time you got them in the mail, you didn't need any of those things.
I sent a 15% off any service, but your car was running fine.


Okay, how many people are you going to tell that I am your mechanic? Sure, if someone asked you right after you left my shop you may have mentioned my name. Did I do anything wrong or bad? No. I did a great job.

After 3,4,5 or 6 months am I going to be on your mind? Mmmm...probably not.

So, how do we change this? While we don't want this guy to go to the mechanic for frivilous things by any means, we do want his business and we really want him to tell others about us!

Let's start from the day one again. You go to the mechanic. Upon filling out the information on your vehicle you are asked for some important dates. Such as your anniversary, your kids ages and birthdates as well as yours and your spouses' birthdates.

You might even ask why. We'll tell you. We like to send our preferred customers a card on their special day. It's voluntary but we enjoy doing it. You provide the information.

We do a great job on your car and you're on your way. After a few days you don't even recall giving the information, or maybe you do. Unimportant.

Three months later it's your son's 8th birthday. He gets a really nice Birthday card in the mail from XX Auto repair. Wow. Impressive. Has your mechanic ever sent your son a birthday card before?

Okay, two months after that, your daughter gets one.

The next month you and your spouse get a Happy Anniversary card.

Next week, it's YOUR birthday and YOU get a card!

Three months later your lovely spouse gets a birthday card.

Don't forget about the traditional holidays mixed in there too.


Now, each greeting card had on there XX Auto Repair, 123 Anywhere St...blah blah...it was YOUR COMPANY'S INFORMATION!

They took this card and passed it around to everyone at work, at the baseball field, the soccer field, dance recitals, anywhere they went to see friends, co-workers....PEOPLE...they've taken this card.

Why? Because no other business is sending them a greeting card! Especially not a nice one and definitely not to their entire family (including the dog!).

You are more than their mechanic now. You are a part of their lives. Part of their family. You have connected.

Put yourself for a moment in that position and imagine if your mechanic did that to you. Would you hesitate going back to XX Auto repair? Not for a second. Would you not show this card off they sent to you? Absolutely you would!

Here's what I'm going to do: for those of you that run a company of any kind, that work with customers of any sort, I am going to let you try this out absolutely free! Send anyone you choose; family, friends, customers, whoever (2) greeting cards ON ME!

Why? So you can get in there and see what is available and learn the system.

There is no obligation, I simply want you to send 2 free cards. Go to: www.sendoutcards.com/boone

If you have any questions you can contact me: pbandjphotography@gmail.com I will be glad to assist you in any way possible that I can.

Photos of Anderson

Congrats and Yippee!

People have told me congrats today...to all of you...THANK YOU! I say yippee and they say congrats, because my third son, Anderson Turner Boone was born today at 5:27 PM. 8lbs 1 oz and 21" long.

Pictures to come tomorrow.

I want to say congrats to the Pilot that safely landed the US Airways plane into the Hudson River this afternoon bringing all those people in safely. The response of those involved was incredible. It was pretty intense how quickly it happened. In the air in 3 minutes. Good job for the Air Traffic Controller that saw it happened and summoned emergency response teams. Everyone was calm for the most part and they were thanking the pilot. Thankfully they were close to water and could make the landing safely as they did. Very smart and quick thinking on everyone's part.

So glad that would could've been a mass tragedy turned out not to be.

Bleh!

I had some errands to run today.

I was hungry so I stopped and got something to eat. There's a Mexican restaurant over near where I was. Del Sol.

I have been wanting to go there for a while. It was called something else before; then closed, then reopened as this, Del Sol.

I pulled in and there was only one truck in the parking lot. I thought to myself...don't knock it to you try it, so I shrugged and walked in.

I walked in and there were three people there. Guess one guy rode in the back of the truck. I asked if they were open and they said no. Then said I could sit where I wanted and proceeded to take my order.

Sitting there nervously eating some chips and salsa, which were good, but WAY too mild, two more people walked in. I began to relax a little. I started looking at the menu. I went to order a margarita and was told they don't have any. Hmm....they're on the menu, but they don't have any.

The menu was laid out well, but the prices were quite high. Additionally the explanations of the foods were quite vague. I think they were trying for more of a high end type of menu/ food. Yet, they didn't have any mole sauce. That kind of upset me. I was looking forward to that. Well, I didn't know what was hot (spicy) or what was not.

I ordered something simple. Burrito California. The guy taking my order was quite pleasant. Kept on top of refills of my stale tea! And, he let me choose any of the 5 tables I wanted to sit at too. Then he walked seven feet from behind the counter over to my table to take my order.

