Vertical Leads

One of the things that I never considered owning in my life was a photo framing shop, but when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t pass it up.  Truth be told I had no idea how to run one at the time, but the income projections were so positive, I had to take it.

Now many years later the shop is doing very well.  While we initially just offered photo framing, we have added other services such as diploma framing and a portrait studio which have added to our bottom line.  In fact, I would like to think that by expanding our services to include complimentary products has made our business the success it is today.

But like any success story, there were failures along the way.  Unlike other places, I will actually mention them here as well, as they were lessons that needed to be learned so that we could be at the point we are today.

One of the most notable mistakes that I made was the pricing scheme that we initially used for the portrait studio.  Originally I had a set percentage markup I decided that would work, and based my prices on that number.  Over the course of that first month, I think we had less than ten bookings a week, and lots of complaints over the price.  Turns out that we were charging nearly double what our competitors charged, and once I realized that (and adjusted our prices accordingly), the portrait studio finally made a profit.

I think that by working on growing our business and listening to our customer’s needs, that we have grown this company into the success it is today.  A good example would be the holiday shopping season – this year is set to be one of the best ones yet.

Technorati Tags: diploma framing, graduation picture frame

After having a wonderful time visiting with family and friends, I was really happy to see them leave.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed visiting with them and everything, but at the same time, it is nice to have your home to yourself.

But my real reason for seeing them off was to give me a chance to play with the one gift that I had been waiting for since yesterday – my echo 1 airsoft rifle.  I have been eyeing this model for months now, and after unwrapping it yesterday, I have just wanted to get it out of the package and fire off some rounds.

I didn’t feel that it was appropriate to do any target practice while the company was sleeping down in my makeshift gun range, so now I finally have the opportunity.  It is nowhere near being a professional range by any means, but it is convenient to do target practice down in my basement.

I’m actually having my boyfriend over in about half an hour, and I am sure that we will spend the rest of the night firing pellet after pellet into the targets that I have setup along the wall.

Yes, it looks like I am going to have some fun tonight.

Technorati Tags: echo 1 airsoft

It is really interesting to see how other people perceive who you are and what your interests are.  I suppose that people determine these things by listening to what you talk about, say that you like, and see from those interests that you show them.  But sometimes things can be very wrong.

A good example is what I received for Christmas this year.  You see, my boyfriend usually does okay when it comes to buying me gifts, but this year he didn’t do so well.  I guess I am to blame, but when it came to unwrapping my gift, I was a little disappointed.

If you rewind time back a week or so, I was complaining about how the sd card reader that I was using for a project wasn’t working.  Since my computer is a little archaic, depending on an external card reader was very important.

But the catch was that I was talking about work and not my personal life.  Unfortunately my boyfriend didn’t realize that, so he bought me card reader that could read secure digital SD memory cards.

Too bad my own camera is ten years old and uses a compact flash card.

I didn’t want to say anything to him since he was helping me to be a better photographer (which he is off the mark on too), but it was sweet that he bought me something, right?

Technorati Tags: sd card reader, secure digital SD memory cards

Today is one of those lazy days when I feel like writing a fun post for others to enjoy. I’m going to make a silly list of all of the things that I hope my boyfriend will do soon. Hope you have fun reading it! Feel free to add your own similar list in the comments of this blog.

I hope my boyfriend …

… buys me flowers. He is very thoughtful in other ways but he has never bought me flowers.

… decides to try going on a roller coaster with me. He is too chicken but I think we would actually have a lot of fun.

… meets more of my friends. He hasn’t met many of my friends yet even though we’ve been together for awhile. I’d like it if he made an effort to get closer to them.

… uses his degree to do something cool. He has an electrical engineering degree with a lighting emphasis so he could create a new metal halide ballast design or look into green lighting technology like high sodium pressure light bulbs. So far he hasn’t done much of interest with his degree but I think he’d feel better about himself if he did.

… talks to his family more. He isn’t that close to his family but he wants to be closer. I think he’d be happier if he was speaking to them more.

… relaxes. Sometimes he’s super hard on himself!

… takes me to a natural hot springs area. We’ve been talking about it forever but we haven’t done it yet.

… gets me a cool Christmas present. What can I say - I’m so curious about what I’m going to get this year!

Technorati Tags: high sodium pressure, metal halide ballast

Do you still need to get the stocking stuffers for Christmas this year? Luckily this is the easiest part of Christmas shopping. Here are ten great ideas for stocking stuffers that you can go out and buy right now:

1. Candy. Any kind of candy is great in the stocking. Christmas candy is the best candy, of course.
2. Candles. A scented candle in cinnamon or apple spice is a great stocking stuffer that’s appropriate for the season.
3. Money. Many people stick cash into the stockings these days.
4. Lottery tickets. Instead of giving your family cash you can give them a fun chance to win some cash.
5. Toys. Any little toys that you can pick up are great in stockings for kids.
6. Love letters. This is a favorite stocking stuffer for spouses and partners.
7. Pens, pencils or crayons. Any kind of little art supply or writing utensil is a good thing to add to an almost-full stocking.
8. Marbles, jacks, playing cards. These old-fashioned gifts are making a comeback this year. Join in the fun!
9. Gadgets. You can get little kitchen gadgets that fit into stockings (like apple corers or kitchen timers).
10. Clues. One of the most fun things that you can do is to hide some of the bigger presents around the house and then put clues to finding them inside of the stockings this year.

Technorati Tags: candles, scented candle