As I said, there was a decently laid out menu. I read the description of the California Burrito. "Large burrito with choice of steak, shredded chicken or marinated pork". I chose the pork.

A few minutes later the waiter? came back and told me this was a large burrito. 12-14" long. I said, okay. Then a few minutes later he came back again to ask me if I wanted the contents inside the burrito. Ummm...sure. Sounds like a plan to me.

Waiting I hear stuff being rattled around the kitchen, sounding much like meat being spread around a grill and being cooked.

Here comes the food. It was large. Just like I had read it would be and like the waiter? had come back to remind me it was. It was covered in cheese? sauce or ceiling paint, whichever.

I was already pretty full with the chips and salsa, but was anxious to try this. I take a bite and get what seemed like a sweet pepper. Something of a pickled taste. I had a bite of rice, then meat, then something else? then an onion with the same pickled taste. Pickles and ceiling paint don't go too well. There was NO spice to this at all. Not that there was anything to indicate it would be. The waiter? didn't come back and tell me it was going to be spicy, nor did the menu state such. So, I guess I didn't need to expect it would be.

I put some of the tomato sauce...err..salsa on top of it. Pickles with ceiling paint and tomato sauce don't go well either. I was going to ask for some hot sauce, but the waiter? left the area. I suppose he was in the back measuring tortillas, preparing for his next customer.

Well, I can't say the dish was bad at this point, but it's not something I'd order again. I like spicy and bold flavored dishes. This wasn't one of them. Very cheesy and bland.

A few more bites and I taste the marinated pork. I'm not sure what it was marinated with, but it wasn't very good. Apparently one piece of pork has to last for multiple meals as the pieces were extremely small, thin and sparse. It was so sparingly used in the burrito that pieces of what I thought was pork was infact a piece of fat disguised as pork. Actually, the pieces of fat were the biggest pieces of "meat" contained in the burrito.

With nearly 1/4 of this 12-14" burrito (with the contents inside it) gone, I had to call it quits. I couldn't afford to constipate myself for a month with all the ceiling paint. I asked for a to go box and was promptly brought one by the waiter?.

I started to put the burrito into the container. As I did the paint had started to dry and was sticking to the plate. The burrito fell apart. The contents were no longer inside of it. I thought the waiter? might get mad, what with his special trip he made to ask me if I had wanted it this way. But, I hurridly placed it back together and into the box.

I paid for the overpriced food and yes, I did leave him a respectful tip. He did quite well in his attempts.

I made it home and treated my dogs to a ceiling paint, pickle and fat burrito. (With the marjority of the contents inside.)

They seemed happy enough with it, yet I didn't hear them begging for me to bring them more.

Sadly, there really isn't many or rather any good Mexican restaurants in this area.

My opinions and beliefs and morals

Or something like that.

I chat a lot with my clients, we go to lunches, dinners, etc. We get on the subject of food preperation and it always seems I give off a weird look to them.

Yes, I hate waste. I'm not an extreme environmentalist by any means, but I do try to be cautious. I do not like ordering from places that you sit down to eat and they provide you with disposable items. Here in the South we have a slew of barbeque restaurants (BBQ). They always seem to have paper/ styrofoam plates and dishes along with plastic utensils. This urks me! Why? I don't know. I think of the landfills and oceans and every place else these items will find a resting place. I think of the resources that are diminshed to create and dispose of these places.

Take paper plates. We had to use fuel to cut down the trees, cut the trees down and take over the animals' homes to get those. Endandering yet more animals and plant species. We then have to use harsh chemicals and fuels to refine and produce something you eat off of. Then, same thing with that plastic bag you put it in. You tie it up and place it by the curb. The trash track uses yet more toxic fuels and pollutes the air that much more to come and get that bag of trash. It is then placed into a landfill and pushed around by large tractors and dozers for years. Never breaks down or disinegrates, only gets pushed around and further buried. Think of the pollutants those tractors in the landfill produce to move around this bag of trash.

Now, consider the average person eats 3 meals per day. Mulitply that by how many people there are in our state, town, country, world.

That's a lot! No matter how you slice it.

Did you realize the average trash truck dumps at the landfill on average 5 times per day? Guess what? They go out every day of the week too! So, per truck you're looking at over 30 loads dumped per week. That's per truck. How many trucks are at your local sanitation facility? You only see one, typically one day per week.

Did you realize it takes less energy to run a dishwasher than it does to wash that load by hand? So, then, if you can use less energy and it takes less work, why not take advantage and save yourself not only your living space (planet) but some back breaking work of washing dishes. Additionally, and here's yet another plus, you'll also be saving yourself money, along with the environment.

Many think that things will never change. That one person can't make a difference. If you boycott a fastfood chain that will make no difference, they'll keep serving in paper products, etc. What is Rosa Parks had that attitude? Her actions didn't change anything over night. Now think if she'd of had that mentality, that her actions wouldn't make a difference. Where would we be today in our society?

A holy question...

Many people will read this and think they have an immediate answer. Others will understand where I'm coming from, yet out of fear, fail to acknowledge they've too wondered about this. They say "faith" and dismiss any questioning. Or, "it's not four our understanding".

Why would you believe in something you don't understand? Would you invest your money into something you didn't understand? Put your life on the line for something you didn't understand? So, why do you with religon? Fear. Simply put. People too often take what some preacher says for the truth. Just because they said it and they have a position of "authority" doesn't make it worth while. More people have heard about the US President than your preacher(s), yet they have no problem doubting what he says.

One question/ concern that comes to mind primarily is the trinity. What is it? A three-fold godhead. Consisiting of the Father (God), the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit doesn't have a name, only a title. Where did Jesus get his last name from?

Okay, so let's start....

Old Testament speaks a little more loosely about the Holy Spirit, and almost in a different way. After Jesus' departure to Heaven, he speaks of leaving with them a comforter, a guide. Which is thought to be the Holy Spirit.

Well, for starters we have God. What is God? We are created in God's image. So, do we make up part of God? In what way do we have God's image? Physically? Mentally? Can't be physically I suppose as God is not a person. Even though we mistakingly use the term "he" in refernce to God a lot, God is a spiritual being. Not a physical one. So, if God is a spirit and God in fact is holy, why do we need a Holy Spirit? God is a holy spirit. God can do anything, omnipresent and all that, yet he needs a spirit to help us out here on earth understand things and to comfort us? So....if that's the case, what does God do? Sit back and give orders? What? I'm confused on that one.

Okay, let's move on to Jesus. The bible says Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. So, that would be a birth and creation of Jesus. Well, in the Old Testament (which is before Jesus) it speaks of Jesus. Even later on in the New and other parts of the bible it speaks of what always has been. Jesus has always been and will always be. So, if he was always there, why did he need to be born, more so why of a virgin named Mary? What was so great about Mary? Was it to prove a miracle in a sense and she was the only virgin around? There were certainly a lot more women that could've qualified for this task. Now, people will say Jesus was God in the flesh, or God on Earth. I think that comes from one of the names given to be associated with Jesus, Emmanuel. Translated means, God with us. Okay, but it doesn't say, THIS is God. Just God with us. I take that to mean, if like my son were visiting with you and he reminded you of me, you may say, "We have a little Rick here with us today". No, I'm not there in the flesh, but there are characteristics about my son that are attributes of me and my personality. If Jesus WAS God, why did he need to change his name? Take on human form? Okay, then is Jesus WAS God, who in the world (or heaven) was Jesus praying to in the Garden? Himself? He told the people, I am about my father's business? He didn't say I am about my business. When he was hanged on the cross he didn't say, "Self, forgive them...." No, he said, "Father forgive them". I don't think he had a habit of calling himself father. Maybe he did.

So, is there really a Holy Spirit? Or is it just God?

Also, why is it when we pray we have to say, in Jesus name? I haven't seen that in the bible. I may be wrong, but if you find it in there where we have to say "In Jesus' name" to end our prayers, let me know.

Okay, here's another one. The sinner's prayer. All the bible says you have to do to be born again is confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that he is God and Jesus the son of God or something like that. That's it. So, if I believe, yes truly believe in my heart Jesus is the son of God and confess it (say it) I am born again or saved. It doesn't say anything about reciting some lines about, "Father forgive me for I have sinned, come into my life, make me new, blah blah..." I haven't found that anywhere but in a church!

Am I wrong? I know, probably looking into things too deep. I just find it amazing how so many people put emphasis on what the churches are teaching and programming them to think and do versus what the bible teaches. You may go to a "bible teaching" church, but are you really going by what's in the bible? Have you honestly read it yourself? You cannot take someone's word for it. You have to get in there and find out for yourself what it says. Don't be lead astray.

I'm excited to hear your comments. Your own interpretations. I'm not trying to state one thing or the other, just bringing up some valid questions. If you get offended by someone asking a question, your faith is not strong enough nor is your knowledge about your beliefs.